The Yellow Water Cruise in Kakadu National Park was by far one of the coolest things we've done in Australia. We both ranked it up there (but not quite equal to) our time at the Great Barrier Reef. We did the two hour sunset cruise, and the Yellow Water Billabong is an incredible place full of all sorts of plants and wildlife. The main reason we were there was to see the crocodiles, and the cruise did not disappoint!
About thirty minutes into the cruise, this big guy started swimming along next to our boat!
He was so close, I was able to get some great photographs. How cool are these creatures?
Here's a video of this dude swimming alongside us...
On our way back up the river, we ran into him again!
As the sun started to set, we began to see crocodiles everywhere! There was this little one...
And this yellowish one...
Yikes-check out those chompers on this close-up!
These two were quite close to each other. Friends, perhaps?
I just can't get over how prehistoric these things look...
Never smile at a crocodile...
This one was climbing up the bank. It was cool to see it move.
Apparently, crocodiles regulate their body temperature by keeping their mouths open like this. They don't have sweat glands, so they release heat through their mouths.
Zack was happy to finally fulfill his Australian dream of seeing a crocodile in the wild!
Two hot but happy crocodile hunters!
This cruise wasn't just about the crocodiles, though that was our favorite part. My next post will show you some of the other cool things we saw! I'll leave you with one more croc picture, just in case you didn't get enough...
What great pics! I really like the video of the croc swimming next to the boat. They are quite graceful for such large dinosaur-like creatures. You did a great job getting shots of these guys, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete-Nathan
Thanks. We're going camping this weekend, and it just won't be the same as it was back in the Smurf days!
Deletethat is awesomeeeeeee. and not in a crocodile purse factory pond. that tail is my favorite picture. good work.
ReplyDeleteI like the tail one too. I'll put lots more on my Shutterfly site soon.
DeleteWhat type of people where on the boat with you? Where they all tourists? From the amount of shutter snaps I could hear in your video, I am going to guess there were a lot of Asians enjoying the crocodiles with you. Were you allowed to feed the animals? They should throw a lamb in the water just to watch what happens. Their boat business would pick up if they did this. That would be awesome see a crocodile attack something.
ReplyDeletePardon my incorrect usage of "where" twice and my omission of the word "to" in the last sentence. I can't type today.
DeleteOh brother, brother (ha). 1. There were mostly older folks on the boat with us. The crowd at the park tended to be backpackers on their own or older people on tours. I guess this was a type of tour. 2. Can you say stereotypical? You should have seen me in Thailand; I was the one taking pictures of random street signs and what probably looked like "nothing" to the locals! 3. No feeding. There are other rivers where you can go on a tour and they dangle meat on a stick over the edge of the boat and the croc jumps for it. We chose not to go on that type, because it didn't seem really authentic to us. Cheesy, touristy, and the crocs are "trained" (in that they know to hang around there for the easy food). This was way better. The real deal.
DeleteNow Zack can leave Australia a happy man - he has seen crocs in the wild. Awesome pictures!
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes, he was excited!
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