Nhulunbuy

We took advantage of the cooler weather to explore some areas that we had not had time to visit.

We walked around the Town Lagoon (Gaynaru Wetlands), and drove about 15 minutes past the golf course to Galaru (East Woody), Dharrpamiwuy (Middle Beach), Wirrwawuly (Cape Wirrawol). Not much is open in town on a Sunday, only Woollies and the servo. We spent a quiet afternoon staying out of the wind. The nights have been cooler, and we have not had to use the air conditioner.

Monday, and the wind is still strong, so we explored further afield. We drove out on the Central Arnhem Road about 30kms to the turnoff to Barinura (Little Bondi Beach), Numuy (Turtle Beach), Garanhan (Macassan Beach), Binydjarrna (Daliwuy Bay), and Wathawuy (Goanna Lagoon).

Each of these locations has a small number of remote camping sites which need to be booked and paid for online. You cannot book a campsite unless you have a Dhimurru Visitor Access Permit, which allows you to travel into restricted aboriginal areas.

To travel into these restricted areas, you need a Dhimurru Permit. We purchased a 3-day permit to allow us to travel and sightsee. Even though we had heard from other travellers that no-one checks, I was concerned that if something happened to the vehicle/insurance, we at least did have permission to be in the area. Easy process online, permit issued immediately on payment of $39 for a 3-day permit. Update: no-one checked our permit.

I do love sunsets, but we have not seen a nice sunset while we have been here, because the bay that the campground is situated on does not have the sun setting over the water, so tonight we took a short drive and found a spot on a sand dune not far from the caravan park, where we watched our first Nhulumbuy sunset, while enjoying some prawns and a drink while watching the sun set behind the clouds. We mostly sat in the car as it was still too windy outside.

The weather has been cooler (about 24 degrees during the day), but the ‘feels like’ temperature is about 17 degrees due to the strong winds. We have had a couple of quiet days due to the change in weather, and at one stage even thought we might leave a day earlier than planned. The forecast for Tuesday is getting better and by Wednesday the wind should have dropped and the rough seas should have eased, so we decided to sit it out. This also gave Theo an opportunity to give the van a general check over and grease and adjust the brakes, and other small jobs.

Tuesday night, we went to Middle Beach to watch the sun set and were lucky enough to see a pod of dolphins swim close to shore. We then had dinner at the Walkabout Tavern in town, which is just a typical pub.

In Nhuhulbuy, you must produce your ID on entering any licenced premises, and it is scanned. It was a pretty ordinary/standard pub meal. We have been eating at the Boat Club and the meals there are very nice.

Tomorrow, Wednesday is our last day here, and we hope to go fishing in the tinny. It has been tied up to the boat ramp for the past 10 days. It is pretty safe here, but we have padlocked the motor up and removed all the fishing gear just to be sure.

Wednesday, and we woke to a much better-looking day, had an early breakfast, then went out on the bay and did not come in until about 2pm. Theo hooked up 5 small sharks, which were all returned to the water, but nothing else despite trying several different locations. We saw a couple of large turtles, but did not see any crocs.

It was nice to spend our last day relaxing on the water, but all good things must come to an end, and it was time to bring the tinny in, wash it down, pack everything away and get ready to leave tomorrow.

We enjoyed a last dinner at the Boat Club with our new neighbours Karen and Trevor from Orange, who arrived last night and are staying for 3 weeks, then we headed back to the caravan for an early night. It is so nice having the Boat Club next to the camping ground, no need to drive into town for a meal.

We have enjoyed our 11 day stay in Nhulumbuy, fishing, exploring and simply relaxing. We believe that when the mining operation ceases in 2030, there will be lots of changes in the town, and some have started already. I will do another entry regarding the mining operations in Gove shortly.Read more