Lyrics From The Gulf To Adelaide - Slim Dusty

From The Gulf To Adelaide

No doubt you’ve heard of droving trips across the Murringai
And how they brought the bullocks down in the good old days gone bye
But the greatest droving episode that any man has made
Was 30,000 crocodiles from the Gulf to Adelaide
Oh I never saw the likes of them that mob of crocodiles
Thirty footers every one strung out for thirty miles
Three days it took to start 'em off, three days to straighten em' up
Three days we travelled southward, three days to block 'em up
They were long and mean and cranky, they had teeth like cross cut saws
When passin' though some timber, just to exercise their jaws
They churned out hardwood posts one foot through by seven tall
All stacked up by the stock route, barked an' sapped an' all
Oh they had a normal appetite as lizards really should
And everything in hair or hide was considered very good
The first day out from Normanton we missed the jackaroo
But then, blow me down, the horses went, an' the old blue heeler too
And the last we saw of Goanna Bob, horse tailer of repute
He was headin' toward the rabbit proof with a big croc in pursuit
When drifting down the Flinders, they cracked on a bit of pace
Oh they took a mob of bullocks and never left a trace.
Oh I’ve been up and down these stock routes now for 20 years or more
But I’ve never seen a travellin' mob the likes of this before
By Saltbush plains and Gidgee rise down 'long the old Georgina
The snapped an' snarled and pawed all day, they were slowly gettin' meaner
They didn’t like the spinifex a ticklin' their ol' hides
And with water gettin' far apart, the tears came to their eyes
Now you’ve heard of crocodile tears but you wouldn’t know the meanin'
Oh with 30,000 sheddin' tears, Oh seein' is believin'
There was water in the gullies, there was water in the creeks
And the old Georgina River runnin' belly deep for weeks
For it was our great salvation for upon that flood of tears
We sailed 'em down past Lake Eyre on the biggest flood for years
A short step then to Adelaide, and delivery right on time
The agent came to meet us, and here’s the ending of this rhyme
For he said you’ll have to turn em' around and take them back again
For the fashion now in ladies shoes is imitation crocodile with the courser
grain
Spoken
Wouldn’t it rip you