GUTSY Top End cattle producer Marlee Ranacher has had an ironic stroke of good luck: an air crash in a crocodile-infested river helped save her iconic outback property.
Marlee is the daughter of outback author Sara Henderson. Her Bullo River Station was one of hundreds of Top End businesses burnt by the Gillard government's live cattle export fiasco.
Marlee took on Canberra over the ban, addressing hundreds at the Convoy of No Confidence rally, before returning home to put the property on the market.
2011 was a year of disasters at Bullo, but it was a plane crash early in the year which produced an unexpected end-of-year change in luck for the Ranacher family.
Marlee was piloting a small Cessna aircraft, searching for cattle on the Victoria River floodplain, when the engine failed, forcing her to land wheels-up on a mud bank.
Marooned in the middle of a river three kilometres wide, with a fast-incoming 7.5-metre tide, she struggled on foot through deep mud to reach a point closer to the shore, where the tide was offset by the flow of the river.
"I was able to swim 500 metres to the riverbank without having to battle the usual roaring current," Marlee said.
From the riverbank, she activated an emergency beacon. Emergency services called her husband, a helicopter pilot, in to search.
"By the time Franz arrived, the plane was almost completely submerged," Marlee said. "Only the tip of the tail was visible and the tide was still ripping in.
"I had emails afterwards saying what a terrible day it must have been for me, but in hindsight, I think it was bloody brilliant.
"I walked away from a forced landing, managed to swim a very large river without being eaten by a crocodile, my husband rescued me in a helicopter, and I was home for lunch.
"As it turned out, our bad fortune losing the plane was in fact good fortune," she said.
"With the export market closed down by the government, the insurance payout we received (from the crash) was one reason we were able to hang on - tenuous though it was - until late in the year, when we had our second bit of luck and were able to sell floodplain cattle for a good price.
"It gave us the option of turning away offers of purchase for Bullo that didn't meet our benchmark.
"In recent days, export quotas have increased, which should result in a strong demand for cattle and good prices.
"For the first time in a long while, the light of hope is glimmering in the future. Franz and I have taken Bullo off the market, and it is with great optimism that our family heads into the 2012 season."
