Around Oz the First Time - Chapter 37 - El Questro Day 3

The adage goes “the early bird catches the worm” but 4.45am, that’s stretching a friendship a little, but that was the call for our second organised fishing tour of the trip. Given I really wanted to catch a barramundi and Silver Leader suggesting this was probably the last time this trip we might be able to target that particular species, I had booked, with Silver Leader, such a trip out of El Questro.

I had been talking to Shaun, one of the Rangers about being able to fish around the rivers and creeks at the camp ground, looking for my target species and he suggested that although fishing around the camp ground will net fish, an organised tour of the Pentecost River might be a better option for a barramundi.

So here we were, Silver Leader and I, at the appointed spot at the appointed time, and no Shaun. We had heard a loud staff party last night and wondered if he had succumbed to a hangover until lights suddenly appeared. Shaun, bright as a button and rearing to go, drives up and deposits our rods and gear in the 4wd and we are off into the darkness.

First there is the El Questro Road back to the Gibb River Road where we turn left away from the way we came in and within 100 meters the lovely bitumen of that road becomes the gravel of the more notorious Gibb River Road. We soon see where it gets it notoriety from, but that is the least of our challenges because as we approach the ford of the Pentecost River, we turn off and Shaun engages the 4WD system in the vehicle, and for good reason.

As the sun begins to rise over the escarpments, we are bounced from side to side as ruts, wash outs and rocks engage us in the war of the road. This is the Karunjie Track or Bedford Stock Route, which takes vehicles from the Gibb River Road to Wyndham via the “old road” according to Shaun. The vehicle stops at one particularly nasty point in the road and I snap a Bustard Bird walking nearby. We finally arrive at our destination a spot where a tinnie is chained to a post. Shaun back the vehicle right up to it, hands us bacon and egg wraps and proceeds to ready the boat. The motor, fuel tank and esky are in the vehicle, along with our rods and gear, all of which are loaded in about the same time it takes to whoof down the wraps.

In the boat and we are ready. It soon becomes very evident Shaun is a fisherman not unlike us with his passion for his sport. He talks about the tidal flow, the animals, birds and crocs, as well as the fish in great detail. His passion for fishing comes to the for as he and Silver Leader talk about tour guiding fishing trips for a living when suddenly, Silver Leader is on. A small barra, undersize for the dinner plate but a barra nonetheless. Moments later Shaun has hooked one and hands the rod to me. This one slightly bigger is still too small and returns. Its seems like no time and Shaun is on again and he is handing me the rod for landing – not sure this is how it is supposed to be, but I will take it.

We wander up and down the lagoon, getting hits from time to time, but no hook ups. Shaun is ecstatic we have boated three fish in the first hour, in days previous he has had to change the fishing methods to at least have participants bend a rod with say a catfish or shark, but today there are bust ups everywhere. Heading up to the rock wall holding the present level of the lagoon Shaun mentions that it needs a 7.5-metre-high tide for the water to come over, and this does not happen all the time and certainly not today. There are lots of pelicans working the shallows at the rock wall for mullet, and Shaun is of two minds whether to keep trolling or stop and look to live bait.

Catching the bait would be easy as cast netting here is legal and the amount of mullet bouncing in and out of the water along the bank would be easy prey for us as it is the pelicans. Shaun though is buoyed by the success of the trolling and suggests we continue to lure fish the shallows. We’re easy, he is the expert in his element, so we change to casting lures and continue. We are in very shallow water now, from time to time the motor wedges in the mud stopping our progress, when all of a sudden, Silver Leader is on.

At first, he is not overly excited, but then the fish jumps, and the fight with a monster of the deep is on in earnest, there is pandemonium in the boat. At this point I reel in my line to give him full access to the boat and whilst getting down to give him the best spot on the boat to fight the fish from, wrong foot myself and fall between the seat and the bow, thinking I was stepping onto the plate that joined them. This plate is not protected on the sides, and I make a mess of my leg, but we are fighting a monster, the leg can wait.

I grab my phone, switch it to video mode and start shooting, the fight is going well, Shaun has the net out and attempts to grab the fish, he misses. A croc that had been sunning itself just in the water on the other side of the lagoon is now missing – not a good sign. Silver Leader brings the fish around for another pass at the net – no joy – and it head off against the drag, in the general direction of where the croc was last seen.

A third time Silver Leader brings the fish to the boat, and it is beaten and netted. Straight onto the brag sheet, 90cm, too big to take home and Shaun wants to get it back in the water quickly as the fight will have taken a lot out of her. Quickly photos are snapped and Silver Leader hands the fish to Shaun who immediately starts to swim the fish. Initially he has no joy, the fish is too far gone he thinks. He keeps swimming it, unable to call it so we can take it, as that would be illegal, and carry potentially a very heavy fine, so it would need to be left as croc bait.

