A very short 'other home' visit..MUNBILILLA, on the Roper River, Suvannah Way.. NT

August is almost done and dusted alittle quicker than we thought as I write this in Mt Isa.
 Further to the end of our last blog it is with great sadness we honour the memory of our friend Jimmy.

Jimmy and Mick last year

 Jimmy passed away, after 1 week of travel home to Vic, 1 week with family and in the 3rd week he went to hosp on a Monday and passed away on Thurs 22nd Aug  in the south Gippsland Hosp, exactly 3 weeks after a lung cancer diagnosis in Katherine. So devastating  for Meliada and their daughter Rebecca, we look forward to seeing them again one day.

Katherine, south to Mataranka and then eastwards to the Roper River in all approx 320 km, last 90 km dirt, corrugated bulldusted road.

 40km /hr and pray you have packed down the van interior properly

these roads do get graded annually but unravel and turn to bulldust/powder quickly

We arrived on a Sunday to the new look MUNBILILLA camp ground, (ex Tomato Island) now part of the Limmen National Park..and I must say we liked it....less than $100/ week camp fee and great showers, water and free gas BBQ's, end of the 'season' when we arrived so not at all crowded, and probably never will be as there is plenty of room.

 Monday night BBQ nite, happy hour etc.

 amenities block and laundry troughs, plenty of hot water

Rangers Residence/Office, water from bore and generator for power.

The first 2 hours we caught up with Roper Mates and worked out the best place for us to camp.
The area is dry and dusty as it is the end of the dry season and as it happened  there was not a very good wet season earlier this year so  the river had not fished as it normally had in other years.
We are disappointed but we have had 10-12 good years there so 1 dud year due to weather conditions is a reality check!

plenty of room..Peter Molik and Lucy Gaylard camp on the right

Doug and Jean were in front of us 'across the road'

the amenities were around 200m away, some exercise!

 



Mobile library

 the plan that sprung to mind, last blog,  but did not work.

Attempting to make a bowl out of the termite mound mud...failed!

Some campers run generators for their washing machines, we took ours up to the laundry area, used 240 power, charged batteries and did some internetting etc, nice shady area and not much else to do except when Mick had a hair cut and Jean had a hair cut and colour by me! and the library box is there too. There is water at most site areas but no power.

 

Collecting bait 'cherabin' prawn like critters was a challenge for everyone this year. We are allowed 5 opera house nets each and they are baited with flavoured dry dog foods and various other concoctions, pure soap, stock cubes!! allowance is 30 cherabin in your possession, hard body lures are not real successful here so cherabin are the preferred bait, and our preferred food too!! We eat the larger ones. Mick is up early and checking traps at sunrise sometimes they are many km away, and sometimes full of surprises!!

 eel and small turtle

Cherabin classified too big for bait so an eater!!

I like eating the bait!



Angel fish in net..bad luck , shark bait! and a turtle, must look up a recipe!!

 

Last years' fish

 115cm released

 110cm  released



  90cm eaten!!

 

This years fish, average size 65cm....

 

 

Pete and Mick, all smiles after a boys day out, 3 good fish including a threadfin salmon.

A 60 +km round trip, that is a big day out.

 

 And so 'a big day out' is down to Hawkes Nest about 35km towards the mouth of the Roper, which is tidal, so change of tide is an important fishing time..hence a 6am departure time. Often there is a river fog, it is not cold, 20 degrees, but wet and on this day we travelled for about 1.5hrs in it..you have to laugh...we were drenched!!

We never go this far without two boats..if you cannot see them you can hear them!!

SO LIVING ELSEWHERE  ON THE ROPER IS NOT ALL ABOUT FISHING...

We all contributed to a roast pork and 9 veg! dinner for 8

Shopping day..5km by boat then a walk into Ngukurr...the building on the right is the only shop/supermarket, Lucy and I did 3 weeks work there 2 years ago when it was being set up.
The only other place of interest there is the art gallery..nice to look at and very productive this year.



and back down to the river bank with our take away lunch...one boat is empty on the community side, the other boat full of our fishing gear is on the other side..no need to explain..unfortunately!

 a birthday party for Bruce

 A croc trap set near the community as there  is/was a a nuisance croc in the area and quite large 3.5m
About the size of our boat!! This year the crocs did have us on alert, seemed to be in hunting mode!!

 This was not the target croc, but now if he ever becomes a problem he will remember being trapped and perhaps will never be trapped again...some 'local' let him out!

This is the 3.5 m croc they removed from the river and took to Darwin Croc farm, he was also shown to the kids at the Mataranka primary school as Croc Wise education. He could have been around 80 years old. There are still many big crocs in the area and the 10' crocs are quite healthy and active.

If there is a croc in the area we are fishing we moooove!! 

I like to see them on the banks warming..that way we know where they are but as soon as they slide back into the water we are off..

some signs of interest...at Ngukurr

 The mothers of these young kids have been 'educated'?? but still notices like this go up..

and with respect I post this notice..in Fitzroy Crossing, different sides of the family were requested to wear  either yellow for one side and purple for the other side of the family and 'no drunkards'.

