Photo shows one of the typical crocodile warning signs now seen everywhere near large estuaries and the coast in Northern Australia. This one was located by a lovely section of the North Kennedy River in Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park.

From Gladstone on Queensland's Central coast right round northern Australia to Broome in Western Australia there are warning signs in English, German and Chinese about the potential danger of saltwater crocodiles. The crocodile recovery story has paralleled that of the baleen whales. Once almost hunted to extinction, strict bans on hunting in the 1970s of both the smaller freshwater crocs and their larger more dangerous saltwater relatives has led to a remarkable resurgence in numbers. There is the occasional injury or death from crocs in the three northern states, but generally crocs keep to their preferred habitat and the incidents usually happen when locals or tourists get careless.





Large saltwater crocodile sunning itself on the banks of the North Kennedy River in Rinyirru National Park.

We got used to crocs when we were teaching in the Northern Territory in the late 1990s and 2000s, especially so because we were living amongst them on Saraoni and using a dinghy to get to and from the shore! In Darwin, each creek had a large baited (with chickens) metal cage to trap the crocs which would venture from time to time into the harbour from elsewhere. The trapped crocs would then be transported to a crocodile farm. The thousands of crocs living elsewhere were left to live a normal life. It did put a damper on swimming from a mainland beach (potentially suicidal), and this has now become the norm in most of northern Queensland, although crocs rarely bother to visit the offshore islands. Freshwater crocs live in many of the inland rivers, but aren't really a danger unless they are cornered.

We have just returned from a trip up into the Cape York Peninsula, which has large areas still in wilderness. Much of the peninsula is hard to access without a 4 wheel drive vehicle or light plane, so we contented ourselves with exploring the southern half of the huge Lakefield National Park, now renamed Rinyirru, the Aboriginal name, about 350 km north of Cairns and lying in a sunnier, drier area, in the rain shadow of the coastal mountains. Rinyirru is criss-crossed by several large river systems and their associated overflow billabongs and wetlands. Of course, there are plenty of crocs here, but they are not always easy to see unless they have hauled out on to the banks to get warm in the sun. Termite mounds, agile wallabies and birds in large numbers were everywhere, very typical of a Northern Australian savannah woodland environment. We did venture down several narrow, bumpy, sandy 4 wheel drive tracks to camp by water lily covered lagoons, but really need a more suitable vehicle if we want to do any more of this sort of exploration.



Magnetic termite mound in Rinyirru National Park. Termites are the main herbivores in Northern Australia and their biomass far exceeds wallabies or other grazers.



Agile wallabies replace kangaroos as the main grazing mammals in Northern Australia. Unfortunately, too many get killed on the roads when they are attracted to green, nutritious grass growing on the verges.



One of Rinyirru's many rivers snaking across the flat lowlands of this national park. This drone photo was taken at Catfish lagoon near where we saw several large crocs. They didn't seem to be bothered by the drone hovering near them, but took off when they heard a 4 wheel drive vehicle turn up!



A water lily covered billabong (Keatings Lagoon) near Cooktown.



Despite August being in the middle of the dry season, many of Cape York's rivers are still flowing after 3 wet La Niña years. This is the lovely Palmer River on the way up to Laura on the Peninsula Development Road.



Birds of many species on the Cape York Peninsula trip.

From top left: galahs at Laura, Great Bower bird
rainbow bee-eater, whistling kite, galah
Intermediate egret, oriole.

The constant strong winds and rain in Cairns are about to subside in the next few days, which will be a blessing as we can then get out to the reefs again. Not sure how long the calmer weather will last, although normally September is the start of better (for sailing) weather here. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has yet to declare an El Niño in the Pacific, despite the U.N. having declared one having begun. This is apparently because the BOM says that the trade winds are still too strong - in a normal El Niño, the skies are clearer and the trades are reduced or reversed, something which would suit us down to the ground! In any case, even climate scientists don't really know any more what is normal and what has been modified by climate change. The oceans are definitely warmer than ever and this may have influenced the amount of (supposedly) dry season rain we have had the last few weeks.