Everyday’s An Adventure

Some people seek out adventure wherever they go, whatever they do – others are quite content to let adventure pass them by and become a wreck when it sneaks up on them and gives them a fright. There were parts of today that pushed the adrenalin lever to high – not for the faint hearted or those that simply love a Sunday stroll down to Bondi. We started the day as any other day – content to keep put at Port Smith, a lovely little off the beaten track sort of place – a haven for weekend fisherman and retirees who love to cast the reel. Jen and the boys got stuck into some schoolwork so Piper and I trucked around the caravan park – checking out this and that, finding out what we could do, where we could fish, what bait to use and how to get to some cool fishing spots. The lady proprietor was quite brisk in her explanation talking about a right and then another right, then a red track and a sandy track. When asked if an AWD would handle the terrain she fell suddenly quiet for a second or two and with an about face to her previous rant, simply said “No, you should probably only go if you’ve got a 4WD.” We’d had this discriminatory discussion before back at Flinders and the fellow who took us on our 4WD trek was a bit more open minded and let us tag along. I had an inkling this was the case again so re-checked her instructions and decided we ought to give it a whirl. We were out here deep in the bush anyway – what’s a bit deeper? The heat was rising and kids had done their work for the morning so we packed up the rod and reel, a few nibbles and some drinks and headed out. I’d checked the tide near the mangrove earlier with Piper and for all intents and purposes it appeared to be receding (or so I assumed). I’ve never had to check tide charts as never had a reason to and the lady didn’t seem to indicate there was any concern in this regard, so like happy little campers off we went. The road was a little bit mucky early on and we had one major fishtail (much to the boys enjoyment) but then went quite well until the “sandy road” appeared. Fortunately it was near the end of the track so we parked and walked the short distance left to the cliffs overhanging the ocean. We were all in flip flops/thongs or lalas – for those in the know – and had to traverse a very sandy part of the road. The sand was so hot it was like walking on coals and we almost had to hop our way up. Piper is one tough little cookie as she didn’t complain a bit but kept losing her lalas in the roasting sand. We eventually made it to the coastline but not without a bit of discomfort. I pulled out the reel and popped on a couple pieces of bait. Aidan was first up on the fishing queue so I showed him how to cast it and then gave him the rod. Literally, less than a minute later he said, “Dad, what does it feel like when a fish takes a bite?” so I grabbed the line near the end of the road and gave it a little tug before realizing he had actually hooked something and it was giving us a fight. He must have let out a lot of line for the fish to swim with as when I was reeling it in it seemed as though we weren’t making any progress. It took a good five minutes but we eventually reeled the fish in and yanked it up the cliff face. It was a Golden Trevally and a good 30cms long – a real beaut! Aidan was in awe as this was the first fish he’d ever caught – he was a bit timid of touching it but we eventually got him over for a hold and a photo. Dinner was on him tonite! Cole and Piper had a go afterwards but unfortunately we didn’t get any other bites. As it was getting past noon and we were essentially out of water and heating up, we decided to head back to camp. The sand was even hotter on the feets on the way back and the pattern of lizard feet and tails quite apparent – it looked like a dot painting in the sand – perhaps where the whole premise came from? We piled in the car and began the track back to the caravan park. As we came out of the upper bush (below the “sandy track”) we noticed that the water was now up into the bushes where the previous track had been. You could feel the tension in Jen suddenly hit ‘near catastrophe – explosion imminent’ zone. She already had some serious stressing out with keeping the kids off the edges of the cliffs overhanging the ocean and now this – no water, an outside temperature of 39 degrees and potentially a bogged in AWD named Bessie! It spooked the adrenalin in me as well but mostly made me a bit excited as this new challenge had suddenly presented itself and we were going to figure it out – living on the edge a bit – where true family bonding comes to life! Others had obviously found themselves in this predicament before and you could make out other tracks to follow in the dry areas that the tide hadn’t crept up into. It seemed touch and go on the lower section where the former road was totally submerged under a foot of water but a higher path had left at least one wheel high and dry. We eventually found the way out without too much ado and Jen’s tension-meter immediately dropped to zero again. There was a palpable sigh in the air and then a massive glug glug of cool drink after a quick stop at the park’s office/store. After cleaning the fish the boys got back into some school work and I found some time to hack away at the guitar for a while – something I haven’t managed to do all that much on our trek. As the sun was beginning to descend from its daily journey we headed out to the tidal flats and soaked in the warm Indian Ocean waters of the lagoon, chasing schools of fish and trying to catch some of the bigger fish with our bare hands. The Golden Trevally was absolutely scrumptious and barely a myotome was left over from the kids plates. We are a fortunate bunch and despite our squabbles and indiscretions from time to time, are really living an adventure we’ll look back fondly upon for years to come. Next stop - Broome!

The yellow shows where we've been thus far and if you can see the pink dots - these are places we've stayed (the cloth map is thanks to Robyn - back at the Narrandera Medical Centre)