World Explorers 2011: Darwin and the ‘Cage of Death’!!!!????

Darwin sunrise

This morning we awoke to a spectacular welcoming sunrise over Darwin. We were really excited to be visiting Darwin cause we planned to face our fears and brave the ‘Cage of Death’ with the wild crocodiles of Darwin. We had been talking about it for months and I have to admit there were butterflies in my stomach as I went to sleep last night and thought about the adventure just waiting in Darwin - we had watched the video on the internet and I was quite concerned about the strength of the ‘cage of death’ against the onslaught of 800 kg wild crocodiles!!

We joked about whether we should stop at Woolies to buy a couple of raw chickens to feed them before we got into the water - just so we weren’t the food for the day - little did we know.........Joanne and Garry went straight to the Crocosaurus Cove to book a time for us, cause we didn’t want to miss out. Our death defying time was set at 4.00pm - but more about that later!

After room service breakfast, we disembarked to meet up with Bob and June. Bob is a plumber who moved to Darwin in 1976 to help with the Cyclone Tracey recovery and forgot to go home - they have stayed ever since - obviously enjoying the relaxed lifestyle that Darwin offers. It seems to be a city which has essentially been shaped by two major events of the 20th century - the bombing raid by the Japanese in WW2 and Cyclone Tracey in 1974.

Aboriginal Art

I have to say that it makes such a difference to our enjoyment of visiting a city when it is shared with someone who has an obvious love of the place - and we were so happy that Bob and June were able to show us around their hometown. Thank you both so much for spending such a wonderful day with us - we really appreciated it.

From Vietnam on a leaky boat

Fannie Bay Gaol - see the cyclone bolts along the building

After a general orienting drive around the city we stopped at the Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery. We especially enjoyed the display of Aboriginal artifacts, a display highlighting the links between Darwin and its maritime history - I was amazed to see the size of some of the boats which have been seized from illegal immigrants to Australia - the ones on display were used by refugees from Vietnam in the ’70’s. There was an interesting display of cyclone Tracey and its aftermath when 48,000 people were left homeless. The sound booth which plays a recording of the sound taken as the cyclone raged was particularly frightening.

A couple of reprobates

Next we visited the Fannie Bay Gaol, a relatively primitive series of corrugated iron and brick buildings which were used until the end of 1979 until overcrowding and its rundown condition forced it to be closed. The gaol also had a grissly set of gallows which were the site of two hangings in 1952. I loved the book on display which was a record of medications given to prisoners - listed in columns were the prisoners name, complaint and medication used - the only choice of medication was The Medicine, The Cream or The Drops regardless of the affliction!

Bunker holes along the waterfront

Relic of a bygone era

Since it was before I was born, I was not fully aware of the degree and impact of Japanese bombing on Darwin, so I was very interested in the military museum - which is situated in the area where the main line of defense and command post was located. Darwin endured 64 air raids and many hundreds of locals were killed - maybe the recent Baz Luhrmann film ‘Australia’ has raised our understanding of this devastating event in our history.

The remnants of the Town Hall

The Anglican Cathedral was rebuilt

We had lunch in the centre of the city’s mall area, walked around to visit the Town Hall and Anglican church which were destroyed in the cyclone and did some shopping for those last minute things we had forgotten.

And finally it was time for the ‘Cage of Death’....... my heart was pounding as we walked across the road and into the Crocosaurus!!

Languishing in the sun

It was time to come face to face with these monsters....... We rushed over to the pens where the wild aggressive crocodiles were located --- four different crocs in three different pools..... hang on a minute - three were lounging groggily in the sun, while only one was lying - read languishing - in a sleepy state - in the water - and the one in the water had both his front feet missing!!! These didn’t appear to be the ‘ultimate wildlife experience’ that the brochure described!!!

The Cage of Death

Still, we signed the indemnity form and listened to the safety briefing as the fellow tried to talk up the fact that ‘how they react is up to you’ - you have to do whatever you can to get their attention. Joanne and Garry bravely got into the cage and were lowered into the water - to be completely ignored by the crocs who didn’t even raise an eyelid!.

Garry splashed wildly, like a madman, mostly in Joanne’s face, and the crocs didn’t even open their eyes!! Short of cutting off Joanne’s arm and throwing it to them, I don’t know what else he could have done to attract their attention!!

Eventually one of the operators poked the croc in the water with a pole and he reacted by flicking into the water, swimming around the ‘cage’ and then returning to his position sleeping on the bank - hardly death defying!!

At this point, I decided that we didn’t need to pay $200 to be lowered into the tank to ‘get wet’, so I asked to cancel our booking - which I was able to do with a full refund - to my mind there was no difference being lowered in the cage into the water and standing outside the tank watching them through the glass wall!! Joanne described her experience as a ‘very expensive dunking’!!