Well, I haven't been hunting for so long, so here's a wee tale of a bygone day.
Hope you enjoy....cause I sure did.
I remember it like it was yesterday.
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I had had this trip back to The Territory planned for quite a while, but had to juggle the timing to fit with both mine and my mate Ben’s work schedules. I was chomping at the bit to go though, I absolutely love that wild country up there.
I was also keen to see the country in a different season. Each time I've been before, it has been in the end of the "Dry Season”. Very hot, plenty of trees, but mainly bare dirt, dust and noisy dry leaves under foot, precious little ground cover either. Hard hunting conditions.
This time I was going be there at the end of the " Wet Season", so there would be plenty of grass, water and green foliage everywhere. Still hard hunting, but in a different way, and still excellent exciting fun. It would still be warm too, but without the Dry Seasons savage withering heat.
Come what may, I had no doubt it would be a fantastic trip. Time has a different meaning up there. The pace of life seems a little slower. I would be at peace, spending time in the bush, and I will be richer for it. I would get to spend some time with my good mate who I haven't seen for quite a while, and also get another opportunity to hunt Buffalo with my longbow. Hopefully I’d get to again pit my wits against an old bush wise warrior Bull.
That's very addictive.
Well, after nearly two days of travelling, counting lay overs and the obligatory waiting for various connecting plane flights, long distance bus rides and a few hours of travel by four wheel drive, I’d finally made it to my mates place in Arnhem Land. It sure is a long long way from my home in Tasmania, Australia’s smallest and most southern state. Australia certainly is a big country.
The next day was spent giving Ben and his lovely wife a hand catching up on chores around the house and yard. The major one was to tame the wet season growth of the lawn. The idea was to get the lawns pruned before the heat of the day really kicked in, then we would clean up a few smaller jobs, thus allowing us to concentrate on getting ready to head out later the next day.
Our plan was to head out to a certain creek system tomorrow afternoon, camp the night, and then do some hunting the morning after that.
I was super keen.
So, the following afternoon, we loaded up the Troopy and headed out. We bumped and bounced along for over two hours, covering about twenty odd kilometres on an indistinct bush track. This track had obviously had little use so far this year. In the middle of the “Wet Season” up here, due to copious amounts of tropical rain, and all the associated water laying about, all these bush tracks, and even many of the main roads up here, are pretty much impassable.
This time of year though, the very tail end of the “Wet”, the tracks are starting to dry out fairly quickly. However there were still a few soft boggy places that needed a walk-through look-see before we would attempt to proceed. There were a few fallen trees and wash outs across the track, not to mention the occasional pig hole to miss. To add to the challenge, much of the track was overgrown with chest high spear grass too. We also had a number of interesting creek crossings on the way out. Logs and branches washed down in the floods to be moved aside, rocks and the like put into holes to help us get across, and steep sandy banks both in and out of the creeks to deal with. I’m now fairly impressed with the Landcruiser Troop Carrier as a four wheel drive. Ben’s a pretty handy lad behind the wheel of a Troopy too.
Upon arrival at our intended spot, we set up a quick rough camp beside a creek, rummaged around for some firewood, and got a good campfire happening. Dinner was basic but good, sausages wrapped in bread, doused with tomato sauce, washed down with some Still Adams Ale (water) from the cooler. Now that might sound like a pretty average sort of a feed, but I can assure you, those sausages cooked on an open fire, in the wilds of the Northern Territory, left fine five star dining way behind.
The evenings entertainment support act turned up right as dinner was about ready. We had to grab the rifle, just in case, and have stern words to a young buffalo bull that decided he was going to wander through our camp. The rifle wasn’t needed, although the young bull did need more than just a little convincing to change his path. You won’t see that sort of thing at a fancy restaurant.
After dinner, the real show began. We settled back to watch the sunset and to wait on the stars. What an absolutely awesome display our creator turned on. As the day ended with the sun settling behind the horizon, the skies brilliant daytime blues transformed into magnificent swirls of wild oranges and reds, golds and pinks, with ribbons of purple splashed throughout the western heavens.
The skies just got better and better the darker they became. What started off as a tiny single dot of fuzzy light, high in the eastern sky, multiplied slowly into an unbelievable blanket of brilliant sparkling diamonds, strewn with exquisite care across a black velvet backdrop. Single stars, groups of stars, big stars, small stars, the Milky Way, the Southern Cross. Stars, from horizon to horizon, crystal clear and amazing. It was truly a magnificent sight.
Earlier that afternoon, while loading up to leave on this adventure, in my eagerness I had somehow forgotten to toss in a can of “Bushman”, a very effective insect repellent that contains copious amounts of “Deet”. Now I was paying for that momentarily lapse of thought. The sand flies and mosquitoes were having a field day at my expense. The joy of the night sky, as exceptional as it was, was slowly being eroded by the multitude of biting insects. So at a bit after nine o’clock we called it a night. We hit the swags and tried to get some sleep.
But sleep was somewhat elusive that night. With the days residual heat, the mozzies whining around my ears, and the excitement of what tomorrow might bring, sleep didn’t come easy. The many night calls of Dingos, Scrub Cattle, Donkey’s and Buffalo certainly didn’t help either.
More to come...........
Topic: A tale of two Buff (Read 1566 times)
