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Take 2 of the Gibb River Road, 4 good tyres and our confidence pumped up a little we hit the dirt, only to find the corrugations and rocks even worse than the bit we'd already done.
Home Valley was the next stop, which is another working cattle station bordering the Pentecost River and some enormous amount of land to their name. The camp site was back from the river with a spectacular view of the Cockburn Ranges, with shelters to set up camp under so that you could escape the searing sun at all stages of the day. And man was it hot, 40 degrees by 8:00 in the morning.
Convincing Lea to stay another day, Lee wanted to fish the incoming tide and the outgoing for that matter. We fished all day on the Pentecost River for nothing at all, and then the local traditional owner came down to have a fish in the arvo cos the boss was away. He gave us some pop-eye mullet which we fished unweighted on the incoming tide that night under his advice. We fished with another guy Alex, and he hooked up half an hour into the session and landed a nice 80cm barra. For us, it was looking like it was going to be the same old story... However it was a nice night so we both stuck it out for a further couple of hours til we were thinking of packing it in, then Lee was on!! One jump and he knew it was a barra, two jumps and the resident 3m saltwater croc grabbed the barra, NOOOO!!
Lee kept the tension on the line as the croc took off up the creek with the barra, and with a stroke of well deserved luck the croc went for a better grip and Lee stole the fish back from his jaws. Winding furiously, Lee soon had the barra at the base of the steep mud bank, some 2.5m below, and as he wound him up the bank the line snapped, NOOOO! With quick thinking, Lee raced back to the camp for the 60lb hand line, leaving Lea to stand guard over the fish, waving her head lamp and stomping her feet to scare off the croc that was still hanging around. Lee got back in a flash and tied on a lure with 3 trebles, one cast and he jagged the barra that had just about slipped back down the bank into the water. Thank god the lure held, and Lee dragged him up the steep bank, muddy but still relatively intact with a few teeth marks on his tail and a heap of scales missing where the croc had him. High fives and hugs all round as you could imagine.. . as you can see from the photos, Lee's one happy camper, and we still have some yummy fillets in the freezer.
We took off late the next morning sharing the story and the pics with anyone and everyone who cared to listen!
L & L
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