I FOUGHT A CROC - and won!

It was fight or flight when a croc attacked Peta-Lynn's best mate - Peta-Lynn O'Brien, 53

- Claudia Siron

Growing up on my family's safari camp in South Africa, life was wild.

A true bush baby, I ran around barefoot and loved animals, just like my dad Rob and mum Wendy.

When I grow up, I want to work in wildlife too, I always thought.

After Dad's apprentice, Hilton, then 19, joined our safari company when I was seven, we became instant best mates. He was like my big brother, and I was his little shadow.

When I turned nine, our family moved to Australia to run a wildlife reserve.

'You'll be coming with us, of course,' Dad said to Hilton, who became his business partner.

After we arrived at Channel Point, in the Northern Territory, I went to boarding school in Darwin, but spent holidays at the large reserve.

There, we'd shuck oysters with a screwdriver and make friends with the wallabies and dingoes.

Within the first year, Hilton found love with our neighbour June-Ellen.

When I was 12, in April 1981, Hilton picked me up from school for the Easter weekend while my parents were away.

'I proposed to June-Ellen!' he grinned.

Back home, we planned to hunt a pig to cook for the engagement celebration.

Driving to our swamp in Hilton's open-air 4WD, we parked at the dock where our airboat sat in the muddy water. For an hour, we scoured the area for a pig.

Then, suddenly, our boat got stuck on a mud bank.

Hilton jumped off to push the boat out. But his hunting revolver dropped into the swamp. We waded through the water, searching for it.