We are in the NT

We made it to the Northern Territory, we crossed the border on Sunday 26th June. A bit behind in the blog sorry everyone, there is no service across the gulf so we were disconnected from the rest of the world for a few weeks.
Our first NT camp was at the gorgeous Calvert River crossing. Driving along the dusty road, one of the many river crossings were the Calvert River, we got out to have a look and could see along the bank and nice grassy area so we found the track and set up camp on the grass. A great spot to dust off and explore for a few days. We did a bit of fishing along the banks here and exporing further down river and found some beautiful gorge looking country. Lots of shallow rapids to have a swim and Kate spotted a couple of snakes curled up on the rocks. There have been soo many snakes around on this trip, so we are on the lookout all the time. We did a bit of Bourke and Wills treking and found a nice spring for a dip.


Calvert River Camp




Exploring the Calvert River




Washing hair day




Fishing the Calvert

 From here we travelled past Borroloola then took the Ryans Bend Road to get to Nathan River Road. We travelled thru the Limmen National Park which had some awesome spots to visit. We went for a walk thru the amazing lost city, which the girls really enjoyed. The rock formations were amazing and the view of the surrounding escarpments amazing.

Ready for the walk thru the lost city



Fishing fun at Butterfly springs



Next spot was Butterfly Springs, where thousands and thousands of butterflies live. They rest on the gorge walls that surround the waterfall and swimming hole. We spent a wonderful afternoon here swimming and fishing. There were so many little perch in this swimming hole that everytime the girls cast their lure they hooked a little fish, a top fishing spot. We did keep one good size black bream for dinner.

 Towns River camp was another spot we set up camp for a few days. We had just finished setting up camp and saw a camper coming across the crossing and saw it was Glen, Bridget, Blake and Celia. The kids were all happy to see each other so they stopped to camp with us for the night. Of course we used the boat here and had some more luck with the fishing here as there were some nice rock bars with some Barra hiding. Darrin got the catch of the day with a 60cm barra for keeping. At night we would be sitting around the campfire and could hear the boof of the Barra, Darrin and Emma checked the crossing out near camp and could see lots of small Barra and Cherabin (freshwater prawns).



Kate, Blake, Emma and Celia



One of the freshies in towns river



One of Emmas catch



Catch of the day




A frog wanting to have a ride



Ahhhh fresh swimmable water is bliss



We are really enjoying the Savannah Way. So many people avoid travelling the Savannah Way because of the road conditions, but this year we have struck it lucky and the roads are in great condition, for up here anyway. There is so much to discover and explore and so much fun to be had. And everyone keeps telling us that there are no Barra being caught because of the cooler winter, but we have managed to land a few big ones and had some fun with some smaller ones.

Driving along one day we found this swimming hole on the side of the road. The water comes from a natural spring, someone has built a little swimming hole for all to enjoy some croc free swimming.

Roper Bar crossing

Our next destination is Roper Bar. The Roper river is famous for its Barramundi, its a great river to fish because it has so many great snags. Last time we visited Roper Bar you could not cross the river without a permit into the aboriginal land. However this time there were no permits required so we went for a drive across and visited the small aboriginal community of Urapunga. As we drove in there was a family at the airstrip flying kites. We stopped to say hello and ended up spending quite a few hours there with them, the girls had an absolute ball playing with the kids. They were all so friendly and welcoming.



Anna-Maree, Kate, Emma, Lara



The next day we spent the day out in the boat. We had fun fishing so many different snags. Found lots of lures to add to our collection and did manage to catch a few Barra, long Tom and Archer fish. Unfortunately no sizes to write home about, but a great day in the boat.

Up close and personal with a freshie

Roper River

We did it! We crossed the Gulf, after hundreds of kilometers of dust, many river crossings and unforgetable adventures.

 



What is this black hard stuff????