Day 1 - Darwin & Jumping Crocodiles

9 July 2022

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High in the sky

On a cold and rainy winter saturday morning at 4am in Sydney, we leave home to take a plane to the other side of the country. After 6 hours flying we arrive in 30*C `cold dry` season of Darwin. Same country, but a complete different world.

Understandable if you consider that the distance is as big as Brussel - Cairo a

Darwin

At arrival we pick up our 4WD with roof top tent. An experience we have dreamt of since a long time! We end a long day of travelling with filling our fridge with food for the days to come, learning how to mount the tent, and making hamburgers in our `kitchen`. Thanks Tristan for cooking!

The famous `Salties`

Did you know that the Australian saltwater crocs are the most aggressive and dangerous crocs in the world? The Salties are very solitary and they can't support each other!

Our guide knows each of the crocodiles we see by name, and tells us 1 hour of stories for more than 1 hour.

• Males eat and kill each other defending their own territory. Therefore croc population consists of 20% male versus 80% female.

• Only moment they can barely support each other is during the mating act and even then females risk to get eaten or drown by the male when during the act he forgets what he came for.

• Digger was almost killed by Stumpy. She has big scars on her face

• Stumpy her attacker has only 1 leg, he lost 3 legs in a fight with another male. But this doesn't make all that difference. Crocs only need their tail to keep on moving. 1 legg or 4 don`t

• Casanova has the biggest territory, occupying more than 3km lenght of Adelaide River with all its inhabitants.

• Salties are very patient. A couple of year ago, a croc attacked 3 locals while they were washing their quads in the river (not that clever when you know this is croc territory) : 1 of them was eaten, and 2 others managed their way up in a tree, but couldn`t get away as the croc was sitting right under the branch waiting for them to come down.... ! The crocs patience was not rewarded, as after 12 long hours the guys were finally found and rescued from the tree. What a terrible story!

Our camping host, Anna ''I am not sharing my bath tub, and neither do the crocs! Fair is fair.''