The tourist office lady at Fitzroy Crossing said there might be a river trip through Gieke Gorge, but not much happens in the wet, most of the national park is closed, so just go and see if anyone is there.  So we drove 20k to the boat ramp and met some aboriginal ladies catching huge barramundi, one of them told us her husband runs the boat trip and to be there just before 3.  It was 1pm, so we read books and painted and vegged.  We were on a riverside in the middle of the bush, really quiet except for cicadas, nobody about and no other cars.  About 3pm a ute arrived and I thought “that’ll be the boat driver” so I wandered over, as he slammed the car door and strode tows me looking angry, and he yelled “don’t park on the curve, it’s dangerous, do you wanna cause an accident?”  Sandy was feigning sleep and ignoring all this, so I said “there’s nobody here” but he insisted a truck could screech round the corner any minute and destroy us and our car, so I said sorry, we’ll move, and we went and parked under the shade of a different tree.  I did ask him if he knew about boat trips, and he barked that they go at 4pm, and stormed off into the bush, dripping with sweat and looking really disgruntled.

 

We thought, what an unpleasant chap, don’t want to see him again.  Unfortunately he was there shouting at me again at 4pm for walking the wrong way, and we then discovered he was the boat driver.  To save the day, a road crew of their day off arrived, also wanting a boat trip, to dilute him.  Nevertheless, he barked incessantly and loudly throughout lthe trip, which is a shame, because he was really knowledgeable, and it would’ve been interesting to find out more about life there from a local.