The Geeky Brit

We soon left the swamp, and were on our way to the Johnstone River Crocodile Farm. I have mentioned before how the Aussies know how to do Zoology, well this place blew me away. This was the raw edge.

As we arrived, the owner and his small team greeted us. Mick, the owner, had a pronounced limp, and he and I got talking pretty much immediately. He was such a great guy, asking where I was from, and as we walked, asking me if I was interested in working there! I was not quite sure if he was serious or not (You can never tell with Aussies), but either way as we approached the first crocodile, I had made up my mind. Hell no.

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Okay, this is too much fun. I got a chance to learn to play the didgeridoo, and I loved it. I am now trying to figure out how I can buy one, and ship it back home. I have almost convinced my lovely wife of the cultural benefits, but not the cost. We will see.

Anyway, here is my first attempt

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So the day we were least looking in forward to, in some ways, turned out to be the best of all. As I had previously mentioned, we had swapped our Safari Tour day with the Barrier Reef trip, and so our last whole day was to be spent with our lovely French tour guide Franc.
He picked us up with some other guests from our hotel early in the morning. The day was to be pretty packed:

1. Eubanangee Swap Nation Park
2. Johnstone River Crocodile Farm
3. Lunch at a Australian / Italian restaurant
4. Jospehine Falls, where we could take a swim
5. Binda’s Boulder, with another chance for a swim
6. A visit with a aboriginee shop with demonstrations of the didgeridoo, and the bush telephone.

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As I had mentioned in my last post, we had been originally scheduled to go on a rainforest safari today. The reason we made the switch was that the owner of the safari company had called to explain he had some staffing issues, and wanted to see if we were available at any other time. As we were fully booked in Cairns, we had no days free, he offered to make the effort with our other tour operators and juggle our schedule. As a way of compensation he offered us a nice bottle of wine if we visited his restaurant, which he runs in additon to the tour company. He even vame to pick us up, and dropped us back off afterwards.

Oliver’s is located in the centre of downtown Cairns. It is slightly hidden, but no more so than any other premises. Oliver is German, and used to be a maitre de of a high class restaurant. When he came to Australia he worked in another fine dining establishment, and started the touring company on the side. As the business grew, he was able to to focus solely on the tour business until it grew to a point where he could open his own restaurant. And provide the local area with a high class, cultural experience.

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