Up a Tree with the Crocs Below
Wednesday August 15, 2007
Thank God for trees. A Queensland cattle stockman saved himself from dangerous crocodiles by clambering up a tree while the crocs waited below. Only problem was: he had to stay in his tree for seven nights before finally being rescued.
The story of the man's one-week ordeal — and his escape — was recounted in Australian newspapers in the past two days, from far north in the Northern Territory News to the far south in Tasmania's Hobart Mercury.
The Queensland man, a former Territorian, was said to be riding in rough terrain near Coen in far north Queensland when his horse stumbled and he was knocked unconscious. He managed to remain on horseback only to realise, on coming to, that he had been led into crocodile-infested swampland.
'Spooked'
"I had to get off the horse and fall on the long eight-foot-high [2.5-metre] swamp grass to clear a path, when I fell straight into a crocodile nest," he told Brisbane's Courier-Mail newspaper. "That spooked me."
He scrambled up a tree to escape from danger. He said two big crocs sat at the bottom of the tree staring up at him while several more remained in the vicinity.
He only had two meat sandwishes with him, and his food ran out quickly.
Eight days
It took all of eight days and seven nights before he was finally spotted and rescued. Police, the Australian Defence Force, Emergency Management Queensland and local State Emergency Service personnel had been involved in an air and ground search for several days. Photo: Australian crocodile © Australian Tourist Commission
The story of the man's one-week ordeal — and his escape — was recounted in Australian newspapers in the past two days, from far north in the Northern Territory News to the far south in Tasmania's Hobart Mercury.
The Queensland man, a former Territorian, was said to be riding in rough terrain near Coen in far north Queensland when his horse stumbled and he was knocked unconscious. He managed to remain on horseback only to realise, on coming to, that he had been led into crocodile-infested swampland.
'Spooked'
"I had to get off the horse and fall on the long eight-foot-high [2.5-metre] swamp grass to clear a path, when I fell straight into a crocodile nest," he told Brisbane's Courier-Mail newspaper. "That spooked me."
He scrambled up a tree to escape from danger. He said two big crocs sat at the bottom of the tree staring up at him while several more remained in the vicinity.
He only had two meat sandwishes with him, and his food ran out quickly.
Eight days
It took all of eight days and seven nights before he was finally spotted and rescued. Police, the Australian Defence Force, Emergency Management Queensland and local State Emergency Service personnel had been involved in an air and ground search for several days. Photo: Australian crocodile © Australian Tourist Commission
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