Note there is no time stated on this notice..and as in Ngukurr there seems to be a funeral weekly but the store never knows the time and can be shut spontaneously and also when the body is bought back into community the store is closed down, can be for an hour or two and is also dependant on staff available! Many dollars are generated in a community when there is a funeral.

This is the flower and the pod and kapok of the Kapok tree, edible flower, like marshmallows and the kapok is quite flammable and good for lighting fires but also the kapok is used as a stuffing for pillows, it  was said to be also used during WW2 for stuffing life preservers. I think it is right that the Afghan cameleers in the early days are credited with spreading the seeds as their camel saddles were stuffed with the kapok. Worth a Google if interested.

 After 3.5 weeks we decided to move on and Pete and Lucy had a plan change, it was getting dustier, hot 35+ and we had 8 fish in the freezer and had eaten many...not many campers left so there would not be many if any boats on the river which becomes a safety issue, so we hit the road P& L to catch up with us in Mt Isa...on the way out on the aforementioned awful roads yet another flat tyre this time on the caravan....another repair by Mick...good man!

 

August has been a month when we appreciate that your life can be changed in a moment..

The road out of the Roper had become challenging due to two newish mines in the area and the roads totally unsuited to all the heavy duty traffic and haul trucks.  The bitumen and bridges are one lane and the sides of the roads have dangerous edges and drop offs. For all passing oncoming traffic it is one on the road and one off and if it is a large truck etc then anything smaller is right off the road!!

We arrived on the scene of this accident luckily after the ambulance persons had arrived.

 On the way out and only 20 km from Mataranka these people from Berwick in Melb had the luckiest escape....their camp trailer which is on the right was across the front of the truck!! A one lane bridge and bad judgement by the tourist the poor truck driver towing 4 ore haulers was braking for over 200 meters but was unable to pull up and had no where to go as there were high banks either side of the road and a drop off into a creek..no braking by the prado driver obviously not thinking about the prevailing road uses..luckily the couple in their late 50's sustained minor injuries and of course shocked, the truck driver unhurt, but damages +++++

 

the bridge was blocked completely and the emergency services were from the other side which meant getting personnel and stretches down and thru the creek. The area was blocked for about 4 hours and we had to wait for a second 2 berth ambulance to arrive from Katherine, an hour away.

The Mataranka ambulance arrived first staffed by 2 nurses from the clinic. That is what happens out here no ambos.

 

Ironically the day before I had put some rubber gloves in the  the car... just in case!

assistance was required, 1 nurse for each victim, putting IV,s in and shock treatments and my set of gloved hands ended up very bloodied when one of the veins had a bad bleed and pressure required. When I asked about the truck driver..Oh can you please check him..so off I went down the bank thru the creek up the hill and found him, checked him out and settled his upset daughter. Mick helped carry the stretcher out thru the creek and into ambulance, then I sat with lady for an hour while her husband was being sorted and another ambulance arrived. These people were travelling with relatives who live in Albury/Wodonga, they were ahead of them but came back looking for them when they had not turned up at the Stuart Hwy..what a shock they got..

so yep life can change in a moment...

written off vehicle, camp trailer, hospital, injuries, police, insurance etc etc

 

so road cleared, thanked profusely by police and ses crews,

off we went by 4pm to Bitter Springs..the hot springs in Mataranka, we wallowed there but didn't talk much..just thinking...

Mick did not sleep too well that night, me ...we all do our best...and that's it...

please put some gloves in your car....

 

 After our soak in the spring we off road camped along the Stuart Hwy, next day ended up doing 700+ km and got to Barkly Homestead around 6pm for a powered overnight, 38* so work out for the air con, charged anything that needed charging made a slice and had a roast turkey leg dinner and slept well at last.

Friday was to be a 2 night stay at Camooweal water hole on the Georgina River, redclawing (like yabbies) and yellow belly fishing, this ended up being a lunch stop, hot dry and windy, little water... ahhhh into the Isa for 4 days....

 

This is what our Kim and her partner Linda have done to the white laminate kitchen in the rental unit they have bought...it is carbon fibre wrap in red black and silver. The wrap is used on the exterior of cars so they have tried it here..looks great, she had also replaced the toilet cistern, patched plaster and painted thru and rechalked the tiles..all ready for tenants. Gun girls those two xxxx Only wish we were there to help them.

 

here is a project Kim had lined up for me when we get to Byron Bay, should be fun!!

 

The Whorouly crew are as busy as ever, I have some great calls from the  g kids with their news, Hayden shooting his first deer, Amber and her netball finals and selected to do discus and hop step jump in the zone sports on the 19th Sept..more excited about that being on her 10th birthday!! Ebony is somewhat quieter but lovely to chat with. Linda has permanent 2 day teaching position at Everton now but is working 4...as well as.......Trent is to do a 20 min presentation at a Water Conf in Melb in Sept. My mum has recovered from her frac hip earlier in the year and is back driving when she feels confident. My sister Wendy and her husband Les have just returned from a 'not a holiday' in Northern Europe, and on facebook I can keep up with most happenings of friend and acquaintances...

And so from here on in..we are at Mt Isa, touristing, car service, shopping and on Tuesday 3rd Sept together with Pete and Lucy, who have changed their plan from WEST to EAST we will head towards Townsville and see what we can find!! Looking like end of Nov before we hit the North East Vic! Cheers M x