Crocodile Country

Everyone you meet in the northern regions of Australia; cruisers, fishermen and landlubbers all seem to have their own crocodile story to tell. The daily rag has one almost every day.

The talk at the moment is of introducing a culling program. Nothing new, after all, when I lived in Wyndham (aka the Cambridge Gulf is the arse end of the world and Wyndham is 60 miles up it….the description given to me by a public servant no less!) in the early 1980’s there was talk about the town and with government officials that the same needed doing. The wheels of government..they take time!

Sadly there have been a few tragedies with crocs taking children in Darwin and northern Queensland, hence the current discussion. Being young, ignorant and new chums to Wyndham, it took an indigenous person to point out to a group of us that there was a rather large salty in the billabong where we were swimming! Better to be born lucky than rich!!!!!!!!

It does appear though, that the crocs, being territorial, are on the move during the wet looking for new places to live. On a very high tide in Darwin, (March equinox) one small chap decided to go exploring and happily found a quiet home in the Botanical Gardens no less. A nice sandy ‘beach’ and lawn to sunbathe on!! Imagine the surprise of the person who was strolling around the gardens and found the croc doing the same!!!!!! He had managed to walk across a busy road, probably undertaking the journey at night, just after high tide.

Some crocs even manage to find a new home thanks to good people! In Queensland (some government department, apparently not fisheries!) a project was started called ‘Crocs in Space’ which basically translated into tagging a croc with a satellite tracking device, planting him somewhere and see where he ends up. It is believed that most crocs have an accurate ‘homing device’ and find their way back to their territory. Perhaps this was the theory being tested?? Under this program in late 2008, a rather large crocodile was caught in Bamaga (Cape York) and released some 50 miles north of Townsville. This in itself was alarming enough to the people of Townsville who do not usually have crocs so close. It gets worse!!! The croc, not happy with his new location, trundled off to none other than Magnetic Island, found himself a beautiful white sandy beach to call home. I guess whoever was responsible for this, thought it seemed a good idea at the time??? The dive charter companies, along with resort businesses in the area, did not agree and are taking legal action to compensate for loss of income! The croc??…maybe heading for a handbag????????

When we were heading into Crocodile Creek in the Kimberley, we chatted to a Fremantle yacht with three men on board making a quick exit as they had been chased by a rather large croc in their dinghy. They were rowing at the time, so hardly making a noise! We stayed for a few days and saw nothing, although we were sure we were being watched!

A catamaran last season had anchored in Seaplane Bay (between the King George and Berkley Rivers) much to the disgust of a rather large croc. To voice his displeasure, the croc continued to bang his tail against the hull of the cat, and when that failed, he sat across the back of the boat with his tail teaching over the back of one pontoon and his head on the other. The cat was 45’ in length and more than 4m wide! Any attempt by the owners to scare him away was to no avail (they even ran the engines for a while) so they went below and left him to it. Although the crocodile was no-where to be seen in the morning, they did notice him following them out the bay!

One saltie chap, over 3m in length, was found last week to be enjoying the nice tourist town of Coral Bay and surrounds on the WA coast. Quite a way south!!! Not in the brochure as an optional extra, wildlife officers were a little miffed as what to do about the univited guest. We can oly assume that catching the rather large fellow was not in their job description, so in the interests of the local people and tourists, it was shot.

Of course there is also Bill’s croc story of his dinghy being death rolled by a crocodile, just after he had stepped out of it whilst anchored in Honeymoon Bay. The small croc had been hanging around another yacht that had fish hanging form the back of the boat.

The one that ‘takes the cake’ happened the other day. Two young guys decided to take their helicopter and collect some crocodile eggs. They landed near their ‘tinnie’ and off they went up the creek. They had a gun with them, as most station people do. Nothing unusual in that.

One of the young gentleman lent over the side and put his arm underwater to reach down and collect the eggs from the nest. As he was doing this..surprise..mummy was nearby (females always stand guard of their nest in case this very thing happens!) and grabbed his arm. The crocodile tried to pull him in the water. He shouted for his mate to shoot the crocodile. In panic, his mate(#2) indeed took a shot but missed and shot his (mate #1) arm off instead. They managed to get to Darwin Hospital and both survived! This did not reach the papers..one of the cruisers works in ED at Darwin Hospital!

We look forward to being somewhere where you can swim off the boat, puddle around in an inflatable and not have to worry about crocodiles!

Fabulous Fremantle

We were somewhat relieved to fly off to Perth late November for most of the wet season, leaving Stolen Kiss tethered in Tipperary Waters Marina, insured for the first time since we departed from Australia. The latest bit of expense gave us peace of mind. In hindsight (if only!!!!!!!) we need not have worried as the monsoon trough appeared to have sat further south than Darwin this year resulting in a very quiet wet season in Darwin city.

Initially we planned to head back to Darwin in January, which then became March with the pending arrival of yet another grandchild, who luckily was born 5 days before my return to Darwin. The first granddaughter who has three strapping brothers to contend with! Apart from spending time with family we were busy catching up with maintenance on our rental properties and buying yet more parts for Stolen Kiss. What happened to the idea of traveling light?

