The U.K.’s Sidetracked Magazine is one of my favorite outlets to work with. I first met Sidetracked’s online editor Daniel Neilson, while hiking across hills and deserts in Jordan. A few months later, I penned a piece for the magazine about Per Jobs, an enterprising business man (and avid fly angler) I met while fishing in Swedish Lapland. A few months passed, and the magazine sent me to document a cattle gather at Hunewill Ranch in California, a fine few days of dust, horses, cattle, and sleeping outside in the Sierras.
And now the kind editorial staff (thanks John!) has published stories from another adventure—this time from my recent trip to Australia. Here’s an excerpt:
We nudge back through the mangrove channel, pulling up the ropes to see what we’ve caught. Things go smoothly until midway through. The thong is missing from its place on the mangroves, as is the line and – apparently – the entire trap. Tub grows quiet, watching the surrounding waters. Within a minute, he spies the languid form of a large saltwater crocodile swimming back up the slim channel, a black thong proudly in its mouth. Suddenly the boat is spinning and we give chase.
Tub leans forward, shouting, ‘Give me back my fucking thong! Come back here you bastard!’ The croc gives a swirl of its tail and sinks into the murky water.
Alex laughs, noting we’re literally up a creek without a paddle, chasing a crocodile for a thong. I giggle aloud and bring the camera down from my eye for a moment. It’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear.
As you’ll see, Kimberley Coastal Camp was easily one of the highlights of my time in Australia. Tub and Jules’ hospitality was second-to-none, and there’s something about the far-off, odd little corners of the world—far, far away from what we’ve come to understand as “reality”—that will always win my heart.
Read the full feature here on Sidetracked.