ADVENTURE
Paddling with the crocs
Story and photos David Hancock
The
warm air resonates with a constant chirrup of cicadas, a sure sign that the "wet" is on the way in the Top End. But until the first big storms arrive the locals
are in for some testing weather - relentless heat, stifling humidity and
long nights.
Some call this period in September and October the "troppo" season,
while others refer to it as "the build-up".
It doesn't get much hotter than around Katherine late in the dry season.
The mercury frequently climbs past 35 degrees and out around the plains and
escarpments of the Victoria River District temperatures often punch through
40 Celcius.
But down on the Flora River, 80 kilometres west of Katherine, conditions
couldn't be more pleasant. A cool breeze blows down the channel, there's
plenty of shade among the huge silver-leaf paperbarks that hang over the
banks and the water is astonishingly fresh.
The
Flora is a little-known Top End river, overshadowed by mightier cousins such
as the Victoria, Adelaide, South Alligator and Katherine. Less than 100km
long, it rises from spring-fed creeks and joins the Katherine River (which
has its source in Arnhem Land), at a junction that marks the start of the
Daly River that flows to the Timor Sea.
The Flora is different to most other northern rivers because it is
bisected by scores of "tufa" (limestone) dams that ensure it drops about 25 metres from its source. Tufa
is formed when the lime-rich water of the Flora evaporates, leaving calcite
(calcium carbonate) to crystalise. This rock can form quickly if conditions
are favourable and plants and invertebrates encrusted in the calcite are
often preserved as fossils. 
Full story: Issue 21,February / March 02
