The Royal secret Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway has been hiding during her stay Down Under
The future queen of Norway, 21, has been spotted in recent weeks exploring Sydney while getting into the spirit of student life.
But it's now been revealed Ingrid Alexandra has been hiding a major secret during her stay Down Under.
Her parents Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit have also joined her in Sydney.
The Royal couple have been keeping a low profile after jetting into the country earlier this month.
After arriving in Sydney, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit were whisked away and driven to their hotel.
They have visited local cafes and popular attractions, and were seen spending time with their daughter last week before jetting out of the country on Monday.
Last week, Ingrid took a break from her studies to spend time with her parents and also enjoyed a boat party on Sydney Harbour with her friends.
The party appeared to be Christmas-themed, with many revellers decked out in Santa Claus costumes.
Ingrid looked delighted to be taking a break, beaming as she arrived at the weekday party with friends.
The chic royal, who is second in line to the throne after her father arrived Down Under late last month.
She posed on campus for a series of photos she uploaded to Instagram.
The Royal Household's full statement from Ingrid read: 'I'm looking forward to starting my studies at the University of Sydney.
'It will be exciting to become a student, and I'm looking forward to gaining new perspectives on both European and international politics.
'I'm sure that I will learn a lot.'
She marked the joyous occasion with a series of images taken around what appeared to be the University of Sydney campus.
While she is certainly adjusting to Australian party life, Ingrid appears to still be getting the hang of Aussie road rules.
She was recently spotted making a slight slip-up when she and a female friend tried to hop into a waiting Uber from the wrong side.
Evidently used to left-hand drive vehicles, the princess was seen reaching for the door handle on the driver's side.
Her decision to move to Australia to continue her studies comes after she embarked on military training at the Engineer Battalion in Brigade Nord last year.
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Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Sexualisation, Donald Trump & race rows – why Sydney Sweeney's backlash only makes her MORE valuable to brands
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SHE'S one of America's fastest growing stars, but could controversy derail Sydney Sweeney's supersonic career? Showbiz writer Gemma Calvert takes a closer look at 2025's hottest property. 19 Could controversy derail Sydney Sweeney's supersonic career? Credit: getty 19 Sydney's American Eagle jeans ad sparked race rows Credit: American Eagle 19 Stunner Sydney stars as Olivia Mossbacher in Apple TV+'s The White Lotus Credit: White lotus Hollywood has fast become Sydney Sweeney's adventure playground. The 27-year-old actress shot to fame after she bagged the role of Cassie Howard in HBO's Euphoria, as well as Olivia Mossbacher in Apple TV+'s The White Lotus – and earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for both roles in 2022, along with a whole international fandom. Since then, Sydney's star has soared. She led and produced blockbuster romcom Anyone But You in 2023, and her latest projects include Apple TV+ series Echo Valley, playing Julianne Moore's devious but charismatic junkie daughter, plus Christy, a biopic of trailblazing American female boxer Christy Martin. But Sydney's rise hasn't been without controversy. Known for choosing roles that lean into hyper-sexualised archetypes, she's become a lightning rod for public debate. In her recent denim campaign for US leisurewear giant American Eagle, she stares into the camera and whispers: 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality, and even eye colour. . . My jeans are blue.' The backlash when the ad dropped at the end of last month was swift. Critics accused the retailer – and Sydney – of racial insensitivity, even linking the 'great jeans' tagline to eugenics and Nazi ideology. Others called the campaign overly sexualised. However, many sprang to its defence, praising its boldness and blasting the outrage as overblown. When it emerged earlier this month that the actress is a registered Republican, President Trump praised her, saying: 'You'd be surprised at how many people are Republican. I'm glad you told me that. Clip of Sydney Sweeney at shooting range goes viral as her 'MAGA background' emerges after anti-woke ad and Trump praise 'If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.' Her personal life has sparked headlines, too. In 2022, Sydney shared photos from her mum Lisa's 60th birthday party – a hoedown-themed bash that featured guests in MAGA-style hats with one guest wearing a shirt with the words 'Blue Lives Matter' on it, a term that emerged in 2014 to show support to the police, in opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement. Sydney later hit back, urging people to 'stop making assumptions' and insisting it was nothing more than a family celebration. And rather than holding her back, the backlash may be propelling her forward. Let's be honest – controversy has made her more interesting Stacy Jones, founder of LA branding agency Hollywood Branded 'Let's be honest – controversy has made her more interesting,' says Stacy Jones, founder of LA branding agency Hollywood Branded. 