The Wearside teenager who had her own 'Crocodile Dundee' experience in 1986 on an Aussie river
Move aside Crocodile Dundee. One Wearside teenager got to experience the reptiles up close during an amazing adventure 40 years ago.
Brenda Corker, 19, spent 11 weeks in Australia in 1986 as part of an Operation Raleigh experience to the remote Northern Territory.
‘People would step on them and one got rather mad’
She and 13 other people got to experience the crocodile infested River Drysdale which had never been canoed before.
A Sunderland Echo report at the time said: “She may have been a black belt but she found her experience was no help when it came to tackling reptiles.
“At one point, they had to push their boat through rapids and got to know the crocodiles very well. Brenda explained: “People would step on them and one got rather mad when it was stood on by two different people.
‘All we had was a pair of leather gloves to protect us from its teeth’
“They would start swimming and would bite anything in their way. We became experts at jumping out of the water into the boat. We learned very quickly.”
On another occasion, when the team were in a national park, they had to check their fishing nets each night to make sure no crocodiles had been caught in them.
And sure enough, there was a night when Brenda and a friend caught one. She said she knew because of the weight of the net.
“It just about capsized the boat. We had to untie it and all we had was a pair of leather gloves to protect us from its teeth.”
We would love to know about other people’s amazing adventures when they were younger. Tell us more by emailing [email protected]
In case you missed it;