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Day 415 – Day 420: Mambi Island Boat Ramp – Ivanhoe Crossing

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Tuesday, 22 – Sunday, 27 July 2014                                                                       34.6kms

During the next 5 days at Mambi Island, Hendrix and Elokin both caught their first Barramundi’s. Hendrix released his after his photo as it was just shy at 54cm, but Elokin’s was a keeper at 55cm. Nath also caught 2 more in one evening and both were 62cm. He just can’t seem to get bigger than the 63cm of the last trip.

The night of Nath’s 2 Barramundi was an interesting one. We had a visitor come into camp. Nath had left the 2 carcasses in the 9L bucket and decided to bury them in the morning as Jan had left one of his carcasses on the ground in his camp for 2 nights and nothing had happened to it. After putting the kids to bed, Nath and I fell asleep in our camp chairs next to the fire and woke up at 10pm to go climb into bed. At 1am, after much kicking, Nath finally woke me from my slumber to look out the window as he was shining the torch at something. Before my eyes had adjusted, I look to see and mutter “what is that, a cane toad on steroids?” as the colouring was right and I was only looking at the section directly under the light. I think Nath kicked me again at that point and I took another look. This time my eyes opened wide as I saw a 3m+ saltwater crocodile laying in camp with the 9l bucket in his big open mouth. He lay frozen, and it was actually quite comical, as we imagined him thinking, ‘did they notice me?’ or ‘if I lay really still they won’t see me’ with only his eyes moving back and forth. I attempted to take a photo with the phone, but the flash hit the flyscreen and whited out the pic. Bugger. So as I leant over Nath to grab the camera, the croc stood on his back legs, spun 900 in the air and ran full pelt head first into a tree, as he couldn’t see where he was going thru the bucket. Yes, it was still firmly in his mouth, his teeth were through the bucket. He was dazed momentarily, but recovered quickly to slink off back to the water. The bucket was gone.

In the morning we ventured down to the bank to see if any of the bucket remained. It didn’t. Not a trace. We could see the track where he had walked up the bank on his feet, dragging only the tip of his tail, to a place under a tree where he lay for quite a while to leave a perfect belly print on the damp mud. This is the scary part, how long had he been laying there? Was he on the bank watching us sleep in our camp chairs near the fire? It remains a mystery, and a reminder not to become complacent around crocodiles, as that bucket could easily have been one of us.

On Thursday we went croc spotting in the tinny. Elokin kept a tally, as that was the maths unit she had just learnt so we put it into practice. In just our section of river between rapids, she counted 16 freshies, 7 salties and 2 unidentified. On our way back to camp that evening in the dark, Nath wanted to catch some live mullet in the cast net. So I had to drive the boat. The outboard was playing up and revving too high, so every time I clunked it in to gear, it nearly threw a standing Nath out of the boat into the dark croc infested water. I also had to hold the torch for him to see the mullet and avoid crashing into the bank and snags, as that is where the mullet were. Drive in, go along the bank, Nath throws the net, clunk it in reverse, turn the outboard the wrong way and nearly run over the net, quickly put it in neutral to avoid damaging the net, keep the light where it has to be, correct the boat…. All in all, I had a shit of a time! Stressed out and in a fluster. And no, it wasn’t worth it!

That night Linda (Jan’s wife), Nath and Jan went out in their boat to use the liveys. Linda had something big run off with her bait but it bit her off. They didn’t catch anything else.

We caught more cane toads for the burning in the evenings that we were having a fire. One night we caught 3 massive ones. Hendrix pretended to eat one like Shrek!

