Woman accidentally films croc right beneath her at swimming spot: 'I paused'
It was just a normal day at the Rollingstone Creek swimming hole, until she went home to look at her videos.
A woman "taking underwater photographs" and swimming in a freshwater river had no idea what was actually moving centimetres beneath her until she returned home to review the footage, shocked to discover she'd had a close encounter with a three-metre crocodile.
During a hot Queensland day on Saturday, mum of five Alicia May took her kids to cool off by taking a dip at Rollingstone Creek swimming hole, north of Townsville.
While floating on the surface, she thought she'd take a video of the water below while she was filming her kids playing in the relatively clear water, completely unaware at the time of any danger just metres away. But when she got home and looked at the footage she noticed something that made her heart stop.
"I was a little bit shocked that I saw something quite big on the video so I played it slowly, paused and zoomed in," Alicia told the ABC.
"You can see the two feet [and] you can see a tail at the end of it. I'm like, 'Wait … this actually looks like a crocodile'."
Wildlife officials later confirmed it was a crocodile, estimated to be 3 metres long. Alicia says her family has been swimming at the popular spot for more than a decade but say they likely won't be going back.
"I'm scared to be honest," she told 7News Townsville. "We have a few spots up in the mountains that we hike and we will swim there and that'll be it unfortunately."
Senior Wildlife Officer Tony Frisby with the state's Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) said she should consider herself "quite lucky". "The person told us that she had been swimming on a floatation device and taking underwater photographs of the clear water below," he said.
"When she returned home and reviewed the photos, she saw what she thought was a crocodile and did the right thing by submitting a report.
Belief that crocs not in freshwater creeks 'misguided'
Rangers said a common misconception can lull people into a false sense of security.
"This person, and anyone else who was swimming in that section of the river at the weekend can consider themselves quite lucky. The belief some people have that they are safe in Croc Country if they swim in the freshwater section of our rivers and creeks is misguided," Frisby warned.
He explained crocodiles are "highly mobile", and are known to "travel upstream in our rivers and creeks" to source freshwater and feed on animals that come down to the banks to drink.
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"You never know what is lurking in waterways, and people really need to make sensible choices when they’re near the water in Croc Country," he said. "Wildlife officers have conducted a land-based site assessment using a drone and did not find any evidence of the animal being present.
"Recent crocodile sighting warning signs have been installed at the location, and wildlife officers are planning on conducting a nighttime spotlight assessment. People are responsible for their own safety and should always practice CrocWise behaviour in the Townsville region."
The freshwater section of Rollingstone Creek where the crocodile was sighted is classed as Zone E, meaning it's known as a "general management zone".
"This means that crocodiles displaying dangerous behaviour are targeted for removal from the wild."
DESI encourages anyone who spots a crocodile to report the sighting as soon as possible.
This can be done by using the QWildlife app, completing a crocodile sighting report on the DESI website, or by calling 1300 130 372. The department investigates every crocodile sighting report received.
The discovery came on the same day as beachgoers at Noosa were ordered from a popular beach after a shark was spotted swimming off the shore.
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