Waldron killed by croc farewelled

Cindy Waldron has been farewelled in a private ceremony today in Tauranga. Photo / Supplied

Friends and family yesterday farewelled Cindy Waldron who died after being killed by a crocodile at a Queensland beach last month.

Waldron, 46, was dragged underwater at Thornton Beach in the Daintree National Park after she and her friend Leeann Mitchell decided to risk a dip in the ocean about 10pm on May 29.

Mitchell tried in vain to wrestle her friend free of the crocodile. She was taken to hospital and treated for shock.

Waldron was originally from New Zealand, where her family still live, but had been in Australia for about two decades. She was based in Lithgow in New South Wales' Blue Mountains.

Mourners gathered at Tauranga Park yesterday to remember Waldron's life.

Her father Pat previously told the Herald his daughter would have understood the risks of a late-night swim in the crocodile country.

"She'd do crazy things. And what she did there is a crazy thing," he said. "But that was her. She sent a message on Facebook two hours before that happened to say 'I'm on the beach, it's a lovely place, I'm having a ball'."

Mitchell has since been released from hospital and is understood to be recovering at her Queensland home.

Wildlife rangers caught and shot the 4.3m long crocodile which killed Waldron on June 3.

It was the second crocodile rangers had euthanised after Waldron's death.