Hendrix and the cane toad
Hendrix and the cane toad

On our last morning, we watched a stunning sunrise as there was clouds around. It almost looked like rain was on the way. We discovered that we had a flat battery when the car wouldn’t start to go do to retrieve the tinny at the boat ramp. Hendrix and Elokin played at Linda and Jan’s bus and had a ball. They got spoilt, as did we when we went to say goodbye. Linda gave us a jar of her homemade strawberry jam and a bag of her dried fruit and nuts to snack on in the car. That day Elokin finally felt brave enough to try feed one of the cows that had come into camp every day. She desperately wanted to touch one. The cow took the leaves from her and touched her hand. One of the other cows watching on decided it wanted the special attention too. But El was a bit frightened of it as it had horns, so she put the leaves on the ground for it to collect itself. That mustn’t have been good enough for it, because as the kids were walking down to Linda and Jan’s to say bye, the cow charged at her. Nath and I had gone to wash our hands at the water’s edge and were walking back up to hear a shrill from Elokin. She sounded absolutely terrified and came flying around the back of the camper and into our arms in tears. We then asked frantically where Hendrix was, when he too came screaming hysterically around the car. The cow was freaked too and ran off down the road. No-one was injured thankfully. But we learnt not to feed the cows from now on. After all the excitement we drove the 30 odd kms to the Ivanhoe Crossing for the night.

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.

Across Australia Trip, Animals, Family Happy Snaps, Photography

Day 414: Mambi Island Boat Ramp

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Monday, 21 July 2014

Before the 6am alarm went off this morning, Hendrix was awake hassling his Dad to take him fishing. How could a man refuse? So they jumped up, got dressed and headed for the tinny. They even beat Mr Busman. So at 5.50am they were off to catch a Barramundi, hopefully.

They returned a while later for breakfast after not catching anything. We all ate together before starting school for the day. Hendrix did really well and finished the work from last week. He then started this week’s work and got a good amount of that done too. Elokin on the other hand struggled. It took her almost 4 hours to do the maths unit and then we still had handwriting and spelling to finish for last week. It was only in the evening when the boys had gone fishing that we got to start this week’s maths unit.

Mr Busman came down for a chat and we learnt that his name is Jan (pronounced Yarn) and he and his wife live in the Adelaide Hills on 40 acres growing olives and making oil.

While Nath and Hendrix were fishing just before sunset, Elokin borrowed my camera to capture the kangaroos around the camp. She got a few really good shots which we were both impressed with. When the lads returned, they had been victorious. Nath had landed himself a Barramundi, although just undersize at 51cm, he was returned to the water. I noticed there were a few cane toads around again, so before dinner Nath, Hendrix and Elokin went toad hunting armed with Hendrix’s spear. They caught one and put it in the fire I had lit while they were hunting. Nath had to spear it again as it sucked its guts in and hopped out of the fire. It did not survive the second burning.

After dinner we had the Boobook Owl fly into camp as it had when Heather and Allan were here. I had been hoping that it would return as it is super cute. I snuck into the van and retrieved my camera while it stayed in its spot on the tree. We watched as it flew down near the ground right next to Elokin to grab something to eat and fly off. But it returned only minutes later and sat watching for ages. Again it took flight and landed at the base of the tree next to the van before flying off once more. When he returned the third time I had found the tripod and was ready to take a photo of it. Elokin walked under it and talked calmly to it. In one of my photos it is looking down at her as if listening to what she has to say. She was hoping that it would land on her arm, but when it flew away again, it didn’t return for the night and we went to bed.

Owl that came into camp
Owl that came into camp

It is anything but quite here at night as I lay in my bed listening to the screech and wing flaps of the bats, the “mo-poke” symphony of the 3 Boobook Owls, the splashes of the mullet jumping in the water, the sucking thumps of the Barramundi catching their food and the odd all mighty splash of a crocodile.

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.

Across Australia Trip, Animals, Destinations, Family Happy Snaps, Photography, Travel Journal

Day 413: Mambi Island Boat Ramp

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Sunday, 20 July 2014

Another beautiful morning greeted us today. Nath and I sat in our chairs drinking our cuppa looking out over the river. A freshie popped up in the water near the rocks that were visible with the outgoing tide. He sat there for ages waiting for something I’m sure. An eagle flew down to the tree near us so I snuck off to grab my camera. I made it back without him flying off and when the camera made its click noise, he looked right at me. After he flew off, many other birds flew in or past so I sat in my chair taking photos of them all. A lazy Sunday morning.

Nath and Hendrix decided mid-morning that they would go for a fish in the tinny. I had typing to catch up on and Elokin had more school work than Hendrix to do, so we stayed in camp to do our things. I decided to also make a chocolate cake for afternoon tea, but had to clean the Weber first. Elokin helped crack the eggs and mix it with the electric beaters and we had just finished when the boys returned home. They hadn’t caught anything but had seen the big crocodile upstream that we had been told about. He is bigger than our car and not too far away.

