Borroloola to King Ash Bay

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Day 140 Sunday 20 August 2006
Boroloola to King Ash Bay
Graeme has woken up this morning with a sore throat. Hopefully Duane and I do not catch anything. As advertised we thought the caravan park was by the river but no water there. We decided to drive another 40 km’s that is advertised that it is on the McArthur River called King Ash Bay on an unsealed road and found this beautiful spot that we have decided to bush camp for two nights minimum. It only cost $12.00 for a bush site. The lady said to be wary of snakes and I am very paranoid with the kids. We have set up camp outlooking over the river. Graeme has put his tinny in and gone off. The kids are playing in the sand because they cannot go in the river because of the crocodiles. Tonight the club has a roast night and we are going to the club for tea and to play trivia. Ernie Dingo from “The Great Outdoors” is here and staying on a houseboat. He must be doing a tour of the region as he is suppose to be in “Daly Waters” on the 24th. When we put the tinny in we saw him coming down the boat ramp to be picked up by a tinny to go to the houseboat. He said “Hello”. He is much taller than on TV. I had to take a second look. We went to the Roast night and had a nice meal. Ernie was there and we got a photo with the kids. He wasn’t very obliging and wasn’t that nice to Graeme. I think all he cared about was the beer and his cigarettes. Oh well that’s what stardom does for you!!!!! We saw two cane toads whilst we were eating. The locals didn’t seem to care about them - they just said if you can get close enough kick them. I find it suprising as every other town puts traps everywhere and goes “Toad Busting”. For those that don’t know they have poisonous glands on top of their head and they kill the wildlife. They are large and ugly and get everywhere.

Day 141 Monday 21 August 2006
King Ash Bay
Didn’t do much today but sat around the campsite. Graeme went fishing and the kids were quite happy playing in the sand. Duane found some eggs in the sand and we cut one open to see what it was. They were small and squishy. They were lizard eggs. The kids fished off the bank and when Duane was casting his line he got the lure stuck in Graeme’s ear. The kids were screaming and all I could see was Graeme’s head bending down and saying “Quick”. All I could picture was a pierced ear and what was I going to do miles anywhere from a hospital. My first aid training was not going to help in this instance. When I got there it fortunately was only just under the skin so I pulled it out. He is such a wooss!! He also got stung by a wasp and I had to use my first aid for that as well. I was worried as he is allergic to bees but only a little swelling came up on his finger. It wasn’t a good day for Graeme and no fish. The lady two campsites up cooked us fresh fried fish so we had it for tea this night. Beautiful - they spend 7 months of the year here and then go back to Shepparton to help people on their cherry farm. What a life! There are toilets here but you have to drive to them and when Kiera had to do no 2’s I drove her there. She had done her business then we flushed the toilet and to our amazement we saw two green tree frog legs coming down where the water comes down. Lucky it happened after the event otherwise she wouldn’t have sat on the toilet. The cleaner told us that it had been there for days and she has been trying to get it out but no luck. The stars are amazing at night and you can really see “The Milky Way”. You can see millions of prawns at night in the water swimming around.

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Photos

Ernie Dingo
The kids with Ernie.

King Ash Bay
Kiera in her bath - a plastic bucket. She loved this and could just fit!!

Qld Border
We were so close to the Border. Do we turn left or right? OK we had to turn right.