wading croc rivers Cape York

others will answer, but ive been there twice in last year. inland creeks on otl are safe, dont go in the sea, dont go in creeks in lakeland n p creeks in general are fairly shallow and easy to see the bottom

. also plenty of people about, so ask or copy those who know what its about

David

I live in a crocodilian habitat.
There's one rule of thumb I go by. Don't go in the #loody water.
The croc you don't see will be the one that will do you damage. I nearly trod on one on a fishing trip one night after stepping over the sand bank to cast my cast net. A spot I had been at for 6 or 7 hours and the same spot I had thrown my net numerous times that night. At 3 metres, not a super jumbo but certainly big enough to sort me out if he wanted to.
I have seen salties in so called safe, croc free area's and have developed a healthy respect to what they can do to a 200kg cow, let alone a human.
Although credited with great intelligence I am yet to see a croc that can read the boundary signs as to where he should or shouldn't be.

Cheers
Wal.

David I walk the creeks a couple of times on the otl every season I dont walk the jardine.
I dont swim in the ocean.
I dont sit on the banks of creeks and rivers if I go fishing I cast then walk back a few metres.

All the best
Eric

Depends which way you go and what tracks you use. You won't find to many creeks and rivers you need to walk first, except maybe the Pascoe and Nolan Brook, north of the falls on the OTL.

David,
Vic Widman, Great Divide Tours, has a way to cross the rivers on the Cape.

When you arrive at the river and there is a very good chance that there are crocs and you don't want to walk the river to check the depth, turn you vehicle around and back up until the back wheels are wet and then drive forward. This will leave wet wheel tracks. Park your vehicle on the bank of the river, have a cup of tea and wait.
When the next vehicle comes along, he will see your wet wheel tracks, you give him the thumbs up to say the river is alright to cross, and then you watch him go across. If the vehicle sinks to the roof you know that you did the right thing and waited.

Seriously if you are not sure about the river wait and see if someone else comes along who might be a local or has driven the river before and is willing to cross with out walking. It it just not worth it to walk a river up there.

Wayne

Hi all
After reading I thought I better add a snippet, My wife three kids and I traveled to the cape 5 years ago, and did the telegraph track with 80 series and trailer, their was one crossing not sure the name of the river anymore, however spoke to a couple we thought were locals and had just come across, they told us the river we were about to cross was free of crocs, so I told the wife to walk across with the camera as you would, only just before she got to the other side a troopy arrived with a load off aboriginals and told her to get out of the water fast as it was full of crocs, (I tell you the almighty was not the only one to walk on water) considering the crossing was a good 50mts wide we were lucky, it just goes to show how careful you need be and not believe all you here, needless to say the wife never did any of the crossings herself for the rest of the trip. (missed out on some good pic's after that) on the advice from two people we thought we were OK by walking the crossing, it just goes to show!!

I would be very reluctant to go into the water. Chances are that if there were a croc in the water and you go in.. it will think about you the same way Merv Hughes might about a Lamb Sandwich if it turned up in his lounge whilst watching the Ashes at 2am. Even if it didnt drag you off, or it was relatively small, the kind of injuries that you might sustain could still be life threatening given how far you may be from help.

In PNG, we used to fish for Barra in the Bensbach River which has its share of big salties and the general rule was, if fishing from the bank, was to stay away from the edge and never go into the water. I'd stick to those rules here, there or anywhere there may be Crocs

Does it also depend on the Croc breeding season? If they are minding their egg lairs are they more likely to attack?

I remember we had geese in the paddock whne I was a kid, and they were safe to play with except when their gslings were hatched, and the parents turned into vicious defenders.

Basic "Flat Dog" behaviours;

Floating on top of the water with full body out of water and cruising the area you are in means nick off, this is my peice of river, waterhole, whatever.

Sunning himself/herself on bank. Not that worried about you or anything and soaking up some warmth.

Low in the water and generally cruising around on the look out for food.

Didn't see it coming, he/she had stalked you without your knowledge and has waited patiently for the most opportune time to launch a full attack. Not known to miss that often. The attack may be purely for food or a solid reminder to you that it is his patch of water and he wants you to definately leave.

Most importantly there are always exceptions to any rule.
They are wild animals, a totally refined and an "A" class killing machine and have exisited for so long purely for that reason. Take them lightly if you want, until one literaly bites you on the arse.

Hi guys,

The only person who made any sense in this post is Kimberly Kruiser.

Regards Kim