'The family politics thing didn't derail her and this recent backlash over the American Eagle ad? If anything, it proved she's not just a celebrity, she's a cultural touchpoint. Sydney's not just valuable – she's volatile in the best way. She drives real conversation, and that's currency. She goes viral for what she wears, says and does. She stirs emotion and she trends. That's what marketers are actually buying – not just demographics, but cultural gravity.' Stacy adds: 'In a world where no one agrees on anything, being part of the conversation is sometimes better than being universally liked.' 'People believe I've signed my life away because I'm an actor' Much of the scrutiny around Sydney revolves around her physical appearance, which has fanned debates about the double standards that women face in Hollywood. While male actors are celebrated for their talent or transformative roles, Sydney – much like Scarlett Johansson before her – is often reduced to headlines about her curves. Take the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, when Sydney arrived in a plunging silk gown by Miu Miu, layered over a powder-blue bra. Rather than seen as a bold fashion statement, the look was labelled a 'wardrobe malfunction', showing how confident styling choices can be quickly reframed as inappropriate. 'There's not anything I can do,' Sydney told NME in 2023, acknowledging the pressure of constant objectification. Later, she told Variety: 'People feel connected and free to be able to speak about me in whatever way they want, because they believe that I've signed my life away. That I'm not on a human level any more, because I'm an actor.' 19 Sweeney flaunts her amazing figure for her loving social media fans Credit: Sydney Sweeney 19 The actress pictured with her pup Credit: Sydney Sweeney 19 The 27-year-old actress shot to fame after she bagged the role of Cassie Howard in HBO's Euphoria Credit: EUPhORIA Sydney's hosting stint on Saturday Night Live last March only intensified the conversation. Dressed in a Hooters waitress uniform for multiple sketches, she embraced the caricature of her public image, even joking the job was her 'back-up career.' Conservative critics quickly dubbed the moment a flashback to pre #MeToo attitudes. One commentator even described her breasts as the 'double-D harbingers of the death of woke'. Sydney's response? A tongue-in-cheek sweatshirt that read: 'Sorry For Having Great Tits And Correct Opinions'. Then in June, she partnered with Dr Squatch to launch $8 soap bars infused with her actual bathwater – a move some interpreted as a bold, satirical poke at the objectification she often faces. Steering her ship through the sea of entertainment with self-awareness and humour is a savvy move, says Nick Ede, one of the UK's leading brand and culture experts and founder of Joyfulness Studios. 'What's great about Sydney is she embodies her generation and doesn't try to alienate herself from it,' says Nick. 'She wants to be relatable and lean into the stereotypes that she portrays, or is seen to portray. She isn't scared to be honest about who she is and has a unique way of being self-aware. She can laugh at herself, too. This allows her to manage her narrative, especially on social media. Her bathwater soap shows she's in on the journey as much as her fans or her critics.' Sydney is a rare Hollywood breed who manages her own social media content and, according to Stefanie Davis Kempton – an assistant professor of communication at Florida Gulf Coast University specialising in women's representation in the media – retaining control is vital for stars like her. 'Young women, especially, can be easy targets to become puppets and lose control of their own personal brand for the sake of corporate greed,' says Stefanie. What's great about Sydney is she embodies her generation and doesn't try to alienate herself from it Nick Ede, brand and culture expert 'It happens all the time, as women's voices have been historically marginalised. In today's age of social media, your identity is your brand and that brand can be worth a lot of money, but it can also be sabotaged if left in the wrong hands. Having control of your own voice, body, image and likeness is so critically important.' Launching her own production company, Fifty-Fifty Films, in 2020, was Sydney's creative solution to that problem, taking her from actor for hire to industry powerhouse. Dedicated to adapting stories by first-time female