What food to take...trip to Kalumbaru..GRR

G'day Andrew,

Whatever you take do not take fish! There are plenty there - so thinking fish dishes, rice, flour, bread crumbs canned vegies and white wine (oops I don't know if you can take plonk up there). When you get sick of eating fish - go home - real easy.

Kind regards

Hey Andrew,

My West Australian (Pilbara born and bred) girlfriend and I travelled up the GRR and onto Kalumburu a few years back while on a trip across the top from the Pilbara to Brisbane. We had a MAGIC time and Kalumburu is one spot that we enjoyed emensely!!!

What to take? OK, from our experience here goes ...

- Cry-vacced meats: What we did was bought up big in Broome (great butcher!), had the butcher cry-vac it for us, then froze it all in the bottom of our Waeco (we had roasts, stewing meats, snags, steaks, mince, the works). Then, we just ran our Waeco on full (we took a Honda gennie) and the bottom acted as a freezer, while the top of the fridge (from constant opening and closing to get to the beers!) was good for beers and other cold, but not frozen, stuff).

- Worcestershire sauce and bacon (for the MASSIVE oysters!!!). We got ours from the Kalumburu shop and, as with everything there, payed too much! But, it's always good to know you can get most grocery items here.

- Flour, eggs, seafood sauce, etc. for the fish (or whatever you need to do the fish the way you like it?). The Jewfish just off here (in a small boat) are AWESOME!!! We hired one of the locals small tinnies for a few days and some friends also took a ride on a charter for a spot of night fishing. There are also good land-based spots in the area where we got good catches of Queenfish, Cod and Trevally (all great eating up here!). The barra eluded us until we got to the NT though.

- Some small treats for any of the local kids you might come across. We gave a few of the kids some small chockie biscuits one day, and the next day there was a great big slab of u-beaut bush honey-comb left at our camp for us to devour! :D

- Plenty of beer, wine and spirits! The township is dry (I think?), but up on the beach camping spots it was fine when we were there to enjoy a quiet drink! (We stayed at McGowan's Island beach camping spot.) We had a Christmas in July with the local crew while there and the party was better than a real Christmas! I heard of one bloke I met while we were there who was getting some cartons flown in from Darwin and he was paying about $50 per carton. These were coming together with a new spin reel and rod he also ordered, after a huge eagle took off with a big Queenie he had just landed and left on the rocks for a few seconds. The big bird flew-off with the fish AND the rod, as the hook was still attached! LOL

The GRR and Kalumburu make up a trip that I will NEVER forget! It was an adventure of a lifetime for us and it is on our list of places to go back and visit for sure! Enjoy! You lucky bugga!

Cheers,
Diz

Take lots of beer and rum and you don't need to eat much, but seriously, the recommendations above are on the money. Up there recently and the crocs are around - as long as you are not stupid you'll be OK. The alcohol is a bit of a tricky one, as stated above the beach camps are OK, but the community is dry, so the problem lies in not being allowed too bring any alcohol into the community, but you have to drive through it to get to the beach camps, thus breaking the law. Having said that, we had no problems getting ours in, just don't have it on display.

As I mentioned in another post, I am neither a history buff or religious, but do the museum tour with father (Tom or Ted, sorry, cant remember which). He is very knowlegeable, has some great stuff in the place with stories to tell about them. It was well worth the couple of bucks they charge and the drive into town. Fuel was around $2.15, which isn't to bad when you consider where you are and the cost of broken trailers etc trying to cart your own in for 700km to save $100.00. Taking a Boat? If not Les at honeymoon or some of his offspring can organise a trip or 2 for you - they know where to go! Prices are very negotiable, but some of the youngsters have great skills in this area. They were to take a couple of blokes near us crabbing for about $25.00 per person. Ended up they couldn't get their uncles boat, but they managed to negotiate the same price in the clients boat!

Have a good trip, Mitchell falls are flowing very well also worth the diversion. I didm't as I was towing a 17ft boat, but friends in another vehicle did, and were very impressed.

