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Published: October 17th 2012
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http://www.travelblog.org/Admin/Blog/gmap-entry.php?map_id=60524 Derby was a place of things BIG. There were BIG boabs, BIG tides, a BIG wharf, the BIG catch, the BIG chicken cook-off and the BIG trough to mention just a few..
On the way there we stopped for a coffee break at a very big boab tree. It was not hard to imagine such a tree with its big hollow trunk being used to house a family. It would have easily given the Helbig tree in the Barossa a run for its money. On the way out of town we stopped at the prison tree. Again a big hollow boab, only this one had one small entrance. It was used to imprison young aboriginals who had been captured by ‘black birders’ and were being transferred to work in the pearling industry. Slavery by another name is still slavery.
Big tides of 7 and 8 metres typified the 2 days we were there. These were by no means the biggest tides they regularly experience. There were extended mud flats by low tide and shore hugging water by high tide. There were no waves, it just rose and fell …a lot. The water was murky and most uninviting. It
was hard to imagine that fish might be caught from the wharf.
Being a port the wharf was large. In fact, in daylight hours you could drive your car around it with room still for others to pass and people to sit and fish. The extreme tides meant it often sat high above the water.
This was our first opportunity to fish the sea so we armed ourselves with rods, crab nets, bait, chairs, buckets, esky, drinks, nibbles, hats and sunscreen and headed for the wharf. There had been much debate about whether we should have an early dinner or dinner afterwards. We deliberated too long hence making the decision for us.
We dabbled a while catching a few crabs, some of which had to be returned and pulling in the odd catfish which we also threw back. Watching the boys grapple with the feisty crabs was most amusing. The odd mouse was seen running along the wharf boards.
Suddenly Marian said she had a fish, rather a large one she thought. She handed the line to Pat who fought the big fish for over an hour to find part way through that they had caught
a three metre crocodile on their 20kg line! Determined not to lose his gear and enjoying the moment Pat reeled in and let out the croc many times. It was dark by this time so we only got the odd glimpses of the angry croc. It rolled and rolled, relaxed and got pulled towards us then would suddenly take off again. It was most entertaining to watch both the croc and Pat battle for supremacy. Eventually, sore and exhausted, Pat cut the line to free the croc and himself and we toddled home to make a very late dinner and chuckle at our amazing adventure.
By midday the next day everyone in the Caravan Park knew of the resident that had caught the BIG croc on his fishing line.
Caravaners everwhere love to compare stories and share tips. We had told Pat and Marian how we buy these stuffed chickens, roast them in our Baby Q and they give us a hot dinner and leftovers for several lunches. They told us how they use their turbo oven to cook meals and such a roast would be perfect for their oven. They also have a Baby Q but have
hardly used it. So we decided to have a chicken cook off to compare the different cooking methods. Both turned out superb, but we could see the potential of such an oven, especially in colder places or at colder times of the year.
On our visit to the Prison Tree we also saw the longest trough in the Southern Hemisphere. There were no animals to be seen at the time but there was plenty of evidence that animals frequented it. It was quite an impressive trough!
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Angela Reimann
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Great water trough photo!