Day 156: Kakadu - Darwin

Jumping crocodiles Batman! (in my best Robin voice)

On the way back to Darwin we stopped at the Adelaide River Queen "Famous" Jumping Crocodile Cruise. We arrived an hour early and took a seat in the empty coffee shop while we waited. After half an hour the place began to get really busy and I started to get twitchy with the "well we were here first so we should get the best seats". So after a further 15 minutes we went and waited by the jetty. Still having the English blood in us we fought in the inner queuing demon and casually edged our way to near the front.

The cruise was great. At first I was apprehensive about the crocs leaping out of the water really fast and being scary but also concerned that it was another "taking advantage of animals to make a tourist buck" gimmick.

We got on the boat and apart from the set off from the jetty where we had to sit down, everyone stood up during the trip. You could feel the boat listing as we were rushing from side to side.

The crocs only come over if they want too, it was very unnerving to see them stalking the boat. They only get fed once during the day and the cruise changes the stretch of the river each time it goes out. A pork chop is hung over the side of the boat and the croc "jumps" to get it. They use their tails to propel themselves vertically out of the water and their movement is quite slow. I think we had about 7 come over but we saw about a dozen more lurking about.

The best bit of the cruise (after we got bored watching crocodiles) was on the way back down the river when they fed the birds of prey... Adelaide River is one scary place. There were over 100 birds circling and swooping the boat. You had to keep your hands in and off the rails in case they thought it was part of the free lunch. They were whizzing past less than a foot away from us. It was crazy! Fabulous photo opportunity though.

Highly recommended!

Emelie

2007-07-04 Jumping Crocs, Adelaide River PHOTO ALBUM