Crocodiles scare the life out of me. There is something about the way they look that is deeply disturbing and it just triggers an incredible FEAR button in me when I am anywhere near them. So when we arrived in Cairns and we were recommended a trip to a croc farm, we had to go.
Before that, we had driven 700km from Airlie Beach through the lushest scenery I can remember anywhere, flanked by fields of sugar cane and bananas for miles on end. We also encountered the heaviest rainfall I have ever driven through, around 1 hour of almost solid torrential rain that saw us crawling along at 50km/h as the water flowed over the road. It was a relief to get to our destination just outside of Cairns, the perfectly named Yorkey's Knob, which was a recommendation from a fellow traveller back at the Whitsundays.Cairns itself is much smaller than we expected – just 150K people, and it's beautiful. For the
second time, we found an open air swimming pool open for all to swim in by the waterfront. Clearly with so many dangers in the sea, it makes sense to give people an alternative, and it creates a lovely atmosphere along the seafront.But back to those crocs... After a calm and leisurely boat trip down the mangrove swamps, we moved into a bus with Kevin the guide telling us all about the fearsome creatures as we went. The tour was through a Crocodile farm, and as we entered, it was explained that they tend to stay underwater
when the temperature is over 31 degrees (it was 33). So we spotted a couple lurking in the murky waters, just beneath the surface, but were wondering if anything exciting would happen. Maybe they would all be hidden underwater?Then one huge great long thing, weighing 500 kilos and ageing around 70 years (apparently called Gummy) was the first to show his face (and his incredibly long tail) as we stood by the water in a lookout. Earlier on the trip, we were told that a crocodile that long had very little power to open its mouth – you can keep it closed with an elastic band (though I don't want to try it) – but once open, the strength to close its jaws is enough to crush a pig's skull. I assumed the name “Gummy” was ironic and kept back from the fence.
Kevin pointed out that the wire fencing had been re-enforced where some crocs had bashed or bitten through it. As he was saying this, a Japanese lady was standing where one was lurking just under the surface, a position he's had since we
arrived. I was sure that he had been a few centimetres lower into the water a couple of minutes before. Kevin also told us that they can stay underwater for 3 hours without the need to breathe. They wait... and wait... and when something edible comes, they strike.The Japanese lady decided now was a good moment to rattle the fence. Suddenly, the croc burst out of the water in a blur of jaws, teeth and ancient green skin, whamming into the fence with a crash and scaring the hell out of all of us. Oh my GOD! They are so incredibly frightening!
After this, two other female crocs were lined up side by side. One lifted its snout out of the water and started making a snorting noise. The other did the same. In a second, they started fighting and stopped again. Gummy came between them and kept order. The whole thing was absolutely enthralling.
The farm is a commercial enterprise, with over 17,000 crocs being bred for the fashion industry. They were quick to point out that only 1% of crocodiles survive in the wild and they are cannibals too. Kevin told us another story of how a tourist had seen
a baby croc outside the fence, pushed it through a small hole and a mature female bit the baby's head off and ate it. Nature can be so very cruel.As we went through the farm, we saw the pens with loads of younger creatures sitting in the sun and catching the spray that is sent over them to keep them cool. They eat chicken and apparently this lot get through 15 tonnes per week. We also heard about the process of gathering the eggs from their nests, which is all done by hand by 3 people. It was a blood-cooling description of people taking their lives into their hands (armed with nothing more than a long stick, it seemed, to keep the angry mother croc at bay) in the interests of preserving the eggs in a perfect environment, instead of leaving them to the odds of the natural world.
Apparently there are vacancies for the job of croc egg retriever. I didn't apply.
