Nimrods in the Northern Territories

Nimrod [nim-rod] noun 1. person expert in or devoted to hunting. Nimrodish [nim-rod-ish] noun 2. person expert in or devoted to hunting AND fishing.

Definitely one of the highlights in coming back to Australia was meeting up with some of my old mates I met two years ago in Melbourne. One of those mates, Dave Pettit, had invited me to come and experience the "real" Australia. Dave is a Divisional Commander with the Northern Territories Fire and Rescue Service and led the NT deployment to Victoria in 2006-2007. Dave and his wonderful wife Jan live in a little town outside of Darwin, a place called Humpty Doo (Aboriginal for "meeting place by the water"). After wrapping up my meetings with Bushfire NT, Dave and I took off Friday afternoon for his son Mark's house on the Daly River.

Editorial note: throughout the last century there have been a number of attempts to settle the town of Daly River - none of them have met with any real success. In the late 1800s, Daly River was the scene of some particularly bloody exchanges between the local Aborigines and the miners. Today, many aboriginal communities (Nauiyu in the pix) and members exist in this area, far from the flash of Darwin. Our pub visit on Saturday night was an experience....all good.

Today Daly River is little more than a tiny pub with a few air-conditioned motel style units, a police station (where Mark is one of two officers), and a free caravan park. It is exotically located on the banks of the river a couple of kilometres from the beautiful Daly River Crossing. Removed from the main tourist route by a reasonable dirt road which runs 77 km from the turnoff at the Stuart Highway, this small settlement is perfect for visitors wishing to explore the beauties of the Daly River and fishermen eager to catch that elusive king of fishes - the barramundi. There are locals who are prepared to declare that the best barramundi in the Territory are caught in the Daly River. I can attest to that.

This is tropical North Australia with temps in the mid 90s and humidities to match, which adds another dimension to hunting/fishing. The river abounds in saltwater crocodiles, reptiles, spiders, cockatoos, ava fauna, wild pigs and water buffalos. The foliage is a combination of mangroves, giant bamboos, pandanus and eucalypt trees.

Of course the intent of the trip was to show the Yank a good time. As you can see, Dave and Mark managed to succeed. However, things are a bit super-sized up here, as one can tell from Mark and Dave's harvests. I volunteered to harvest smaller barra and pigs so I could provide context to our viewing audience. Cheers all!