Grant headed to the clinic around 6:30 AM to try and get in line to be seen. We had been advised to get there at least 30 mins before opening which was good advice because there was already seven people in line and they had already opened the doors to allow people to fill out paperwork. About an hour and a half later, he was diagnosed with cellulitis and given a much higher dose of antibiotics to hopefully clear the infection. The doctor told him that most doctors in Asia are used to a smaller frame so don’t always prescribe a high enough dose to effectively treat patients especially foreigners. They performed a swab on him and unlike in the US, they just gave him the bag and told him to walk it down the street to the lab.

Once medicine was in hand and overnight bags packed, we were ready to head up the coastline to Daintree Rainforest. We stopped in Palm Cove and grabbed some breakfast with an ocean view. Then it was off to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventure. There they have a man made river where they’ve taken in/rescued saltwater crocodiles. When you get your tickets, they give you a boat tour time so we had about an hour to kill before it was time to board our boat. 

We walked through the koala section along with the kangaroo and wallaby area. I was surprised they had the kangaroos and wallabies just free roaming the area where you could go up to and feed or pet them. We were both a little nervous to get close but did end up petting a wallaby laying down. They had a reptile center (Grant’s favorite as he just loves snakes…just like my love for frogs which is more of a strong dislike) along with some lizards including a Komodo dragon. Grant is already “planning” a trip to head back to Indonesia to see the Sumatran tigers and visit Komodo island. 

The boat tour was very interesting as there were several crocodiles to see in the water and along the banks of the river. They have one big male in the river along with 22 females. Part of the boat tour was a crocodile feeding. That was crazy to see as they kind of tease them with it to get some head shakes, jaw snaps, and jumping before they release the chicken to them. 

Afterwards, we grabbed a quick snack and debated heading up to Port Douglas or staying for the 3pm croc attack show. We decided to stay and finish our tour around the center to see the other crocodiles before the show. The show was interesting to watch as it is just one trainer and the crocodile to show the audience what the croc can do when hunting. She told us at the beginning that she had only worked with him a couple of times and this wasn’t the usual croc they used for the show so she had a whole crew ready to back her up if anything went south. Thankfully nothing bad happened but it was intense to watch. We didn’t realize what they actually did during the show in order to show the death roll and head shake maneuvers a crocodile does to kill its prey. Her voice was noticeably shaky throughout so you could tell she was legitimately nervous about working with the new croc.

Once the show was finished, we headed off to Port Douglas. This time I got to try my hand at driving on the left hand side of the road. It definitely takes a little bit to get the hang of where your car should be in the lane and there were a couple of times I was too close to the edge of the road on Grant’s side. We stopped for a quick pit stop at Rex Lookout to get some drone footage and pictures. 

Once in Port Douglas, we grabbed an early dinner at a Mexican restaurant but we were both getting to the “headache stage of hunger” so just chose the first thing we saw. While there, we tried to plan out the rest of the evening. We looked for hotels in the area as well as closer to Daintree and decided it was best to stay with the short drive and stay in town. 

We swung by Four Mile Beach to catch a glimpse of sunset before heading to our hotel for the evening. The beaches here along the Queensland coastline have signs everywhere warning about marine stingers (or jellyfish as we call them) and crocodiles. I guess that makes sense why most of the beaches we would stop by were pretty empty.