In the late afternoon we went for a fish. We went upstream this time as we hadn’t been that way before. We saw another big salty but not as many crocs as we did yesterday. I caught a small catfish near a rocky bank. Finally, a fish, just not what we want at all! Just down from there was a rocky outcrop that we tried both ways to get around only to run out of water on both sides. We gave up in the end and waited for Mr Busman and his wife to come through. We had a chat with them and they suggested going over to the rocky bank and trying there. We told them that was where I had caught a catfish, which they had not caught one yet. We said bye and headed over there again as it was worth another try. We trolled over hitting the bottom with our lures. I did get hit by something, but it got off as quickly as it had come. When we were a little past the rocky bank, Nath stopped the motor and as we drifted back I started to wind in my line. Almost straight away I was on to a Barra as it threw its head out of the water. It was no match for my Daiwa and 30 pound braid as I hauled it in. Nath lent over and scooped it up in the net only to have the kids start screaming at us. They thought they had lost their Uno cards (they had been playing while we were fishing). We looked around the water and couldn’t see any, so Nath and I were a bit confused. Elokin told us that the cards were in the net. That was alright then as they were still in there, just under my Barramundi. Nath pulled him out to measure him and he was a keeper at 57cm. Dinner! He was hooked on my Halco Hamma Purple Haze. With one safely in the boat and the Uno cards found, we continued to fish. I handed my rod over to Hendrix and Elokin to share, although I continued to cast it for them. We figured that was the safer option with 4 of us in the boat, much to Hendrix’s disgust as he loves to cast and is really good at it. Perhaps it would have been best to let the boy do it after all, as the bale arm flicked over on one of my casts and I hooked Nath in the back of his shirt. Luckily it was just his shirt. I gave up at that point and relinquished the rod altogether. The sun was below the horizon so we started to make our way back to camp. I didn’t want to be out in the dark again! At least this time we were only a short distance from camp and arrived well before dark.

Tonight we have enjoyed our Barramundi coated in cornflakes, just the way Elokin likes it, while sitting around the fire.

 

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.

Across Australia Trip, Animals, Destinations, Family Happy Snaps, Landscapes, Photography, Travel Journal

Day 412: Mambi Island Boat Ramp

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Saturday, 19 July 2014

We rose early to a beautiful morning filled with bird calls, kangaroos and cows. For the morning we schooled Elokin and Hendrix, even though it is Saturday. We had missed a couple of days during the week and needed to catch up, so we won’t get a break over the weekend. Technically we have already had ours.

We took a break at lunch time and then Nath and I drove the car the 50 or so metres to the boat ramp and took the boat off the roof. It is definitely scary doing this near crocodile waters. But we played it smart as we aren’t willing to take any risks; it’s just not worth it! Nose to the water and stay directly behind the boat when near the water putting the outboard on. Turns out everything on the roof rack under the boat got covered in dust coming across the Gibb. Once the outboard was on and the safety gear in, I assisted Nath to push the boat off the bank and while he took the tinny to camp, I drove the car.

The cows came into camp which was nice. Hendrix thought he would try to pat one, but when he got too close, she snuffed out her nose and scrapped her foot along the ground, like she was ready to charge. Both Hendrix and Elokin turned on their heels and bolted to the safety of the camper.

 

By late afternoon we were ready to head out on the Ord River. Nath had thought he had got the sounder working, but once we were out on the river, we found out he hadn’t. So we were flying blind in the murky water. The sun was in a terrible spot for glare on the water. Being the spotter up the front, I couldn’t see anything. Apart from crocodiles on the banks, and there was stacks of them. Just on one small bank there were 6! We should have counted them from the start, but at a guess there would have to have been at least 40, and we only went about 2kms up the river. Most of them were of good size and freshwater crocs, however there were at least a couple of bigger saltwater crocs. We didn’t find the BIG one that we had been told about, but that may not be a bad thing.

