ENORMOUS ALLIGATOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19720, 20 August 1927, Page 14

ENORMOUS ALLIGATOR.

A CYCLIST'S ADVENTURE. SAVED BY A SHOTGUN. THRILLS IN THE WILDS. [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY. Aug. 4. After some exciting experiences in other parts of the world, Mr. Talbot Sewell, who returned to Australia recently, decided to find out what Australia had to offer him in the way of thrills. He chose Northern Queensland, and, mounted on a bicycle, set out to find that adventure begins at home. The alligators of the northern rivers gave him even more thrills than ho bargained for. Mr. Sewell returned to Sydney a few days ago, and told the story of his wanderings. He managed to crowd 1000 miles on his bicycle into little over a month. He started out early in June and picked up his lugger, the Seadream, south of Rockhampton. With two halfcaste aborigines as the crew of his little. 38ft. craft he sailed up the Queensland coast for over a fortnight. Dodging in and out of the Great Barrier Reef, he sheltered in lagoons from several nast\ blows, and divided his time between shooting, fishing and turtle-hunting. Mr. Sewell then landed a little south of Cairns, mounted his trusty bicycle, and j commenced the second stage of his tour. From Cairns he worked along to Chillagoe, right up the peninsula, and then south of Cook tow ii again. Along the Atherton Tableland, through the beautiful lake country he then crossed over to the Mitchell River and " Hell's Gate, the old mining district, coming back to Cairns bv the Atherton Tableland and Cooktown. "Hunting was Mr. Sewell's main diversion, although often enough he played the role of the hunted. He brought back with him several fine kangaroo skins, but often when seeking alligators and wild boats he found himself in a nasty position. " I was out duck shooting one day," he related, " when I heard a noise behind me. i looked around, and saw an enormous alligator rushing straight at me. For a second 1 was petrified, but when the creature was only a few yards away 1 raised my gut), and fired both barrels. The alligator swerved, and disappeared in tho mangroves." Mr. So well said lie had reason to contradict the popular idea of the alligator as a sluggish, slow-moving animal. On the contrary, he said, it could move like a Hash of lightning. On the Mitoh'eli River lie met again Jack," an* aborigine, who, three years ago, saved his life whet) he was lost and out'of .vater There he found also a baby kangaroo, which he fed on a bottle fitted with a bicycle valve. He brought it back to Sydney with him. He intends making a present of it to the zoo. Mr Sewell described the scenery of the country be traversed as beyond comparison. " I have seen all the beauty spots of Europe." he said, " but for grandeur and beauty Northern Queensland has no equal."