Cheers Andrew

We stayed at Honeymoon, which was quite good for where you are. A lot more people there than I expected.

Just a follow up,



Hope you are travelling with fish eaters.

Have a great trip and kind regards

Cry vac meat will last from 2 weeks for chicken/Pork up to 5 weeks for steak/sausages, but only if there are no bones on the meat & kept at normal fridge temp. Put it down the bottom against the evaporator & you should get another week.
Frozen pre-cooked stews, soups, spaghetti sauces are convienient for the first few days but really there is no reason you can't cook anything you normally have at home. Put your vegies in the green long life bags (in the esky) which will get you 10+ days into the trip then go the dehydrated & tin food at the end.
Take a few loaves of bread & use a jaffle iron to toast the sandwitches when it gets dry then go the Pita & mountain bread which have longer useby dates.
Avoid meals that require large amounts of water to prepare or clean up as it may be scarce at the camp sites.
& to finish off I'll give you my recipe for an easy sweet, chocolate ripple pudding. Whisk up 2 packs of UHT thickened cream. Spread generously between a pack of chocolate ripple biscuits then sprinkle with shaved chocolate. Leave to soften in fridge for 3 hours :-)
Cheers Craig...........

Not easy at first glance to cater for that number of bodies for that number of remote days. But once ya get orgy-nised it's quite simple.

Plan a daily menu. This helps enormously with purchasing and only taking what you need. It is very tempting to take that bit extra, but that 'bit extra' takes up space & weighs heaps. A daily menu also makes it much easier to cook when on the road - you pack it for ease of access/in food groups/have a smoko or lunch box handy, etc. A daily menu avoids that horrible question " what's for tea?? "

Cryovac will last 6 weeks for beef/lamb etc, if kept at the right ow temps. Get the butcher to cryovac it a week before ya want it - then it will be tastier & more tender when you come to consume it.

Some foods that travel well and don't need refrigeration:

*Corn thins.
*Vita weats, in the big biscuit style.
*as mentioned, pitta bread or mountain bread. My own choice is burritos- better flavour, and not as dry as a dead dingo's donger.
*some of many varieties of small tinned tuna - tops for lunch.
*mayonaise to supplement lunch meals with.
*the big 1.2 kg fridge packs of SPC preserved fruit.
*Sultanas - compact, tasty & nutritious!
*chewy bars for that snack you have to have when there is nothing else to eat.
*rice.
*cous-cous.
*spaghetti - less bulky that most other pasta - e.g. shells etc.
*sweet chilli sauce - puts life into so many foods - e.g. rice.
*dried beans & peas etc.
*dried tomatoes - expensive, but nice. Anyway , ya on holidays, right ???. Bugger the extra few cents.....
* tetra pack ready made custard e.g. Foster & Clark's brand
* dried apple/apricot/peach etc.
*fresh carrots, spuds, sweet potato etc keep well, esp if wrapped in newspaper.
I have used those storage bags otehrs have mentioned but am not convinced they really do help.

Have fun

Andrew

There is/was a reasonable but pricey store in Kalumburu. I understand it closed for a while but has now re-opened. You may want to check this with the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation office on 08 9161 4300. Also ask what days the plane brings in fresh vegies from Kununurra and be there to get first pickings before they all go. The mission has some basic grocery items but nothing you wouldn't be carrying with you anyway.

If you are interested in some of the local rock art after you've fished yourself silly at McGowans or Honeymoon or scoffed yourself on the huge oysters between Tamarinda Point and Honeymoon ask around the office for Kevin Waina or his son. There are some sites right beside the road as you drive between the community and the fishing camps. Kevin is a wag and very entertaining - just make sure you don't take too much cash as he'll extract it with a good story or his latest painting.

Another spot worth getting up to is Lull Bay about 40-50 kms north of Kalumburu past Pago Pago. It's slow going and there are a couple of other ocean side tracks off this one that are worth a look. Just watch the sand flies when you get there, they can be ferocious.

Like all places Kalumburu is what you make it but there's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy it.

Now that answer was vaguely related to food, wasn't it?