5th - 6th June

No! Please! Not another waterfall, not even a bubbling brook! One more waterfall and I'll throw my good self over the falls! But there is a merciful deity, no falls, no rivers nor creeks nor roach climbs today!

We pair rise in Mardugal Camp at 5:30am, well before the dawn and prepare for our fishing charter at Yellow Waters. We try to be really, really quiet, mustn't wake the Groves or Palmers and so we quietly rev the Patrol out of camp. 6:45am and our boat is underway. Normally a charter is for four people, but a couple of Yanks cancelled at the last minute so it's Evi, Roscoe and our skipper and guide Rob.

The sunrise is special, very special, as we motor over sheet glass water with the ever growing globe of brilliant red rising off our right shoulder. The river surrounds are reflected in the waters ahead and glow with that special fluorescence you only occasionally see! This is the wetlands where areas of many square kilometers are drowned by the seasonal wet, but now the waters given way to being a myriad of rivers, creeks, inlets, channels, billabongs and pools, all surrounded by a skirt of verdant green grasses, stunted trees and wild water flowers. It is a moving experience to be here, especially when Rob kills the twin Hondas and positions us using the electric motor. The sounds of the water and birds slowly fills the sudden silence.

Even here the effects of a poor wet season are felt, Barramundi is not so plentiful this year. We fish an intersection of three channels at first with little result other than a few timid hits on the lures. You cannot use live bait in Kakadu and Rob has an assortment of lures ready on different fishing rods. At first Evi has some troubles with getting good casting distance, but after 20 minutes she is right into it!

Rob moves us time and again looking for the Barra. Soon Roscoe has a small Tarpon, a herring like fish with a hard mouth that fights solidly. It is not good eating and so back it goes. He catches three of these fighters, and has a Barra up to the boat when it spits the hook and thrashes away. During the three hour charter Rob tells us of the life of the river, the animals, the Aboriginals, the tourists and of course finds us several Saltwater Crocodiles. A few were about 4 meters long, and one was over 5 meters and fat. His smile looked happy as Rob glided us past him within a few meters.

The charter cost us $150.00 each for three hours. Meanwhile up to forty tourists at a time were taking a congested and compacted two hour tour at $99.00 each. We reckon we got the best deal, even without bring home a Barra.

We were back at the Lotus Inn by 11am and saw that, as planned, our friends had already packed camp and moved to Cooinda for a few nights of "luxury"! By 11:50am we had packed camp, driven the seven kilometers (yes, seven, a new short record for us) to Cooinda Lodge and were reversing into a shady and grassy site.

Luxury does come at a price, so by late afternoon Evi had done three loads of washing ( we have power and water) and Roscoe had attended to those small cleaning and repair jobs that built upover the past weeks. Didn't stop us from hitting the pool, and having a pizza and schooners of cider at the resort bar for lunch. At truly pleasing day finished off by the Broncos beating the rotten Manly mob in NRL, not to mention a Titans win as well!

Next morning it was the Groves and Palmers who rose early and went fishing, all with our best wishes just in case they caught Barra! And Sue caught a 660mm legal Barra, she was just beaming when they returned, especially compared to Col and John. The only thing Col caught was the back of John's head, and he has the gash to prove it! We decide on an easy day to catch up on some reading and writing this blog. Tonight, the restaurant will cook the Barra for us and provide Potato Wedges and salads at a deal price. Sweet!