Had a decent storm the night before last – although it was fairly full of bluff, delivering plenty of thunder and lightning, but only 6.8mm of rain. There was, however, plenty of wind – with gusts over 100km/hr. There were a few trees downed in the town, including one next door to us. It fell onto our neighbour’s fence and their next door neighbour’s roof (not ours thankfully!). We’ll wait and see what the next storm brings…
Very happy with the day’s events.
…since my last size barra! It only just fell inside the maximum allowed as well at 79cm. It took 20 minutes to land, with a team effort required from Troy and myself – after it jumped, it took off straight into a huge root system and lodged itself in there. Drifting over, we could see the barra in the water it the root system. Eventually Troy dropped a 100 pound handline with a sinker attached straight onto it and it took off again into open water. An interesting catch!
I miss all the fun! While I was away in Perth last week, a bushfire swept through perilously close to our school – running around our entire school perimeter, and right up against a few buildings, including our sheds, English room and Manual Arts room.
And who said it was socially acceptable to become arsonists in the Kimberley because regular “small” bushfires are better than big ones? Tell that to the residents who live by the school who nearly lost houses, sheds and cars!
Last year I posted some photos showing a fire from our backyard. Well, it’s bushfire time again, and it makes for some eerie evenings. The past few nights have been quite still, and the smoke from the surrounding fires has made it near impossible to put washing on the line. Even when going to sleep in the bedroom, it feels like you are swagging it right next to a campfire. Not particularly pleasant! From what I understand, most of the fires are deliberately lit, playing havoc with the graziers and their cattle.
With the weather starting to warm up, the barra have begun to come out again. Over the past few weeks, we’ve managed to land no fewer than 7 barra, but alas, none have been size! Tim and I got up early this morning to take the boat up to the gorge, launching at 5am. The trend continued, with Tim landing a small barra at around 7:30am, and I landed a 45cm at around 12:30pm. In between, we had a few strikes with no reward, and I caught a couple of good bream – one was a perfect pan size, so we cooked it in the boat on the portable stove for a top breakfast. The other came in at a very respectable 32cm.
There were a few interesting catches along the way – trolling past the Geikie Gorge rockwall, with the echo sounder showing 30 foot of water, and trolling with a lure that dived to only 3 foot, I hooked a 30cm catfish. It seemed quite a strange place to catch a catty. The other quite ridiculous catch came just after I landed my barra. We were flicking lures in the area in the hope of catching another, when I felt a light touch on the line. Slightly confused when it continued to slightly tug at the barra lure, I reeled in to find a bream had tried a suicidal feat by trying to hit a lure that was actually bigger than it!
An enjoyable morning of fishing!
Monday 18 June to Friday 22 June
We had a week of work, providing relief for Trevor while he set up case conferences and teacher meetings as part of his role as Learning Support Coordinator. At least, this was the plan but I managed to wake up on Monday morning with a killer cold, complete with aches in the joints and a fever. I satyed at home in front of the TV while Christine went off to work. I felt very guilty about this state of affairs but the feeling soon passed. Christine came home having had a mixed day with some successes and some struggles.
Tuesday was a day off for us anyway so I had a couple of days to recover. We spent Tuesday doing a spot of housework and getting our gear organised. Unusually, the day was wet, with light but persistent rain having started the evening before. A check of the weather radar on the web showed that the rain was widespread across the Kimberleys and heavy in places, including across the Mt Barnett area of the Gibb River Road. We started to panic about the prospect of driving in to Kalumburu on the coming weekend. By Wednesday, the situation had worsened, with the steady rain at Fitzroy Crossing taking its toll locally and some areas to the North suffering localised flooding. I rang Jarrad at Wannanami School (Mt Barnett) and he reported that the Gibb River Road was closed and that lots of tourists were bogged or stranded along the way. By Thursday, we had given up all hope of leaving Fitzroy on the weekend and had given ourselves a deadline of the next Monday to set off. With a two day drive into Kalumburu ahead of us, we decided that if we could not leave on Monday, we would drive to Kununurra on the bitumen and fly in.
Meanwhile, the teaching continued. The process we have adopted is for both of us to be employed for one pay. This makes the work a lot easier and more enjoyable. We work well together and the kids seem to like the increased attention they get. We both love reading stories so we fight a bit over that task but otherwise things are going well. We spent one terrific morning out at Bayulu School (on Gogo Station). The staff and kids were fantastic and we had a great time doing a “show and tell” about Kalumburu. We also showed a lot of the classes at Fitzroy all about Kalumburu and we found they were very keen to learn about other communities. We both thoroughly enjoyed our brief time spent working at Fitzroy. The staff is a very professional group and work well together in some of the most trying conditions around. The school buildings are falling apart as the termites take their toll, the facilities are old and delapidated and the timeline to the new school seems to be very elastic. Despite this, the work goes on. Somehow, the media seems to miss all the great work being done under conditions no other employees would accept. Thanks to all for the wonderful hospitality.
Weekend 23/24 June
The rain stopped but there is little propect of leaving for Kalumburu for some time. We tried fishing again in Gieke Gorge, borrowing Troy’s boat so all four of us could go. It proved to be a poor trip from a fishing point of view, with only one medium sooty grunter caught and one fresh water turtle released. The river was flowing quite well with the recent rain and it had obviously put the fish off for a while. While launching, I managed to place a large rock on my finger while putting it behind a wheel. I did it in such a fashion as to immediately produce a nasty case of "black nail" and a considerable amount of pain. Despite this, the day was most enjoyable. Trevor and Emma have grown accustomed to the glory of Gieke Gorge but for us tourists the trip was spectacular. A very enjoyable staff barbecue rounded off an excellent weekend.
