 | Saturday morning before dawn we gingerly made our way down Buffalo Creek, weaving our way through a maze of hidden sandbars just below the surface. Once out in the ocean we headed for Shoal Bay where we set a line of 10 baited crab nets along the mangroves, keeping a watchful eye out for man-eating saltwater crocodiles that stalk here too. It was a fortunate morning, and with a few passes along our net line we had our boat limit of 30 big sweet Darwin mud crabs, along with a few cod and bream also trapped in the nets. There’s no substitute for local knowledge – brother-in-law Kar lives in Darwin and is a keen fisher who takes his boat out whenever the opportunity arises. With expert Asian cooks in the house, the crabs were soon steamed and turned into mouth-watering dishes that would do any restaurant proud. Sunday we travelled a couple of hours south of Darwin to Litchfield National Park to walk amongst the giant termite mounds, and along the crystal clear rock pools at the base of the waterfalls that tumble down the escarpments. |