On returning home this year we took somewhat of a different perspective of Fremantle and our pristine sandy beaches that stretch as far as you can see. Maybe it was a quiet reflection on the other stunning beaches we had been to over the past 5 years. We made the most of the quiet mornings before the ‘Fremantle Doctor’ kicked in at 30 plus knots and swam in the stunning, shimmering crystal clear water of our local beaches.

It was a little strange being in our house again. (Our tenant had gone to Europe so we offered to house sit rent free – for her!) We have a small storage shed packed with our precious bits and pieces, some of which mysteriously appeared inside the house, taking up familiar places. As fast as they appeared, I put them back!! I didn’t want Peter getting any ideas of coming back just yet!!

Lyn and Steve from Carillon (who was parked opposite Stolen Kiss in Darwin) came down to Perth for a short time and stayed with us. We managed an afternoon sail on Hitchhiker on an unusually hot day (comparatively speaking as we had a very cool summer), which was just as well as nearly every other day was our normal 25 knot plus sea breeze. Also on offer was a drive through the Swan Valley wine region and a spin on a fast launch (Lyn and I forgot to ‘hang on’ when Peter open the throttles in the harbour and nearly fell off the back platform!!). It was a little like a ‘Miami Vice’ boat! Rather a long story as to what we were really doing on it!

As Rottnest Island is a real ‘must see’ in Perth, it could not be missed off Lyn and Steve’s itinerary. A quick ferry ride over for the day and Timmy there to pick us up and take us around to Stark Bay on Lady Jane was just perfect. As always, Timmy, a most gracious host at the best of times, afforded us a nice lunch washed with some fabulous wine! (He is a bit of a wine buff.) At least the two of us ‘locals’ managed a swim!

So much fun was had entertaining three young children (having lived through this once with Peter’s children!) that time whizzed by. What better excuse to legitimately (?) behave like a child again!! I had to keep reminding myself that my body was not twenty anymore and jogging along the beach (soft sand) with the children at surf lifesaving with an injured ankle (not one to show pain) was a tads over doing it! Where was Peter you ask????.....looking after his very pregnant daughter and youngest grandson in the restaurant enjoying the view over breakfast!!!! After much discussion, we managed to convince an 8 and 6 year old boy that being pounded in the surf and sitting out a shark alarm was actually fun. The question of ‘do sharks eat people?’ was asked and our reply along the lines that they sometimes get a little confused did put things into perspective! We were able to teach Thomas (a very astute 8 year old) to watch the wave pattern and time your run in and out of the surf. Whilst he managed to follow our instructions, it was indeed a case of ‘practice what you preach’ as I misjudged two waves the whole time and ended up being dumped, rolling up the beach in a very ungainly fashion, and even more pleased that it went unnoticed! Of course, grandpa who is really an old surfer dude, NEVER misses a wave! It was indeed a windy, rough summer!

We also had the pleasure in being able to share Di and Gorbar’s launching of their NEW boat! Our first NEW boat launching!! A bit of fun was had sailing and trips up and down the river as it went to and from the ocean to its new home at South of Perth Yacht Club. The electric winches were a treat in getting the mast back up (a few bridges necessitate mast lowering)…and also for getting the final trim of the headsail in 30 knots of breeze (when Gorbar wasn’t looking!). Due to the pending arrival of Lucy, Peter and I never made it together down to the Busselton Regatta to sail with Di and Gorbar, although Peter managed a weekend of racing the first weekend and I the sail home! In typical west coast style, we started off with a 22 knot E/SE breeze which finally died late afternoon being replaced by a 15 knot SW sea breeze. As our heading was north, there were smiles all around! The new Dufour was a little lively in the early morning, but nothing beats sailing along on a reach 200m off the beach all the way from Bunbury to Mandurah, some 45 miles. Gorbar was indeed in good company with Di, Heather and I! Averaging 8 knots for most of the day (even reefed down) enabled us to make Mandurah before sunset in 11 hours – at total of 75 miles. Great stuff!!!

It was soooo good to get back to Stolen Kiss. We were happy to return to a boat that was relatively clean and no mould! One of the kind yachties in the marina opened her up on the nice sunny days, of which we were very appreciative. Steve swam under the boat the other day and said we had an amazing amount of barnacles underneath, yet another yacht from Fremantle had only slime. Hard luck! Maybe it’s because we had sailed a few thousand miles since our last antifouling! Maybe we nee dot re-think hauling out before we head east. There will be no getting in the water until Lizard Island!

Well…the best laid plans…….Peter swam on the boat to check all and sundry and surprise….the shackle holding the board strop had broken again! Cheap Chinese crap that was only available in KK. So now a quick haul out before we depart! It appears that most yachts from Tipperary have gravitated at Spot On for their great haul out experience as well!!! Very expensive, but as this is the only game in town……. If it was just a bottom job we required we would have been happy on the piles. So, in line with the tide we will have our turn at negotiating the lift bay up the creek, hopefully at slack water. Surely it could not be any worse than Wavemaster, Langkawi or Kudat!

As a squall of 40 knots came through the marina in a thunderstorm, we were happy not to have been at anchor. Clearly we have been tucked up here far too long!

Plans are now underway to head east. As daunting as it is, we are forever hopeful of a quiet season of SE winds and the center of the highs being in the Bight!! Stylopora and Time Out are in the enviable position of being there after having done the trip last year. Hopefully it won’t be the ‘pay back’ of all the beautiful sailing we have had in SE Asia.