Missing out on a morning glory

Two days in Karumba, and no morning glory.

But no, that doesn’t mean we’re getting old or that we’ve been together too long, a morning glory up here is a cloud formation that can be viewed only in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Gulf of Mexico. A few, very few brave (or stupid) souls even hang glide in them.

But even without the morning glory Karumba has lots to offer. Fishing for a start.

Planning a trip to the Cape of course had to include fishing. Even I had heard about the fishing on the Cape – especially the barramundi. So we packed a rod, and stopped off at Mossman to get tackle.

Our first fishing stop was Bathurst Bay and Cape Melville. Fishing with lures only managed to get him a fish that he could use as bait, but when he did start using bait instead the big fish started biting. A few so big they bit through the 80lb trace one of our travelling partners was using.

But since then – nothing. Nada. Zilch. Not a bite.

So when we got to Karumba we went out on a fishing charter. As the only time I’ve had a rod in my hand (for less than 5 minutes while Doc did something else with the fish he just caught) I pulled in a mud crab, I was threatened with being thrown overboard if I outfished him.

 

I’m a vegetarian – a real vegetarian who doesn’t eat fish or chicken – so I don’t fish. I was really only going along to keep Doc company and spend some time relaxing on a boat, so I wasn’t at all worried whether I caught anything or not, but Doc really wanted to catch something.

And he wasn’t disappointed. He pulled in 3 decent size blue salmon, and caught 2 catfish, both of which went straight back. I only caught 1 fish, and even that was only because I couldn’t get it to let go of the line!

 

 

In my search for a morning glory I got up early and went for a walk. (And yes, I’ve heard the jokes – if that’s what I wanted I should have stayed in the tent.)

While there was no morning glory there were fabulous cloud formations reflecting the sun coming up through the trees.

 

 

 

 

 

And birds and roos were everywhere. I even managed to sneak up on a lagoon with lots of wading birds and kangaroos without startling them. Amazing what you can do when you don’t have a 2 ½ ton diesel engine!