Jumping Crocodiles

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Having woken up feeling a little under the weather we took advantage of our empty dormitory and had a lay in ahead of our trip booked for the afternoon.

Soon it was lunch time so we got ourselves organised and headed into town to buy some cheap sacrificial clothes for Sundays fishing trip. With some bargains bagged it was time to head to the transit centre for pick up. Fortunately there were only 4 of us booked in for the Crocodile Express today so Ron our driver picked us up in the company 4x4.

Pointing out local sights such as the Humptydo Hotel the journey soon passed by and we headed out to some wetlands where there was a huge array of wildlife Ron told us the road which we were driving along was actually a damn wall built in a effort to grow rice in the 1950's that failed. He also pointed out that last year the Northern Territory's had the wettest wet season on record and the damn wall which normally sits a metre above the water was actually submerged under a meter of water! Along damn drive there were also signs saying no walking and Ron said there was a resident 6m Saltie who terrorised the area, so they were taking a risk!

The next stop was a visit to the Window On The Wetlands centre which was full of information on the habitat, it's inhabitants and the history behind it all.

With the highlight of the day ahead of us we were eager to get to the Adelaide River to see these giant reptiles leaping out of the water, so after a short drive past a heard of large buffaloes we were at the last stop where Jo found a replica to have her photo taken!

Not long after leaving our mooring we spotted a tail at the rivers edge and I think it spotted us as well and started swimming towards us. After a little encouragement this 4m crocodile was showing us just why they call them jumping crocodiles!

Moving further downstream we quickly came across another 5m specimen the guides recognised as Michael; named after Michael Jackson because of the black and white looking skin! It took a little more coaxing but they soon had him putting on a show for us, which was made all the more impressive by his daunting appearance and aggressive attitude.

Whilst feeding Michael we had another smaller crocodile appear who's equally as well recognised because it's pale appearance, hence the name creamy. This crocodile was particularly agile and demonstrated they can get their rear legs out the water when they jump if they have the motivation!

Another 5 minutes down stream we came across a 6m beast called Hannibal at the waters edge, although he disappeared into the water as we got closer without any trace. Although these crocs can hold there breath for up to 3 hours, Hannibal's disappearance wasn't a problem as we looked around us we could see quiet a few pairs of eyes swim mining towards from up and down stream, at which point we started feeling a little nervous!

Showing no fear our first 4m crocodile was soon perched on the riverbank in front of us planning how to climb aboard for a lunch slightly more sizable than the buffalo ribs he'd just been feed.

With several successful jumps on the cruise we headed back for home, although on the way we got to see a flying demonstration from several kites and hawks who swooped into grab small pieces of meat as the deck hand through them out over the river. Their agility and speed was extremely impressive as they swooped with a meter of us to catch these chunks of meat!

Just as we thought the tour was finished we spotted a crocodile lurking underneath the boat pontoon which made the walk ashore a little more nervy, although our guide assured us the government say we're pretty safe from a salt water crocodile attacks as its been a couple of years since a human has been eaten!

With the excitement behind us we travelled back to Darwin for a quiet night of writing blogs before our sea fishing adventure on Sunday.

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