7th Day of Contiki Tour - Fraser Island to Rockhampton

Crocodile has my arm, Crickey!
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We had to get up early and get breakfast at the Dingo Bar. I was somewhat tired and again the food sucked. We caught the ferry back to Harvey Bay and loaded back onto the bus. We spent most of the day driving to Rockhampton. We stopped at a few very small towns on the way to get food and use the restrooms. We also crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, which is were Queensland becomes a tropical climate. We all got a group picture on our cameras, but it took about fifteen minutes and my cheeks hurt from smiling for every camera. Then we got to the Rockhamptons which was a pretty rural town with lots of weirdos and red necks. We got to the hotel around 4pm and I went to the pool until we had to leave for dinner. For dinner we had to take the bus to Koorana to visit the Crocodile Breeding Farm. The farm raised crocodiles for meat and skins. When we got there we had a little time to see a couple of the crocodiles floating in the lake behind the main building. Then we all sat down for some crocodile soup and the meat was really soft and tender somewhere between pork and fish. Then we got some torches, flashlights, and went out to watch the owner feed some of the crocodiles. Some of the males were completely massive, but the females were all pretty small. It was amazing how fast they moved and the power of their jaws. The owner said that humans jaws can exert about 100-150 psi and crocodile jaws were around 4000 psi and could snap bones right in half. One of the crocodiles had lost almost his entire lower jaw in a fight with another crocodile. The owner said that crocodiles had the amazing ability to take wounds that would be fatal for other animals without dying. This was because they could stop the blood flow to the wounded area in a matter of seconds and they had some of the strongest antibiodics naturally in there blood. There was been some studies that have shown promise in the cure for AIDS by using crocodile blood. The bugs were eating everyone alive, but luckily we headed back to the dining room for appetizers of crocodile meat on squewers with a tasty peanut sauce and the main course which I had the beef steak with red potatoes and fresh vegetables. The meal was really good and I liked the crocodile meat alot. We then headed back out to the crocodile pens to feed a few more crocodiles and then he showed us how to spot them using the flashlights. Their eyes would light up as two red spots if you put the flashlight on the same plane as you line of sight. One of the pens hads tons of light red eyes in water. We then went back to the main building and got to see a crocodile hatching out of an egg, which was a rare opportunity. I was surprised how big it was when it came out of the egg. It had this sack of waste hanging from its belly and it also had part of the egg yoke attached to its belly which it can use for food for up to a month before it has to find food on its own. The waste sack will fall off by the next day and leave a scar much like our belly buttons and every crocodile's is unique. We then got a hold a small crocodile about a foot and half long, but its mouth was held shut with tape. After everyone got pictures holding it, we had some dessert and headed back to Rockhamptons. Some of the people on the tour got dropped off at one of the bars in town, but the people in the bar we all a little strange or really old. The people on the tour pretty much just hung out together in a group to avoid the weirdos. The dollar bet came into use at the bar and the British guy, Rob, had to put a brand new tampon in his nose and order a beer from the bar. It was totally hilarious and the bartender almost could not pour the beer, since she was laughing so hard. We only stayed for a couple of beers and then looked for a better bar, but the best we found was a bar doing karaoke. The list was too long to get in on the singing, but there were some really awesome songs by these forty years olds that were totally hammered. It was about a ten minute walk back to the hotel and I just went to bed.