Whilst looking at all the crocodiles, we were also trolling lures out the back in the hope of catching a Barramundi. Unfortunately today was not our day, as we didn’t even get one bite, only weed and the bottom. We got to the section of rapids and misjudged it completely. We ran out of water for the outboard, and it conked out. With the motor not running and the current ripping past, Nath acted quickly to get the outboard going again and I assisted in the front to find deeper water. With us a safe distance from the rapids and strong current, Nath turned the motor off to have a look at the prop to see if we had suffered any damage. Luckily we hadn’t. We continued to fish the snags as the sun set and turned the water to liquid gold. It is surprising just how quickly the light fades. By now we were heading for home, but at trolling speed as we were told there were lots of snags and rocks in the water. The tide had turned again and was heading out, so the water we had come through was now shallower. Just after we past our neighbours from the bus in their boat, we hit some weed and the motor conked out again. Nath used the paddle to push us a bit and at that moment it was like someone turned the lights out. Darkness settled in and we couldn’t see anything. I turned the dolphin torch on and found that we had now run aground. Nath used the paddle to push us, but to where we were not sure. How did we end up in this mess? Which way was the deeper water? Where did those weeds go that we first hit? All of these questions were asked but neither of us knew the answer. The other boat headed for the opposite side of the river and when they were level with us, called out to go back to where they had been fishing when we past them and then head across as it gets to 2 metres deep. After a few more pushes with the paddle in that direction we were able to start the motor again and slowly make our way following their directions as best we could. By now both Nath and I were stressed, probably more so me. We asked Elokin and Hendrix to be quiet and sit still in the bottom of the boat so that we could feel and hear if we were hitting the bottom again. They struggled to do as they were asked and eventually had to be told that if they didn’t do it they would be in big trouble. Nath then advised them of the stressful situation we were in and asked if they wanted to spend the night in the tinny on the water with the crocodiles. They grasped the idea of what was going on then and agreed to do as they were told. It had now become quite chilly out of the warmth of the sun. I know I didn’t want to spend the night in the tinny! With the dolphin on, I was getting hammered by bugs. I couldn’t begin to tell you how many both Nath and I ended up with in our eyes, nose and throat. It was very unpleasant. Trying to see through the water to gauge the depth and see if there were any obstacles was hard enough, but looking through a wall of bugs was near impossible.

We managed to follow their trail across the river and along for a bit. But then I saw their lights back on the opposite side of the river again and knew we had to navigate back over there once more. We took a guess and picked a line and just had to go for it and hope for the best. We made it across! We continued to putt down the river attempting to avoid shallow water, snags and rocks. We again overtook the other boat and thanked them for their help. Now we were leading and had no idea where we were going and where camp was. We hadn’t left a light on so our camp would be in the dark and well hidden in the trees. I continued to hold the torch above my head and scan in front of us getting attacked by bugs. When we found the bank that looked like the one opposite us I scanned across the river and found our camp. We headed straight across the river and made it without hitting anything. Then we had to find the point that we needed to tie the boat to. Eventually we worked it out and landed on the bank. I scanned around the water and bank for any red eyes and thankfully found none. I was good to get out of the boat. I pulled us up a bit and aided Elokin and Hendrix in a quick dismount and sent them high up the bank. With all of the excitement over I was glad to have made it home and have my feet on the ground again. I called it a situation I didn’t want to be in. Nath called it a sense of adventure. You decide.

 

Sunset on the water
Sunset on the water

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.

Across Australia Trip, Animals, Destinations, Family Happy Snaps, Our Rig, Photography, Travel Journal

Day 411: Mambi Island Boat Ramp

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Friday, 18 July 2014                                                                                                    129.9kms

We were up early this morning and once we saw Heather and Allan were packing down, we did the same. Although, because we were not moving very far, we were leaving most things out of the van, putting whatever is up onto the floor and lowering the roof but not latching it. When they were ready to leave we said our goodbyes and Heather gave Elokin and Hendrix 2 nutty bars each. Lucky them! After they were gone, we moved into their spot, set up the camper again and ate breakfast enjoying our waterfront view. It was then time for school.

At lunch time we headed for town. It is actually further than we thought especially now that we have to go around the Ivanhoe Crossing as they closed it 2 years ago, for reasons we don’t know. As we turned onto the highway a Nissan Patrol turned on behind us and started flashing his lights at us. Nath questioned whether they would be flashing us and we decided most probably and pulled over. They came along side us to kindly let us know that our rock-stopper flaps were dragging along the road behind us once again, held on by one self-tapping screw.

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.