Crocodiles here in Australia are a northern thing, we don’t get them in the south and we certainly don’t get them here in Brisbane. As a rule of thumb, crocodiles generally live north of Gladstone and all way around the northern coastline of Australia right way across to Broome in Western Australia.
But that is only a rule of thumb, which, as it turns out, isn’t a proper rule at all.
Crocodiles can swim a bit, and some just seem to keep on swimming. This has resulted in many a croc sighting further south from their usual habitat.
In 1940, apparently there was a crocodile sighting in Yamba; remember Yamba? It’s 300 kilometres south of where I am in Brisbane, I stayed there during my road trip. Other sightings south of Brisbane have included Hope Island on the Gold Coast, Logan, which is right on the outskirts of Brisbane and right here in Brisbane, over at Nudgee Beach, remember Nudgee Beach? Well, a 3 metre crocodile was spotted in Schulz Canal over that way in September 2010.
So, I would suggest, no matter where you live in Australia it still pays to be a little bit vigilant before jumping into a river, canal or billabong for a quick dip.
How hard is it to catch a crocodile?
I was reminded of these rogue crocodiles the other night whilst watching the news, and the “Mary River croc” got another mention.
The Mary River runs through Maryborough which is about a four hour drive north of Brisbane. I drove through Maryborough on my way to Hervey Bay in January of this year when we took a short seaside break.
Anyway, back to the Mary River croc. Nine months ago, this was on the news…
On May 2, 2012 the Courier Mail declared “Rangers close in on Mary River croc”.
Yeah, right!
Guess what? They are still trying to catch it.
According to the same newspaper just six days ago, and the item on the news, the 3.5 metre crocodile has continued to evade capture. Some of the locals in Maryborough want to keep it there, as a tourist attraction. Experts though are warning that he may have mates.
By the way, the crocodile is now sometimes referred to as the “elusive Mary River croc”.
Nice job Salty!
You don’t have to be careful of crocs when swimming in SA. The only crocodiles you’ll see are the freshies in the zoo.
Yes, you’re pretty safe down that end of the country when it comes to crocs anyway, so, just the sharks then 🙂
Thus is a great stuff about crocs
Thanks Lily, glad you like 🙂
The bloody croc ended up eating someone
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-26/police-find-body-of-darwin-man-taken-by-croc/4911268
No, different croc, definitely. Actually, different river as well; although they are both called the Mary River. Ones in Northern Territory, the others in Queensland, they are probably a couple of thousand kilometres apart.
The river this poor fellow was in his one of the most densely populated crocodile rivers we have.