Princess Charlotte Bay

A day to explore. We pulled the gear off our bikes and headed up a very steep hill climb and over a few more hills to another beach and an old resort.

Resort: View from the front door

Raman attempting to straighten his engine guard bars

More collapsed resort

Shells

Jump!

There was no one camped here but there were two boats putting crab pots in the lagoon when we arrived.

The point is pretty but the sun is beating down and there is little shade.

On our way back toward the old resort I noticed the grass had been flattened leading up the valley which  we decided to follow. I had heard there were small caves up the valley but the guy didn’t know how far they were, and didn’t think there was a track.

Apparently there is a track now as the trail through the grass led us straight to the  caves. We immediately found the aboriginal rock paintings that had also been mentioned.

The rock art seems to depict fishing and food gather activities amoung the mangroves. The floor of the cave is dark soil full of shells. A lot of sea food was eaten here.

Raman and I sat for a long while in the shade of the overhanging rocks after looking at the paintings. Watching the trees blowing in the strong wind while letting our thoughts wander.

Some aboriginal people believe photographs take something away from a place so perhaps  I will leave this little gem to the imagination.

We rode a bit further up the valley to checkout the landscape.

The bushland around the caves

Rock art of another kind

I love this image. The colours captivated me. What a pretty landscape…and very hot.

Back along the rough trail and over the hills and down the steep hill and we are back near camp but we still have another stop, one we have saved for the end of our hot ride under the blazing sun. We head a few km south before going back into the hills  to find this spring filling a bathtub under a huge mango tree.

Slightly carbonated mineral water. What a surprise.

We filter water for drinking and washed both our bodies and our sweat drenched clothes.

What an amazing place.

Back at camp I chatted to our neighbours again about fishing times. They suggested just on sunset on the rocky point was the way to go, although they hadn’t caught anything. Having said that I went out to the point with them last night and there was a lot more dining going on than fishing. They were also using very big bait and hooks looking for Barramundi.

They gave me some chilled bait fish they netted yesterday. Thanks guys 🙂

I spent a little of the remaining light with my camera.

When the sun set I headed out to the point to catch dinner.

I decided to use a smaller hook and a small bit of one of the bait fish.

Before long I had nibbles. The first few got away as I started pulling them in too soon. I quickly learnt to let the  fish, apparently Trevally, “run” a little.

My efforts got us three fish that amounted to a nice meal. Raman, on my request had sharpened a stick as I had a few crabs come in on the line but they had gotten away just next to the shore. Raman had a go at fishing and brought in a crab and ,with me using the sharpened stick, we added a crab to the evening meal.

With some rice to complete the meal we were laughing.

I recall being told the aboriginals would cook the fish straight on the coals until they looked burnt to a crisp so I though I would have a go. The first one was cooked on the outside but not all the way through. I didn’t have the guts to leave it until it was burnt to a chrisp. The skin was burnt but the flesh was good. I decided to wait for the fire to die down a bit. The next two were just right. The skin, all blackened and charred, just peeled off so easily and the flesh was cook beautifully.

And we watched a fingernail moon set over the water as we ate dinner.

I will remember these days for a long time to come.