Crocs shock golfers, shut down beach

Authorities in North Queensland are reissuing their warnings for people to keep an eye out for wayward crocodiles.
Golfers in Townsville got a shock last week when they spotted a 1.5-metre freshwater croc walking across a green, and swimmers at Townsville's main beach were ordered out of the water days later after someone spotted a 2.5-metre saltwater crocodile.
Adrian Lawson has been managing golf courses around the world for most of his career but says this is the first time a reptile has become a hindrance on his green.
"This is North Queensland we're talking about here, where the men are tough and the crocodiles are scared," he said.
"The croc's just been easing itself around in the lake, maybe looking for a fish or two and sunning itself in the beautiful, sunny weather that's finally come back after the rains, but that's all it does.
"When it does see people it generally tends to go underwater again and try and hide. They are quite a timid creature, so it's just been relaxing."
Luke Morrisey works on the golf course most weekends.
"We've had a little one here before, but it wasn't this big ... so this one's causing a bit of entertainment for the people," he said.
"If I'm out there and I hit my ball in there, it can stay in there. I'm not going near it."
Adrian Lawson says he is surprised to see the crocodile in an area which is surrounded by suburban streets.
He says he has had to enact a crocodile management plan.
"We put up some signage that notifies people that there is a crocodile in the area and we warn them that that is the case and we just manage the situation from there," he said.
Strand shut down

While golfers are busy looking out for the freshwater reptile, swimmers at Townsville's main beach have been warned about a 2.5-metre saltwater beast.
Peter Roulston from surf lifesavers manages Townsville's beaches, and says there is no guarantee the saltwater crocodile could not climb inside the stinger nets provided for swimmers.
"The crocodile itself would have been within 50 metres from our main net down in the middle of the Strand here so it was getting pretty close," he said.
"We closed the beach until we feel it's quite safe to go in and we keep in close contact with Queensland Parks and Wildlife.
"They did an inspection the night it was seen and they didn't find anything so we opened the beaches up the following day."
Mr Roulston says his lifeguards are paying particular attention to strange looking ripples on the water's surface.
"We've got crocodiles. We've got stingers. We've got stingrays, plus dugongs and sharks," he said.
"So they're all there but we're trained up. We're aware of what they can do and we take precautions to make sure the public are safe when they come down to the beach."