Smidt Aussie Adventure: Kate's first Barramundi

Kates 1st Barramundi catch at 61cm

One of the many turtles at Howard Springs

After enjoying the beautiful sunsets and great swimming spots, it was time to say goodbye to Darwin. Heading South we stopped in at Howard Springs for a look, no swimming was allowed I think because of the algae content, but we did get to see turtles swimming and even a rather large snake in the water. We dropped into Riedy’s lure factory on the way past as we remembered this spot from our last visit to Darwin about 13years ago. Of course it was not as good and extremely expensive.

Boxing crocodile on Adelaide River

We found the turn off to Kakadu just down the road and now we were heading East. We stopped in at the Window to the wetlands, which was set up well for kids a very interactive display of life in the wetlands in Kakadu.

Watching the sunset at Couzens lookout

We wanted to head to the famous Shady Camp which is on the Mary River and a well known Barramundi fishing spot. We decided to take the Hardy’s 4wd track, which proved to be a real 4wd track. But well worth the fantastic drive. We saw so much wildlife; birds, wild pigs and piglets, horses, Jabiru’s, wallabys and ducks. There were so many billabongs loaded with water lillies to pass by just riddled with bird life. During the wet season the area we drove thru would all be under water as you could see the cracks in the dirt from when it all dried up. Emma was really amazed by this and took photos of the ground. With windows down and the girls and I all had our cameras on hand we were taking lots of photos on this amazing and gorgeous country side.

Water lillies in Mary River

Watching the fire across the Mary River

We arrived at Couzens lookout in time to watch the amazing sunset over the water lilly filled billabong. The colours were just spectacular. We camped at the day use area here as the campground did not offer the million dollar views that we desired. As the sunset the glow of a distant fire grew brighter and brighter and then the hundreds of mosquitoes took charge, so it was an early night. That was the first really hot night we have had on our trip, we slept with all the covers of the window screens camper unzipped (first time this trip). We all hoped on the double bed that night and watched the fire across the billabong in the distance glow, it was just magic.

Morning view from our bedroom window at Couzens Lookout

The next morning we woke just before sunset, the weather had not cooled much that night. Watching the colours of the morning here is just magnificent, the sky is just so blue and with the earth being such a rich red orange colour the changing redness of the sunrise is awesome. There were hundreds of mosquitoes just hovering our tent screens so we decided to enjoy the sunrise from inside the tent as once the sun is up luckily the mosquitoes disappear.

Breakfast in bed

One of the larger crocodiles

We arrived at shady camp later that day. Shady camp is on the Mary River and has a barrage which separates the saltwater side and the freshwater side to fish. As the barrage had been damaged during the last wet season fishing in the saltwater side was limited to high tide only due to access. Luckily we got there on high tide and had a small window to fish the saltwater side. Besides seeing lots of crocodiles and some very large ones we had no luck with the fishing. The weather seemed to be getting so much hotter and humid we were sweating. We set up camp under the shade of a tree and spent the afternoon drinking cool drinks and playing cards. Another hot night with loads of mosquitoes but this time we had set up our screen tent to sit in and watch the mosquitoes hovering. Shady camp is also well known for the mass of mosquitoes as well so we knew what we were in for.

Our 2 trailer rig

Jabiru with his dinner - a fresh barramundi

Kates big catch - Well done

Hoping that the hotter weather would encourage the Barramundi to feed more we put the boat in on the freshwater side and spent the morning fishing. There was so much bird life this side and also lots of water lillies, the freshwater side was more scenic. A fantastic catch by Kate hooking up and pulling in a 61cm Barramundi all by herself, we all cheered with excitement and photos to capture this wonderful effort. Kate was very excited and pleased with herself.

Of course about half an hour later Emma had to then pull in a 76cm Barramundi, it was a great show as he gave a good fight and took a bit to land.