authors and up-and-coming screenwriters, she told Teen Vogue: 'I'm a big advocate for making sure everybody's voice is heard.' But carving out creative space hasn't been easy. In an interview with The Times earlier this year, Sydney admitted she's not always taken seriously as a producer, especially, she noted, by 'women who give me the hardest time.' Speaking on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast in March 2024, Sydney confessed that 'the roles that are challenging or creatively fulfilling are usually the ones that you have to fight for.' She went on to explain in The Times that casting directors often dismiss her due to her performance as Cassie, her overtly sexualised character in Euphoria, a role she reprised earlier this year for the long-awaited third season, due for release in 2026. 'I feel like I'm constantly having to be like: 'No, no – I'm an actor,'' she said. 'I'm supposed to play different characters.' That philosophy also extends to red-carpet appearances and talk-show interviews, spaces where Sydney says she feels most uncomfortable. To manage her nerves, she inhabits personas in the way she would on set, a place she describes as her 'playground' and where she feels 'at home'. Indeed, Sydney was just 10 when she discovered her love of performance at the family home in Spokane, Washington, on the Idaho border. There, she would build imaginary worlds and put on performances for her parents – her mum Lisa, a former criminal defence lawyer, and dad Steven, a pharmaceutical rep. 'Nothing I could do to help' She recently told Glamour that acting became a 'full-on obsession' alongside childhood passions like river swimming and hiking. Electronic devices, meanwhile, were banned by her parents so, as a teen, Sydney secretly streamed episodes of The Secret Life Of The American Teenager. When a low-budget zombie film began shooting in her town, Sydney persuaded her parents to let her audition by pitching them a PowerPoint five-year acting plan. It worked two-fold. She auditioned, then landed a small part in 2010 film ZMD: Zombies Of Mass Destruction. From there she began auditioning whenever possible – first in Seattle and Portland, and eventually in Los Angeles, travelling the gruelling 2,400-mile round trip every time by car. 'I owe everything to them,' she said of her parents on Happy Sad Confused, crediting them as her earliest champions. I thought that if I made enough money, I'd be able to buy my parents' house back and put my family back together Sydney Sweeney When Sydney became a victim of bullying at her private school – an education funded by financial aid – her parents home-schooled her for a while, before selling the family home and moving to LA to further her acting dreams. 19 Syd wearing that bra-exposing outfit at Cannes Film Festival Credit: GETTY 19 The star in The Handmaid's Tale, 2018 Credit: The Handmaid's tale 19 In a Hooters sketch for SNL Credit: GETTY But the move, when Sydney was 13, came at a price. Living costs proved too high and the family, including her younger brother Trent, found themselves crammed into a single motel room. By 2016, her parents had filed for both bankruptcy and divorce. Sydney, working $100-a-day acting jobs, cleaning bathrooms and babysitting, continued to dream of a breakthrough that might solve all their problems. 'I thought that if I made enough money, I'd be able to buy my parents' house back and put my family back together,' she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022. 'But when I turned 18, I only had $800 to my name. My parents weren't back together. And there was nothing I could do to help.' Her longed-for break finally came in 2018, with roles in Marti Noxon's Sharp Objects and Netflix's Everything Sucks!, followed by a standout appearance in The Handmaid's Tale, and then Euphoria. Now reportedly worth over £30million, Sydney has built a brand empire, thanks to endorsement deals from Miu Miu to Kérastase. And her financial clout is set to grow even more with the launch of her lingerie line, backed by a $1.5billion investment from her pal, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell. That Bezos connection, insiders say, is also making Sydney a frontrunner for the next Bond girl role, now the movie is under Amazon MGM's creative control. 'Sydney's DMs are packed with messages from famous men' As well as clearing her mum's mortgage, Sydney has built an impressive property portfolio with her fortune. She has two homes in LA, her primary residence is a £10million Florida beachfront mansion, plus she repurchased her great-grandmother's former house in 2023, years after the family was forced to sell it. Now, Sydney is dreaming of a different kind of legacy. 'I want to have a family. I've always wanted to be a young mom,' she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022, while still in a seven-year relationship with her businessman fiancé, Jonathan Davino. When the pair called off their engagement earlier this year, speculation mounted of romance between Sydney and her Anyone But You co-star Glen Powell, which they later admitted they allowed to swirl to help promote the film. But despite sightings with Orlando Bloom and Tom Brady at Jeff Bezos' Venice wedding in June, insiders say Sydney's single by choice. 