Sun, 10th April, 2022 Bush camp by Murrumujuk Beach, Shoal Bay to Bush camp by upper reaches of Leaders Creek, inland from Shoal Bay, NT

Clear sky at 7am, 25 degrees again.

My turn at the ‘hair salon’ - a colour for me and a little trim at the back. Sat outside enjoying the beach view.

Had a cuppa sitting in the shade on the beach watching people with their dogs running through the water. Packed up as clouds started coming over.

Back to the bitumen then we continued along the Gunn Point Road to see if we can get to Gunn Point itself. The road then goes back to the red dirt and straight away we see pools of water on the road so we turned around.

Back down to the turn off to Leaders Creek boat ramp and campground. A much better dirt road - built up so no water holes, just a bit of corrugation. Lots of cars and trailers along the road and heaps more inside the fenced campground. From here they can go up to the Tiwi Islands etc. Leaders Creek heads to the sea below Glyde Point, east of Gunn Point.

Back along the track we turned off to check out the Saltwater Arm boat ramp. As we came to a causeway we saw a couple camped off the road. The water is fresh and clear and they said it was a great spot for a swim. Upstream it appears very reedy and clear like it might come from a spring. They were from Darwin enjoying a weekend out. Might be our camp spot for tonight.

We continued on to the boat ramp where there were more cars and trailers and even one camp set up in a clearing. This water way is shorter to the sea and comes out at Port Dolly which is near the Djukbinj National Park, to the east of Glyde Point.

Back to the creek and we drove into a clearing on the downstream side that Steve had checked out before. The other couple had been camped in the clearing by the road. Set up camp and put the chairs by the creek. No phone signal here.

For a narrow creek it is quite deep in sections and lovely and clear. Back to the sound of running water to put us to sleep tonight. There is a rope across the creek as the water hurtles over another log downstream.

More boats are going down to the boat ramp and then more are coming back - sounds like thunder as they rumble over the dirt road though the sounds of the water falling over the big logs is much louder.

I had noticed a couple of small fish and commented to Steve about it then a catfish swam into the sunlight below the big log below us. Well I don’t think I will go in there for a dip now. Might be better just off the causeway. Also this goes down to the ocean so you never know how far up a croc may come though the fresh water is pushing downstream at a good rate of knots. 

Made lunch and sat by the water watching it flow by. Then I spotted a little Barramundi swim where the catfish had gone - well fancy that. I got up and had a look a bit further up where it is deeper and spotted two catfish sitting on the bottom.

We went around to the causeway and had a nice cool off in the water.

Went back to relax in our chairs with our books. Steve has started a Judi Nunn book about Maralinga in SA.

A car drove in and a couple came over with their two kids to say hello and ask if we had a spanner as they need to get a nut off another towball as theirs had fallen off. Sarah and Chriss are from Humpty Doo where they have 5 acres surrounded in bush but love camping and can’t wait to get on the road like us. She worked in Gove and gave me some information about places to stay there, saying we have to check it out as it is amazing country. I had thought we could do that on our way back to Cairns next year in June as it is too wet still to go in May.

A family of ‘locals’ arrived and had a fabulous time jumping in and out in the causeway but it made the lovely clear water very cloudy so you can’t see anything in the creek now.

The cars and boats just keep rolling past heading home.