We are on holiday!

Monday 8th August 2022

Another pack up day! I had ideas of getting up for a last swim first, but after a rough night of Otis not sleeping well, the kids and I slept till 8! Richie is suffering his burns and got up early, so we woke up with the tent being dismantled around us! 😆

We had a little bit of excitement when Otis encountered a stripy snake while waiting for me and Bonnie outside the bathrooms. The caretaker put a bucket over it and contacted the Rangers to remove it. The Rangers arrived a few minutes later and simply picked it up – it was a small children’s python, and its bite is not venomous! The kids got to pat it, which they were both thrilled about, and Otis got busy drawing pictures of it!

We packed up camp, and I had a quick walk around the grounds to scope out nice shade camps – in case we need it for future reference! Annoyingly 1 & 2 look good – they were available when I booked but they are closest to the kiosk so I thought they might not be that private, though honestly they look lovely! Camps 5 through to 14 all look lovely and shady as well. Possibly others, I didn’t walk around the rest. Definitely not #47 and surrounds, where we were!

We got going by 9:45. I raised the idea of returning for the hike sometime, though perhaps too soon for Richie after the experience of heat, sunburn, flies and mozzies……I will have to work on that one 😁

We stopped in at Katherine at an awesome camping store – rod & rifle tackle world, which has many fun things. Richie grabbed fly hats for himself and the kids…..whilst I might regret not getting one, I don’t think the flies have been all that bad yet – I’ve definitely experienced them worse! I’ll wait for that moment until I consider netting my head! He also got a rechargeable fan, which if it helps him sleep is a good investment. We are heading into more hot weather and hot nights and Richie finds it particularly hard to sleep if the nights stay warm.

We stopped for coffee and ice cream at an outdoor cafe in the main street, then hit the road again, finally heading west! We drove into the Victoria River region and the landscape very suddenly changed. We drove through remarkable towering red cliffs on the eastern section of Judparra NP – absolutely stunning! I wonder if the campsites in the eastern section are a part of this incredible landscape, it would be amazing to stay in!

We were booked in at Big Horse Creek campground, in the western part of the park, past Timber Creek and on the Victoria River. We arrived around 3pm. The camps guide lists this as a shady campsite, which it probably is at the right time of year, but at the moment it is filled with bare, skeleton-like boab trees that look remarkable but not so shady. Our booked site is a drive through site on the outside of the camping ground, which would be fine for a caravan but no room for a tent, so we found the shadiest looking spot in the central part of the campground – the boabs may have no leaves but they have fat trunks! We set up camp, had lunch and waited a little bit for the sun to lower, then Richie set himself up for a fish – this campground is on the Victoria River and Big Horse Creek, but strictly no swimming, we are in croc territory now! I chose this site purely on fishing potential for Richie. The kids and I walked to the boat ramp to look at the river, while Richie picked his way through the bush to the creek, after promising me he would stay 5m from the water!

We watched the river for a little while – we could see evidence of crocs on the banks but didn’t see any of the creatures ourselves. We chatted with the campground caretaker and another camper, when Richie called to ask us to return to camp. Our neighbouring camper walked past us towards the river and spoiled Richie’s surprise – he had caught a decent barramundi from the creek! This is the fish that has eluded us for years – we tried and failed many a time in Darwin and surrounds during Richie’s PhD, and it has been front of Richie’s mind this whole trip! Richie brought it down to show us – at 78cm it looked almost as big as Otis! Then he ducked into the bush to clean it up – you can’t clean fish by the water here and he didn’t want to leave a mess at the campground.

The fish of course changed our dinner plans! Whilst I have been imagining whole fish cooked in the fire, at that size that is overdoing it a little! We did pan fry – in sections – one whole fillet of the fish, and ate the whole thing amongst us! The other half has gone into the freezer – still loving the novelty of camping with a fridge/freezer!

Richie and his new fan put the kids to bed while I washed up (and took advantage of phone reception!). The night is still, but doesn’t feel as hot as it did as Edith Falls. The moon is also building up to full again, so we have had lovely bright nights for sitting outside. ✨