After a long night’s sleep, we were up and ready to go by 7:00 am. Today we were traveling to Mission Beach, with a few stops along the way. While we were driving, we passed many sugar cane fields, which are being harvested right now. We also passed many banana (which Australians pronounce with the long a sound) fields, which were interesting to see. The tree that produces bananas can only produce one bunch of fruit a year, which will be harvested soon. There were bags around each bunch of bananas on the trees, which serves two purposes. The bags keep insects and animals away from the fruit, but they also create a mini climate inside the bag, which allows all of the bananas to grow and ripen evenly. While driving, we also went through the mountains, which was pretty scary at times, being in a bus.
Our first stop was Millaa Millaa Falls, which was a beautiful sight to see. The name Millaa Millaa comes from Aborigines who lived there thousands of years ago. When an Aboriginal name has a double word in it, that means plentiful or many. So the meaning of the name Millaa Millaa falls means many falls. After the falls, we made our way to Lake Barrine, where we were able to walk the trail in a rainforest. In the rainforest, there were these huge trees that have been growing for thousands of years. The trees were probably 10 feet in diameter, so they were pretty huge trees.
Our next stop was Lake Eacham National Park, where we were able to see Lake Eacham. This lake was formed by volcanoes many years ago, and this area was also used as an army base during the World Wars. It was a beautiful lake, and the water was so clear! Definitely much different from a Michigan lake. From Lake Eacham, we stopped to see a giant fig tree. However, this tree was not a normal fig tree, and turned into a curtain fig tree. This process happens over hundreds of years where a seed is deposited in a limb of the original tree, and begins growing. The root of this new plant finds its way to the ground, and eventually the other roots take over the original tree. Since the original tree is strangled, it topples over onto a surrounding tree and the roots take over that tree as well. After several years, the original tree is rotted away from the roots, which ends up being the curtain fig tree. Pretty interesting sight to see!
After we left the fig tree, our next stop was a crocodile farm. I thought that this was going to be boring because I can see a crocodile or alligator in the US, however, it was one of the coolest things that we have done so far. We watched several crocodiles being fed, which was amazing. While we were walking to one of the crocodile pens, I looked to my right and found a kangaroo hopping right beside me! It was one of several who came right up to us, and seemed very happy to see us. It was amazing because they were just like dogs! We were able to feed them and pet them, and surprisingly, they were very friendly. I have definitely fulfilled one of the things on my Australian bucket list by feeding and being so close to these kangaroos. We also were able to see and play with a dingo, which was very similar to a dog. However, if you see a dingo in the wild, it is best to get away quickly because they are very vicious and dangerous animals. They are somewhat of a problem in Queensland and New South Wales because they often kill family dogs or livestock. If you live in Queensland or New South Wales, you are able to get a license to hunt dingoes and can only hunt them during a certain time of the year, so kind of similar to deer in Michigan.
Once we left the crocodile farm, we were taken to our hostel for the night, and were able to hang out for a while before dinner. I found that there is a restaurant that is associated with the hostel that we stay at, so we get pretty good dinner deals. However, this dinner was especially exciting because the restaurant had kangaroo on their backpacker menu, so of course, I had to try it! I was a little skeptical at first, but I figured that I had to because I am in Australia. Surprisingly, it was really good! I found it very comparable to steak, since it had the same texture and was cooked very similar. It is kind of ironic that I fed kangaroo and then ate kangaroo in the same day, but overall I would have to say that it was the best meal that I have had so far in Australia!
Words of the day:
Bush – Forest or wooded area
Heaps – A lot of or many
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