We had real problems at the West Australian Border Quarantine Station. They recognised the Qld number plate and the possibility that I may be trying to smuggle a Cane Toad across the border. You have no idea how paranoid they are here! Well I was asked to "get the gear off " Poor Susan had to document the whole procedure. Here I am with the quarantine station in the background.
I had to get the shirt off first.
Then the "order to get the Daks off", I thought it would end there, I was clean, nothing to hide.
Finally the ultimate insult, they wouldn't take my word for it. Pants down before I got the "All Clear, no toads here!" Well poor Susan, can you imagine how embarrassed she would have been if another car would have come along at this point. Those border guys have a lot to answer for.

How's this for a Boab?? Bill Webb, known to most of you and friend of mine took this photo. It is a great shot and I asked if I could use it on the blog and share it with you. Susan and I are staying in the van at the back of Bill's residence at The Frank Wise Institute in Kununurra. This is private property and we appreciate Bill's generosity. We're in the van overlooking the Ord river.
On a recent fishing trip to the Pentecost river I took this composite photo of the Cockburn Ranges. The Cockburn (pronounced Cohburn) are on El Questro station which is well known for it's upmarket lodge and the Emma Gorge. The photo shows Mesa type outcrops. There are many of these in the ranges which stretch around to Wyndham.
The trip to the Pentecost river (about 116 klms west of Kununurra along the Gibb River road) was an overnight fishing trip with friends. This is a photo near the campsite taken while I was having a break waiting for the tide to push back over the rapids below. Caught a good 84cm. Barra here as well. There are plenty of saltwater crocs about. I counted 5 in close proximity the night before. You need to be very wary lure fishing at night.
You all know I have a taste for the old "Bundy Rum". Well I thought I'd give the local brew a go. This is the distillery in Kununurra run by a local operator. I've tasted the brew but I'm still a queenslander who loves his "Big Bear"

Dawn on The Victoria River at Timber creek, Policeman's Point lookout to be exact. Boy can that Ted Pointing fish, he's fantastic. I had a great time here, caught several good size fish. Some of the other visitors were spending all day on the Vic. River and comming home with nothing. I released several, the best being 93 cms. The two in these pictures are a lot smaller. My secret was hitting them in the dark, after sunrise they were much harder to catch.

We were luck to get a couple of good days for photograph before the Parks and Wildlife rangers started a burn off along the escarpment. Visibility closed to around 700 metres in places.

Sunsets are always spectacular if you can see the horizon, this one is over the Victoria river.

The northern approach to the Victoria River crossing is overlooked by this beautiful escarpment bluff. This is typical of the escarpment on both sides of the Victoria river. You drive through about 20 kilometres of this scenery while you make your way down river towards Timber creek. We stayed for two days at the Victoria River crossing. I fished while at times and we both walked the escarpment at Joe's Creek. A photo of Susan decending a slope underneath the escarpment follows. Note the substantial overhang in the rocks above her. Susan is always keen to do the gorge walks or escarpment walks. The colour of this country is amazing. The changing shades of red and orange during the course of the day are spectacular. The fishing was good too, I nailed a couple of small Barra's.

We did the Victoria river cruise at Sunset. Three and a half hours for $70 each. Included nibblies at sunset. We travelled about 40 klms down river in a fast punt, stopping to view various wildlife species. The croc below didn't seem to be bothered by the boat. He sat at about 6 metres from the side of the boat while we photographed him. He's about 9 foot, or 2.7 metres. We sawseveral laying in wait for the kangaroos , who come down to the river in the evening. They ambush them form the shallow water.

The Katherine river produces plenty of good Barra's if you get it at the right time after the floods. We were here a bit late, this one was caught only a few days before we arrived. I caught two small ones while at the van park. Just a short walk down the back into the river.






Katherine Gorge is one of the must do's on a trip through this area. While a river cruise through the gorge is available, Susan and I did a 14 klm. walk to get this second photo.







One of the hot fishing spots for the town folk is the Low Level bridge across the river. There is a weir at this spot and it produces good fish at the right time.





We attended the Country Muster over the May Day Weekend. Very enjoyable with some very good local talent. The imports were good as well.

