Starting back in the sixties, I have lived and worked in Australias "Top End", from the Kimberley to Cairns. Yes, there are a lot more, "Mud Ghekkos" about since they were put under protection in 1972.  "Sweetheart" was one big croc that lived in the South Alligator River. (NT). A couple of blokes I knew were fishing there when, according to CALM, the croc got turned on by the throb of the outboard. As a result, the bloody thing BIT the outboard motors leg OFF. When the blokes were interviewed about it all, they supposedly said, "We were about ten foot from the bank when the big bastard attacked. Me mate dived out of the boat and thrashed towards the shore. I bolted too, and somehow managed to get to the bank with just me legs gettin' wet. We worked it out later, that in me terror, I reckoned I musta run over me mate as he swam for the bank". (True story) Anyway, CALM went after the croc, and managed to net it. Trouble was, that they supposedly towed it backwards, and drowned it. Anyway, there's a lot more crocs about now. There are also a many more of "Great Whites" off SA. The stinger, with a fatal touch, once only found in the far northern waters are slowly moving South. While crewing on the Great Barrie Reef tourist boats, out of Cairns, I was "hit" by a small stinger. Very painful. There are cone shells that can "fire" a poison dart at you. Highly poisonous "Stone fish" Various types of sharks. On the land, Australia has, was is considered, by experts to be the most venemous land snake in the world. Seems that the Western Brown, and the Taipan get together, and after a quick "winkypop" produce a snake with real bad attitude. The Western Taipan. In some parts of the country, years ago, camels have been known to attack and kill people. Spiders that can kill. Etc etc. All these creatures are at home in their own enviroment, until we humans come along and expect them to move for us. We wouldn't knock up a barbie on the nearest freeway or railway track. We wouldn't step out of a twenty story building window just holding an umbrella for safety, so, as much as this article may bring some argument, we just have to respect nature. Go see Australia, but please be aware of what is out there. Regards. PIPES      

What a good story pipes. Makes you realise just how many there are out there that can be harmful and to be mindful at all times.

Gday Pipes, bloody good read,& so true! I reckon most travellers/tourists jus doin their normal travels would not encounter any of those. I have been right around, top t bottom, & through the guts, & the no. of dangerous 'critters' i saw [ apart from those crossin the road ] I could count on 1 hand.. Although, I did put m tinny in the river at 'shady camp' NT.for a quick run up the freshwater side of the barrage [Mary river??] I have NEVER seen so many crocs!!! Needless t say, there will NOT be a repeat performance..... Am still wanderin aroun, but on a bike for awhile. Have a good one eh......

Don,t worry about the crocs-The Sharks have eaten them all. Don,t worry about the sharks- the Stingers have stung ,em. Don,t worry about the stingers- the Crocs have eaten them.......................

We toured the Territory and North Qld a few years ago and talking to rangers about the crocs, the usual reply was..."Oh you southerners are fairly safe from the crocs, because you are terrified of them....as you bloody well should be... You will notice that 9/10 of the croc tradgedies are locals." That said it does not make it any less tragic, but it does seem to be pretty much on the mark.

Did anyone see the story on Sunday Night on Chan 7 tonight about the Hippos. Hippo Heaven in Sth Africa, with Sonya Kruger, plenty of crocs there competing for space. Probably the only animal that can beat a croc is the Hippo. They said will chop it in half with one bite.

It's just as well we don't have wild hippos here. We campers have enough to watch out for. It's like everything, treat it with respect. Just sitting around the camp, or in the bush, or wherever you are, watch what crawls, walks, slides and creeps around, and unless it's crawling up your leg, it will go away and leave you alone. I did learn to kill western browns up in the Kimberley when they were hanging around too close to the house etc in the homestead compound. I even enjoyed watching the wide variety of spiders which inhabit the great sandy desert, the St. Andrews spider in Broome, and an assortment of brightly coloured spiders in Cairns. I even had a small sleeping python in the linen cupboard which gave me a surprise, but I left it there and it eventually moved on. If you're silly enough to stand on the bank of a river infested with salty crocs you have to be prepared to be croc fodder.

Nice to see I'm not alone in my attitude to our native Wild-life for a change.  

Wasn't too long ago some-one got upset because I got angry when they had a Croc. shot, because it had the hide to be right outside the door of their Caravan, [which was parked very close to the edge of a river bank], and it opened it's jaws and moved towards the wife as she was coming out.

They weren't impressed when I asked what they would do if they found a stranger in their living room in the morning.

Thank you Pipes and Chris.

Cheers,
Sheba.
  



-- Edited by Sheba on Monday 28th of February 2011 12:30:42 AM

My money is on the cane toad coming out on top...

While living in Cairns I got the impression the cane toad population was waning. I only encountered about 4 in the 2 years. In the 70's I was in Townsville and the ugly buggers were everywhere. I know they're having a problem much further west, on the NT/WA border, where mobs of volunteers go on the hunt for cane toads on a regular basis, and round up thousands of the ugly critters. Maybe they're migrating further south and west. Does anyone else have any observations of these toads? One was found in a load of fruit in Adelaide a couple of years ago, and they went into panic mode. I think the toad was "eliminated".

We stayed at Mataranka Springs in the NT two years ago. I could hear noises at night and went out with a torch to do, what I thought would be, frog spotting. There were hundreds and hundreds of cane toads everywhere, such a sad sight indeed.