Croc Smorgasbord

---

We’ve got a few busy days ahead of us so we very generously decide to award ourselves a morning off from touring.

The restaurant at the hotel is freezing cold. As we go to get lunch we see that none of the hundred or so tables inside it are occupied. We ask if we can sit at one of the two outdoor tables. Our waitress's reaction suggests that this is an unusual request. A few minutes later four fellow diners take their seats at the only other outside table; there's still no one sitting inside. We’re left wondering why the proprietors think that all their guests are craving cold. We came here to get away from the icy chill of a Melbourne winter.

We head out to Cahills Crossing, which is a causeway across the East Alligator River into Arnhem Land. It’s nearly high tide and there’s a raging torrent flowing upstream across the top of the road. It seems that this is the croc equivalent of a smorgasbord; there's a lineup of about ten of them across the river just upstream of the crossing waiting opened mouthed for fish to swim into their jaws. It also looks like the croc equivalent of a surf beach; we watch on as a few of them are carried upstream over the road by the torrent. It looks like fun; the gent standing next to me agrees, he says he’d love to be a croc if that’s what you get to do all day. Crocs sure don’t seem to like each other. We watch as one drifts in another one's territory and is then shown in no uncertain terms that this incursion is not welcome. A car tries to drive across through the torrent. There are no guard rails to protect it, and we hold our collective breaths as we wait for it and its occupants to be swept into the waiting jaws of the crocs. They survive, but more by luck than good management, and we're left wondering what hallucinogens they might have ingested to think that this was a good idea. The young Asian couple sitting on a rock right next to the water aren't getting a lot of marks for intelligence either; it seems only a matter of time until they become part of the smorgasbord. There’s a sign next to the crossing warning that people have been killed by crocs here, as well as one of the types of memorials that you usually see next to roads at places where people have died in car crashes. No one can say that they weren’t warned.

Issy's still struggling to walk after yesterday’s little rock climbing mishap so I drop her off to rest back at the hotel. I decide that while I’m here I’d better at least take a quick peek at the nearby Ranger Uranium Mine, which we're told has only very recently ceased operations. It looks like any other mine - a deep hole in the ground with a large pile of rocks next it, and lots of "miney-looking" infrastructure. It’s hard to imagine anything more incongruous. It’s completely surrounded by the country’s largest national park; a world-scale pristine wilderness where all effort is focused on preserving life. And what's in the middle of it - a large hole in the ground where they dug up the stuff that's used to make weapons that would wipe out all forms of life given half a chance. Sigh.

I head out to Ubirr Rock to watch the sunset. The rock art here is ancient. It includes a depiction of a thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) which apparently became extinct on the Australian mainland some two thousand years ago (and extinct full stop some time early last century). The views from the top of the rock out across the adjacent Nadab floodplain are beyond spectacular, and right up there with the best I’ve ever had the privilege of witnessing. The floodplain is a ridiculously spectacular bright green colour. Being here feels like a real spiritual experience.

---

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Crocs and Rock Art
They are aggressive creatures and evidentially don't like their space invaded by anything. I always enjoy seeing rock art and hearing the history.

[DaveandIssy]

Crocs and rock art
Indeed! Rock art was indeed incredible!