Saturday, May 28, 2011

Timber Creek April 2011

 Any followers would possibly realize that I have jumped a bit from the NT to WA . Yes I forgot to mention that we stopped at Timber Creek and in fact were there for a few days.

 Initially we stopped for a night in the caravan park which enabled us to fill up on water and do any phone calls etc before heading off to Big Horse Bend Camp ground in the Gregory National Park.

 While we were in Timber Creek Mike and Kerry were planning on doing a Victoria River Boat Cruise but when we enquired at the office they said they didn't have the appropriate licenses to carry tourists yet and wouldn't be starting their tours till a bit later.

 When we were at Matison's rest area waiting  for Mike and Kerry to catch up after playing tourists at Katherine I  finished sewing up etc a jumper for my mother -in-law and while we were at Timber Creek I posted it off to her for Mother's Day . She lives in NZ.

 So while we were there we visited some of the highlights around Timber Creek which included a drive to Policeman's point and then up to the Lookout. we also took the opportunity to check out the campground and suss out a good spot to set up the 2 vans together. Fortunately when we moved down there the next day our selected spot was still available.
 Boab tree at our site




 Boabs at Big Horse Bend

 Mike had been very keen to put his boat in the river and go catch a Barra so we unloaded the boat from his car top and used his dinky wheels to transport the dinghy to the boat ramp. As the wheels only attach to the boat we had to tie the boat to the car with rope , so it was a slow careful trip to the boat ramp but it went off without a hitch .

 As it had taken most of the afternoon to get organised  Mike and I went for a short time just trolling near the rocks about 200yards from the ramp. We saw an 6-8 ft crocodile on the far bank of the river and a small 3-4 ft crocodile on the near side bank but we didn't catch any fish.  Kerry doesn't like fishing and Lynn now has trouble with his back sitting in a dinghy so it was left to me to go fishing with Mike which was okay with me as I love fishing.

 The next morning Mike was keen to give it another go so we went out about 9 am and went upstream instead. Again we weren't lucky in catching any Barra  but we saw a very big crocodile; approx 12ft.
 As we were coming back into the boat ramp we saw a beautiful white bellied sea eagle taking a keen interest in the activities at the boat ramp, obviously hoping for a free feed.
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Kimberley Heather
 Timber Creek from the Lookout

 While we were here, Lynn noticed that we were starting to get some very small ants inside the van and a check underneath revealed 2 nests which we suspected have been there since we were in Darwin as there was a lot there and they were a real problem at times. They were ginger ants and they bite!!! A concerted campaign to get rid of them  bought success.
 Lynn ,Mike and Kerry at the Bradshaw Bridge

 Looking down the Victoria River towards the Bradshaw Bridge
 It was quite humid at Big Horse Bend so on the Sunday we moved on as with only fans for cooling Mike and Kerry were struggling a bit with the heat.