After a couple of nights at West Alligator Head we back tracked and turned off the main dirt track towards 4 Mile Hole – a large billabong that forms part of the Wildman River system. There are no facilities, but access to the billabong is good for land based fishing, with plenty of clear area to fish from. Hong caught his first barra! Barely legal, but good enough.

After being overwhelmed by midges at West Alligator Head, it was time for the mosquitoes to have a go. Unbelievable the quantity of mozzies that came out once the sun set. Too many to tolerate, we retired back to camp and sat around the campfire with several mosquito coils smoking away trying to ward off the swarming mozzies.

Later in the night a crocodile research team landed their boat near our camp. We went to have a look – they had harpooned and caught a 3m crocodile and had brought it to shore to take measurements and tag. The research team were kind enough to talk through everything they were doing and allowed us to take some photos. The best part was when they released the crocodile. It was fairly agitated after being probed and tagged, and when the rope was cut it headed for us instead of into the water. We were warned though – it’s not uncommon for them to do that and the researchers told us to be ready to run just in case. So we ran. A bit more rope work and dragging the croc towards the water, and eventually it slid in and disappeared. Was excellent to witness the process. Very lucky to be there. Almost made the mozzies worth it.

The morning was extremely wet with dew and fog. The fog across the billabong with the rising sun looked tremendous. A quick bit of fishing and we were off to Jim Jim Falls in Kakadu.