For pictures of crocodiles, scroll down to previous post.
Contrary to what I wrote on Monday, I had a day off today, on Wednesday. Our working day was short yesterday so when I got back to the hostel I called up and secured myself a spot on a Crocodile Safari for today!
I woke up at five AM and before departing to the safari I watched 8 episodes of HIMYM from seasons 1 and 2. At 9:10 I was picked up from the same bus stop I arrived at only 10 days earlier. (As a side note I have to tell you that as of yesterday, of the six people who arrived on that bus, I'm the only remaining person still at the hostel and working at the farm. For now.) Ten minutes later we were at the campsite base of the tour on the bank of Proserpine River.
After a quick introduction we were whisked off on to a boat on the river, where we sailed downstream and then upstream to see some crocodiles. More about them in a minute. After the boat trip was a BBQ lunch and then we mounted a tractor pulled open air wagon to see some of the bush and wetlands. After that we had some tea, had an opportunity to buy souvenirs and headed back to town.
I was supposed to go see some crocodiles near Cairns, but I didn't dare use my money for that before I had an income. So I was really excited to get on the boat and see some crocodiles today. As I said, we first sailed downstream towards the ocean in search of some "salties" or saltwater crocodiles.
Interesting tidbit No. 1: "Salties" are actually Estuarine crocodiles. Estuarine means a mix of saltwater and freshwater, which is exactly what this part of Proserpine river had. "Salties" also can live in freshwater, say a billabong (Aboriginie for lots of water, a pond) 1.5 Ks from the river.
The owner of the company, Steve, was our navigator and guide for the trip on the river. The most important rule was not to reach outside the boat as a crocodile can launch half of its body out of the water. So a four meter crocodile can snatch, for example, a hand as high as two meters in the air. My limbs stayed well inside the boat for the whole time.
It took us a while, but after seeing just some eyes, nostrils and ears floating on the surface we happened upon a crocodile basking in the sun on the muddy riverbank. I naturally took a couple of pictures.
The crocs didn't mind the boat we were on, because they were used to it, but what they didn't like was the fishing boats going up and down the river and sensing the, they went underwater where they couldn't be seen.
Interesting tidbit No. 2: A crocodile can stay underwater without breathing for up to 6 hours. It's heartbeat slows down to a couple of beats per minute and all the blood from it's three aortas is directed to vital organs; none for the muscles as the croc is stationary.
We saw some baby crocs on the upstream portion of the trip and a female crocodile basking in the sun. She was supposedly one of three girlfriends of one male crocodile. We also saw a bunch of crocs who had only the uppermost parts of their bodies on the shore, while their tails and bag legs were already on the water. The water was so murky that one of them had barely gone underwater when he was unable to be seen.
Interesting tidbit No. 3: 60% of crocodile attacks aka. people being bitten by crocodiles are connected to the use of alcohol. The crocodiles are not the ones doing the drinking.
Interesting tidbit No. 4: In the year 2000 less people in Australia were killed by crocodiles, sharks and snakes combined than by vending machines. Next time you might just want forget about your $2 and not knock the machine over yourself.
We got back to shore safely and were treated to a lovely BBQ lunch. I ate some beef, some chicken, lots of delicious fish, some salads and a piece of bread. I was most surprised by the awesome tasting fish and had some more since the chicken and beef ran out, not literally.
Then we took a ride on the open air wagon, which was a contraption not much different from street car with wheels like the one in Mikkeli if I remember correctly. Only this one was pulled by a tractor, although we didn't do that much off-roading. We had speakers in every wagon, but I was in the one closest to the tractor so I couldn't hear the commentary, while we were moving. The trip wasn't long but we stopped for long parts to listen to our one-eyed (as in he had an eye-patch on one eye, because, well, he had only one eye) guide tell us what we were looking at. He was very informative AND some of the things he told us were thought provoking, at least for me.
We were introduced to different kinds of trees growing in the area and how the aboriginals had used them for various purposes. We were told about billabongs, floods and the resilience of fish eggs. We heard about the differences between fishing and hunting aboriginals. We even learned about the geographical uniqueness of the area and how it relates to farming, my favorite subject.
The first tree we saw was called a sandpaper fig. The unimaginative naming of stuff in Australia forced this name on it because the leaves feel like sandpaper. In fact the sandpaper figs leaves can be used as actual sandpaper. Our guide called the tree an aboriginal supermarket. It can be used for good firewood, making a fire in less than three minutes, strong rope, curing ringworms and another disease I forgot about.
The next tree had such a dense bark that the southern sides of the tree were inflammable. They're wet and there is no oxygen between the multiple layers of the tree. Uses include big strong fishing boats and preparing food in it without burning it. Some well built aboriginal fisherman actually caught a 50-ton humpback whale with a boat built from this tree back in the day.
We then arrived at the billabong where there were a lot of birds. We were introduced to the mountain ranges on the west, east and north sides of the area. Three hundred thousand years ago there used to mountains to the south too, but they weren't strong granite mountains like the others so they eventually eroded away. Back then all this area inside the mountains was a huge base of a volcano. And that's the reason why the area is so fertile. The world's richest sugar cane farmers are here because they don't need fertilizer to grow new crops saving tens of thousands of dollars a year.
One more tree story. The leaves of this one different looking tree could be used for fishing. Rubbing the leaves together in the water causes a lime colorish goo to spill out. When it is unleashed in the billabong it makes all the oxygen in the water evaporate and in twenty minutes all the fish are belly up. Pretty easy fishing.
But if all the fish are dead then how come the same fisherman can do it again at the same billabong six months later? Because of a certain characteristic common to almost all fish eggs in the world. If a fish egg is released in a flooded area and then the water is sucked in to the ground. The fish egg itself is without water. But it doesn't need water. It concentrate to a tiny little cyst, which can survive for 40-60 years without water. It can even survive trucks running it over. When it gets back to the water, e.g. thanks to another flood, the fish will hatch. Fish swimming in a flooded sugar cane field have been spotted in the area.
Last interesting tidbit: The annual rainfall of Proserpine is 2 meters. But in 2007 from March the 1st to March the 14th it rained non-stop for two weeks. Rainfall: 4 meters. The flood water reached a height of two meters, which disappeared in three days once the rain ended. I hope it's not raining too much in Cairns in April when I get back there...
So, that was my crocodile experience. I had some fun, ate good food, was excited and learned to appreciate the nature of an area which has given my body aches and a less than great living area. I also got to thinking about aboriginals and how the European way of living has been wrong for centuries. Take a patch or land, scour it for all you can and when it stops growing stuff just move on to another place. An aboriginal on a walkabout uses only 10% of the natural resources of an area before moving on. When he comes back to the same area, it's fully recuperated. I don't think I could live that way and in our cultures where everything and everyplace is owned by someone instead of just existing naturally it would be impossible.
Deep shit, I know.
Tomorrow it's back to work at least for the day. I might work on Friday if I feel up to it, but it won't fatten up my paycheck for this week. Instead I'd get the money next Friday or Saturday. On Saturday it's packing, maybe Airlie Beach and then an overnight 18 hour bustrip to Brisbane where I'll be a cheap tourist for about a week before heading to chilly Melbourne. Still haven't gotten a call from my future boss though.
Be wise, stand clear of falling vending machines and you should be fine.
