When the wet season is in full swing in the Northern Territory, roads often get cut when crocodile-infested rivers flood.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But that won't stop little Darcy Barritt from going to school - his dad Des just puts the tiny student in his boat and takes him up the flooded road.
The four-year-old attends Mataranka Primary School transition, but with the Little Roper River lapping at his family home's doorstep most wet seasons, the little student has to take the unusual way to school.
"We drive through the water in a Landcruiser when the river is up to 0.8m," Mr Barritt said about his son's school runs.
"But with all the rain we've had, it was about 2.4m the other day."
Despite Parks and Wildlife saying that saltwater crocodiles don't inhabit the Little Roper, Mr Barritt, who has lived in the region for years, says he has seen small salties in the water.
"I have seen small ones that were about six to seven feet," he said.
"There will be big crocs here eventually. If there are barramundi here the crocs will relocate."
But even crocodiles won't stop Mr Barritt, a teacher at Manyallaluk School, from taking his son on the five minute boat ride to get an education.
"It's all part of the Territory lifestyle."
So much so that the flooded Little Roper will forever hold a special place in the lives of the Barritt family, with Des and his wife Telka Zotz-Wilson getting married on the river in 2017.
"We always have a really good time at the river, so I thought it would be really nice to get married down there," the bride said at the time.
"It worked out well, nobody fell out of the boat," she said.
"Someone joked that they had dropped the ring in the water, (and) it did actually look like that."
IN OTHER NEWS:
For Katherine celebrant Nola Sweetman the 2017 river wedding was "one of the most unusual" weddings she had ever been part of.
"I was in the boat with the bride and groom, the best man was in another boat and the bridesmaids in another," she said.
Once the Little Roper's flood waters recede, the Barritt family will be gearing up for the 2023 tourist season, with their Little Roper Stock Camp reopening on April 1.
Annie Hesse
I am an award-winning media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcast, as well as photography and videography. I am the NT Correspondent at Australian Community Media and I write for my hometown newspaper, the Katherine Times. I love telling people's stories, and I am passionate about giving those a voice who may otherwise remain unheard. When I am not busy putting pen to paper, I spend time in my garden, go bushwalking or travel across the Northern Territory, Australia or the world. In my spare time I write, illustrate and publish books.
I am an award-winning media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcast, as well as photography and videography. I am the NT Correspondent at Australian Community Media and I write for my hometown newspaper, the Katherine Times. I love telling people's stories, and I am passionate about giving those a voice who may otherwise remain unheard. When I am not busy putting pen to paper, I spend time in my garden, go bushwalking or travel across the Northern Territory, Australia or the world. In my spare time I write, illustrate and publish books.
