Dear Jennifer
I for one am glad that you shared your and your colleagues' experiences.
Unfortunately people who've not been in this situation often do not
understand the risks. I've been a resident of the Top End for 25 years,
much of that spent in the bush, and apart from my own experiences, have
heard many similar tales, some from the police, some from men I used to
shoot with. Okay, some might be exaggerations but I've had too many
rifles waved in my face to take such stories lightly. And marihuana
plantations are not the only problem. A friend recently met a man
charged with running into and killing an elderly couple changing a tyre
on the side of the road about fifty km out of Darwin. He boasted of how
he was 'off (his) face' on drugs and that he was driving on the wrong
side of the road and without lights 'to scare (his) mate'. His attitude
to the deaths? He told my friend he 'had done the world a favour by
getting rid of a couple of old fogeys.' Oh, incidentally, his case was
dismissed through lack of evidence.
I would add another warning for those who visit Darwin. Be careful
birding in lonely corners around this city - the rate of violent assault
up here is far higher than anywhere else in Australia and tourists are
often mugged, raped, beaten.
The tourist authorities will warn you about the dangers of mosquitoes and
crocodiles but they will not warn you about the dangers humans present.
I always warn my friends and clients - if you're going to bird in any
but the most public of places, please go with someone else.
Denise Goodfellow
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