Green for One More Day

We loved Green Island so much that we decided to postpone our trip back to Cairns by a couple of hours. Our ferry back was supposed to leave at noon but we decided to leave at 230pm instead.

Since we weren’t able to make the crocodile feedings yesterday, we decided to check it out today. The first thing they let us do was hold a baby crocodile. His name was "Stubby" because he didn’t have a right foot. Apparently crocs have the ability to regenerate skin over any leg injuries. This prevents the need to have to amputate the leg. Another interesting fact is that some crocs pop their own eyes out. Their claws can accidentally get in their eye and they go into defense mode and start fighting themselves, thus causing them to lose an eye.

After that, we got to watch the turtles eat. These were the same guys we got to pet the day before. They fed them lettuce. Did you know that the turtles’ insides are all green because of all the lettuce they eat?

After they fed the turtles, we went to the real show. Dustin, the zookeeper, brought us over to 2 crocs, a male and female. The female came out of the water but wasn’t very hungry even though her last meal was a few months ago and all she ate was a small heron. When he fed her a chicken (fresh with blood and feathers), she just kept her mouth open and just had it in her mouth without chewing it our swallowing.

The male, on the other hand, was crazy looking. He was about 16 feet long. When Dustin dangled the chicken in the air, he shot straight up to get it. It was amazing because most of the time, they just look like statues. They don’t move. Basically, what you see in the pictures is how they look in real life. In fact, a tourist was attacked while we were at Palm Cove because he tried to get a crocodile to come closer for a picture op. All I can say is stupid!

Anyway, at one point, Dustin hung the chicken right where I was standing, behind the fence. The croc crept out of the pool of water and seeing his huge body immerse from the water was an incredible sight. He came straight toward me and even though there was a gate separating us, I freaked out! And within seconds, he grabbed his meal and sank back into the pool into his frozen position.

There’s also another croc there that has to be isolated. They put 3 female crocs in with him to mate but he kept killing them. They are definitely amazing but frightening creatures. (DISCLAIMER: Once you get to the newspaper clippings in the pictures, some may be a bit too gruesome).

Afterwards, we headed over to the underwater observatory at the end of the dock. It’s cool how the fish just hang out. Good views for the snorkelers. There was one fish that just kept on staring at us and I was wondering if the fish gathered in that spot to check out the “people observatory.”

For the rest of the afternoon, we decided to get a little more sun before we left paradise and laid out on the beach. I didn’t want to get too dark so I put on some sunscreen. Someone, who shall remain nameless, wanted to get tan so refused my offer to put some on him.

Afterward, we headed back to our ferry and we were off to Cairns. Someone still did not want to put on a shirt since we rode on the top deck of the ferry and he still wanted to get some color. I warned him but he wouldn’t listen.

We originally thought we were staying in the Outrigger in Cairns, but we were staying in Palm Cove instead. Palm Cove is 25 minutes north of Cairns. I was really happy when we got there. Cairns is a beach city and very touristy catering to backpackers, while Palm Cove felt more like a getaway. The atmosphere was somewhere in between Sydney and Green Island but leaning more towards Green Island.

Our hotel was beautiful. We ended up on the 3rd floor of the hotel with no elevators. Rich didn’t want to switch out rooms for his foot and after I saw the room, I didn’t want to either. We had a Jacuzzi tub on the balcony…saweet! I never actually used it but Rich did and he really liked it

The hotel had a man-made beach for the pool area with a swim up bar. We basically dumped our stuff in the room and headed for the swim up bar. We actually preferred swimming in our pool to the beach, even though the hotel was a beachfront property. It was stinger season and they had to put a net out in the swim area. Basically, if you got stung, you can die in 30 minutes. I didn’t want to take any chances of any holes in the net. Apparently, the stingers only like to be close to shore versus out on the reefs, which was a relief to me since I was looking forward to diving.

After showering, we got ready and had dinner at the Village, a row of shops and restaurants. After sampling Australian pizza, we headed back to the hotel for a good night’s rest. Well, at least I did. Someone I know got majorly sunburned and didn't sleep very well.

BTW, Happy 41st Anniversary Parents!

PICS: Green Island Day 3

PICS: Palm Cove Day 1