Week 25 to 29 June
We set off on Monday for Kununurra, driving through a fair bit of water as most creeks between Fitzroy and Halls Creek were flowing over the road. We never tire of the magnificant drive from Turkey Creek to Kununurra and the recent rains had added a beautiful splash of green across the landscape.
We contacted my cousin Wendy along the way and arranged to set up our camper on their block out at Crossing Falls. They are in the process of building a wonderful house. It is now in a livable state, with most facilities in place and others not far off. Fred may disagree with this statement but now that he has finally retired from Argyle, he should find more time to fit out what will be a spectacular house.
With a charter plane to Kalumburu booked for Wednesday morning, we had Tuesday to get things organised. The plan was to spend a couple of days in Kalumburu working, then pack 14 students into two Landcruisers and drive to Broome for a week of sports. Space would be at an absolute premium both on the plane and on the drive to Broome so we had to prepare as backpackers do.
The plane trip proved to be a real squeeze, because we had to pick up a couple of computer technicians in Oombulgurri on the way to Kalumburu. We all squeezed in and ended up with luggage on our laps. Kalumburu has changed a bit since we were last there in April. The signs of the cyclone damage of 2005 are fading as the normally lush vegetation around the houses re-grows. The fencing of the community houses and competitions to reward people who keep gardens and grounds clean has paid off, with many houses looking cleaner and brighter. The town was bulging at the seams with tourists, many of whom had been stranded in with the rain. THe road opened South as far as Drysdale as we landed and a cavalcade of 4WDs could be seen leaving. It was wonderful to be so warmly greeted by friends in the community.
Friday 15 June
We arrived in Fitzroy Crossing at Trevor and Emma’s place just after 4 o’clock. Trevor was already kitted out in his fishing gear and anxious to get going after cherrabin. Emma was still not home so, after a quick unpack, Trevor and I left Christine to do the rest and went fishing (sounds fair). We met his mate Troy and some visiting relatives down at Donkey Crossing and I had a wonderful time watching Trevor get very dirty and tired using his cast net to catch cherrabin. After a successful if not spectacular catch, we headed home for a much needed tea and bed.
Saturday 16 June
In the morning, Christine and I did a spot of shopping at the local store, leaving a little shocked at the outrageous prices ($6.15 for a tub of yoghurt, $6 for a handful of grapes etc). A bit of housework followed and we managed to catch up on some much needed clothes washing. With the afternoon free, we set off with Trev and Em for a swim at Red Air. Trevor also suggested packing a couple of light rods just in case we felt like fishing for sooty grunter.
Red Air proved to be a beautiful spot, with a fast flowing stream. Christine got her exercise in by swimming into the current for 10 minutes or so. She swam her little heart out but went absolutely nowhere. Meanwhile, Trevor and I tried our hand out on the sooty grunter (black bream to locals). We tromped up and down the bank and managed 2 nice ones and one beauty of 32cm!
We had barbecued sooty for entree that night, picked fresh from the bone, there is no finer fish!
Sunday 17 June
The plan was for Trevor and I to get up before dawn to fish the upper reaches of Geike Gorge. With the success of the previous day, the pressure was off so we decided to take it easy and fish the afternoon. Boats are only allowed in the main part of the gorge before 7am, between 12 and 1pm then after 4pm. This is to allow uninterupted eco cruises for tourists. We spent the morning at school finalising the timetable and our teaching duties for the coming week.
By noon we had had lunch, arrived at the gorge and had the port-a-bote rigged. We were using my boat and Trev’s 5hp outboard. The combination proved effective and we made good time down the gorge, even with a bit of unsuccessful trolling thrown in. We spent an entertaining 3 hours or so catching 5 excellent sooty grunter. Trev managed a pair at 31cm and 32cm so he was well pleased. To make it even better, Trevor’s mate Troy came past. They had struck out andwere looking very envious of our catch.
Just when we decided it couldn’t get much better, Trevor suggested a last minute troll on the way back. He suggested he had a “secret spot”. His rod was already rigged with a gold Reidy lure so I trolled while he steered. We didn’t have to wait long before a solid hookup suggested that there was more to life than sooty grunter. After a huge run and a heart stopping time when the line went slack for a bit, the fish settled down to a slow pull in the reeds, giving one half jump and some head shaking as the dinghy came along side. At 85cm, the landing net proved a little inadequate and it ended up a broken jumbled mess. As we hauled aboard for measuring and photgraphing, Troy’s boat came around the bend and we could hear a shout of “They’ve got a barra!” It made Trevor’s day.
We cut the destroyed landing net away from the lure, unhooked the fish and released it. Meanwhile, Troy and his uncle had their troll rigs out, going over the same area. As we left, there were shouts of glee as they landed a small barra, around 45cm. We unpacked the boat well satisfied.
The mighty Fitzroy claims another victim…
A nice relaxing day on the Fitzroy at Red Air. Dad and I fished, Emma lay on a towel and read, and Mum did her best to chase fish upstream. In all honesty though, Mum was very excited by the prospect of being able to do her “500 metre” daily swim without actually travelling one metre. Worth noting that we didn’t actually catch any fish in that spot… not sure why!
A busy long weekend transplanting our herbs from their pots to a new herb garden out the back. Since we haven’t really been able to get lawn growing at all out the back, we thought it may be better to just dig it up and plant things in it instead.
So far, our herb garden has six basil plants, one developed chilli plant, two chilli seedlings, two oregano bushes, chives, parsley, two rosemary bushes, mint and two curry seedlings. We may keep digging it out further in the next few weeks as our cherry tomatoes, cucumber, pumpkin and capsicum seeds begin to sprout.
© 2026 hinchy.org
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
Recent Comments