After leaving Bachsten we made a bee line for Kalumburu so I could get some real fishing done. The roads were badly corrugated but we got there unscathed. Several vehicles had problems each day, axles, steering etc. We were lucky. We stayed in the catholic Mission caravan park. We opted to stay in the town rather than go to the more scenic Ocean parks as I wanted to fish the King Edward River on foot. The photo below shows the Mission admin. office and the town centre. Kalumburu is an aboriginal settlement established in 1908 by the Benedictine monks.

Some wartime aircraft wrecks can be seen at the end of the airfield. They appear to me to be liberator bombers with USA insignia.

I'm just about to set off fishing with fellow travelers Guido and Carmelo. We were all staying at the Mission van park. Guido has a passion for Aboriginal rock art and is very well travelled and read on the subject. We had great times with both of these gentlemen and will definitely catch up with them again in the future. We caught fish in the gorge and ate at their Italian restaurant, "the camp kitchen", mmmmm very delicious Italian food.

Kalumburu is serviced by barge from Darwin every fortnight. It is a social event when it comes in to unload. We spent the day at Marra Garra beach just vegging out. Mind you we had a cement floor shack to make it easy for us.

Having lapsed in my devotions over the years, I tried to make up for it by doing "Good Works" at the Mission. Thank goodness it was winter as I helped out with roofing the new museum. Father Anscar the priest is well known for his museum talk (and antics). What a wonderful man he is. Due to retire after next year's centenary celebrations. His advertised one and a half hour tour lasts at least two hours and sometimes two and a half.
I spent some period of every day fishing the Malindjar Gorge and the tidal section of the King Edward River. Over the 16 days of fishing I caught over 26 metres of fish. Silly I know, but out of curiosity I kept a measure of size and species. Mostly Trevally and Queenfish. I dropped a 9+ kilo Queenie one day, tackle broke at my feet as I was about to retrieve my lure and let her go. (Sorry about the "Fishy talk" here but that's what I was there for.)

This shot shows the top end of Malindjar Gorge.