Crocodiles in Exmouth

Hi ozwasp, cant answer your question but it reminded me of a time recently when up in Derby, while on my brothers fishing boat, a large salty cruised past the craft.

Ths in its self is nothing unusual up that way.
What I did find interesting was the fact we were nearly 200 kms off the coast.

Still wonder if it made it home.


Cheers.....Lionel.

Not seemingly unusual!
Our mid 2007 trip to the Kimberly and then south to Onslow before heading east to home, saw several news reports of big salties well south of Broome and down to the Onslow region.

Regards distance off shore - I had a manager in the late 1990's, who had spent several years crewing on the Coastal Surveylance aircraft from Townsville round to Darwin and back. He had many stories of large crocs being spotted several hundred k's off shore!

I must admit though, that I will start to get concerned when they show up in the Barker Inlet of the Port River Estuary system in Adelaide! :-) :-)

Cheers - Mobi

No crocs here Ozwasp, maybe across the other side of Exmouth Gulf, in fact a 3 metre croc was seen in the Ashburton River near Onslow last year, there were reports of a croc in the Bay of Rest area near Learmonth Airport, about 40 kilometres south of town, but if my memory serves me well that was in the winter and knowing what the water temperature is like in winter i cant see how it would survive.


Cheers
Mark

Last year when we lived near Whim Creek in the Pilbara - a salty moved into Balla balla - and the CALM (DEC) wildlife dudes put up a sign saying beware, after a couple retirees camped there spotted him and took these pics of his slide down the mud embankement and a google image of the location.





When the DEC dudes were putting p the sign we had a chat about the crocks and how far down they were!

They mentioned the one in Sams creek at Pt Samson, & I saw published photos of presumably the same bloke at the Cape Lambert Loading dock a few days before. They also mentioned the one in the Ashburton at Onslo, that they have been chasing for a long time.

Did a bit of cray diving on the Eastern side of the Exmouth gulf, and thankfully never saw any sign of crocks, but i they can be at Olslo - then obviously the exmouth Gulfs a possibility.

Back to the one at Balla Balla - a couple of likely lads from the pub at Whim Creek claimed to have got a .22 mag round into it one night - but said it wasn't a kill shot and probably just made him angry! (Overheard them braggin about it around the pool table).

I'm guessing males will keep maing their way down the Pilbara - how far further south they will go is anyones guess.

Cheers

well im guessing salties need rivers, mangrove swamps - sure there found elsewhere but thats not there habitat and they are just going elswhere.

By my reckoning theres not alot of habitat for them below onslow


- .................... but then again crocs in yardie creek?, kalbarri in the murchasin? they already have mangrove jacks and muddys

maybe even gulderton and the moore river aint safe?

For years and years my late father in law used to go on an annual fishing expedition to Gladstone, on Shark Bay.

On one of these trips he beat a croc away from his boat with an oar. It was sluggish and definitely not well.

So they do get there, once in a while, and usually after a cyclone.

Don't think they've made it into the Yarra yet. But as I live on a tributary I'll be keeping a sharp look out !!!

Cheers.........

there was a freshy found at windora a while back

- now that lost!

The crocodile at Gladstone WA was found dead on the flats not far from the 26th Parallel lookout.
There is a record of Yardie Creek Exmouth as having once been a croc shooters camp.