11
Location: Townsville
Today we were finally able to sleep in, so we woke up at 9 AM! At 10:30, we were picked up at our hostel and headed to the Billabong Sanctuary. Surprisingly, we felt even more tired than the other days, but we were still excited to see some koalas, crocs, kangaroos, and wombats. When we arrived and met our guide, the tour through the sanctuary began. We started by holding a python and a small saltwater crocodile. Afterward, we went to the wombat den to pet Wanda and Reuben, two orphan wombats who were rescued and brought to the sanctuary, and learned that they have a thick layer of cartilage on their lower back to protect from dingo attacks. We then saw and petted a really cute koala named Oscar, some dingoes, and went to see a crocodile feeding. One of the sanctuary workers, dangled a chicken wing over the mouth of a 3.5-meter long estuarine crocodile until he jumped high enough to be able to reach and eat it, it was very impressive!
After grabbing some lunch, we were driven up to the Castle Hill lookout to enjoy an amazing view of Townsville and then headed back to the Civic Guest House to hang out there until it was time for dinner. We talked and listened to music until it was time to walk to the beach. We grabbed some pizza on the way and ate dinner at a picnic table overlooking a beautiful beach enjoying a sunset view. We walked back to the hostel, had our daily forum and went to our rooms to try to sleep and be prepared for our early morning.