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"C'mon, Aggro. Do your stuff …" Aggro didn't seem particularly interested in the brace of pork chops dangled in front of his snout. Though he had cared enough to slither out of his comfortable mud on the side of the Adelaide River to join us. "Remember, keep your hands inside," our skipper and guide, Steve, warned. At that point, with Aggro up very close and personal to the riverboat, we really didn't need the reminder. The crocodile might not be showing big interest in raw chops, but a couple of fingers or a hand might well have tempted him to an appetiser. "Come on, Aggro," Steve called again, this time almost bouncing the tasty pork on the croc's nostrils. After a further investigation, swishing his tail to stay with us against the current, he made a rather half-hearted jump at the bait, but failed to win as it was whipped beyond him. Then he simply gave up and disappeared under the boat. "OK, we'll go and see if one of ...

“What’s the horsepower?” I ask Georgia Smith as her brother throttles back following a series of maritime ‘doughnuts’ in the end of evening dark off Stokes Hill Wharf, and settles the boat for its more leisurely finish towards tying up after a night out on Darwin Harbour. "Triple 300," she answers, meaning three 300hp engines. It doesn't surprise me. The MV Flatback cruiser had shown a very surprising turn of speed several times over the evening as Georgia and her two brothers — “you got the family crew tonight” — had taken us and the rest of the group on the Sea Darwin ‘Fish and Chips Sunset Cruise’ around the harbour area. The engines had been pushed to full song between points of interest, which certainly upped the experience compared to similar trips we've had elsewhere. Sea Darwin was established by Georgia’s parents, marine scientist Jim Smith and Heather King, after they and their three children had spent a year transiting the West Pacific ocean in a 40-fo...

Two businesses side by side, standout in their ramshackle single stories dwarfed by new high rise blocks on the Darwin skyline, writes Brian Byrne . The dirt car parks on either side wait for somebody to build on them, and presumably also on the businesses. The barber is happy to talk to a stranger with a funny accent. "It's still frontier up here," David Heinz says as he finishes with his current client. He's just offered me a beer and is surprised at an Irishman turning down alcohol at eleven in the morning. "Trouble is, people don't stay." That's part of why, he says, the local economy is only operating at 60 percent of its potential. On average, people who come to Darwin only stay four and a half years. "The next group stays for around twelve. Then you have the old Darwiners, but they mostly live outside." The city is capital of Australia's Northern Territory. The Territory has a Parliament (above), and a Supreme Court and...

You can enjoy a full board holiday from Travelfox.ie to the 4-star Roc Lago Rojo Hotel in Torremolinos on the Costa Del Sol for seven nights departing from Cork and Dublin on selected dates in November 2018. The cost, €599 per person, includes full board (adults only from 18 years), 4-star accommodation, 10kgs hand luggage private transfers, return flights and allocated seats together with Ryanair. 10 nights are also available at a supplement which applies to October 2018. For bookings and inquiries ring 021 4976293 or email res@travelfox.ie. Their lines are open from 9am to 5.30pm, Monday - Friday. The price is based on two people sharing and is subject to availability. The company is based at Eastgate business, Park, Little Island, Cork.