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| Johnstone Crocodile handle with lunch |
Where is the best place in Australia to see crocodiles and live to tell about it? The answer is a no-brainer; the Johnstone River Crocodile Farm in North Queensland, Australia. Not only will you get a chance to see live crocodiles at Johnstone River, but also wallabies, kangaroos, dingos, cassowaries, and many other critters big and small that are native to Australia. I visited Johnstone as part of an Oz Experience stop in North Queensland. We were promised an up-close-and-personal viewing of crocodiles, but ended up getting much more. If you go during a feeding time like I did, you will witness a crocodile adventure show that you'll never forget!
What to Expect
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| Young Crocodile |
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The Johnstone Crocodile Farm is filled with crocodiles, emus, and cassowaries enclosed in pens made of chain link fence.
Between the enclosures, small wallabees and kangaroos freely roam. Our tour of the Johnstone complex was led by a young man whose face seemed to bear stress marks of a dangerous job.
The guide told us that the crocodiles often escape from there pens at night and eat the kangaroos. He also assured us that they account for every crocodile before opening the doors to the public. The tour was then turned over to an older man dressed in khaki who spoke to us
from within the crocodile pens.
For the next 45 minutes the old man poked, prodded, and even sat on the enormous crocodiles as he fed them their lunch. The crocodiles were not amused, and attempted to attack the old man several times. Every time the old man placed his body in harm's way, our young guide muttered under his breath "the old man is crazy," "I can't believe he isn't dead," and even "I can't wait to quit this job. He's going to get me killed." Yikes!
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| Old Man Sitting on a Crocodile |
After the show, we got an up-close-and personal look at a cassowary. The cassowary is a large flightless bird of Australia with a well-earned reputation for being vicious. As the cassowary paced and us stared down from behind a fence,
the guide showed us scars of where the cassowary had attacked him when he got too close to the fence. Needless to say, none of us dared to get anywhere near the cassowary enclosure. Our tour of the Johnstone River Crocodile farm ended with us getting a chance to hold snakes and baby crocodiles.
It was a tame ending to a tour in which we got to see some of the world's most dangerous animals.
Just the Basics
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| Feeding a Johnstone Farm kangaroo |
- Location: Innisfail Township, North Queensland
- Cost:
- $28AUD Adults
- $14AUD Children (ages 4-14)
- $74AUD Family (2 Adults + 2 Children)
- Website: http://www.crocpark.com.au/
- Feeding Times: 11am, 1pm, 3pm
- Advise: Visit during a feed time, bring a camera, and stay away from the cassowary!
