Ahead of me, Doug was balanced somewhat
precariously on a submerged log and was attempting to pull the kayak
over using a couple of branches sticking perpendicularly into the
air, when, I saw a large tail slithering down the bank, heard a big
splash and registered the back of a crocodile sliding into the water
a metre in front of him. We were paddling our kayaks up the Roper
River in Elsey National Park which had not yet been declared "clear"
of saltwater crocodiles after the wet season, and, when I yelled
"croc!" I was sincerely hoping that the big lizard I had
seen was one of the harmless Johnstone River (freshwater) crocodiles
and not a large, hungry or territorial "saltie."
Doug heading up the Roper River
Our easy paddle up river had lasted all
of one kilometre when the wide Roper River abruptly shallowed up and
the first of a series of small grade two rapids began. Undeterred,
we had continued to work our way up, hauling the boats up small
rapids wading waist deep in the water. After our first crocodile
sighting, we pulled back into deeper water to regroup and easily
convinced ourselves the reptile was harmless, and, about "as big
as me" I said, "so not very big." We continued on,
aware now that we might actually see a few lizards. Sure enough, not
10 minutes later, a rustling in the bushes, heralded the sight of
another somewhat smaller crocodile sliding down from the midst of
some pandanus palms and disappearing into the water ahead of us.
Portaging near Mulurark
We had a long stretch of easy paddling
up the now broad river and noted a National Parks sign on the bank.
A half a kilometre further on, we got to a rapid that was difficult
to drag the kayaks up due to the narrowness of the river, the speed
of the water, and a large strainer lying right across the river.
After three hours of paddling upstream intermittently dragging our
boats, we decided this was a good turn around point and easily
paddled back down to the National Park sign for a break on the bank.
As we were having tea and lunch, a family came by, jokingly asked if
we had seen any crocodiles, and were shocked when we replied "yes,
two." "Can I swim, Mummy?" asked the little girl.
Doug doing the kayak limbo
On the way down, we decided to count
the rapids we had portaged, ten in all, eight of which we managed to
run in the sea kayaks with only a bit of bumping over shallow
sections. I was surprised how naturally all those leaning, sweeping,
and ferry gliding skills from whitewater kayaking (something I
haven't done for about 25 years) instinctively came back. Grade two
rapids in a sea kayak are not particularly exciting but I did get a
small flash of the old thrill that running rapids in a whitewater
boat used to bring. So many fun sports to play at, how do the
Australians find time to do all that sitting? We came across one
more crocodile on the way down but this one was dead, head low in the
water, tail out and looking somewhat flat and desiccated.
Running a small rapid on the Roper River
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