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Kiwi croc man returns to WA isle with crew

New Zealander Ryan Blair is returning to the WA island where he was terrorised by a massive crocodile - with a Kiwi film crew in tow.

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Source: AAP


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Ryan Blair, the New Zealander marooned on a remote West Australian island for a fortnight when a six-metre crocodile repeatedly thwarted his escape, is returning there with a Kiwi film crew.

His rescuer Don MacLeod, who ferried him to safety, said the crew of current affairs show 3rd Degree would arrive with Mr Blair at Governor Island on Sunday and depart on Tuesday.

Mr MacLeod has agreed to take them there in his dinghy, a trip that takes about 45 minutes from his camp site near the Drysdale River not far from the northernmost tip of WA.

Mr MacLeod said he has returned to the island since Mr Blair's frightening ordeal, which ended on Saturday when he spotted a light from the Kiwi's campsite.

The hapless adventurer had left his gear there including a solar panel and car battery, with which he ran a 12-volt electric shaver.

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"What struck me was he how well manicured he was. His face was perfect with a little goatee beard," Mr MacLeod told AAP.

"There were lots of empty cans of aerosol so the mosquitoes must have been driving him mad."

Mr Blair was well equipped, bringing gas bottles for cooking and a seawater distilling unit, which he didn't use because he was worried about setting his camp on fire.

Plus he'd left an ominous note, seeming to explain why his tent was set up in a tree.

"Please be careful here - I've seen two death adder snakes and three other species as well as a large goanna, redback spiders and many strange insects," the note read.

Mr MacLeod said he'd seen a death adder at the camp himself. And it was a big one.

"As I was standing there, I heard a bit of a rustle in the leaf litter and got myself a stick and gave it a bit of a poke and there's this massive death adder within just a few metres of his tent.

"That's probably why he's up the tree. He's got the death adder and the mozzies and it was just getting a bit too much I think."

After his ordeal, Mr Blair auctioned off his story to an Australian TV network.

Mr MacLeod said that was good because the Kiwi had originally paid a Queenslander $7000 to take him on his ill-fated trip to the Kimberley, but was stranded in Darwin when the man was arrested by police for some reason.


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