Speaking of crocodiles - the Australian Reptile Park

Today is Wednesday 10 January, here on the east coast of Australia,  and I am again sitting in an apartment by Lake Macquarie, three hours train ride north of Sydney, visiting my son and two younger grandsons. The younger of the two turned four on Sunday. 

It has been very hot, the temperatures in the high 30s and even up to 40 degrees celsius or more for a couple of days. Occasionally there have been wild thunderstorms with very strong winds as well. 

Despite the heat last Saturday we drove to Gosford, which is almost half-way back towards Sydney along the Pacific Highway from here, to visit the Australian Reptile Park. This park holds mixed memories for me. I was there with my daughter and son-in-law about 11 years ago, on our way home from my son’s wedding in fact, when the news came through about the tragic death of the larger-than-life Steve Irwin! My son-in-law is a zoologist whose lifelong passion has been for snakes -  in fact he breeds snakes for zoos at home in his ‘spare time’ - and we had just been given a behind-the-scenes tour of the reptile park, mostly to see all the snakes they had that were not on public display. I came away feeling profoundly saddened, not only for Steve’s family but also for the world and for the animals he loved. He had generated so much interest in wildlife.  

Anyhow, this time I had two excited little boys in tow. And the park had developed considerably from what I remembered of that other visit. There were huge model dinosaurs  all through the park and even ‘dinosaurs’ walking around with their ‘keepers’ for people to take photos. Many native animals and birds were on display as well as all the reptiles spiders and frogs, including several koalas and even a platypus. Sprinklers on the roofs of their enclosures helped keep them cool in the heat, though unfortunately meant many of my photos did not work out. Young emus and even a wallaby wandered around the picnic area, which of course delighted many children and adults who were able to pat them. 

But of course the highlights were the ‘cave of spiders', the ‘frog cave’ and the ‘reptile cave’, all of which had great models - some of which moved and lit up - as well as live specimens on display, the lake containing several alligators (which are not native to Australia) and the special enclosure featuring ‘Elvis’ the crocodile. We watched ‘Elvis’ being fed - he is a very large crocodile. I thought the keepers were very brave (or perhaps foolhardy?) going into his enclosure and even standing with their back to him as he lurked in the crystal clear water. Crocodiles can leap out of water with great force and with great speed! I have seen that in the Northern Territory, where I was told horrific stories about what crocodiles have done to people and animals, including taking their heads off, and warned you should stay at least 4 metres from the water’s edge. 

My grandsons also loved the imaginative playground - sliding down the ‘lizard’s tongue’ and down its back. 

My photos will give you just a little taste of what we saw in this park and its bushland setting. We only stayed for about four hours - it was just too hot to do any more walking! 

Today we are off to the Hunter Valley Zoo, which will be a lovely drive, apart from anything else. The Hunter Valley is mostly known for its great produce, especially its wines, and also for its music festivals. 

The park entrance. The model on the top is of a frilly-necked lizard, found in central Australia.

 The next photos show two of the models of dinosaurs along the pathway down to the ticket office and shop, as well as part of a model of a crocodile inside the ticket office.

One view of the lagoon (lake) in which the alligators live. 

Another view of the lagoon.

These native birds were in the same cage as some black cockatoos, but the photos of them did not work out due to the close weave of the cage wire.

These tiny birds were a delight to see, but hard to photograph through the wire. 

One of the alligators. They have a different snout to our crocodiles.

The friendly little wallaby wandering through the picnic area. 

Some very young emus in the picnic area. 

Elvis the crocodile's enclosure.

This was the best image I could get of 'Elvis'.

Model of a funnel web spider, which proliferates in New South Wales. These rear up in an aggressive way, as the model did, and are deadly unless you can get to hospital in time for the anti-venom to work. 

A model of a huntsman spider. 

A live Indian tortoise.

A live iguana - a species of Australian lizards.