Townsville is the home of the National Rugby League team the Cowboys so on Friday I headed over to the stadium to watch them play the Bulldogs from Sydney with my friend Marissa, also a Southern Californian. The Aussie uni students (nobody here says “university,” it’s just “uni”) who drove us there explained the general rules of the game in the car so we could follow what was happening. The game is impressive – the players wear no pads, and they hit hard! After head-butting an opponent, one of them was knocked out for at least five minutes. Also amusing was that although there seemed to be no proper mascots, there were inexplicably costumed people walking around the edges of the field. We took a photo with Energy Man. The Cowboys lost 22-12 but it was so much fun to watch.
Saturday afternoon I went to the Strand with Marissa and Kelsi to check out the Culture Fest. We arrived just on time to watch a traditional Aboriginal dance performance. I took a video of it on my camera and plan to upload it at some point so you can see too. We browsed the stalls selling all kinds of exotic goods as well as the stands selling food from all over the world before leaving to lounge on the beach.
I spent Sunday afternoon with friends at Billabong Sanctuary, a zoo of native Australian animals. I watched a crocodile feeding, during which the presenter calmly said, “If you place yourself on their dinner plate, they can and will eat you. Their dinner plate is right about where I’m standing.” There’s also a photo of my friends standing next to a model of Goliath, a 5.2m (17’2”) crocodile and the largest ever held in captivity in the Northern Territory.
I got to pet a kangaroo (with a joey in its pouch!) and a dingo puppy, and I had the chance to hold a koala, baby crocodile, and sand python.
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