Here we are again.... Happy as can be.....

Well- almost. It has taken us a few days to recover, but we are just about there now. We arrived at 5am on Tuesday, dog tired, having been travelling for about 30 hours. 8.5 hours time difference doesn't help either, throws the internal clock right out. Next time we really must stop over somewhere.

However we haven't let it stop us- we attended Darwin South Rotary club on Tuesday evening, where I gave my Tall Ships talk which seemed to go down well. And we picked up Betty from Joanne and Percy, we are lucky to have such good friends here.

Wednesday  was spent sorting Betty out and putting her back into travelling mode, when we leave her everything has to be packed differently to clear the roof rack off, so all that has to be sorted, as well as all the clothes that we left behind and carried over with us.

Anne wasn't too good on Thursday, maybe a touch of the sun, she had been sick overnight. The temperature being 34celsius, (94 Fahrenheit!) it is not pleasant working out in the sun, it takes a little time to get acclimatised.  So she had to miss a planned trip out fishing with Percy, and I had to go alone.

Percy picked me up at 6am, and towing his boat we took off to the Mary river billabong, an hour and a half away. A billabong is permanent water which forms after a river partly dries at the end of the wet, leaving large areas of water stranded in the wetlands. And  this one is huge, possbly ten miles long, with many side shoots.

A few minutes saw the boat on the water, and we motored to one of Percy's favourite fishing spots, a long straight stretch of the lake about one to two hundred metres wide. Tackled up with 3 inch lures, we trailed the lure out about 50mtrs, and slowly made our way along the water.

Within 15 minutes I had a hit- a 13 inch catfish. Not the one I wanted- I was after barramundi! Within another 15 minutes I had another- this time over 2ft long, a nice fish but hardly edible, and I had promised Anne a couple of fillets. So back it went, and half an hour later I took another, a smaller one this time, but still not a barra.

That was it, no more in the next four hours, although we were close, we saw the barra turning in the water near the lures, but they wouldn't take it.

Compensation however was many sightings of very large crocodiles,maybe 30 of them, and as Percy says, for every one you see there are 6 you don't.  Jabiru birds which stand about 3ft high and which are only seen in this region, are in evidence everywhere, and we spot pairs of them flying overhead. Along with Brolgas, a similar large bird of different colouring, we saw eagles, ospreys and fish eagles, so there was plenty to keep us busy while we waited in vain for the big barra.

Never mind- it was a great day out with super company

But today, Friday, we are all prepared and ready to take off into Kakadu, a national park about 200k to the east. We'll set off in the morning early, and get there by lunchtime. Once again in the rooftent- it's been a while.....