Crocodile spotting! Now there's something to get your heart racing when you finally see these beasts swimming towards your boat and sometimes getting so close you almost have the urge to pat them on the head....I did say almost!!!!

We went on a cheap cruise down the Hull river in Mission Beach which started at 4 during the daylight where we set up crab pots to catch a few mud crabs. We did spot a crocodile which had obviously got a bit cross that we were in his territory and swam directly for us where it lingered until we moved on our way. He was a small one of about 3 metres long!!!! :o

Once we finally hit the ocean, we had a break to watch the sunset and take advantage of the view whilst munching on a baguette with a nice warm cuppa. Then once the sun had finally set we headed off back up the river with one of us stood out the front scanning the river from say 11 o'clock to 2 o'clock position in front of the boat. If you are directly behind the light you will see red eyes appear from nowhere and believe me even though we had only seen the one crocodile on the way up we saw plenty on the way back using this method.

A couple of them again swam directly for the boat until we got out of their territory which wasn't as scary as seeing a massive crocodile of about 5 metres in length suddenly disappear under water....it wasn't a massive boat after all and they could easily jump over our heads if they so wished.

We also had visited a crocodile farm which breeds the wild crocs for handbags or shoes for the Italians mainly. The wild crocs were all caught from the various rivers and some of them were so big it was amazing to see these huge beasts up close and personal but nothing compares to seeing them in the wild.

The farm had a dome tent with several pools for various sizes of crocs and it was an amazing sight to see so many crocodiles in one place...albeit a bit cruel to keep them in that manner.

Whilst they were feeding one crocodile I noticed on it's name plate it showed where it had been caught which turned out to be a friend of mines back yard! Needless to say I won't be visiting her for a cuppa in a hurry :o