Best of Australia

The team at Crossley Architects are proud to be Australian and to live in this picturesque Country we call home, which is why we were excited to read one of our project's in our very own backyard had made the Sydney Morning Herald's "Best of Australia: 50 Unforgettable Adventures".

Crossley Architects, in association with Burling Brown Architects and Aquatic Environmental Systems, completed Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin, Australia, in 2008 where it has served as a tourist hub and educational facility to many for the past six years.

Best of Australia: 50 Unforgettable Adventures

Enter the Cage of Death

Darwin, Northern Territory

Around the world you can swim with all sorts of big critters, but only in Darwin can you come nose to snout with a saltwater crocodile and walk away with a nervous smile. Though most waterways here are no place for a casual swim, at Crocosaurus Cove, in the centre of the city, visitors climb into the so-called Cage of Death, a transparent, acrylic cylinder with room for two people. It's slowly lowered by an overhead monorail into the enclosure of an adult crocodile, including one of the leathered stars (no, not Paul Hogan) of Crocodile Dundee.

The crocs are the five-metre, don't-mess-with-me variety, and the acrylic is only four centimetres thick, engendering a fair amount of fear and adrenalin as the cage is dipped like a tea bag into the pool and remains submerged for 15 minutes. The crocodile lurks with intent. This could be the moment it decides to add another set of teeth marks to the cage

To read the complete list click here.