The Way Home
Sean’s Barra experience wasn’t quite as he’d hoped so far, so we headed off to Daly River, the home of Barra fishing, evidently Burketown isn’t the only one! We’d been told we could hire boats at Woolianna, so off we went. It was a fishing mecca for die hards. A lot of the campers were committed fishos who spend a couple of months here every year. After a short lesson (20minute incredibly detailed) on the obstacles in the river, off we set. The five of us in a tinny, what could possibly go wrong?
Within 30 seconds of being on the water we saw the world’s biggest crocodile sunning itself on the bank, and in the next half an hour about 10 of its cousins. It was pretty cool but quite stressful, given that the week before a croc had tipped a tinny with two experienced fishermen and one of them drowned just outside of Darwin.
Sean did manage to hook up a barra early in the day but unfortunately dropped it soon after. After that the fish weren’t playing as hoped. We did however get to spend the day in the boat and in addition to the crocs, saw plenty of birdlife including Jabiru and Sea Eagles. With the three kids fishing and tangling themselves up all day, nothing biting, pelting sun and a the most treacherous river we’ve been in, crocs aside with rock bars, pelting sun, a ripping tide and no shortage of underwater trees and obstacles, Sean called it a day after about 6 hours and before he tipped one of the kids overboard.
I think one of the old guys felt sorry for us not catching anything, so very kindly appeared with enough Barra fillets for us for dinner. It was the best fish we never caught!
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