Limmen National Park and more.

 Bing Bong Bay still wasn't quite done with us yet, on leaving we ran over a partly submerged rusty steel pipe and it slashed our brand new, 2 day old, $320 tyre! BLOODY HELL!!! Our tyre dilemma was beginning to wear thin, no pun intended, so we had to change our plans for KIng Ash Bay and head back into town to find a tyre place. We went to three different tyre places and no one had the tyre we needed so we went 100ks out of our way to try another place and they didn't even have a work shop. We decided to continue onto Limmen NP and would sort out the tyre along the way some where.

James on the tools again!

New tyre, now dead!

 We headed into Limmen NP having heard that there were some great swimming holes and amazing rock formations. We stayed at Lorella Springs and tracked along a dry creek bed to find a great little swim hole. James and Daniel dared each other to jump off the rocks, like I've said before, some one has to take the photos! I did go in for a swim and I'll have you all know, I was the first one in..OK, I didn't stay in for long but it still counts!!

Boys will be boys!

A lovely billabong that meandered along the road.

  After drying off, our next item on the agenda was to check out the Lost City. We pulled into the camping area and we were lost for words. This place is breath taking. Huge pillars of rock surround you and the camp ground was at the base of it. The walk through the rocks was alot of fun and I couldn't decide what the best photo angle was so I took heaps of pictures. I have earned the reputation of being the parent paparazzi!  The walk took an hour or so added to the fact that we scavenged for wood too and then settle into camp with a cold beer and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. The Trip into Limmen NP was well worth it just for this!

  Being in the NT we will be seeing many a rock this is just the start, hopefully our camp spots are just as good and we get to enjoy it without crowds and big fires. Stay tuned.

Laura to Karumba.

 We left the beautiful Cape York via Laura. I was a bit sad to finish this part of our trip. I didn't expect to find so much beauty up here. All I had heard about the Cape was how rough and wild it is with crocs and mossies and how so many cars get ruined travelling through. In fact, it is all that but so much more and we enjoyed every day.
 We are heading now to Karumba in the Gulf, to catch up with a friend who lives out there. We high tailed it down the development road to Laura for an overnight stop before heading west. While we were in Laura we stopped to see the Split Rock art work. This was amazing, these rock paintings are one of the oldest in the world over 1500 years old! Well worth the detour.

Split Rock Art.

 The road that cuts across to the Bourke highway was through some private properties. Some of these stations were amazing and very impressive and we stopped by one for lunch on their creek. a local monitor came by to check us out. Very cool for our resident reptile man!

Local reptiles come out to play.

 Surprisingly the roads were in good condition and it was a nice drive, although there was about 30 gates I had to open and close, hence earned the nick name Gate Girl!

This classic road sign kept us on the right path.

A nice place to stop for lunch.

One of many!!

Beautiful view along the track to the Bourke HWY.

 It took us 2 days to get to Karumba, We travelled over 700 kilometer's of dirt road, having to carry enough fuel and water as there was no services until Karumba. We found a great spot along a creek for a camp meeting another Tvan couple who told us of other great spots in the Limmen Nat Park in the Northern Territory.
 When we pulled into Karumba we headed straight to a tyre place. Ivan's tyres were wearing thin due to the bent stubs and desperately needed replacing. The mechanic was an absolute character! Dry as a bone and took his time in everything! He didn't have what we wanted but said that if we hung around he will check out the van.
 We decided to check out the town and were taken by surprise by how many caravans with oldies there were! Every camp ground was full with them and the tinnies!! They littered the water ways! I met a great lady who ran the mini mart and she suggested to ask the mechanic for a night in his yard as he has just started having campers stay, so back we went but he said he was full! After a few hours he checked out Ivan, and found some old "shitters" to put on that would get us out of trouble. It was now after 5 and Ron took pity on us gave us a spot in his back yard. Believe it or not, we had the best spot in all of Karumba! No cranky caravaners, big open space with shade, a rare thing in Karumba, water, power and our own bathroom. We told Ron we would stay for 2 days but we ended up staying for 4! One morning I saw him to buy some Ice and in his slow dry manner he said, " how long youse staying for?" Thinking we might be overstaying our welcome, I said that James would pop in to see him later. His reply, "Well, you've been here long enough, do you want a job, I need someone for 2 weeks." Not sure if he was joking, I mentioned it to James as he went to pay for another night. James came back and said he wasn't kidding and that he had work for him as well!! Great guy, and if you find your self in Karumba say hi from us!

Best spot at Karumba!

Busy fishing!

