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Australian Crocodiles

I was watching an Australian Travel log on telly. The compare, named Russell Croight endeavoured to be funny by being an idiot. He was talking about crocodiles and that took my memory back to the ‘60’s when I lived in the north of the West Australian town of Kununurra. The area is known as the Kimberlie’s.
One of the 3 big rivers was the Ord. It was dammed at Kununurra and the water used for irrigation. Rice was tried but the Magpie Geese cleaned that out. Then came cotton. I was involved in that. It was my first cropduster job but the crop became uneconomical with up to 18 spray applications per season. Since then cotton farmers have become much better at managing pests and allowing predatory spiders and even small populations of undesirables in the crop. This compares to previously trying to keep it totally insect free. Genetically modified cotton has also been bred to repel insects. Both have contributed to much less spraying. Maybe 4 or 5 applications. Also roundup resistant cotton has been bred and this allows for inexpensive eradication of weeds as compared to earlier hand chipping. But I have wandered away from the story I intended to tell.
I’d fly quietly down the Ord at ground level and about 100 yards in front I’d see the Johnson River crocs, commonly known as fresh water crocs or freshies, scamper from the river banks to the water. Maybe one every 2 or 300 yards. They were harmless and grow to about 6 feet in length.
It was some years later that I saw my first “Esterine Croc” sunning its self on the mud banks of the Albert river in the Gulf Country of Queensland. Crocs are reptiles of course and acquire their body heat by lazing in the sun. These fellows would not be intimidated and if I’d run a wheel up their back it would probably only make them angry. They can grow to 18 feet and in an extreme 1,000 pound in weight. They are protected after being nearly exterminated. Like much legislation, it’s gone too far. Esterine crocs, otherwise known as salties are found in Australia and southern Asia. They are aggressive to the extreme.

So if you watch telly and see Russell Coight or Paul Hogan do remember they cater to the gulliblity of the viewer to make their living.

the pictures in order are the jaws of a salty, a salty, jaws of a freshie and a freshie.