The Kids That Broke The Camel's Back

Camels are a large part of life here in our neck of the woods. Or should I say "neck of the bush"? There are wild camels, camel tour groups, camel farms and camel races. The kids and I actually went to see the camels race and, let me tell you, you haven't seen anything until you've seen these big, beautiful, horribly ungraceful creatures racing. Unfortunately for you, I had camera issues. (Translate: Angie forgot to put the card in) Therefore, no pics. A great experience no less.

Jason and I have also eaten camel meat. It was awesome!! Well, as long as you block pictures like the one above from your mind. Cute little bloke. And for those of you who will never try either of them, you can tell your friends that camel is tastier than kangaroo.

A few weeks ago, the kids and I joined up with a few friends for our first visit to the camel farm. The kids all got to ride. I really, really wanted to ride. But they were being led around in a circle at a snails pace by one of the employees . It would have been too damn humiliating to even contempalte. So I chickened out. Not to mention what the helmet (and the plastic lice resistant shower cap) would have done to my image!

But I got great pictures of the kids.


Here are the girls.




And here they are being led around the track.



Here are Cole and his friend Ryan. Such concentration.



And there was petting.


Gracie had a case of the sillies.


Brady had an itchy nose.


And in the end, everyone had ice cream. Well all except Grace and Matthew. In their excitement, they grabbed ice cream and ran out of the store before we were able to pay for it. In one of those tough, lesson learning type situations, they were denied the treat. Better that than 10 - 20 in the state pen one day. You've got to nip it I say!

Look at Matthew eying the goods. Grace wasn't in the picture. Hard to be since she was busy yanking on my arm and having a good cry.




A few camel facts:

• Camels can live for up to 50 years, weigh from 250 to 680kgs and grow to be over 2 metres tall!

• There are two types of camels: the Bactrian (or Asian) camel, which has two humps and the Dromedary (or Arabian) camel, has one hump. Dromedaries are the most common in Australia.

• They gulp down their food without chewing, then regurgitate & chew the cud later. (Say it with me...eeiew)
  

• The hump is full of fat, not water. It will shrink if the camel doesn't eat. Baby camels are born without a hump. They need to start eating solids before they'll develop one (or two).

And that's what I know about camels.