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| The Barkley table lands |
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| Needs no explanation !! |
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| My first Barra |
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| The campsite at K.A.B |
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| Sunset at K.A.B |
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| Dennis with his Queenfish |
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| Chris relaxing with Muffie |
What a place to be when you need to get away from the winter
in South Australia. The NorthernTerritory dry season has daytime temperatures
anywhere between 22-30 degrees, cooling down to a very comfortable 14–18
degrees in the evening.We headed there early in June
and after six days driving and
nearly 3000km later arrived at King Ash bay fishing club camp ground in the
Gulf of Carpentaria on the banks of the Mc Arthur river system.
The club has many facilities you would get at a caravan
park, and is very popular most of the year round.
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| One of the locals |
King Ash bay is 1000 km from Darwin (the nearest city) and
700 km from Katherine (the nearest town), so when travelling to this area you
have to make sure you have as many essential supplies as possible eg: beer and
wine and spirits!!!!!!
During the ten weeks we were there I was able to get out on
the river system with a friend in his tinny. The fishing was the best I have
ever encountered anywhere and as well as shark, Golden Trevalla, Queen Fish,
Barracuda and Salmon I also added an 85 cm and 83 cm Barramundi to the list.
The Barramundi is the most sought after fish in the northern part of Australia
due to its fighting and eating qualities. However due to the very large salt
water crocodiles that inhabit the river you have to be very careful whenever
you are on or near the river.
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| Bitter springs |
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| Daly waters pub |
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| How clear is that |
Leaving King Ash bay we travelled
towards Darwin, stopping
off at Cape Crawford, Daly waters (a great out back pub), Mataranka (swimming
in the warm thermal pools of Bitter springs) Katherine,(cruising the Katherine
gorge) and Adelaide River (once the frontline for Australian forces during
world war two).
A seven day stay in Darwin enabled us to stock up for the
trip south and for me to attach two 60 watt solar panels to the roof of the
caravan which would then power the satellite TV which we brought in Katherine.
Oh, the joys of having TV reception in the middle of nowhere!!!!!
While there we also visited Litchfield national park just
south of Darwin, to see some of the largest termite mounds in Australia.
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| Aboriginal rock art |
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| Termite mound,5 meter high and over fifty years old |
Instead of heading straight back to Adelaide we spent four
days in the Kakadu national park area. This World heritage area has some of the
oldest rock art paintings in the world.
After a four day stop over at the Daly River and then the
Douglas Daly area it was time to get back on the Stuart highway for the trip
south This time it was completed in 3 ½ days.
Staying at Port Julia on the York peninsular (only $30.00 per
week) for three weeks we will then be house sitting for two weeks before going back
to the Barossa valley in preparation for next years vintage at Seppeltsfield
winery. Then it’s back to King Ash bay to stock up the freezer with fish.
Except this time we will be going up with a new 4x4 and a tinny on the roof
J
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| 86 wheeled road train |
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| Campsite at Finke river |
