Day 179 We have already spent more time in Rocky then we deemed necessary so it was time to jet. Our travels didn't lead us very far but to nicer scenery for sure. We headed out of town on tourist drive 10 and our first stop was Koorana Crocodile Farm, Koorana meaning "bring forth the young". They are one of the smaller croc farms in OZ only having about 3500 crocs on site. We did a tour of some of their bigger crocs and watched as they were fed. Crocs are quite unique creatures being the last surviving dinosaur. They have some crazy characteristics, they can repair their own skin, are extremely territorial and the females can lay up to 70 eggs in one shot. They also have sensors all over that can feel even our heart beat. Their leather is the most durable leather available as crocs have no hair follicles, no oil glands and no sweat glands meaning the leather is free of any perforations, so it comes with a daunting price tag. Unfortunately for us the night before the temp got down to near zero and crocs can't digest their food unless it's warm so some of them were not interested in eating. The ones that were put on a show. After this we got to hold a 3 yr old runt of the litter mini croc, he was exquisitely soft.
By the time this was done it was close to lunch time. We drove a quick 15 minutes and sat on the ocean shore in the town of Emu Park for lunch. The scenery was fantastic back drop to go with our soup and sandwich. We walked lunch off with a spirited tour of Kele Park which is the home of the "Singing Ship" a monument erected for Captain James Cook who first discovered the region in 1770. It's a statue with what look like organ reeds that whistle in the wind. That was pretty much it for Emu Park so we were back on track and heading to Yeppoon for the night. Once in town we got some groceries and utilized one of the electric BBQs in the park.
Friday was a total lazy day. After waking up on the ocean front and laying in the sun for a few hours we went to the tourist info center. Attached to this was a sea shell museum. It's self explanatory so I will not go into detail, however we did learn that there is a poisonous sea snail. It shoots a poisonous barb at it's prey (fish) and this poison is also harmful to humans to the point where there is no vaccine and once hit you are a goner. No one has died since the early fifties as people are warned and the snail retreats unless threatened. We followed up the 10 minute museum with lunch, a stop at the then a shower at the local pool. And that was it! Oh no wait...we ate dinner and watched heaps of bats fill the sky!