East Arnhem

Friday morning, we awoke after having a pretty good night’s sleep as we had slept with the aircon on all night. The sandfly bites are starting to ease a little bit, although if I accidently knock one, it starts to itch again. They are now just hard little red lumps, which will take a few weeks to disappear completely.

We set the alarm as we have booked as daytrip to nearby Bremer Island, Banubanu Resort. It is very popular, and we did try to book a trip earlier in the week, but the next available date was today. The transfer ferry left at 9am from the boat ramp, only a short stroll from our camp, and ferried the 20 passengers to the island in about 40 minutes.

When we arrived on the island, we jumped off the ferry onto the beach and walked up the sandy path to the restaurant where we were surprised to see a table with our name on it overlooking the bay. We had a quick drink, then changed into our swimmers so we could take advantage of every minute we were on the island.

The island is quite large, but over half of it is restricted aboriginal community. The Banubanu resort is not a large area. There is a restaurant, a bar, a plunge pool and six beach front safari tents, one being a ‘penthouse’ up on the hill overlooking the water. We heard that it costs about $1,700 per person per night to stay on the island, which includes all meals but no drinks.

Theo could not wait to get in the water. He is a just like a fish, and I reckon he should have been born with gills! He loves the ocean and snorkelling, and could snorkel all day. I snorkelled for half an hour, then got out and walked along the beach, then signalled him to get out so we could have lunch. If he had his way, he would have stayed in the water and skipped lunch.

The water visibility became clearer as the waves settled in the afternoon, and we swam and snorkelled again after lunch.

We have snorkelled at the Great Barrier Reef, the outer reef, Low Isles, Fitzroy Island, Bora Bora, Tahiti and Hawaii, and I felt that visibility was much better in other places. It all depends on the weather, and we were told that there had been a bit of wind lately churning up the sea.

Nevertheless, Theo enjoyed himself. He saw parrot fish, a barracuda, stingrays, stripy fish, but no nemo. Also, the coral was broken and grey and not very colourful.

The first time I ever snorkelled was at Low Isles and I was blown away by the bright colours of the coral and the fish, and I felt like I was swimming in an aquarium. Nothing since has compared to it.

We had a steak sandwich with chips for lunch and a Corona beer each, cost $88. Boat trip cost $240. Part of the fee covers a permit fee that is paid to the custodians and traditional owners of the island. It is not a cheap day out, but although we enjoyed it, it is something we will probably not do again. It is the most northerly place in Australia that we have snorkelled and swum in the sea. Most beaches are out of bounds due to crocodiles and stingers (in season).

Saturday, and we took the tinny out for a fish. Theo caught a couple of undersized fish (possibly snooty grunters), but we could see storm clouds coming overhead the wind picked up making the waves choppy, eventually, the sky blackened, and we could see rain on the horizon, then it passed over and the sea calmed, but we had enough, and we headed back.

Over the weekend, the weather has gone downhill. I tried to book Theo into a fishing charter, but they are all booked up and are having to move customers to other days because of the strong winds, so looks like he has missed out this time.

Strong winds and cooler days, temperatures of about 24 degrees, but with the wind makes it feel cooler. Nights down to about 21 degrees in the van. Still comfortable for sleeping, but we are starting to feel the cold.Read more