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The boat powered down the surf in the middle of Darwin harbour. As it hit the wave in front a great sheet of water enveloped the boat and soaked Tommy, Jane and I from head to toe. Tommy held tight to the steering wheel with the two fingers and thumb left on his left hand and to keep us on course. He had lost the other two fingers to a crocodile twelve years ago.
At this point Tommy decided we would not check the crocodile traps on the far side of Darwin Harbour. We were mid channel with Darwin city to our East. It was blowing a 'hoolie', at least a 5, Tommy headed for the West arm harbour branches where there was more shelter.
Tommy is a real celebrity in these parts. As the leader of the Ranger team who manage the 20 to 40 crocodile traps in Darwin harbour he is regularly in the local paper. ABC have featured the team in a three episode reality TV show.
The day we went out the pictures of Tommy catching crocodiles with Prince Harry were released to the media. Harry had been
out two weeks before during his visit to Darwin en route for New Zealand. Tommy had done the rounds previously and knew he had crocodiles caught in some traps before he took Harry out. Apparently Harry was is first Royal. He has been filmed with Ray Mears and in a few weeks had Robson Green and a film crew in tow.
We only got to go out with Tommy because of our host Neil's connections and there were no crocodiles in the traps we checked. They get a lot more in the wet season and catch between 250 to 300 over a year.
'We are just creating a vacuum', said Tommy. The saltwater crocodiles have been a protected species since the seventies. They continue to grow in number and in size.
Tommy's traps can accommodate a 5 metre crocodile. We watched him bait them with a pig's leg or head. They catch the crocodiles live and then hand them over to crocodile farms. The farms make money from skins and meat.
We criss-crossed the bay and inspected and re-baited six traps during our three hour adventure with Tommy.
The crocodiles are highly dangerous and aggressive. They lost two people in the Darwin area last year and one in the nearby Tiwi islands. Some of the traps were around the new gas terminal installations being built in the harbour. It is one reason, the other being deadly box jelly fish, why you see no one swimming in the seas around Darwin. It tempting because there are lovely beaches in the area. The last weekend we were in Darwin a kite surfer had had to fend off a crocodile. 'You poke them in the eye'!
Despite the lack of crocodiles it was a great day out with Tommy. We were dry by the time we got back to the jetty and had had a great tour of the large Darwin harbour area as well as getting an understanding of one of the most unique jobs in Australia. Thanks, Tommy. Thanks, Neil.
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littlewing
Cindy
Awesome experience
Glad you are seeing the true Australia - amazing things off the usual tourist trail are everywhere, thank you for the great blog.