We spent the next 2 hours walking/running 4 mile beach. We figure it was nicer to run on the beach than in the exercise room at the hotel. We thought this was going to be a lot easier than it looked! 8 miles in the hot and humid heat + sand is not a good comibination for an "easy" workout. Needless to say, it was a good workout and we were exhausted!!! We couldn't get changed into our suits fast enough to jump into the ocean!!!!
After a little R&R, we took the Port Douglas shuttle down to the Rainforest Habitat. The is an award winning eco friendly wildlife sancturary. There were three parts: Rainforest, Wetlands, and Grasslands. It was a beautiful place, it felt like we were actually walking through the jungle. No cages, no fences, no circus acts, no logo tshirts for sale, no ice cones...LOL. Even the crocodiles roamed free(behind a tall boadwalk/bridge of course)! Literally the animals, if they felt comfortable, could walk right up to you and you could do the same to them! The pictures you will see were not taken through a fence, they were literally right in front of us.
The wetlands was full of bird species (lots of Lorikeets) and of course the Australian icon - the Koala. Did you know the koala is not even in bear family? It's related to the kangaroo, wallaby, etc. It also sleeps 18-20 hours a day because their diets are so bad! We had the unique experience of actually holding the koala. This is one of the few places where this is allowed, because the koala's are endangered and highly suceptable to disease. They are very cute, friendly, and love to cuddle! Jeff kept petting his head (I think he misses the babies...). The lady actually had to tell him to stop and have us move on, we would have held that little guy all day!
Also check out the black neck birds below. These babies were born on Oct 27 and their mother never leaves their side! Look how big the nest is, looks like something from the days of the dinosaur!
The rainforest was home to many colorful birds - the Southern Cassowary (which is classed as endangered), Boyd's forest dragon, and Eclectus parrots. The Cassowary roam wild up in the Daintree. In fact there are several "Caution, Cassowary crossing" signs up there. The cassoaries are termed a "keystone" species, which means that the loss of the Cassowary could lead to long term changes in plant communities and may lead to the loss of particular plant species. Very scary for the people here in Australia and all over the world, who rely on certain plants for pharmaceuticals, beauty aids, etc.
The Boardwalks there meandor along the forest floor to the rainforest canopy and birds swoop, sing, and play like they are actually in the jungle.
Finally our favorite part of the day was in the grasslands. The open-air exhibit portrays both inland and coastal plains. We were able to interact with, pet, and hand feed the Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Parma Wallabies, Ostriches, Various Ducks, and Bird Species, and the Shadow Dwellers. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. We literally were able to sit among the kangaroo and wallabie familes, feed and play with them. It was surreal. Some of them were really big, measuring over 5 ft when standing straight up, so we were a little hesitant at first, but we soon got over it. We also got to witness a mother roo feeding her joey's. It was amazing.
The boardwalks in this area also overlooked the lagoons where both the Estuarine and Freshwater crocodiles lurked beneath the waters and basked in the sunlight. Jeff kept trying to get me to throw the kangaroo's food at them, I quickly said NO! Who wants to disturb a sleeping crocodile when there's only a 5 feet of chain fence separating you? Trust me, they could get over it if they wanted to! I think he wanted a good picture of the croc showing his teeth....I'll save that for another day!! LOL!!
As you can tell, today was a great day. We found out that this habitat is home to Queensland's largest range of kangaroos and wallabies, with the largest captive population of Northern Wallabies in Australia! It also has one of the only two species found in Australia, Lumholtz Tree Kanagroos, which are native to Tropical north Queensland, residing in high elevation rainforest of the Wet Tropics region. This is one of the only two wildlife parks int he world to house this rare species! This is not a zoo, it was literally just a safe and fun place for these animals to roam free and interact in a non-agressive way with people and other species of friendly animals.
We leave super early for Sydney tomorrow. We are sad to leave Port, but so excited for a new journey in beautiful Syndey. We will be in Sydney through Christmas and have some unique excursions planned. Stay tuned and sleep tight (I think is 2:36 AM back home).
By the ways, we've been uploading ALL our pictures on picasa, check them out: picasaweb.google.com/gilespix
xoxo
J&J
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