Longreach Waterhole

29th May - 11th June 2016

Longreach Waterhole is ten k's west of Elliott. About halfway between Tennant Creek and Katherine. What an absolute gem. Died and gone to heaven serenity. A free camp on the Newcastle Station. The waterway is part of Newcastle Creek that flows into Woods Lake. 

Yep...this will do for the next two weeks!

Brilliant spot looking up the creek.

Looking downstream.

On the first morning Dez made friends with John next to us and went out to check the red claw pots. John got about three dozen while he was there. Show off!!!!

We spent the first two nights with Adrienne and Malcolm. They have done the big lap around Australia about five times! A wealth of travel knowledge. 

Drink o'clock under the trees.

No need to go without the yummy things in life when out bush. Love cooking outdoors.

Cookies baked in the Weber. So yummy.

Getting bread down to a fine art in the Weber. Nothing like warm rolls for lunch!

Pancakes for brekky with mixed berry compote and a dollop of cream...oh yeah!

Getting all the travel spot tips from Adrienne and Mal. Over drinks of course!

So...inspired by John's success in the red claw department Dezzi threw the net in to try his luck. Fingers crossed.

Well.... We got one.

This is our front yard!

Acres of beautiful shady land.

This is pretty much where I spent every afternoon. Read two books. Heaven!

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The boys settled in.

The most spectacular sunsets every night. A sight you never tire of. This is just a few.

Not a bad view from bed!

The birdlife here is amazing. So prolific. But the best was the Pelicans. They would sit on the opposite bank all day. At sunset slowly drifting one by one to our side of the waterhole. Gliding so gracefully. Gather together and start doing what we came to call the Pelican Ballet. Head dipping in the water and wings up. So serene and beautiful. It became our evening entertainment. Drinks ready and chairs lined up on the shore.

A few days in and going for a walk. Look up at a car coming down the track...no way...Phil and Dee Devaney! Yeah friends come to play!

Morning coffee get together at The Devaneys.

Phil and Dee had their kayaks. Phil's is a stunner. Hand made by himself from beautiful timber.

Early morning kayaking.

Phil soaking up the serenity!

Dee sailing by.

Phil with the sail up.

Well that looks soooo good. Thought I better have a turn.

Practising how not to fall out! Easy on the grass.

Kayaking like a pro!

Rest stop up the creek. The peacefulness was beautiful.

Meanwhile, the boys thought a a camp fire was the order of the day for drink o'clock. All good Philby.

Till you chop your shin. Luckily no ambulance required!

The end result....not bad!

The things you see on your walk around a cattle property. 

Sadly Phil and Dee had to head on their merry way after a few days. We had so much fun and so many laughs. 

But...our buddies arrived that day. So now we have Deb and Harry at the waterhole. Yippee!

The average temperature is around 33 - 35 degrees. Pretty warm. So we decided to brave the muddy bank and the grass and go for a dip!

Noodle chair at the ready of course!

Are we sure????

Oh yeah! The water temp about 23 degrees. Heaven!

From then on we had plenty of swims. 

Spent plenty of time with this view ha ha!

Dezzi still checking his red claw pot! Hhmmmm not going so well!

Yet another sunset session waiting for the Pelican Ballet.

Dez has a fascination for gnarly tree roots. I have to say I find them photographically interesting as well. There were plenty here!

One of the problems with long term free camping is water. We have two water tanks on the Eagle, but it's amazing how quickly you can go through it. Thanks to old mate Rod, our camping neighbour - an old bushy from Gympie - we were set. Rod gave us a few spoons of a product called Alum. Alum is used for a water clearing process called flocking. So this is how it goes.

First you collect some buckets of clean, but muddy water. He's got nothing else to do!

To one twenty litre bucket of water add one teaspoon of alum. Leave for twenty four hours.

Next day. Voila! Like magic. All the sediment is drawn to the bottom of the bucket leaving the water clear and clean! We used a small 12 volt pump to siphon the clear water into a fresh bucket, then into the water tank. 

Before and after. Fantastic. This meant we could have a shower every day and not worry about water usage. We had one tank of clean town water for drinking and cooking, and the other with water for washing and showering.

Our very own water treatment plant. So grateful to Rod for this tip! 

The birdlife at Longreach Waterhole kept us entertained all day. So many species. Here are just a few.

The Whistling Kite.

The Pied Ibis.  Not to be confused with the grubby rubbish tip Ibis. These were lovely.

The Glossy Ibis.

A Black Kite.

Now. The Eastern Great Egret. This guy is a lesson in patience. He will stalk the fish for ages. I timed him one time. Almost 15 minutes without moving at all. Them bam. So stealth like.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Bam!

Gotcha!

Dragonflies aplenty.

The Australasian Darter. These guys are hilarious. They swim under the water to catch their fish, then come up to the shore every now and again to dry off. All you see of them in the water is their snake like neck and head popping up all over the place. 

Drying off.

Up down, up down! Like a periscope.

Hard to see this little fella. On the right hand side of the photo. The Rainbow Beecatcher.

The Eastern Great Egret and the Intermediate Egret.

No show without old man Crow.

The Glossy Black Ibis drying off.

Their feathers are a beautiful black and green.

This is the Nankeen Night Heron. He has no neck. We called him Boris!

Lots of these pretty little ones. 

A Crested Pigeon.

A Juvenille Nankeen Night Heron.

Flocks of Corellas every day.

And Pink Galahs.

Corellas.

Waiting for the nightly Pelican Ballet show.

Deb and Harry soaking up the ambience on our last night.

It was really hard to leve here. A peaceful, happy, lazy time. Two weeks of great fun with everyone. Delicious food, and plentry of laughs.