NT, Australia
We took a bunch of students out to Berry Springs today. The wet season is ending and along with it, floods and inland-traveling crocodiles, so we had to kick off the season right!
There are cages positioned at the bottom of these swimming areas. AKA crocodile traps! It creeps me out to think about it. At the end of every wet season, divers set them and extract whatever crocodiles they can, then open the area to public swimming. In the wet season (about October-March), torrential rain downpours for a large part of everyday and there are spectacular lightning storms to go with it. These rains raise water levels and crocodiles are then able to swim back up streams that connect with larger bodies of water. As they travel inland, people stop getting in the water. See how that works?
In the dry season, there is quite literally no rain and the weather is pure Heaven. Crystal clear blue skies with no clouds in sight, no humidity (none that you can detect), and a caressing breeze coming off of the neighboring ocean. Day in. Day out. That is what is coming over the next few months and I'm only going to get to enjoy a few weeks of it! In all fairness, I arrived here at the end of the dry season so I did experience it for about two months, last year.
Anyway, back to Berry Springs. We were informed that a croc had been pulled from here about 2 weeks prior but that none had been seen since. Was that supposed to be comforting? These kids aren't scared (of anything--which is terrifying), so I had to puff up my chest and pretend that I wasn't at all squeamish about the whole thing.
Crocodile management signage
Aside from the biting fish (yeah, if you held still for more than a few seconds, they would try to eat your flesh–they felt like ant bites), it was awesome! The water was clear and tasteless. The greenery around the area was beautiful and there were little rock faces and waterfalls to jump from and enjoy. One of my girls insisted on practicing her photography skills (she's taking a class) and I became her subject. So, here's a montage of her work:
Wading in the spring (and secretly dreading the crocs swimming beneath me)
Itty-bitty baby turtles were swimming around
So cute!
In a canopy of ferns
Floating in one of the three major swimming areas
Being beaten up by a mini waterfall
Move over, Baywatch
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