The start of the BFCV2. With great anticipation and excitement I picked Hong up from Darwin airport and headed straight to Dundee Beach to kick off our two week camping and fishing adventure. Been there before with Sharni so knew it was a reliable spot where we could do some bush camping on the beach and some fishing. First we had a beer at the Dundee Beach Lodge to celebrate the start of our camp then headed to the dirt tracks and onto the beach. The tracks are easy to find, just head straight from the main road instead of turning right towards town. Go to the end, turn left, go to the end again and turn right. When you first hit the sand tracks you can go right or left. Right takes you straight to the beach to the northern side of Boat Creek – a small tidal creek south of Dundee Beach town. Left takes you around Boat Creek, through a gate and onto the southern side where the mouth of the Finnis River can be accessed by driving further along the beach. We set up camp right near Boat Creek on the northern side.

It was low tide which gave us a good opportunity to forage for telescopium snails in the mangroves and oysters on the exposed rocks. The oysters are very small so don’t make a great meal, but taste just like the bigger variety. I’m yet to see big oysters anywhere, not sure where to find them, although I’ve seen Bush Tucker Man and Malcolm Douglas find them off our northern beaches. The mangrove snails on the other hand are huge by snail standards. We collected a good dozen or so for dinner. They can be found among the mangrove roots. They’re really salty, taste like a mixture between crabs and mussels. Maybe would be better to boil them to take out some of the salt. We cooked them straight in the hot coals. Found a huge flat jelly fish beached near the creek.

That night we flicked lures into the creek and I landed one small barra. Threw him back in. The bait fish were going absolutely ballistic. Huge quantities jumping around everywhere. I’ve never seen it like that before. Spotted one crocodile which I tried to take a picture of. In the photo you can see a dot which is the reflection from the croc’s eye.