Well today was all about the crocs. We headed out to the Adelaide river and joined a few people on the Adelaide River Queen. The river was very dirty and if you just stood and looked for crocs  from the banks you couldn't see them. Once we started down the river you could start to see movement in the water. The photos today are on crocs.The tour operators have named each of the crocs they feed. They are easily recognized because each has a distinguishing feature, basically battle scars you might say. One croc has a leg missing, another a jaw missing, hence, a large over bite and another had one eye only.

The guide said there are over 7000 crocs in the Adelaide river system and over 100,000 crocs. in the Northern Territory. Every year when the breading system starts the Wildlife and fisheries people go in and take approximately 88,000 eggs and distribute them throughout the wildlife parks and the majority of them will be killed with the skins going to make handbags and accessories.I believe croc hamburgers are quite popular.

There is a very heavy fine if you shoot a croc with a penalty of $10,000 and a possible jail term of up to five years. This actually made me think about fishing from the banks of the Adelaide river. They said I could fish from the boat ramp but it was still a little too close  to those guys. In the water they moved pretty quickly and  once on land they can run up to 40 ks so be advised, get out of their way by climbing a tree . Decided I wasn't a good tree climber without a rope and harness. This beast below is 6.5 mtrs long and from the distance we were away from him he could take you in a couple of mouthfuls. He wasn't interested in the pork chops they were using to attract the other crocs as you would have needed to dangle a cow to get his attention. The chap having a snooze on the bank is called "Aggro'. He has some 25 girl friends and is king of his domain. He is also the largest croc in that section of the river. I believe he adds the occasional cow to his menu. Yum.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One croc looked at me when I was taking photos. He decided not to take the pork chops. As I was zooming in on him I was sure he was watching me and thinking why have an entree when I could get the main. He really put the wind up me. Funny how you can be so far away but when you see them jump you wonder how far can they    jump and are you within their range. I know they have us in their sights.

Yes the top end is full of crocodiles. The saltwater crocs are of the course the aggressors and funnily enough they do not like salt water so will be found in rivers, billabongs, basically anywhere where there is fresh water. Fresh water crocs on the other hand are shy and non aggressive.

Well I'm off to do a bit of fishing in the morning about 5 ks off the Darwin coast. They assure me I won't come back empty handed. Deano, I'm hoping that this doesn't end up like our Port Phillip bay adventure. Can't wait to get a boat, these guys are in the best place in Oz to fish. They can't swim in the water because of the box jelly fish but when you can stand on a wharf and see 2 to 2.5 ft trevally swimming around but because they use them for tourists to feed your're not permitted to fish where they are. You can go down the wharf about 100mtrs and they will not take your bait. It is the most disheartening thing for someone looking to catch a fish. While I was having a bit of a fish Gabriella was looking at the memorabilia about the bombing of Darwin. There is always something to look at up here, the weather is beautiful and did I say the weather is beautiful up here. We had the nicest day with a cool breeze this morning keeping the temp down to a low 29 deg. Yes it was a beautiful day.