Thrashing tail of terror · TOMORROW: L EANING over the side of the boat, Josh used a boat hook to...

TOMORROW:TOMORROW:

LEANING over the side ofthe boat, Josh used a boathook to grab the float ofthe last of his four crab

pots he had set the day before.It was safer to use a hook ratherthan his hand – it reduced therisk of a croc attack.The salties weren’t common

around this reach of the river butoccasionally one or two could bespotted basking on the banks.Using a fast, smooth action, Joshfed the rope attached to the crabpot into the boat as he hauled itto the surface, hoping to find adecent size muddie in the trap.Catch rates were usually prettygood at this time of year. Duringthe wet season, large volumes offresh water flowed down theriver flushing the crabs out of theprotective roots of the man-groves, making them quite ac-tive. Josh had already pulled inthree decent sized males and hadreturned a couple of females. Asthe pot broke the surface, Joshcould see two sets of large clawssnapping furiously, letting himknow that their owners were nothappy to be in this situation.After landing the pot, Josh care-fully removed the first of thecrabs. Holding the crab from therear, Josh put it on the floor ofthe boat and placed his foot gent-ly on it to stop it from turning orscurrying away. He grabbed hiscaliper and measured the widestpart of its carapace to make sure

it was a legal size. He thenturned it over to check its un-derside, to find out if it was abuck or a jenny. The pointedshape of the flap on its belly toldJosh he had another good sizedmale that he could keep. Theother crab, however, was tossedback. The fresh sharp teeth on itspincers were a dead giveawaythat it was a ‘rattler’ – only halffull of meat, due to a recentmoult. Josh had been taught itwas best to return these, as itgave the crab a chance to eatmore and in a few weekswould fill with meat, mak-ing for tastier eating. Withall his pots stacked in thefront of the tinnie andfour muddies battlingit out in a largebucket ofwater, asatisfiedJosh signalled tohis mate to moveon out.Paolohad joinedJosh ontheearlymorningexpedition. He reallyenjoyed going out onthe river, even at fivein the morning. Joshhad rung the night be-fore to see if he could comeand help him fetch the pots.

Josh’s dad had a strict ruleabout going out alone – Mr Bod-man wouldn’t allow anyone to goout by themselves. He said it wasfar too dangerous. Joanne hadflatly refused to join her brotherat that time of morning. It suitedPaolo, though, because it wasoften the only chance for him togo. The 11-year-old had tohelp his father during theday. They managed theWooloo Caravan Park,which was busy at thistime of year, with holidaymakers. There werealways jobs to do and itwas only Paolo and hisdad. Paolo always feltguilty, if he went offand left his dad tomanage. The earlymorning start onthe run-out tidealso meant thathe could throwthe cast net in

to try to catch afeed of prawns,

before helpingJosh to gatherthe pots.Prawningwas Pao-

lo’s thing. Hehad a great knack oftossing a net in andpulling out aheap ofprawns. Itwas

best done at night – but Paolowould give it a go any time forpractice. This morning’s attemptwas another example of Paolo’sflukiness. He’d dragged in abouthalf a kilo of the shellfish. Acouple of hours later, both he andJosh were happy with their ef-forts and headed back.Coming around a bend in theriver, something caught Josh’seye. He pointed to the bank andgestured to Paolo to manoeuvrethe boat over to what he hadspotted. An object was partlysubmerged in the water. As Paolomoved the dinghy alongside,Josh realised it was a crab-potfloat that had become snagged ona mangrove root. He grabbed itwith the hook to try and dis-entangle it from the grasp of theplant’s tendrils. He was about topull the pot in, when Paolo shout-ed his name. He looked up to seesomething move. The distinctiveslide marks on the muddy bankwere a sign of a crocodile. Joshknew all too well the danger thatthis presented. Tugging the ropeof the crab pot had alerted thecroc. It slid quietly into the waterto investigate, in hope of catchinga meal. Josh didn’t want to be-come its victim, so he quicklymoved back from the edge just asthe croc exploded from the waterwith a thrash of its powerful tailand sank the razor sharp teeth ofits powerful jaw into the floatJosh had just handled.

Thrashing tail of terror

CROCSTHE largest of all living reptiles,the saltwater or estuarine croco-dile can be found in estuaries,rivers, waterholes and swampsof the northern Australian trop-ics. This large headed specieshas a heavy set of jaws andpowerful tail. The ‘saltie’ femalescan grow up to four metres inlength; males can reach sevenmetres and weigh more than1000kg. They are excellent swim-mers and are capable of eatingvery large prey.(www.derm.qld.gov.au)

CRABSIN QUEENSLAND there are guide-lines to responsible crabbing:■ A person must not use morethan four crab pots or dillies.■ Crab pots or dillies must bemarked by an identifying tagwith the owner’s surname andaddress.■ The pots and dillies must beattached by a rope to a float orfixed object.■ Female or under-sized crabs must beremoved from the trapand returned to thewater.

Chaptertwo

Upside Down chapter three – Do the boys survive the croc attack?

User: sue.clohesy Time: 06-06-2011 13:43 Product: SCN PubDate: .Bank Zone: All Edition: Main Page: nie upside down chapter2 Color: CMYK