Mon 21st July – Day 72: Karumba

School again, how monotonous it gets as once again the kids sleep in. We were lucky to finish by 12:30 and in the heat and humidity we were all totally over school. A family meeting and we have decided that from now on during the week we will rise at 7am for an 8am start to the school day. This way we can get all formal work done by 10am and have the rest of the day for sightseeing, play or driving if need be.
A short drive to the main township of Karumba, we brought freshly cooked banana prawns at $15/kilo, cooked mudcrab $12, squid $6/kilo and barramudi fillets for dinner. We also brought some huge raw prawns $15/kilo for use as bait (sacrilege I know!) Then it was off to the ‘Barramundi Discovery Centre’ the only fish hatchery in the world to breed the Southern Gulf Barramundi. This totally volunteer community group oversees the breeding program where fingerlings are released into the surrounding waterways. Since all Barramundi are born male it was important for local fisheries to work out how to ensure the survival of the species. It seems the males will all change to females at some stage during their life-cycle but what causes this change is still unknown. Fish that are over 40cm in length could be either male or female so are legally mature and able to be taken for food, while those fish over 120cm in length will all be breeding females and thus essential for species survival, hence there is both a minimum and maximum length for bagging in this species. Being able to live in both salt and fresh water means they are a highly adaptable fish and this hatchery provides mature fish for research purposes as well. On feeding the fish you realise that with eyes on top of their heads, they can’t see underneath themselves and their bite is more of a hoover action that swallows bait in 1 short sharp action.
All fired up with our knowledge on the Barramundi habits we set off with rods in hand to the local beach for a serious fishing afternoon. Despite the Croc warning signs everywhere we had a wonderfully relaxing afternoon where the kids did us proud by being able to both bait & cast their lines on their own. We had whiting and bream to prove how good they were – unfortunately none big enough to eat mind you, but it’s all in the bonding isn’t it and besides we had fish for dinner anyway!
Karumba Sunset Caravan Park (Powered $41.50/night)