Finally after many minutes Shaun, uncertain of the success of his efforts, plunges the fish into the water hoping it will not simply rise to the top, which it doesn’t and we move one. Then, within two casts, both Shaun and I both catch catfish. You may not see this as anything extraordinary except both fish were caught by the tail. Evidently, we had thrown our lures into a school of them and as we jerked the lures to give them life like twitches, the catfish had gotten in the way. Both are returned to the lagoon.

Shaun is a ranger here at El Questro and bound by the rules of his timetable, but as he says on the way back, an hour after our scheduled time, “they all know me here and my passion for fishing, and its just nice to fish with people with the same passion”

On the way back Shaun tells of a bike rider who was lost trying to ride this road in the wet season. Getting bogged, he was at the mercy of the elements. Evidently the body was found by one of Shaun’s mates and from the nature of the distribution of clothing, first neatly then as the heat took over, strewn all about, the descending onto heat induced madness was ridiculously evident. Everything is fine out here until something goes wrong. Insurance, in ensuring you have enough water, provisions, and people know where you are going and when you are expected to either arrive or return, is something that is a must, not a necessary evil.

We enquire to our Ranger friend about camels in the area. His short reply – there are no camels in the Kimberly. We will pay out on Forbsy tomorrow on this on the radio as we head to our next destination. We also talk to him about the difference between the wet and the dry seasons, the oppressive humidity, the heat and the amazingly spectacular thunder storms and their affect on the surroundings as they dump their buckets of water on the land.

Our trip is over, we have a myriad of spots Shaun suggests we try in the afternoon, he will join us if the tour he is timetabled for this afternoon does not go ahead, but that is unlikely. Maybe Silver Leader and I will trek out once the others head off for their sightseeing tour.

Robyn greets us as Shaun drops us off right to our vans, she talks of breakfast of crepes, pancakes, strawberries and maple syrup (I think). It will take some time for the buzz of todays trip to wane.

Lunch is a rush of yoghurt and tea for Robyn as she is preparing for the Explosion Tour this afternoon with Forbsy and Rosalie. Their departure time was 2.00pm from the same spot we congregated some 10 hours before. They are travelling on an open tourer to a gorge for sunset viewing, champagne, wine cheese and bikkies.

The shots with which they return, buzzing as much as we were after the fishing earlier in the morning, are of fording rivers, rough roads and bouncing patrons. They have suggested to the driver, they have back issues and need not be at the rear of the tourer where the bouncing is exacerbated. The tour journeyed past the Homestead, at which the rates are significantly higher than the price we are paying for siting our vans, but the tariff at the Homestead includes meals and most tours..

Explosion Gorge is named for the variety of fishing practiced there in the earlier days. Gelignite was used to raise fish, blowing their equilibrium bladders with each explosion making the fish float to the surface.

Back at the ranch, I attack another sunset with the camera phone. It is exquisite again, the reds and purples the phone picks up well after the sun has gone are astonishing and not seen by the naked eye. Silver Leader has joined me and we catch the eye of Shaun after his tour and offer to buy him a beer, which he readily accepts, after changing from his Ranger’s uniform. Silver Leader attempts to talk his ear off but Shaun can hold his own, I certainly only get the odd word in here and there.

Shaun tells us a story of the tour tonight. Having only seven of the ten possible seats filled his boss suggests to him that he can fill up the tour with free loaders if he so pleases. He doesn’t take anyone from the park but along the trail, sees an older gentleman, coming out of the area in which they are headed, obviously been taking pictures. Shaun asks him what is he up to, and the old man thinking he is in some sort of trouble guardedly replies he is taking some sunset shots. The Ranger then invites him on the tour and still guarded about what is going on the old man suggests “what is it going to cost me”. Shaun replies, nothing why don’t you simply tag along and the old man’s demeanour takes a decided turn for the better

Treated like any other member of the tour the old man thoroughly enjoys the tour and Shaun is uplifted that he could do something “nice” for an anonymous person, which added to his day on the river with us has turned a great day into something even more. Random acts of kindness – you just cant beat them.

As the darkness takes over, I look to befriend a blue winged Kookaburra with limited success. In the end I get shots that although will need to be cropped, certainly do the subject justice. In the “one job” category, evidently as she left, I was asked to consider dinner, which I suspect was meant to mean “take something out of the freezer, seeing you didn’t bring any fish home to cook tonight”. This has not registered with me and nothing is thawed, but we have both had a reasonable fill of pre-dinner drinks, so Smoked Trout and bikkies might be enough to get us through.

Tomorrow we are out of here and off to the Bungle Bungles.

My first impressions of this place were wrong, but they were changed by the people making the experience, particularly Shaun and a couple of the bar staff. I pen a testimonial and email it off to the marketing manager, I hope he hears about it. In the email I suggest a testimonials section on their website would be good for that sort of thing, and if it was there I certainly could not find it.