Wed, 11th May, 2022 Bush camp by Edith River, north of Katherine to Harriet Creek Rest Area, east of Pine Creek, NT (Rosella jam)

Cloudy start but as it warmed up the clouds went. 

Packed up and headed back to Pine Creek to upload a couple of days of the blog while we have a cuppa. Rang Bushmans and they haven’t received our fridge yet to send up to us which is disappointing.

Kev commented on my photos on Facebook so we rang him back for a chat.

Drove back to Umbrawarra Road to check out Copperfield Dam which we missed last time. No signs to it but we found it with the Hema. There are a few picnic tables but it doesn’t look like it is used much. The gun club have a fenced off area nearby.

There is a lovely salmon gum tree here.

We noticed some rosella bushes and the flowers were perfect for making jam. I used to help Mum when she made it. We decided to pick some of the bigger flowers and give it a go. Will have to google the recipe as I left my old recipe back at Jon’s - not thinking I would be making jam on the road. When we were here 30 years ago we had stopped and looked at the rosellas somewhere and Daniel left his toy dog behind. We realised after a while and had to turn back to find him as ‘Dog’ was very special.

We headed back to Pine Creek for lunch. I googled the jam recipe - need castor sugar which I have some of. I also looked up the salmon gums and they are different to the WA ones. Forgot to write down the names! 

Greg had sent me photos of his rock and tool display he made up with his, ours and Dad’s things. Looks impressive.

We heard a helicopter flying about before and now realised what it was doing - dropping fire starters as to the south there is a huge wall of smoke.

We topped up the water and got some fuel ($2.089). Chatted with a chap who worked on a gold mine near here and also on the railway.

Trying to decide what to do - not too keen to be out detecting when they are burning off around us. Decided to go for a drive out towards Kakadu and have a look around the area. We went down a bush track towards a creek on the Hema. Passed lots of wrecked cars - it appears this is where they bring them when they have been abandoned or something. We continued on but the smoke was getting thicker ahead of us so we figured the fire was heading our way so we turned around.

We continued on the Kakadu road through small hills and big boulders. Unfortunately there is another fire burning here too.

We turned off to the Harriet Creek Rest Area. A bit of water still just under the bridge. Note the debris up high in the tree so it must flood well here.

There is a phone signal enhancer here. Will try that out later

Drove to the other side of the camping area - plenty of room. We made a cuppa and waited to see what this fire was going to do. The smoke isn’t bad here - hardly smell it at all and there is no wind.

We walked down a track to the creek and found more rosella plants so we picked some more bigger flowers. A snake moved near Steve so that was the end of collecting flowers. We have plenty so looks like I am making jam this afternoon.

Steve went for a walk to check out the fire which is a good distance away but we can here the crackling quite clearly. We walked down to the bridge for a photo of the creek in the other direction.

We followed a track down that way too and found another camping area which would be nice when the water is flowing.

We decided we were safe as the road is a fire break any case. We parked up and set up for the night. The main road isn’t far away as we can hear the cars passing but it is nice to not be right beside the road like most rest areas.

I started cutting the flowers and separating the seed pods to boil up with the flower tops. I remember doing this with Mum. We got flowers from plants around the hockey fields one time and from Woolies another time (they were cheap too). She said that one time her Mum (Nana) was visiting when she was making jam and Nana said they put apples in the mix to make it go further when she worked in a jam factory. That was the first Mum knew of what her mother had done in her early years. I put the flowers in another pot then poured the seed pod juice over them with a bit extra water and brought them to the boil till they softened. Added some sugar - didn’t have enough castor sugar so had to add some raw sugar. Boiled that mixture then let it cool off. Seems a bit runny but it sets ok so we will see when we try it out on some pikelets tomorrow.

Kept a watch on the fire - lots of noise but we can’t see any flames.

The sun is very red this afternoon as it sets in the smoke haze and even the moon was red as it rose.

Played cards while keeping an eye on the fire front. Spotted some flames on the hill further over but we are all good here and still no smoke to worry us. A bit of ash is falling around us. No other campers pulled in.

No need to heat the shower water now as the cool nights have left us though it is nice in the mornings.