Australian Adventures

Yesterday, we went to the Tjapukai Aborginal Cultural Center and the Hartley Crocodile Farm. At the cultural center, we learned about their history, tribes, weapons, and herbs. There were certain paint patterns that they painted on each other to differentiate each tribe. There was the rainforest tribe, seat turtle (I think), and many more. They also think of the snake as a sacred animal and was the started of the universe. I thought it was interesting. We also got to learn how to throw a spear, which was actually kind of difficult, and how to throw a boomerang. Those were really fun to do. We also got a couple of shows of how they did things, for example, their music, and dances. They also played the didgerido, which is actually pretty difficult to master. They said it took about 5 years to learn.

At the crocodile farm, we many exotic Australian animals. We first went to see the baby crocodiles and learned about how they live, hatch, gender (based on heat), etc. Then we went to a snake show, where a worker showed a Neck-frilled Lizard, it reminded me of Jurassic Park with that frilly dinosaur. After that we hoped onto a little boat and they took us around a swampy area, to see the crocodiles, they even fed them. One crocodile, the oldest, was 100 + years he supposedly has lots of scars, a missing tooth and a missing eye. Either way the lady crocodiles still love him, he's also the biggest on and the head honcho in the water. We also got to feed some kangaroos, wallabies, cassowary, and pet a KOALA!! It was definitely an awesome experience. Some said it was tied for the best day with the Great Barrier Reef in a different way. All in all it was loads of fun.