Jumping Crocodile Cruise

Today we were excited because we were going to go on a Jumping Crocodile Cruise!  On the way, we stopped at a place called Window to the Wetlands.  It was an information centre up on top of a hill looking over to the endless wetland and heaps of birdlife.  Inside the info centre we learnt lots of things through interactive displays.  We learnt about the wet season and animals.  We then went to the top storey and looked out to the wetlands and could see billowing smoke coming from all directions from fires.  Then we had to leave because our 11:00am crocodile cruise was about to start.  

When we got there we had a look at our small boat and the Adelaide River.  We hopped in the boat and we could already see a saltwater croc next to us.  The man driving the boat said that this same crocodile always swam over to the boat at the start so they ended up naming him, Dominator.   They didn't just give him a scary name for nothing, he was a giant 5 metre, 80 year old male croc and was the most dangerous and aggressive croc that this cruise company has ever come across.  The guide put some meat on a piece of wire hanging from a stick and dangled the meat high over the crocodiles head and then the monster jumped and snatched the meat and then fell hitting the side of our boat.  Dominator got one more piece of meat to jump for and then we moved further down the river.  While we were searching for the next crocodile the man cut up some small pieces of meat and put them on the front of the boat were I was.  All the Kites (a kind of bird of prey) that were circling above, swooped down and nearly took Kade’s hat off in the process of snatching up the small piece of meat.  

Then we found our next saltwater croc.  It was a smaller female croc who was an excellent jumper.  The man held this portion of meat a bit higher than Dominator’s and she wiggled her tail frantically and jumped clear out of the water and missed the meat.  So she did another magnificent jump and got the meat this time.  We then went to the bank on the other side of the river and spotted a tiny baby crocodile near a crocodile nest.  He was about 25 centimetres long and was adorable.  We fed 2 more female crocodiles and 2 more males that jumped beautifully, including the 100 year old croc known as Grandma.  We then sadly had to go back because our turn on the boat was over but our day wasn't we still had more things to do.  

On the way back to the caravan (Peaches) we stopped at the Humpty-Doo Hotel for lunch.  We had a massive lunch including half a Crocodile burger, half a Barramundi burger and half a Buffalo Burger.  I liked Buffalo the best, then Croc, then Barra.  We then went back to the van and had a swim in the big pool.  

After that mum and dad had a surprise for us.  They took us down to the the waterfront in darwin at sunset and said we were going to the Deckchair Cinema.  The Deckchair Cinema is an outdoor cinema next to the ocean.  On the way in we picked a cushion and chose a deckchair and 20 minutes after sunset the movie Minions started.