Peter, owner of a Cruise company calls us during our stay in Darwin and on hearing that we were trapped there due to the floods said that we must come and see what the Adelaide river has to offer.
We board the pick up bus in Darwin City Centre and we head towards Jabiru, our friendly, informative driver talks away, tells us interesting tit bits of information about the things we can see to the left or the right, answering all questions thrown at him with confidence and ease. The land surrounding Darwin is lush and green, and with the wet season also comes the vast array fauna and flora, in fact, we are told that this area of the Northern Territory has more bio diversity than that of the Serengeti Plains. To see this much green and water around, especially after sleeping on the red earth of central Australia was astonishing. However, the most astonishing fact, and one which further explains our being trapped by the rains is that at one point over the last few years one part of the Adelaide river, normally 92m across expanded to engulf all surrounding land during ‘The Wet’ as it swelled to an incredible 14kms! The brief stop to the visitors centre gave us impressive aerial views of the land bellow us and offered explanations of some of the roles of the small creatures which help maintain the balance of the ecosystem.
On arriving at the jetty we were greeted with a snake around our shoulders much like an Aussie version of a flower lei and we shook hands with our skipper Peter himself, who promised us something a little different.
Very shortly after we set off Peter assures us that there is a croc of at least fours meters in length coming toward the boat. All the passengers quickly move to the right side of the boat, cameras at the ready, all pointing in different directions as we make wild guesses as to which ripple in the water is the croc. Eventually he has to verbally guide us to the exact location of the camouflaged killer so that our untrained eyes could focus in.
I’m leaning over the side of the boat; waiting for the shot I’ve been promised. Zoom lense ready, I’m waiting for the slight rippling of the water to give away the start of the jump. Suddenly he makes a giant, muscular, adrenalin fuelled jump. My zoom lense shows the teeth fast coming nearer to my face, he is really big. So startled by the swift movement I jump back, recoiling from the danger, I'm too surprised to react to the impressiveness of the beast in a professional manner and completely miss the shot.
Crooked, yellow, aging teeth amongst the fresh new nashers squeezed into a powerful jaw come closer and closer and closer as the prehistoric throw back lunges out of the muddy waters, opened mouthed, toward the crowd looking over the side of the boat. Up, up, up he jumps until two thirds of his tail is completely out of the water. Nothing had quite prepared me for the sight of the crocodile lunging so far out of the water bearing all its teeth. With my eyes only just back in their sockets. My exact words of exclamation were uncouth and unrepeatable so I will lie and say I said something along the lines of “Holy Cannoli!” followed by “Wow, he sure is a big old chap, how simply awe inspiring”. He snaps at the meat on a stick which has roused him but at the very last moment it is teased out of his reach and he disappears back into the water. The lure is lowered back within reach again and he makes another spectacular jump for it, this time clamping down on the bait and swallowing it whole after landing with a splash back into the depths, camouflaged once more.
The huge specimens we see today have recently been fighting one another, fresh scars over old ones leave white marks on their heads, apparently a six meter crocodile named ‘Hannibal the Cannibal’, who has recently moved into the area has been throwing his weight around and showing the other crocs who’s boss. Powerful, age old monsters, fierce and ruthless, persistently scout the Adelaide River, learning the habits of those who venture into the waters, either to moor a boat, empty crab pots or to swim. But why would anyone with a decent sense of life saving fear go anywhere near the river? It is crawling with these man eaters. Ruthless, without sympathy or remorse they guard their territory, patrolling the turf. If you are in, or nearby the water, and they are hungry, you haven’t got a chance. You can’t appeal to their better nature and whilst Croc Dundee fans would like to believe it is possible to talk your way out of becoming dinner, the reality is that it is the croc you don’t see that will get you and you won’t ever see it’s face to get a chance to stab it in the nose with your hunting knife. We’ve seen pictures of tourist in small boats being stalked by crocs and listened to countless tales of crocs from almost everyone we meet. But, the truth is you don’t meet people with croc scars, and after seeing the big ones up close and personal, I can clearly see how it would be impossible to survive to tell the tale.
The news is saturated with croc stories, one day a photo of a blurred croc in the distance graces the front page, the next, descriptions of a sandal being found on the banks near where the victim was last seen, or a hat found floating down stream. Croc attacks are not as uncommon as you would hope in the Northern Territory. Since our time in Oz we have followed the reporting of a man, a father and husband, who had been taken by a crocodile whilst he was checking his crab pots. He should have known better than to put his pots out in the same place three days in a row, say some, whilst others say kill the croc. An debate on the local radio stations about what should be done causes an outcry in the outback communities who believe things should be left as they are and people should stop interfering with the natural food chain.
What is so misleading about the media use of the croc sightings is that they print stories of crocs as if they are a rare occurrence. The truth is that they are everywhere, Phil and I couldn’t believe how many we saw and we know for sure there was a whole bunch more hiding in the waters that were not visible to us. A croc picture on the front page sells more papers, in fact, we find out that they tend to double or triple their sales whenever our prehistoric predators grace the front cover.
Croc Facts
They can leap so that 2/3rds of their tale is out of the water
They grow new teeth as and when they are needed
They swallow stones to aid with digestion and for balance
They bask in the sun with their mouths open so their brains don’t over heat.
If croc eggs are stored below 30degrees they usually become female, if stored below they become male.
They can become really big!!!
Birds of prey steal tit bits of meat as it is thrown in for the crocs
Phil and I were so thoroughly impressed with what we saw on this trip, it was something we were not expecting to ever see in the wild.
For bookings and information visit Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruises
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