'I'm learning a lot about myself, spending more time with my friends. And I'm loving it,' she told The Times in May. That's not to say she isn't without plenty of admirers – The Sun revealed that Premier League players from Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal have all slid into her DMs to ask her out. But despite the offers, she has politely declined. An insider said: 'Her Instagram DMs are packed with messages from famous men trying to get in contact with her. 19 With her Anyone But You co-star Glen Powell Credit: GETTY 19 Sydney and ex-fiancé Jonathan Davino Credit: GETTY 19 Sydney and brother Trent with their mum Lisa at her controversial 60th birthday party Credit: trent Sweeney They offer her trips to Europe to see them and take her on a date, but she's not the kind of person who does that. 'Some of them are very insistent and have even tried to find her address to send her flowers, but she always refuses.' Behind the scenes, Sydney is an 'avid bookreader', trained MMA fighter and vintage car restorer – a hobby she calls her 'therapy' and documents for 1.9 million followers on her TikTok @Syds_garage. Whether she's creating or courting controversy, on-screen or off, Sydney Sweeney isn't just tagging along for the ride, she's firmly in the driver's seat of her extraordinary life. Sydney's sizzling style 19 In 2019, rocking a red Rosario dress at a Harper's Bazaar party Credit: GETTY 19 Wearing Alexander McQueen at a Variety event in 2023 Credit: GETTY 19 Pretty in Prada at The White Lotus premiere in 2021 Credit: GETTY 19 In a bouquet-style top by Balmain, last year Credit: GETTY 19 In LaQuan Smith at 2022's GQ Men Of The Year Awards Credit: GETTY 19 Wearing Miu Miu and a black wig at the 2024 Met Gala Credit: GETTY
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
The moment I knew: crying over my ex, he comforted me without jealousy or judgment
'There's something I need to tell you,' said my new boyfriend, Brent. We were sitting on his leafy balcony in Sydney. His expression was grave, his skin pale – nothing like his usual relaxed, smiley self. He'd been hiding something from me and he'd finally decided to confess. My thoughts raced. He's married. He has a kid. He's moving to a small island in the South Pacific. 'I have a pet,' he blurted. I blinked. He rubbed his palms together nervously, then disappeared into his bedroom. I waited, beginning to guess where this was going. He reemerged clutching a writhing snake. Brent had been hiding his pet python from me because he was terrified it would be a dealbreaker. It wasn't, I actually love snakes – although if it had been a tarantula, this story might have had a different ending. We had met at my work Christmas party only a few weeks earlier. He was invited as a guest from another company and was busily chatting with a friend of mine whom he already knew. I stood on the sidelines and stared at his face. So handsome. Then, his eyes flickered to mine and held my gaze, and something quietly stirred within me. The shift was subtle, but it was unmistakably there. After my colleague drifted away, Brent and I started talking. We couldn't seem to stop. Noticing his accent, I made the rookie mistake of asking him (a Canadian) where he was from in America. He didn't mind at all. There wasn't much that bothered him. He was gentle, patient, kind – and irresistibly intelligent. We swapped numbers and for our first date, he took me to a buzzy Thai restaurant beside the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We talked so much our jaws ached. I still couldn't quite tear my eyes off him. Things moved fast. There were weekend drives in his cool vintage car, staying up all night babysitting wide-eyed puppies, countless red carpet events I dragged him to because I was working as an entertainment reporter, and more of that endless, joyful talking. He told me he believed that if we'd met when we were little kids, he would have wanted to be my best friend. I told him I could be locked in a jail cell with him for the rest of my life and never get bored. He was utterly fascinating to me. Still is. Not long after the snake reveal, my ex-boyfriend contacted me out of the blue asking if we could do a video call. When he and I broke up, it hit me pretty hard. Even though I was just about to leave to go to Brent's place, my ex said he had something to tell me. Apparently, those words are my relationship anthem. Somehow, though, I knew this wasn't going to be about a pet. Through the screen, my ex revealed he'd cheated on me while we were together. Not once, not twice – around 20 times. He'd come to realise he had some issues he needed to work out and part of that involved telling me the truth. And I do commend him for that. It can't have been easy. But