Elisabeth and Craig's Blog

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Corroboree Billabong

Earlier this month we went out to Corroboree Billabong (about 1 1/2 from Darwin along the Arnhem Highway) for a morning fish. We hired a tinny for 4 hours, and luckily Craig did actually know how to drive it (through the croc-infested waters!).

The sunrise through the morning mist was amazing.

But we had to get down to fishing business as there is supposed to be some great barramundi in the billibong.

That is, Craig got down to business, I was just taking LOTS of pictures of the scenery, birds and animals.

The billabong is an absolutely gorgeous fishing spot.

Jabiru
These and the brolgas are pretty iconic to the NT

Sea eagle

Lis trying to show Craig how it's done

(but I failed as well - neither of us got even a nibble! Oh well, at least the scenery was nice, and there was no fish cleaning to do!)

Beautiful stands of lillipads

And then there were the crocs...
We must have seen at least 25 - 30 crocs in the billibong, varying in size from 1.5 to 3 m or so. It was pretty cool - and they stayed far enough away (that we know of...) that we felt pretty safe.
The crocs are so slow and lazy looking that it's hard to imagine them lunging for their meals.

Apparently this is for temperature control, and not just waiting for some sucker animal just to walk into his mouth.

So, who's coming to Darwin so we can take you to the billabong...?

Monday, June 16, 2008

Darwin update for June 2008

Greetings All!
A bit of an update for you.

Craig and I have been working hard up/down here in Darwin - long hours at work and in the hospital, and the occasional weekend work days. But we are still taking time to enjoy the area and do a few weekend get-aways.

Here are a few pics of the things we've been up to in the last couple of months.

Craig fishing at the local Nightcliff forshore
with an approaching storm coming from behind.

Some of our garden friends

Craig found these guys below while moving our pot plants around.

Can you spot the 4th one?

Litchfield National Park

Litchfield is a great park just 1 1/2 hours south of Darwin. It's got lots of popular waterfalls, hikes and rock holes that are great in our 33 degree NT weather.

I'm pretty sure every tourist that comes to Darwin gets a trip down to Litchfield at some point - it's definitely on our tourist itinerary.
http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/parks/find/litchfield.html

Check out the pictures from a couple trips we've done down there.

Wangi Falls

Cathedral termite mounds

Buley Rock Holes -
I got washed down this waterfall, but Craig managed to stick it out.

Unfortunately, in the wet season some of the water holes are off limits...

But not Buley or this next one, just so you know Mom...

Florence Falls

Weekend trip with some classmates

You can see us with the noodles in the middle

It's tough being a med student in the NT!

Camping at Robin's Falls

In April we took advantage of a long-weekend to enjoy a nice camping trip to Robin's Falls. It's a beautiful quiet waterfall just south of Adelaide River.

Dining area by the creek
(At night I checked for croc eyes every time I went near...)

A little rock climbing to complete the weekend...

A post-climbing swim

Daly River and the Merrepen Arts Festival
http://www.merrepenfestival.com.au/

At the end of May a bunch of us headed down to Daly River (about 2 1/2 hours south) to enjoy the Merrepen Arts Festival. Lovely camping, Aboriginal art auction, and a great concert by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and Melbourne based string quartet the Ad Hoc String Collective under the stars in the bed of the Daly River.

(You can see the back of the stage screen on the left.)

Enjoying a lazy morning camping breakfast

Miscellaneous other happenings

Dripstone Cliffs sunset picnic with our friends Julie and Carmen

And then there are the Tales of South Australian Wines, cont'd...

An old favourite, the Black Chook from Penny's Hill. Still as good in Darwin as it is in Adelaide.

Quick reminder from last year about our trip to McClaren Vale, and this stop at Penny's Hill.

http://www.pennyshill.com.au/

We obviously kinda miss having great wineries basically in our backyard!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Work & Fishing in the N.T.

With my job at Invision Design & Joinery I have had the opportunity to do some bush work in the more remote parts of the Northern Territory. Along with the work comes the chance to fish some of the better fishing areas the N.T. has to offer.

In April we did a Traditional Credit Union office fit-out in the Aboriginal community of Angurugu on Groote Eylandt. With to job done and a day to spare before flying back to Darwin it was time to check out a local fishing spot. We had to do a bit of a hike into this spot as we didn't have a 4x4, but it was worth the effort... not many fish, just a great spot.

Empty Office space

Finished counters ...

... now it's time to fish!!

Brad with the first hook-up...

...not actually my Queen Fish but I did catch one later in the day about the same size.

Daniel enjoying his sausage sizzle on the beach.

Brad showing us how to throw a cast net, which is a great way to get live bait.

Checking the hand line

After getting back from Groote, Brad took me out to Salt Water Arms (near the mouth of the Adelaide River) for a day of fishing and crabbing.

Setting the crab pots

Brad getting some live bait.

Small croc coming to visit...

Dinner... one of the 5 Mud crabs we caught.

Heading home after a good day crabbing (the fishing could have been better; only one Blue Salmon).

In May we had another bush job out in the Aboriginal community of Milingimbi. This is a small island off the top of Arnhem Land. We had a small kitchen to put in and some shop counters to change around.

One afternoon we went down to a near-by creek to try our luck on the in-coming tide. We got a couple of small Bream and I lost a good size Mangrove Jack. Bugger!!!