TUESDAY 7 JULY     KALPOWAR CAMP

After breakfast, John checked over Truck. He found a loose fastener on the air hose intake, apparently not done up properly in Cairns. A black mark against the Landrover service centre, which otherwise had impressed us.

I walked around the camp ground – now empty except for one other lot. Being close to the river, it is well treed and an attractive area. The Rangers must go to some trouble to keep the grass as thick and lush as it is.

We saw a snake near our tent – by the tap. It went into the grass nearby, as we looked. John said it had a rough back – is there a venomous snake with that characteristic? Times like this, I am so grateful that I had the foresight to get the tent maker to put velcro strips along the door base flap and the door, so that the lower part of the entry can be totally sealed!

We drove to the North Kennedy River, a little to the west. There is bush camping out here with, like Kalpowar, a series of numbered campsites – but with no facilities at all. We drove into Camp 1 at Seven Mile Kennedy Waterhole for a look around. Parked Truck, walked a little closer to the river – and there was this HUGE saltie on the opposite bank! It looked to be well over 20 foot long. A real monster. It quietly slid into the water when it saw us, floated for a while and then submerged, and we didn’t see it again. I do not find them attractive to look at, but looking at the water where I know one could be lurking is even less attractive!

John decided to do some fishing there – which I thought was a crazy idea. He even ventured onto a low bank, at one stage, which I considered foolhardy, and told him so! This made him cross, but he didn’t stay there long. I have seen more of what crocs are capable of, due to my NT school trips, whereas John still underestimates them.

We had our picnic lunch at this place, then followed the North Kennedy along, downstream, to the north, visiting Camps 2-9 along it. We saw a couple of great swamps with magpie geese and other water birds, and lots of water lilies.

It was starting to get a bit late by then, so we stopped taking every side track we came across. We did not stop at Breeza Kennedy Waterhole – another time! In parts the tracks were a bit confusing – more than were on the map, but we found our way back to the main track. We did go through one rough crossing, with a drop off, where we bottomed something on Truck in the muddy water.

In an area not far from the North Kennedy River, where it looked like it might flood at times, there were some interesting termite mounds – really sharp edged and tall. They occurred really close together on that section of plain.

It was a great day’s exploring.

When we got back to camp, there were people on the site opposite. They said that, during the afternoon, they’d had to get the Ranger to remove a snake that kept coming their way. He captured it and took it away – said it was a Slaty Grey Snake, and venomous. It sounded like our visitor from this morning.

Tea was Irish stew – I just had time to cook this, but it could have done with a bit longer. Probably not the best meal choice for a day when we were away from camp, but I needed to use up the lamb chops that had been bought in Cooktown.