After King Ash Bay not really living up our expectations the hunt for a secluded riverside camp continued. Tim found a station situated about 140kms down the road with secluded campsites on a cliff overlooking the Robinson River. To get there we had to leave the Savannah way and travel another 20kms down another dirt track to the homestead. The homestead was a hodgepodge of shed style houses around a nice patch of lush green grass. Haven’t seen green grass in a while!
Unfortunately the 6 designated camping spots were booked out (so much for off the beaten track!) but luckily for us they had an overflow area which consisted of a big field also along the river. We drove the 5kms down a bush track and found the overflow area which already had 3 others in it. We still managed to set up far enough away but didn’t have the river views. It was still lovely though.
The next day one of the others left and vacated a prime river frontage spot so we pounced and moved in. Now we really had found our secluded river camping spot. That day we walked the few kms down to a spot where we could access the river and do a little fishing. The water was so beautiful but also filled with crocodiles so unfortunately no swimming! We also didn’t catch any fish even though we could see them swimming right by our lures.
On another day we went for a drive to see if we could get to the edge of the continent and see the Gulf of Carpentaria. We had about 25kms of dirt track to get there and although it was pretty well maintained there were big sections of track covered in what we call bull dust which is a very fine white sand powder that gets everywhere. Our poor ute was covered in the stuff. We made it to the end of the track and unfortunately couldn’t see the sea as we ran into a mangrove lined creek. What we did find was a family with their boat capsized half in and out of the water.
We went over to see if they needed help and then proceeded to spend the next hour helping them tow/skull drag it out. Apparently they had left it anchored in the creek overnight and when they arrived this morning they found it capsized and sunk to the bottom of the creek. Anyway our good deed was done for the day and we headed back home.
On the way we stopped off at another campsite where those with boats go as it has access to the Robinson river via a boat ramp there. We got talking to one of the fisherman there launching his boat and he said the night before a 5m croc had taken a cow off the bank right near one of the camps. He was looking very nervous while launching his boat! As I would be as well!
The rest of our stay at Seven Emu Station consisted of us just relaxing in our chairs watching the river. The sunsets and sunrises were exceptional. We never saw the resident crocodile in our section of the river but others camping near us did. We did see the mustering helicopters fly below our cliff along the river which was something. We also glimpsed them across the river flying in and out of the trees. They are seriously crazy!
We didn’t see a crocodile and we didn’t catch a fish but we definitely ticked the box of a nice secluded riverside outback camp! S