The Cobourg Peninsula

15, 16 and 17 July 2017

On Saturday 15 we bounced our way back down Davidson's 40 km driveway before heading north towards Black Point on the northern tip of the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park. At Black Point we transferred from our 4WD coach to high powered boats to transport us across Port Essington to the Seven Spirit Bay Lodge.

Our transport from Black Point

The lodge is set in the shelter of a beautiful tropical bay and has been completely refurbished and upgraded. We had thought that our accommodation on this tour couldn't be bettered but we had to revise that assessment as we cooled off in the pool later that afternoon in the shade of tall palms and paperbarks.

Seven Spirit Bay Resort

Agile Wallaby family grazing on the lawn - Seven Spirit Bay

On Sunday, while Marg lounged around the lodge, I headed off by boat with most of the group for a tour of the Victoria Settlement ruins further down the Port Essington coast. But first we transported Mark, our Kiwi driver, back to Black Point where he picked up the coach for his long drive back to Nhulunbuy. As he departed the boat we regaled him with a short rendition of "Now is the Hour".

Victoria Settlement was the third attempt by the English to establish a trading post on the northern coast. It was set up in 1838, comprising 24 houses, a hospital and military installations. The settlement lasted 11 years but was abandoned due to lack of resources, supplies and skilled labour.

Married Quarters - Victoria Settlement

The Magazine - Victoria Settlement

The Hospital - Victoria Settlement

Lime Kiln - Victoria Settlement

Quartermaster's Store - Victoria Settlement

Coast - Victoria Settlement

Back at the resort, Marg came across a colouful bird that the staff hadn't seen before. A bit of investigation identified it as a Rainbow Pitta.

Monday was our final day of our Arnhem Land adventure. After lunch we boarded a Cessna Caravan for a 45 minute flight across Dundas and Clarence Straits to Darwin. Later that evening, we joined all of the other members our our tour for a farewell dinner at Pee Wee's at the Point restaurant at East Point - a great evening with a little bit of added excitement as a high pitched scream interupted the enjoyment of our desserts, followed by a mass exodus from the tables a few metres away. The cause? The appearance of 2 metre reptile slithering its way across the dining area. From our safe distance it looked like a Brown Snake - a particularly dangerous animal. However, the snake had a series of light bands around the body - not typical of a Brown - and a bit of Google-ing suggested either a Darwin Carpet Python or a Banded Tree Snake, the latter being mildly venomous but not especially dangerous.

Our Cessna to Darwin