Day 150 – 12th June 2018 – El Questro to Timber Creek

We drove to Kununurra to pick up my car and boat and did a bit of shopping before we left.  We then drove to Timber Creek which took about 2 and a half hours.  The plan was to camp at a free camp called ‘Policeman’s Lookout’ but when we arrived we found out you couldn’t camp there even though it was on Wiki Camps as a free camp.  We decided to just stay at the Timber Creek Caravan Park and loved it!

When we were checking in at reception the lady told us to hurry down to the creek at the back of the park as they were about to feed the fresh water Crocs and then the Kites.  We quickly parked the van and boat and headed down to watch.  The place was beautiful and the feeding was really interesting.  Fresh water crocs are not aggressive and you can generally swim in an area they in.  They only attack if they are threatened, cornered or stepped on but otherwise they try to keep out of your way and are fairly timid or shy creatures.  Most of the time you would not even know they were there.  I am hesitant putting up the video for this reason as it represents them as aggressive when the Freshies (also called Johnsons) are not the ones to worry about.  Salties on the other hand are very aggressive and you should never swim where they are, nor even stand at the waters edge.

It is amazing how well these Crocs can blend in, even in clear water.  Can you spot the Croc?

It is strange to wind the clock back an hour and a half and be back in the same time zone as our fellow Adelaidians.  Beer ‘O’ Clock came early for us today.  It is also amazing to feel the change in the weather and the increase in humidity.  Everything is so green!

There are hundreds of big bats in the trees around the creek and I can’t believe how loud they are.  Luckily we can’t smell them, but wow they are loud!

After the Croc feeding they did a demonstration of feeding the Kites which was also really amazing.  There were about 10 birds circling during the feeding.  These birds would circle above and the person feeding them would throw meat up into the air and a bird would swoop down and catch it mid flight.  It was spectacular.  I did get a little worried when they asked for volunteers and a group of small children went out to feed the birds.  They weren’t great throwers and one threw the meat over his shoulder towards another small child and the bird swooped in very, very close to the kids to catch the meat.  The kids loved it though.

Kites are an interesting and clever bird, when there is a fire all the critters rush out from their hiding spots to get away from the fire and the Kites maximise this opportunity to feed.  They are so smart that they have even been known to pick up a burning piece of wood and drop it somewhere else to create a fire and force more creatures to run out into the open!  Incredibly graceful and quick.

I would like to acknowledge the Timber Creek Caravan Park for putting on this demonstration at no cost.  So many places on this journey charge exorbitant prices for these types of things.  This was a great show and worth stopping in overnight on your travels if you are in the area.  One of those unexpected surprises that both Col and I really enjoyed.