An Australian man’s “wild” and unique commute home from work has scared many who admit the Top End may be a “beautiful” place to live, but say tour guide David Mack’s regular visits Mahon, very “very scary”. He says he regularly crosses the infamous Cahill Pass and its 10,000 crocodiles to get home.
McMahon, who lives in the Northern Territory, told Yahoo News Australia that he works in Arnhem Land on the Cobourg Peninsula, east of Darwin. Part of his journey home is through Cahill Pass – a viewing area on the west bank of the East Alligator River – but he is often stopped by the tides and swarms of hungry alligators.
“There’s only one way for me to get home from work, and that’s across the river. The tide’s coming in. I’ve got a little window here before it gets too high. If you get it wrong “You’re really wrong,” he said in a video on social media after jumping out of his car and standing by the water.
“Behind me [is] Probably about 20, 30 crocodiles all lined up here eating fish. They don’t seem to care. It’s a wild place.”
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, McMahon said he regularly crosses the route during the peak tourist season from May to October. He said: “In the wet season, other months of the year, it is “completely impassable” because there are usually floods. He added: “The water can flood to a height of six meters.”
“Early in the season, it’s the floods and the high tides that you have to worry about and you only have a small window to get through at low tide,” he explained. “As the wet season water drains out, it’s the tide that takes you over seven meters high.”
Visitors and locals warned against crossing at high tide
Locals and tourists are often warned about the dangers of crossing the river at high tide, but many do so anyway. This week, McMahon shared a video of a waterway that narrowly avoided disaster as it navigated dangerously high tides as it tried to cross.
Earlier, two local men were seen wading through waters known to harbor crocodiles, apparently unharmed, and submerged up to their waists. Meanwhile, visitors stand too close to the water’s edge and often ignore the signs posted around the crossing.
“The rule of thumb when crossing the Cahill is never to be higher than 0.6m, unless the 4×4 is high with a snorkel,” explained McMahon. When the water is just trickling in, you have to wait for a dead tide.
The tour guide said he “often gets stuck waiting for the tide” but “there’s always something to see at Cahill”.
“The high tide is when all the crocs gather and wait for the diamond-scaled mullet and barramundi to flow across the passage,” he said. “There may be so many crocs eating fish that you can smell fish oil in the air.
“If the tide is high, you can wait an hour and a half.”
Cahill’s Crossing video shocks: ‘Very scary’
The video shocked people who appeared to be from overseas by saying, “This is the craziest video ever.”
“Beautiful place but too scary for me,” replied another in the comments. “It’s a wild place, there’s crocodiles everywhere, I can’t believe it,” said a third.
Another joked: “Imagine if I call your insurance…I’m injured from hitting a croc”. While another said: “You can’t pay me to risk driving in that area”.
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