THE MAN CRUSH EXPLAINED…

Barely in his thirties, Dave McMahon knows as much about northern Australia as any human. The intense, energetic South Australian guided me through Arnhem Land a few years ago, where I soon realised he’s a genuine naturalist and environmentalist, and as passionate about Indigenous issues as any white person I know. And, boy, can this bloke cook! The former finedining chef, who cut his teeth at Adelaide’s Windy Point, has focused his talents on the camp oven. “It’s all about coals and heat – and practise,” he says. “You can cook anything in a camp oven.” It’s his tenth year guiding in the Kimberley and Dave reckons he’s covered half a million kilometres in his time withVenture North. He guides for eight months a year. On his ‘down time’ he travels to remote climes to do cool stuff like track 3.5-metre cobras (India), help build crab bridges (Christmas Island) and work at crocodile farms (NT). “I was jumping into pens with a just a hose and plastic rake with 120 crocs in each. I thought ‘what the hell are you doing?’” Dave handled his first venomous snake at 18, an eastern brown, in a children’s playground. “I thought, this is going to go wrong for the snake and the people, so I tailed it, grabbed it, and walked it away down the main street.” His favourite place in Australia? Probably Arnhem Land, where he’s been given a ‘skin name’ by theYolngu, an epiphany for him.“Driving into the Gunbalanya community was the biggest culture shock of my life.When the people opened up to me, I realised how vast the culture is and how much we don’t know.” Next time you’re in the Kimberley, Kakadu or Arnhem Land, keep an eye out for him: always bare-footed, always wearing his “bashed” Akubra Sombrero, with its crocodile-back leather band.