at that moment, I felt as though I'd been punched in the chest. I was sick with hurt and humiliation. All the signs I had missed began flashing back in vivid detail. I thought I'd be fine by the time I got to Brent's; after all, my ex and I had been over for a while. But the grief and sense of betrayal wouldn't let me go. I walked into the apartment, sat down on the couch, and broke down in tears. I couldn't stop. I was so embarrassed – and horrified for Brent. This was supposed to be our honeymoon phase. Why was I crying over someone else? I tried to hide my face. He asked me what was wrong and I told him everything. I braced for confusion, jealousy, maybe even a fight. Brent had every right to question why I was so upset over another guy. But instead, he reached for my hands and looked straight into my eyes, his brow furrowed. He looked heartbroken – but not for himself. 'I am so sorry,' he said. 'That must have been really awful to hear.' Then, he pulled me into a tight hug, his palm stroking my back. He never once made it about him. His concern was all for me. That was when I knew what a good man looked like, and that I had fallen in love. Seventeen years later, we're still together. We've lived overseas for 10 of those years, been married for 12, and have two amazing children – plus the slightly alarming reptile who has been with us all along. Brent is still my favourite person to talk to. With him, I've found a kind of safety and comfort that I hope lasts a lifetime. Natalie Murray is the author of Lights, Camera, Love (Allen & Unwin; $22.99) Do you have a romantic realisation you'd like to share? From quiet domestic scenes to dramatic revelations, Guardian Australia wants to hear about the moment you knew you were in love. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Can crocodiles and canoeists coexist at Australia's 2032 Olympic Games?
Andrew Miller is only minutes into a crash course on using a V8 ocean ski when he first drops the C-bomb. The former red beret paratrooper and current president of a Rockhampton canoe club is explaining to a first-time paddler why he won't begin on a K1 – the kind of craft the world's best canoe sprinters will paddle when and if they come here to central Queensland to compete at the 2032 Olympic Games. 'It's like sitting on a pencil,' Miller says. 'If a crocodile so much as tapped your hull, you'd be straight into the drink!' The club secretary, John Mackenzie, admonishes: 'You had to use the C-word.' To be fair to Miller, the proximity of the world's largest living reptile is not much of a secret. On the wall of the humble green shed belonging to the Fitzroy Canoe Club is a mascot of sorts: a toy croc called Fitzy. Pinned to the noticeboard are tips on being 'Croc Wise'. The club's paddling area is a known crocodile habitat, the note reads. Enter boats 'briskly'. Don't drag arms and legs in the water. If you capsize, get out as soon as possible. In March, the Queensland government announced that the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton, about 500km north of Brisbane, would host rowing and canoeing events at the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Scattered along the banks of the Fitzroy are signs warning of injury or death from saltwater crocodiles. A four-metre croc can be right beside you in the water, invisible, one reads. Visitors to the 'beef capital of Australia' are extremely unlikely to see a live saltie. But they won't miss representations of the prehistoric ambush predator throughout the grand sandstone and wrought iron buildings of the river port. In the lane behind the newly refurbished Rockhampton Museum of Art is a crocodile mural, 18 metres long and five metres high. But now the C-bomb has been dropped, the jokes are carpeted. We hop out to our boats atop the backs of crocodiles, Miller reckons. But don't worry, the crocs aren't hungry – 'we feed them all the time'. After the gags, Miller gets serious. You won't encounter a croc, he promises. Just enjoy the river, there isn't a better one between here and the mighty Murray. And with that, as the pinks and purples of dawn filter through the leaves of paperbarks that line the Fitzroy's banks, the canoeists paddle off into the mist that rises from the chalky brown water. Corellas screech from towering gums. Pelicans break the still surface of the river. An osprey peers down from the branches of a dead tree. The kayak quivers as its rudder hits a clump of duckweed. The canoeists paddle upstream, away from the city and the barrage that divides the Fitzroy between its salt and freshwater reaches. This piece of infrastructure is one reason Miller contends the river is 'pristine'. Unlike those to the south, the freshwater Fitzroy is not swept by tides, lined by mud and mangrove or racked by wind and wave. That concrete barrier, built as a water storage system to help meet the region's water supply needs, also marks a boundary on the government's Queensland crocodile management plan between targeted management and general