Day 1. Not the top of the food chain

By the time our much loved unit at Myilly Point is cleaned and has passed the rental inspection (praise God) we are on the road just after midday. Our first stop is the Mary River Wilderness Park, ninety minutes south east of Darwin and on the road to Kakadu.

Mary River is a glorious Top End wilderness. With shady trees and greenish grass thanks to large amounts of bore water, camping at Mary River is far from primitive. Even at the end of the dry season, the river flows with more water than you might ever see in the Murray. Rivers are easily accessible in the NT. Boating and fishing are the main attractions, however, bush walking is more our style. Swimming and indeed getting within five metres of the riverbank is certainly off limits, as the Top Ends crocs are much more than a Darwin tourist attraction.

In the NT the advertised message is to be ‘croc wise’. To stay away from the banks of a river like Mary, to wear Polaroid sunglasses, to refrain from cleaning up your catch too close to the river and to be constantly mindful that people are not the top of the food chain.

Crocs are amazing creatures- huge, ancient, powerful and smart.  While a tasty magpie goose, a small dog or a crunchy turtle are their usual fare, humans, it seems, are increasingly on their menu.  

Thankfully tonight, in Matilda, we are 60cms off the ground, 500 metres from the river and feeling quite secure…we hope!