Sun, 8th May, 2022 Bush camp by Oolloo Crossing on Daly River, NT (Mother’s Day & Dad 9 months)

Thinking of my Mum and Erica today. No reception here so will ring the boys tomorrow. Also my darling Dad - the months are ticking by since Dad left us. 

Cold night, 8am only 17.6 degrees - with the lowest at 16.9 - hence we are still in bed.

The wind is back - must be a cold front coming up from the SE.

Steve wandered down to the others while i worked on my blog - nearly finished writing it all up and sorting the photos. Will put some more updates on Facebook too.

The others got a little barra and a tarpon last night and a small bull shark this morning. They are heading home this morning. Steve then followed the tracks at the top and found a few campspots - small and just a bit of a clearing. No access to the river. He found a tree full of butterflies. 

Another couple arrived (ex WA) who are staying at the Douglas Springs Van Park - very quiet since the springs etc aren’t open. 

After lunch Steve went for a walk along the edge of the river below us. I walked down to the crossing for some exercise and chatted with the lady for a bit then up the hill for a walk along the tracks he mentioned. Didn’t find the butterflies but startled a snake who moved off the track before I reached him - most considerate of him. Pays to walk heavily in the bush so they move away first.

Back to the camper - it has warmed up to 30 degrees. No fish for Steve but he found me a pink Yeti stubby cooler like his so that is my mother’s day gift!! Our reward for picking up the rubbish people leave behind.

More birds are chirping in the trees while we had our cuppa. At last I have caught up with the blog. Just have a few days to upload to the site once we have phone reception. We are both feeling a lot better too. Steve has been getting plenty of exercise walking up and down the hill collecting firewood - working off the cruise desserts.

Drinks overlooking the water as Steve got the fire going for dinner. A wallaby came down on the other side for a drink. He was very cautious but he settled down and had a big drink before jumping back up the hill again. A white breasted sea eagle flew over too - well that’s what Steve said it is as we are so up on the birds names lately!!

A couple of guys had driven down with their tinny and disappeared upstream. We walked down to the crossing and flicked our lures for a while but no takers. I tried above the crossing and a little tarpon got hooked and jumped and flicked around until it got itself off as I was reeling it in.

The log is dangling in the tree top after being stuck up there from when the river was flooding. It was be an amazing sight to see all that water rushing down as the log would be 30 feet from the river height now.

Back to camp to cook dinner on the fire. Nice outside temperature and no bugs other than the little hairy caterpillars that keep trying to crawl up our chairs. 

Watched another DVD - Midsomer Murders. Mum and Dad would have laughed at that as it was one of their favourites.