Vrilya Point. 20th May
Vriyla gets a great write up wherever you see it . Bush campsite at the mouth of a little creek . Its only 30k off the PDR so you would be forgiven for thinking it could be a hotspot. However it has a natural piece of protection. The only way in is over an old log bridge that spans a small ravine over a clearwater creek. We spent a good 15 minutes assessing the bridge picking the lines we might drive then stopped to decide on the green or red light. Deep debate followed and the adventure spirit won out ! We have a pair of UHF radios and Kate used hers to help my tyre placement and guide me across.
Adrenalin rush for the day achieved . We picked a spot up in the dunes with a great view over the sea as a campsite . We then parked the car on the beach , put up the awning and cast a couple of lines out on the long rods. I lost two lots of tackle to something big and then a shark hit my bait somersaulted out of the water and snapped my line .
We had a fantastic evening meal cooked over the fire under a star speckled sky as clear as if they were magnified .
In the morning the little creek was a veritable motorway for medium sized fish , school mackerel , baby barra , and gar fish were using the incoming tide and the rise of the depth of the stream to venture up into the mangroves for a feed.
My fishing partner was far more successful with a bag of around 6 or 7 fish . She was a beautiful little azure kingfisher who seemed to be waiting for the bigger predatory fish to scare the bait fish then pounce on them from a low lying branch .
As Kate was sunbathing she spotted a pod of dolphins hoovering up big fish in the shallows . With fish of up to a metre being targeted . As quickly as they arrived they disappeared .
The return journey was exciting but not quite as traumatic going over the rickety bridge . Later when we examined our Jardine ferry crossing ticker we found out another reason why it was quiet !