Paj is
still on the hunt for his barramundi so come 7th August we
set off for Dundee Beach which is southwest of Darwin. On the way in we
passed Tony and Helen and had a chat. They had enjoyed their stay but
not had much luck. They moved on to Litchfield and were then heading
west towards Exmouth. We stayed here a couple of nights but it wasn’t
much good without a boat. They were bringing in some huge Spanish
Mackerel off the
charter boats. While here we went and had a look at Crab Island Resort,
another place where you really need a boat. A lot of this area is too
risky without a boat because of the crocodiles. The sandflies and
mosquitoes were really starting to get to us both so we moved on to the
Daly River.
We
arrived at Daly River on 9th August. We decided to stay at
the Mango Farm and booked in for 3 nights. We also booked for us both
to go out on a fishing charter the next morning. Finally, we had some
luck! We were out on the water from 7.30am till about 3pm. It was a
lovely day. The river was quite spectacular with a lot of birdlife, and
more crocodiles and to top it off we came back with a couple of decent
sized barramundi for the freezer. I didn’t have much luck. I got a
couple of cat fish, one of which a bull shark decided looked tasty and
he demolished half of it in one snap as I was landing it. I hooked a
large barramundi but it spat the line out pretty smartly. Paj landed a
few small ones and 2 that were legal.
It was a
lovely spot to stay. It is an operating Mango Farm and we had a nice
quiet camp site overlooking the orchard. The owners, Gary and Rhonda,
make sure they know everyone by name and it was such a lovely
atmosphere
. The first night we were there was going to be the last
night for a few of the campers who had been there a month or so fishing
so they had a communal BBQ. It was good meeting everyone and hearing
all their travelling and fishing stories. We decided to extend our stay
to a week as we were enjoying it so much. I spent a lot of time typing
up my assignments so I could get my first unit out of the way. Paj spent
his days chatting to everyone and just enjoying the atmosphere.
Wednesday nights Gary and Rhonda have a Burger and Chip night and they
cooked up the best burger I’ve ever had. Paj booked himself another
fishing trip for the Friday so Stephen, the guy who runs the fishing
trips Paj out with him to catch the live bait they would need and then
joined us for dinner. They came back with 3 barramundi this time. Gary
and Rhonda put on their usual Friday night Barramundi and Chips night on
Friday so we joined them for that. We were due to leave Sunday but
extended again so ended up staying 8 nights altogether. We didn’t want
to leave.
A note for those who think they will never get caught regarding fishing limits and restrictions! While at Daly River we heard that they had done a raid at Shady camp after we left. In that area you are only allowed 5 Barramundi in your possession at one time. Someone (we think we know who it was) was caught with freezers full and had his car, caravan and boat confiscated. He will have to appear in court and apparently it is common for the fine to be the equivalent value of whatever they have confiscated – a good way to bankrupt yourself and a very expensive lesson!
We moved on down to Katherine on 17th August. We spent 5 nights here catching up on laundry and getting supplies and I got my first unit finished off and sent away.
We then moved on to Renner springs for a night, turned left onto the Barkley Highway at Three Ways and made our way to Mount Isa with one roadside overnight stop in between. It wasn’t a very interesting road. We did however come across a huge plague of locusts just over the Queensland border. We had just had a break at Camooweal and just out of town we hit them. The cloud of them must have gone on for at least 5 kilometres. We have never seen so many. You could hear them hitting the windscreen and they weren’t small! It was not pleasant.
We
arrived in Mount Isa on 24th August. It was just a typical
mining town but does have a lot of history. There is a good museum, an
underground hospital museum, a dinosaur exhibit and a good mining tour.
There are 2 smelters on the edge of town. One is for lead and the other
copper. The area is well known for it’s dinosaur digs and there are a
few archaeological sites around. Riversleigh, north of Camooweal is the
only one open to the public and they have an exhibit and lab in Mount
Isa that is open to the public. It is fascinating to see what they have
found. While in Mount Isa we took a drive out to Lake Moondarra which
was a beautiful oasis in the middle of the outback. It is a huge lake
where locals can, fish, boat, wat
er-ski and kayak and there are lovely
picnic spots round the shoreline. It was a most unexpected site.
From Mount Isa we travelled north to Karumba, a small fishing and prawning village at the base of the Gulf of Carpentaria. It was a sleepy little town apart from all the retiree fishermen who spend 3 or 4 months there every year. The campground was full of them. They were starting to head home the weekend we arrived but there were too many of them for our liking. We really didn’t enjoy the atmosphere.
While in Karumba we visited the local Barramundi hatchery. That was interesting. They breed the local species of barramundi for release into the local lakes and rivers. They release into Lake Moondarra at Mount Isa and another lake nearby aswell as a couple of local rivers. Barramundi need salt water to spawn so if they didn’t replenish the stocks in the freshwater waterways in the area the barramundi would have been fished out by the recreational fishermen years ago. Karumba is known for it’s prawns and we found a seafood market selling freshly cooked prawns for $12 a kilo. Guess what we had for lunch every day we were there!
Heading East 2009
Part Five - DUNDEE BEACH TO KARUMBA
