‘Here little croccy’

We’re chillin’ for three days at. Bitter Springs Mataranka NT. It’s a group of thermal springs forming an oasis in the desert. Tall shady trees are all around. Which is just as well, as the weather has suddenly become summer- like with daily top temps in the mid thirties. Luckily for us, Ziggy comes equiped with aircon!

The Sparrow swam in the springs yesterday. The water is quite ‘mineraly’ . Dogs aren’t allowed in the springs, so the Silverback and I stayed with Ziggy.

They’ve been a few references to crocs, so just to put the record straight. There are two sorts of crocs in Australia:

Freshwater crocs (freshies) have skinny snouts, eat little things like frogs and fish and generally run away from people. In the world of prehistoric eating machines they could be described as cute! There are some in the local river system here. The creek feeding the springs has barriers to keep them out of the swimming area, mainly so as not to scare the tourists.

Saltwater crocs (salties) have wide square snouts and can take down a water buffalo. They could never be called cute. They mostly live in estuarine river mouths connected to the sea. IE: NOT HERE! After a big meal they don’t need to eat for several days and just lie around. Salties on the move are usually hungry. If you ever met one it would eat you.