Thursday 18 July 2013

Daly River...shame about the barramundi or lack thereof

We left Litchfield Tourist Park on Wednesday and headed for Daly River...reported to be the fishing capital for barramundi. Not sure who decided that but no one told the barra!
It was a long drive down with a brief break at Adelaide River.
The landscape we drove through was very interesting. Ancient rocks, termite mounds and cycad palms.

We drove into  Daly River mid-afternoon to a non-existent town. A police station and three houses with caravan parks hidden along a twenty kilometre length of a beautiful but crocodile infested river
We drove round for a half hour looking for the best looking caravan park and settled on the Banyan Farm.
Hot and sticky, we put the trailer up and headed for the pool. It was  a lovely park with a little bit of grass.
Where are those fish!
We haven't seen green grass since we left home and everything inside and out is covered in a fine layer of red dust. We were visited by a peacock before we headed over to join another eighty grey fishermen and their partners to watch the third State of origin football match with a sumptuous feast of pies, peas and mash for a bargain $12!
Ian watched the footie while I played with my iPad and talked to a new acquaintance, Kerry who shared a love of reading and travelling Cornwall.
Go the reds..or is it the blues?
We also heard tall tales and true about crocodile jumping into fishing boats and eating a horse in said caravan park.
One crocodile apparently guards the boat ramp and is reported to be 2.5 meters long and fishermen have to stay in the boat and throw a rope so it can be driven up onto the trailer.
But alas, the fisherman reported there were no fish being caught due to a poor wet season and no run off,so we decided to move on and spend a week or so up in Kakadu National Park.
A long hot drive (about 450 kilometers up to Jabiru)
To digress...one of the most interesting things we have found on our travels is the number of back packers working in remote locations. We have been served by German, French, Irish, English and even one guy at Wangi Falls who said he came from heaven!
Today the young  French waitress where we stopped for to refuel and have morning tea at Pine Creek,  was not quite up with Aussie cuisine. On the menu we were  tempted by  scones or lamingtons, so we opted for a cup of tea and a lamington.
Interestingly they were served with jam and cream! I think she confused them with the scones!
Onto Kakadu...a long and very hot drive and then we put up the camper trailer in thirty-five degree heat. When we finished we went straight to the pool and gave lunch a miss. (The lamingtons and jam and cream saw us through the whole day!)
And joy of joys, not only do we have five bars of internet but the mobile phone kicked in with full service as well and ten messages dinged in!
Tomorrow we are off to explore Kakadu, book a fishing trip and watch out for crocodiles!

3 comments:

  1. Crocs?! You're a brave pair! xxx

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  2. Good morning, traveller. Great stuff. Just listening to Kings In Grass Castles so hearing the dust and dry and wall to wall red. Amazing people our early explorers weren't they. xx have fun and hope you spot the barra xxFi

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  3. What a grand adventure. Croc guarding the boat ramp and no fish? Bet Ian is sad. His 14 rods will be so dusty. Better luck in Kakadu.
    Wasn't the Origin game grand? It had a bit of everything! Wonderful Maroons!!!!!!

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