management zones. Upstream of the barrage for 20km, park rangers are tasked with removing 'all large crocodiles' and any croc 'displaying dangerous behaviour' from the water. After a couple of kilometres, a pair of canoeists pass through a stretch of river they claim is the territory of a croc about the length at which it is officially considered 'large' – that is, longer than two metres. A few kilometres farther upstream is the spot that one canoe club member sighted a 4.5 metre saltie two years ago. After several weeks, it was captured and removed. This is winter, too – the same time of year that sunny Queensland will host the summer Olympics – and the period in which crocs are most easy to spot, basking their cold blood on riverbanks. Yet, statistically, Miller is almost certain to be right. The Boyne River, more than 100km to the south, is officially considered the southern boundary of typical crocodile habitat. Here in the lower reaches of croc country, the number and density of these apex predators is far lower than in the faraway tropics to the north. A government monitoring program estimates the number of crocodiles in rivers of the Cape York Peninsula – more than 1,500km to the north – at three crocodiles per kilometre. That ratio declines southward, down to 0.2 crocs per km on the Fitzroy. The canoe club has been paddling here since the late 1970s without incident. They are on the water almost every day, often starting in the dark. So, too, their rowing counterparts, who are also looking forward to hosting the Olympics. Mackenzie says he has been paddling in the river for the past seven years and has seen a croc upstream of the barrage only once. It was during the colder months and the saltie had its snout out of the water. During the central Queensland winter, he says, crocodiles aren't breeding, aren't territorial and aren't hungry. He wasn't worried at all. 'It was doing its thing, and I was doing mine,' Mackenzie says. 'It was quite a majestic encounter'. Other local water users aren't so enamoured of sharing the water with these toothy reptiles. Steve Diehm grew up five minutes from the boat ramp above the barrage on the banks of the Fitzroy and has spent his whole life in Rockhampton. An avid waterskier, Diehm had a boat before he had a car. The Fifo oil and gas worker met his wife and raised his three children waterskiing. But, over recent years, Diehm began being gnawed by a sense of unease familiar to many north of the tropic of capricorn. Since they were protected in the 1970s after being hunted to near annihilation, saltwater crocodiles – which despite their name also inhabit freshwater environments – have been steadily returning to their former range, reclaiming waterways that people swam for decades. Diehm had always been aware he was in croc habitat but began to feel less and less safe. Then, when he saw a picture of that 4.5 metre saltie captured in 2023, a 'horrible feeling' wrenched his stomach. He had skied that 'exact bank' for 15 years. Diehm thought about his children. The 46-year-old was devastated when he made the decision that it was no longer safe for his family to be on the Fitzroy. Looking out across the river gives Diehm a pang of remorse. It is perfectly smooth, basking in sunshine, a 'skier's dream' – and there is not a soul on the water. 'This should be like the Murray Darling,' he says. 'There should be houseboats workin' on here. There should be, you know, park a houseboat, swim off it, ski off it. 'All this, all the way up here, there's this ability for tourism, for so much good, old-fashioned, outdoor fun.' Diehm believes the Olympics would be great for Rockhampton but, without a change to crocodile management, he reckons athletes will be 'running the gauntlet'. The University of Queensland's crocodile expert, Prof Craig Franklin, runs the world's largest and longest active crocodile tracking program. The Fitzroy Olympics plan 'worries' him 'on a number of levels'. 'No. I don't believe it's safe,' he says. 'I think it's foolish.' Franklin fears the Olympic event sends the message that it is 'OK to go swimming' in places like the Fitzroy. But crocodiles travel vast distances over short periods, crossing barriers and moving overland for several kilometres. 'Rowing in a place where it's the natural habitat of the world's largest species of crocodilian and, arguably, the most dangerous?' he says. 'Why would you do that?' For Mackenzie, though, there is no other river like it. Still flush from his early morning canoe as he sips a coffee at his regular cafe near the river, the retired financial planner reflects that many people worry about all the wrong things. In the year to early August, 178 people died on Queensland roads. That morning, Mackenzie watched the Fitzroy's surface ripple with the movements of big catfish, barramundi and bum-breathing turtles. So, yes, he knows there are risks when he gets on to the water, but they are ones Mackenzie gladly accepts. One of the beauties of this river, he says, is that it's alive.
