He is a well behaved crocodile . . . . . . - Wednesday 19th September 2012

Come morning in the Safari Tent and all is still black. The tent is made from heavy duty green canvas and the windows are roll down flaps of the same canvas so no light, despite the sun having been up for an hour, could penetrate the tent. Breakfast was taken on the veranda, mainly because of the lack of room inside. By unplugging one of the fans and using our own kettle we were able to make coffee to go with our usual muesli and banana.

Having been told the day before that the resident crocodile was "a very well behaved crocodile and he lives up the creek and does not venture out". We headed for the beach and up about 500m from the creek to have our token swim in the Coral Sea. It was a bit reassuring when a couple of young guys donned snorkelling gear and headed out 200m from shore. "Crocodile bait" I thought. Then brave "Intrepids" didn't' venture far from shore and were always on the lookout for any suspicious floating logs. We had checked what burial preferences we both had, Trish to be buried and me cremated. Having survived that we went to do a boardwalk through the mangrove swamps, which turned out to be very interesting and informative. At 1.2km long it took some time to read all the interpretive signs and take in all that there was to see. Having finished it was time for a well-deserved coffee and a visit to the Bat House , the coffee was great but the Bat House was closed.

Lunch was followed by a session catching up with photo downloading and writing blogs. There is no mobile or internet coverage here but all is written in preparation for Cooktown where we will be back online. It was time to sit on the beach at sunset, but of course the sun doesn't set over the ocean as we expect at home. It was setting behind the mountains which were behind us but the sky over the ocean was changing to beautiful pastel colours while tiny waves lapped at the shore and a slight breeze rustled the fronds of the coconut palms.

Tea again in the camp kitchen chatting with English, Austrian and French travellers. Trish has gone into her girlie packing frenzy ready for our departure to Cooktown tomorrow. We are going the long way around, Cooktown is only 100km away via the Bloomfield track, but with memories of telling Trish if I every lead us on another terrible dirt road she should shoot me, we will be doing the 320km by bitumen to get there.

Dave - better safe than sorry.