King Ash Bay Fishing Club 5th June
The land is leased by the King Ash Bay fishing club. Its a bit of a fish based commune and I for one loved it . The members run the place and it has great facilities and a wonderful atmosphere.
King Ash is 30 k outside of Borroloola . Borroloola had good shops and services and everyone we met was nice and helpful. However We Borroloola was very badly kept with a huge amount of litter -mainly coke outers and xxxx gold outers . Sad really as it could have a lot going for it due to its position on the Savannah Highway but it was a bit depressing for travellers never mind residents.
Back at the campsite the old couple next to us achieved status of honorary lifetime members of the antique teenagers club. They travel round Australia for 6 months at a time in an old vw van. He loves fishing and fossicking ( prospecting for those outside Australia ) .He explained the he liked the van because it could get underneath the trees and bushes when they are in the outback searching for gold , the downside is that it has low wheel clearance and no 4×4. He told me that a month earlier he had been bitten by a king brown snake . I asked how that happened and he told me it was because of an accident with wine glass and a bottle of baileys . Intrigued he continued that he had seen a big king brown on the path between him and his fishing spot . He placed the heel of his fishing rod on its head and then grasped its head between finger and thumb. I asked if it was a good grip and he said yes – he was going nowhere . So i asked how the glass and Baileys were involved . He stated that he had drunk three of them before he went fishing so when the snake wrapped itself round his fishing rod he freaked and threw it away but in the act of doing this one fang sliced open his finger . He then enjoyed a 600k helicopter ride care of Royal flying Doctors to be treated in Mount Isa .
His wife Sarah had the vw bogged so couldn’t come and pick him up ( flying doctors don’t do return trips ) . Some kind police officer arranged a series of police car journeys back – all 600k !
He reckoned that 1 month solid fossicking gets him around 10k each year – enough for him to visit family in Cornwall Uk each year
We also caught up with young Ross as he headed for the Gibb river road . We treated ourselves to a meal at the Grouper bar . It was darts night so Ross sweet-talked us into the comp . Us being the organiser and me !
The darts comp lasted 4 hours (due to the skill level of all involved). It was a great mixed bunch including some traveling indigenous ladies , “dad” who was 93 and not a bad arrows man , a professional singer who worked her way round the country and us . One of the local ladies got so drunk that she couldn’t see the dartboard and had to ask which direction it was in and then proceeded to literally shoot the lights out . She was subsequently barred (only from the bar area) . She undertook numerous commando missions to sneak back to the bar unseen.
On the darts front we were in the running for the midnight play off until we played Dad (93) and young Lance (65) who were just too good for us .
Now King Ash Bay doesn’t have many young things inhabiting it . So when young filmstar Ross appeared on the scene you could smell the female hormone level go through the roof and he spent all night skilfully dancing around improper advances ! He was like a cowardly Ninja warrior on steroids !
I was once told that the definition of being an expert is that you know at least 2 percent more than others in the room. Here is Ross the cast net expert -teaching our antiqueeteenager lifetime member !
On the fish front , many catfish and three very good grunters which this time were well cooked and tasted pretty good . Something very big ( i think a king salmon ) jumped out of the river and threw my hook . Always the bridesmaid never the bride ?
Some of the locals were burning off the undergrowth north of the campsite as they do at this time of year. You could hear the crackle of the fire as well as see and taste the smoke . We felt reasonably ok with this until someone who was there two years ago told us about their experiences of the fire rampaging through the site. Luckily all was good and we got a nice smoky sunset to boot .
And finally one for the petanque enthusiasts. (See earlier post) . The sport is clearly going from strength to strength on the border of Northern territory and Far North Queensland.
