behind the complex and so we were treated to the beautiful singing of many different tropical birds. Taking advantage of the full kitchen facilities we bought groceries and had a few meals in. The apartment is only a 5 minute walk from 4 Mile Beach where you find the finest of fine white sand. The water was extremely warm and I'd venture to say it was probably at least 30 degrees Celsius; fantastically warm for bobbing around in. The only draw back was that it is currently marine stinger (box jellyfish) season which means the stingers are migrating to the shoreline to reproduce. This makes swimming extremely dangerous. But have no fear the Aussies have installed these massive industrial strength nets in spots which keep the stingers out and makes it safe to swim. Brilliant!!
Port Douglas is definitely a tourist town. Its main road is lined with quaint shops and restaurants, all of which have outdoor seating. Makes sense when you have such warm and sunny weather year round. Salsa Bar & Grill, is more of a local's place, and here is where Z feasted on a local barramundi fish dish. We ate at Dave's Takeaway, a burger and fish & chips kind of place and if your name is Dave you got your picture deed to the wall of Dave's and got a discount. Our last night we ate at Siam By The Sea, a great Thai restaurant. There's a great gelato place on the main road just a few steps from our apartment. We may have stopped in there a couple times. We discovered that tipping is not common practice, something very foreign to us because it's practically mandatory back home. Australian minimum wage is roughly $16/hour, which makes it easier to actually make a bit of a living.
We were quite interested in seeing the fauna native to Australia. After some research we found that the Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas might just give us the experience we were looking for. Built in 1998 on 8 acres, this family owned and operated facility provides a unique experience by recreating the natural environment of the animals and allows the animals to roam freely within their areas. Guests get an interactive experience as they mingle with the animals. The habitat offers a breakfast with the birds or lunch with the Lorikeets. We decided we'd enjoy the breakfast which started at 8am. The breakfast itself had a lovely spread of pastries, cereals, hot breakfast items and fresh fruit. The bird enclosure had a vast variety of bird species; some of the most beautiful, brightly colourful birds I've ever seen. The birds were free to fly around which some did while other stayed on their natural perches posing for pictures. You needed to keep your eye on one wanderer, the Magpie Goose, because he was more than happy to snatch your bread items off your plate. Some of the most unusual birds we saw were the black-neck stork, cassowary, sulphur-crested cockatoo, lessor sooty owl, and the Australian pelican.
After breakfast we decided to join the guided tours which took us around the different parts of the habitat. These tours were very informative and we learned a lot about the different animals and particularly their eating habits. The habitat also provides wild animal rescue by providing care to injured animals.
Our interactive experience included feeding a joey kangaroo. His food was these little pellets which he ate straight out of our hands. I had to shoo away a duck who kept trying to eat from my hand because the duck wasn't as gentle in eating the food. The joey had very soft fur and appeared to enjoy being pet. We learned a little about koalas and how they sleep for roughly 20 hours a day (my kind of life), they are very particular in their food and only eat about 7 of the hundreds of different species of eucalyptus leaves found in Australia. Their body structure is designed to sit in the trees and they have 3 fingers and 2 thumbs which allows them to grip the tree branches and stay put in the event of a storm. Their fur is designed to repel water keeping their skin dry even in the worst of rain storms. Cody the resident koala was a cute as a button and we got a once in a lifetime opportunity to hold him ever so briefly for a photo op. He too has very soft fur. After our koala experience came the reptile presentation. Not being a huge fan of snakes, this part was a little uncomfortable for me seeing a live snake outside of an enclosure. Z was all over having his picture taken with the snake. Turns out he was he only one in the group. They also brought out a baby croc, only about 2 feet in length. After this presentation we wandered over to the croc feeding. The croc enclosure had about 10 crocs in the water and you would never have guessed that because they were camouflaged with their surroundings. The guide called the crocs and slowly one by one they came out of the water onto dry land. From the walkway above the guide threw small raw chicks at the crocs' snout and the croc would catch and eat it. Some throws were misses and it was interesting to learn that crocs cannot see down so if they didn't catch the food and it landed even a slight distance from them they wouldn't realize it was there. Best way to avoid an encounter with a croc is avoid croc infested waters and if you encountered one on land, run in the opposite direction. Our experience at the habitat was very informative and gave us a great opportunity to interact with many of the fauna, something that really is a once in a lifetime experience. I would highly recommend visiting this habitat to anyone heading to Port Douglas.
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