Darwin is home for the next 2 and a bit days as I wait to board L’Austral for the expedition around the Kimberley coast and Indonesia, and Corroboree Billabong is my first destination in the Northern Territory.
Hertz have handed me the keys to a Nissan X-trail instead of the Hyundai Elantra that I had booked, so it’s time to put the vehicle to good use and explore the surrounds of Darwin. First stop is Fogg Dam, a natural wetlands about an hour’s drive from Darwin. There is a sign on the dam advising that walking on the dam wall is not currently allowed as a saltwater crocodile has taken up residence. That doesn’t me seeing a woman and two girls walk out onto a dry section of the wetlands. Natural selection in action. There is a lot of birdlife around the dam, including thousands of ducks and black-necked storks. It is also very hot, and I don’t linger long.
I decide to do a sunset boat trip at Corroboree Billabong, a 90 minute drive from Darwin, which is part of the Mary River system. It leaves at 4.30pm, so I leave Darwin about 1.30pm to allow plenty of ‘getting lost’ time. The last section of the road to Corroboree Billabong is unpaved (about 5kms worth), and the road is being regraded when I drive along the roadside detour. Plenty of red dust gets the X-trail officially dirty.
It turns out to be a great trip – 16 people on a large tinnie, with Tony who does a great job as guide, naturalist, driver and photography location scout. There is oodles of wildlife – sea eagles, comb-crested jacanas with chicks, cormorants, darters, tree snakes, and of course, a health population of saltwater crocodiles.
This darter is making a meal of an unlucky catfish. If there were any doubts about how sharp a darter’s beak is, these photos should fix that – the darter has impaled the fish on it’s bill.
Corrobboree Billabong is a freshwater river system, but no one has told the salties that. Quasimodo has humpback, which doesn’t seem to hamper it at all, and another saltie has the most beautiful facial markings. Then there’s “Blackie” – 5 metres of killing machine, with very few markings.
Tony does a great job positioning the tinnie for the sunset. Combined with the reflections in the still water of the billabong, it’s a very happy two and a half hours of photography.
Given there are two small buses and another vehicle that will be driving the dirt road back to the highway in the dark, I make point of being the first vehicle down the road in the rapidly fading light. I manage to startle 4 wallabies along the road rather than turn them into roadkill, and reach the Arnhem Highway before any of the following vehicles are near. There is remarkably little traffic, and just as surprisingly, only one dead wallaby that I pass on the roadside. 90 minutes later, I’m back in Darwin.
