After leaving Townsville, we spent the next day driving along, hoping to get a bit closer to our final destination. We drove along the track and saw the lush greenery of the cane fields and as the sun began to set, we watched in awe as enormous flames licked up into the air burning up the areas of cane that the farmers were clearing out. When we couldn’t handle driving any longer, we decided to pull off at the next sleeping spot we saw. It wasn’t too long before we came along a grassy parking area, filled with other explorers. We were thrilled that there was still a bit of room, so we pulled in and set up for the night. As Amanda and Aimee were preparing the nightly grub, Jono and Tim were off exploring the area. Before dinner was even cooked they came back to Bertha, with excitement in their voices.
They had found something cool, very cool, and needed to show the girls right away. So, out we all went, a little scared, but ready to see what the boys had found. And there they were. In all their glory. The one thing Jono so badly wanted to see on our Australian adventure… Cane Toads! For those who don’t know, Cane Toads were introduced to Australia in order to take care of the cane beetle population, however, they have become an even bigger problem than the cane beetles ever were! They are spreading fast across the continent, as they have no natural Australian predator. Also, they have a poison sack on their back, that ultimately kills anything that tries to eat them.
As a result, Australia is losing a lot of their native wildlife, as well as local pet populations. All the same, here we were, after hearing so much about them, thrilled to have had the chance to see them in the toady flesh! They were literally hundreds of them scattered throughout this rest area (even a few squashed ones along the road). Jono, being the “adventurer” that he is, even had the nerve to catch them and give us all a closer look! Along with the Cane Toads, green tree frogs filled the area. It was cool to see so many creatures, but also a bit unnerving. We didn’t spend as long as Jono would have liked checking out the toads and frogs, just long enough to make it a memorable moment and to make his Cane Toad Encounter happen!
To watch an amazing documentary on Cane toads, check out this link below:

Cane Toads: An Unnatural History

Enjoy!