After leaving Gloucester at 5.30am on September 2, to fly from Newcastle, we finally arrived in Darwin at midnight, due to technical delays and a reroute.
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The next day we met my son Khan, head ranger at the South Alligator section of Kakadu National Park. On Sunday we prepared for several days on a beach at the far north west tip of Arnhem Land called Blue Mud Bay, where we were invited to Khan's workmate Dwayne’s traditional Land. He’s developing a tourist fishermen's camp on one of Australia's most remote coastlines. After the five and a half hour drive over dirt road and tracks with varying conditions, we arrived on the pristine beach to set up camp. Everyday we fished the bays catching barra, mangrove jack, cod, coral trout, queenfish, barracuda and GT (giant trevally).
We returned daily, mid afternoon to settle down for several Happy Hours watching the sun set over the Arafura Sea. Another special treat was eating fresh oysters collected from nearby rocks complimenting our fresh fish dinner. Dwayne also cooked fresh turtle for us and his family on the open fire. After returning to South Alligator Park, we were taken to the dry flood plains. These wide open areas of dry cracked mud are waiting for the Wet. The paperbark trees around the edges protect crocodiles that are in a state of torpor, as they shut down conserving energy. This allows them to stay cool and not overheat while waiting for the rains. Walking within four metres of a crocodile up to five metres long was an incredible lifetime experience.