Maggie Island and the Croc Farm
Trip Start
Feb 19, 2006
1
32
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Trip End
Aug 27, 2006
Maggie Island, Australia
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
After the standard ridiculous stops that Oz include we arrive (via ferry) on Maggie Island. In the afternoon we go on a nature walk (how primary school does that sound!). We see some wild Koalas and get some really good pictures.
When we finish the walk we head back to our accomodation, cook tea in the most disgusting ant, scabby cat and possum infested kitchen ever and crash early (cos it's bloody cold outside). The next morning we're meant to have an included sea kayaking session, but the weather is too bad so Oz cancel it. Do we get anything in return? Do we buggery.
We leave Maggie en route to Mission Beach. We drive through areas that were badly affected by Hurricane/Cyclone Larry (and the other one). It was heartbreaking to see much of the rainforest flattened, knowing that it would take over 100 years to recover. A lot of the houses in the area still had no roofs/walls and there was debris everywhere (this was 7 weeks after the hurricane). One of the rarest birds on the planet, the Cassowary, lives around this part of the rainforest so the group goes on another nature walk. The driver warns us there may be leeches, Lucie freaks out a bit but reluctantly comes along. 50 meters down the track Quinn sticks a soggy leaf on her leg. Probably not wise, as Lucie freaks out BIG TIME and refuses to came any further. She runs back to the safety of the van!
We arrive late that night at Scotty's Backpackers in Mission Beach. There is no time to find a supermarket so we opt for the cheapo BBQ that the hostel puts on. $8 gets you a massive piece of steak, potatoes, salad, etc etc. We were so glad that we didn't have to cook and even happier when the food tasted soooo good.
The next morning we board the bus for our final (thank god) trip with Oz Experience. We stop a couple of times and our driver suggests we go to a local croc farm. It's cheap and we're starting to enjoy seeing them so we opt for the excursion. We arrive and pay our money. We're expecting a zoo not unlike Australia Zoo pre Steve Irwin fame. The first 'pen' housed around 200 crocs all about 1 meters long, crammed into this tiny little cage. So small they had to crawl on top of each other! A bit cruel!
The manager of the farm then steps into the first pen with a bucket of chicken bits (and no it's not a KFC family bucket) and a rake. Inside the pen is a huge 15 foot croc. He then preceeds to bang it on it's head with the rake and shove a leg of chicken in its face. Obviously a bit pissed off the croc goes for the rake, then the chicken. As it's eating the chicken the manager starts to stroke it under its chin. He then enters the next pen and the same ritual of hitting on the head and feeding it chicken continues. He does about four pens before one of the big crocs munches on his rake.
The tour finishes (thankfully, we'd both seen enough cruelty) with the manager stating that the crocs are bread till about three years old, then they go to the in-house abbatoire and the meat/skin is sold. The penny drops, this isn't a zoo it's a bloody working croc farm, the same as a sheep/cow farm in England.
We both feel a bit happier and later munch down some croc kebabs, mmm delicious. We then board the bus for the final leg of the final journey to Cairns. We drive inland to a place called the Atherton Tablelands, passing a small town called Leigh. We ask the driver to stop outside the town sign and we both get off to take a picture with Lucie stood in front of the sign. The rest of the people on the bus thought it a bit strange, but we weren't at all embarrased.
Finally the enters Cairns and starts dropping people off at the various hostels. The driver decides it would be a nice touch to play Greenday's 'I Hope You Had The Time Of Your Life' as people were saying their emotional goodbyes to the friends they met along the way, while us two were gunning to get off the blasted bus ASAP, no emotional goodbye's, no tears, just two fingers up at the coach pulling away into the distance and smiles like Cheshire cats. Thank God we were off that bus.
So almost the end of our Journey up the East Coast, hope your all still loving our work?
Love
Quinn and Lucie