 Karumba is a magnet for gray nomads and their massive vans and tin boats. They arrive for 3 months of year to get a tax break and take over. My new friend at the shop said that they don't spend any money, they complain if children make to much noise and they fish until there's none! We couldn't believe how many people came here to fish. Every morning the bay was full of over a hundred tin boats. If It wasn't for Ron's back yard we wouldn't have stayed a night!
 We caught up with Darren who came by for dinner. He is a commercial fisherman and lives up here about 10 months of the year, we met him through our Point plomer mate Guy so it was a fun night catching up. And check out what he brought for us for dinner....

The King Salmon fed us,  all other campers and we have some for another feed!

Thank you Darren!!

Nice one James!

Reel it in Danny!!

 The next day the boys got onto a charter and caught 5 good size fish, mostly being blue salmon, so now the freezer is stocked...where can one get a steak around here! After four days, I turned down Ron's job offer, and we packed up to leave. We didn't mean to stay for so long, and our first impression of Karumba was not great but it grew on us, but it was time to move on, taking the Savannah Way out to King Ash Bay, where Daniel will have his last opportunity to fish before we head inland.
Bourketown. We were hoping to get to King Ash Bay in the early afternoon the next day.

Crossing into the NT.

 We pulled into Borroloola and James got some info from a local who said that there was some great camping on the river at Bing Bong Bay away from the caravaners of King Ash Bay, but to be careful of crocs! Right, we had been hearing that every where  since leaving Bundeburg! We pulled into Bing Bong Bay and yes it was beautiful but harsh. Judging by the rubbish left at the camp I deducted that no white fellas camp here! An indigenous ranger of some kind drove by and said we could camp but be careful of crocs and not to let Daniel near the water. It was suggested before we got here that for safety a few rounds should be let off to scare away any crocs...I was starting to feel worried, especially when Daniel was desperate to fish. James did what was suggested and Daniel started to fish, only catching a ray which he returned.

While Dan fished, we kept a look out.

It's hard to see but there's a croc in there watching......

 That night, I got up and my light scared off a croc, which scared me and for the rest of the night I listened to them splashing and carrying on around us. when I got up, I counted 30 of my steps to the slide mark left by the croc I scared off from the Tvan. Too close for comfort. We felt uneasy and quickly packed up to leave the Gulf and Croc country....not quickly enough, I got completely hammered by midges that gave me hell for a few days, keeping me up in tears and pain..Bing Bong Bay, if the crocs don't get you the midges will!

Bloody midges.

From one gem to another

 We had to keep pushing on, so sadly we left the Tip and our next port of call was Vrylia Point. What a gem of a place, the road in was rough but the camping was beautiful. Again, we lucked a magic spot and we stayed for 3 days hanging in the sun, fishing, reading and lazing about...just what we needed as it's hard work on holidays!!
 We loved this place so let the photos show you why!

The dodgy looking bridge we had to cross!

No worries!

Heading down the beach towards the camp sites.

Our camp.

Beautiful vista.

Watching the sun set.

The lighthouse wreck.

The royal dalton dunny!

All in a days work!

Another beautiful sunset.

Flat out...some one has to do it!

The look out south of camp.

 We had to leave this beautiful spot but it was time to move on, our Cape york adventure is coming to a close but there is still so much more to see and we can't wait to find another gem like this one.

One fish two fish

 To get on to a charter up here your best bet is to be in Seisia, so that's where we were headed. The wharf here was alive with fish, but that didn't mean they were easy to catch, but Daniel did!! Two Queen fish and later that night a good size calamari!

  Seisia was a great spot for Daniel, because he was able to walk easily to the wharf from our camp and it was all very safe. The hardest thing to do was to actually get onto a charter so we did the next best thing and hired a boat for ourselves. We headed out to Jackey Jackey creek, seemed more like Crocky Crocky creek, with a cut lunch, cold drinks and high expectations.
 Even though we had James at the helm, I must admit, I was a wee bit nervous, you wouldn't want the boat  to break down because there was absolutely no way I would get in that water!

 We got settled into the trip and the boat was fine. The water ways were lovely but so remote, nothing like Pittwater. The boys quickly got into the fishing using lures and not too long James got his first hit, an estuary cod. We hadn't seen one before and it was of good size so we kept it. He had only just got the fish off his hook when Daniel caught his first Barramundi!! It wasn't of size but it gave a good fight and Daniel was so excited, after a quick picture he let him go. This happened twice, James would catch a cod and then straight away Daniel would get a barra.

Barra Dan his our man, if he can't catch it no man can!

 At the end of the day we had caught to keep a barracuda,[great in stir fry], a trevally and two cods, which were absolutely delicious. Barra Dan was happy to have finally caught his barramundi and I was happy to have my freezer full of fresh fish! Well done boys!

 Back at camp, we relaxed with a cold beer and had fresh fish for dinner, a nice way to spend our last day at the top end.