Taking a trip to Scotts Creek & Memory Lane.

Friday straight after work I went out to Scotts Creek, about 10km after the Adelaide River Bridge just under an hour driving. Dad was drunk so I had to drive his car which is not nice for gear changes so I made a few mistakes while he back seat heckled me. The road wasn’t too bad but there was one or two spots you could not get through without a high clearance 4WD. I admit I only used the 4WD once on the way back because I made a bad choice and got stuck.

The water level was really high for this time of the year, mostly due to the above average wet season Darwin had experienced but it was low enough to spot exactly what we were hunting, crayfish. Or as we like to call them in Darwin Red-Claws. They look very similar to yabbies’ which you can catch further South Australia but grow a lot bigger, and they taste great! I had with me my German Surfer Philipp and between the three of us we had one torch, that didn’t stop my father however he would just reach under the rocks and triumphantly pull out a huge Red-Claw or occasionally the odd file snake. Philipp spent a long time trying to catch his first Red-Claw by hand but when he finally got it he swiftly became professional and was soon grabbing file snakes as they slithered over our toes and throwing them further down steam
The fish were insane and in parts you couldn’t see much of the sandy bottom because of how many fish were there and as I was walking around they would jump in my pockets or get stuck in my sandals.

There was a little girl there maybe about nine years old with her mother and as Dad was pulling up the file snakes she was so excited and he would take the snakes over for her to hold and was teaching her about the teeth and the feel. It reminded me of when I was really young and dad would take us out on night adventures to this particular creek (last time I was here I was about 10 years old.) He would throw various snakes and stuff at us. Its something I really treasured growing up with my father which as most people know those moments with my dad were few and far between as a child. So I guess I got a little nostalgic seeming him with this nine year old and made me realise how happy I am now I have a much better relationship with my dad.
Overall it was a successful night we caught about 20 of the crayfish and a bunch of fish for the crocodiles to chow down on.



My sisters & I at Scotts Creek in 91'