Wed, 6th April, 2022 Stingray Head, south of Dundee Beach, NT

5.30am - loud thunder clap overhead and lightning then the rain started which got quite heavy. Closed up the camper then checked the BOM site and there is small cell over us and a massive one crossing Darwin and heading west.

6.40am Went out for the sunrise which was lovely.

6.50am A full rainbow with a shadow of a second one filled the sky - magnificent. Just after I took the last photo of the full rainbow a bolt of lightning flashed across the middle of it as the storm is still heading west and is thundering and flashing on its way.

Hope we don’t get any storms on the cruise. 

All still now with lightning still flashing occasionally in the west. 

8.10am - high tide 6.5 metres. Light rain starting again. The girls headed off.

Steve got the big rods out to see what we can catch with our bits of mullet.

Steve caught a little catfish.

I hooked something big and fought it for a little while - gaining some then it took off again. Steve got me in action just before the light broke - there are lots of rocks below us so it probably took the line over one. Then I brought in a bigger catfish. We are renaming the Head - Catfish Head as that is all we have seen and no stingrays!

The tide is going out and we hadn’t had any more bites for a while when something took Steve’s line but when he pulled the line snapped. While we were waiting for bites we spotted Long Toms, puffer fish, big diamond back mullet and white and orange jelly fish. Little birds are zoom diving into the water after little fish. A big fish with black tail swam by but as the water is muddy it was hard to make out what it was - just big. Lucky we don’t rely on catching fish for dinner. 

Dark clouds still on the horizon to the west and the think cloud above us is being pulled out to it.

Had a cuppa then walked to the creek. Plenty of cow footprints in the sand but we didn’t hear them during the night.

Lots of shells walking along the beach. I only take photos now - no more collecting (no room).

View back to the camper.

I baked some Anzac biscuits to get us through till we leave on the cruise. Our food supply from Cairns has done well - just topped up the fruit and vegies a couple of times. We will be turning off the fridge in the van park. 

As we now have good phone service Steve rang a diesel mechanic in Darwin and ordered a new Common Rail to put in and hopefully fix the problem we have. He is hoping it isn’t the injector pump. I also did our WA G2G pass for when we get off the ship in Broome.

5pm - the thunder started again with a storm in the east that appears to very wide. The sky has cleared to the west.

Jon rang for a chat - he even heard the thunder crack through the phone though the storm is still a long way off. Great lightning strikes downwards in the dark section.

The wind blew hard then stopped. The storm has moved south-east leaving a part of a rainbow.

Cloud on the horizon now so that might kill the sunset.

Went back to our spot on the cliff for another fish - 2 more catfish and one crab! There is a lovely breeze and the sunset ended up being lovely though the after sunset colours are sometimes better if there is cloud about.

No more thunder, just the sound of the waves against the cliff. Had dinner inside as the clouds have come over blocking the stars. We can hear some curlews calling - reminds us of home.

Storm to the north putting on a light show when we went to bed.