Edith falls 40 klms north of Katherine were a welcome stay for 3 days. These three photos show the main pools at the set of three falls. The first are the top set. The second photo shows both the top set and the main falls while the last photo shows the plunge pool below the final small set. The final photo is a panorama which gives a better view of the size of the pool. There is no swimming allowed in the pool in the second photo but the others allow swimming. We spent 3 hours in the top pool after a 1.7 klm hike to get there.

This group of photos shows the glorious views in Kakadu. You will hear people say Kakadon't, don't be detered. Pictures do not do it justice. These shots show some of the scenery. From the top. A crowd gathered at the top of Ubirr Rock (a lookout) for the sunset at 6;30 pm. Then a small section of wetlands that extend to the coast 30 kilometres away. Part of the escarpment that runs for hundreds of kilometres. And finally a rock art gallery in the rocks at Ubirr rock. .

Susan had her 53rd birthday in Darwin.














We celebrated it at Pee Wee's at the Point. This is a beautifully renovated recreational area for troops during the second world war. Many of the Sidney William's huts are still preserved here. Pee Wee's is situated at East Point which is the north eastern approach to the harbour. It was very heavily fortified during the war and many relics and sites are preserved in the area.











Susan is choosing her cocktail in this shot. It ended up being a Mango Dacquiri. The 18th fell close to a full moon and the full tide was lapping the rock cliffs in the front of the building.








After dark the light of Darwin can be seen across the bay.

"Dissa" was broken into and some gear was stolen. This happened at the East Arm boat ramp, a part of the southern section of Darwin Harbour. This was the site of a WWll Catalina flying boat base during the second world war. In fact there are three plane wrecks in this section of the harbour. They were sunk at anchor in an air raid by the Japanese. The coordinates for them are given in some of the fishing books as the wrecks are good fishing spots






This is the exact location the vehicle was in when broken into via the passenger side front window. I had been away from the site for no more than 30 minutes fishing on foot when the break in occurred. I lost all of the fishing gear I was not carring with me. About $400 worth I estimate. Susan lost an overnight bag with around $500 worth of linen. I also lost all of my better fishing attire. I had just sorted it out that morning and had packed the older stuff to give to the Salvos.















This garage did the repairs to the vehicle. Apart from a new front window there was an additional $800 worth of body repairs. AAMI were excellent. The job was done quickly and a claim is being processed for the loss of property. The maximum payout for goods stolen is $500, so after having replacement goods valued we are hopeful of getting some payment.



















You can't deter a good fisherman though. Susan drove me over to the East Arm a day or so later and this was the result. Apart from this one fish, I only have stories of others that got away. They were all good sized fish that got away, of course!!!!.

Chris Suitor, took me on a fishing trip down the East Alligator River. Chris is a project manager for the Ranger mine just outside of Jabiru. Believe me the river is aptly named. We saw 10 or 12 for the day and several came right up behind the boat. We fished at "White Lady", an outlet for the huge wet lands that abut the river on both sides for 30 t0 40 kilomteres. A very prolific barra region. The wa et lands are very similar to the Goorganga Plains in Proserpine but at 12 or 20 times the scale. All of the swamp outlets produce barra during the run off.


I caught 12 fish, the largest seen in the photograph below. This fish is 70 cms, it was taken on a propeller lure just after dawn. The 2nd cast of the day. There were quite a few other boats in the river on the day and this proved to be very comforting .















Here are a brace of 4 that we kept. The smaller ones are 60 cm fish. I would have let them go as I thought they would be "Muddy" comming from the wetland swamps. I'm sure this will be the case when Chris tries to eat them. I saw about 3 fish over the metre caught in the East Alligator.

















We ventured about 30 kilometres down river to the mouth of the Magela creek as the tide went out. Unfortunately the motor refused to start and we needed to be towed home. This took over two hours and certainly ruined the day for the guys in the tow boat and us. Chris had only just had the moter serviced in Darwin the weekend before the trip. Not a happy chappy, believe me. The hill in the background id an isolated section of the escarpment and they are very picturesque. The guy at the wheel is a fishing inspector from NSW, on holidays.