Bag a Barra — 12 June 2026

It's time to head to the Top End and Bag a Barra with Glenn Watty Watt. Thanks to Barefoot Fishing Safaris and Uniden for the best in UHF radio communications. Explore the extract series at uniden.com.au. And man, of course, is Glenn, what do you want from Barefoot Fishing Safaris who has a great time every day?

In fact, I mean, last week, it was Queensland Day, and can you believe it, we found ourselves in Queensland on Queensland Day? I mean how good is that? But let me tell you, every other day of the year is Watty Day, and he's on the line. Watty, g'day.

Oh, some days it doesn't feel like Watty day, mate. But no, yeah, mostly we're going pretty good up here. How are you going this week? Well, mate, we're in a place called Woodgate in the Bundaberg region in Queensland.

Have you ever been here? Oh, many years ago we did a family holiday up that way, mate, but not for a long time. It would be bloody crack of weather over there, I'd imagine right now. Oh yeah, fantastic, mate.

Absolute, beautiful today. Blue sky and just, yeah, it's amazing. We love it here and we've gone through some cold stuff to get here too just quietly. But now it's right up.

You got to, mate, I've got to say this, I hopped out of the car, back in the van onto the spot that we're on, and you can just see the swarm of midges coming out of the grass, eh? Everyone's running for the bushman's running for the bushman. worry, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, I'm not a fan of the sandflies.

Not a fan. Not a fan. Mate, I was just talking to Neil Stewart. He mentioned that in June, I think at the 28th, I think he said.

The, the, um, the beer can regatta up there in Darwin. What a fantastic event. You'd be gone to that one. Yeah, the thong throwing competition.

You don't, you don't. telling you now, you'd have enough empties up there to make a cruise ship. Yeah, well, we've got a bit of a stockpile here, but of course, these days, um, you can cash them in for ¢10, so probably, um, you know, the, those boats, if you chunk a couple of 1000 cans into one, they're probably worth a bit themselves on the 2nd hand market, maybe. Yeah, I will.

I'm just looking at my calendar. I am available, so that's uh that's going to be great. That's the bloody trouble, mate. He's trying to keep up with all these things that are happening on up here.

We just had the Greek Glenty festival. And, um, and, and, well, like, also, in the barra Nationals, um, one of the biggest fishing comps in the country and one, and certainly one of the biggest up here last week as well. So yeah, it's just go, go, go. a full on calendar at this time of year.

Yeah, it certainly is. And that's why all the tourists, apart from getting out of the cold and heading to the Top End. They love it for all those things that go on there. And um, and there is plenty.

It was funny, we were talking the other night to a couple of people and I'll always get asked the same question, where is your favourite place in Australia to head to? And I've got 2 and it's pretty close, you know, the 2 places I love is outback Queensland. I love the channel country. I love it around Winton.

But for me, I think it's just pip for me personally. He's the Top End and I think it's the lifestyle really. The wet. I mean, I mean, during summer.

I mean, obviously you got the wet and the humidity and all of that stuff, but this time of year, If you're looking for a great time or you want to get up there with a great way of life and just that knock about, it's the last frontier of Australia, the door, the territory, and in particular, the Top End, now's the time of year to be there, because of all the stuff that's going on there. Yeah, well that's right. And um, you know, the thing that was perhaps holding people back a little while ago, of course, was the fuel dramas, but I can tell you now that um, diesel's back down to about $one.95 or so and um, unleaded petrol, about $1.75.

So, you know, not a hell of a lot of difference to what it was a few months ago. So if you haven't made your plans already, it's time to um jump in and and boot it and you'll probably um find that things are a little bit quieter because um the Caribbean Park out at Jabberoo, the Lodge um was telling me they're about 40% down on um current time from last year uh for caravans at the moment. So plenty of space around it, all our peak attractions all around the place, mate. So probably the best opportunity you'll get in years.

Yeah, absolutely, mate. Look, I've got to say to you, just on the fuel prices. I think the, that rebate, government rebate, I think that ends soon, that's going to pop it back up about ¢30 or something. Let's hope they extend that if they've got any brains.

Um, which... It's a big if. They would leave that, just leave it for now until this other thing settles down because it's restored some confidence. I saw unleaded yesterday at a dollar 65, I think, but diesel. I might have been less than that.

It might have been $1.63 or something. Um, even less than that. But I know that the diesel I saw was like a dollar, a dollar 70 something. I thought, mate, that's as cheap as I've seen it for a long time.

In fact, um, there were people um, certainly just, you know, wheeling in there going, how good is this? So let's hope that that is a sign of things to come. Yeah, that's right. And, you know, a good thing to do to reward those surveys that are knocking it down as they get a chance to as well.

um because we all know there's a few that don't do it. But anyway, that means that we can get out looking about and going fishing a bit more, mate. So, yeah, like I was saying, we just had the barra nationals up here. I've just got their official numbers.

It's the Daly River public boat ramp only opened up virtually the day the competition started a couple of last week, so no one's really been out there to see how the river's fishing and they had some record catches through the comp. And I'm just looking now 2237 Barra Court over the 4 days of the Barra National. So, yeah, obviously, plenty of fish, mate, and the river seems, is looking really nice, and obviously, as all those Caribbean parks get back online down there, perfect opportunity to go and show you support and fish and fish that haven't seen a hell of a lot of lures yet this year. Yep, absolutely, mate.

was biting around the place, mate. A bit of action now. I mean, it's we're getting into the swing of it, aren't we? Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, I've been getting a lot of reports back from Darwin Harbour. People are seeing the barrow up on the flats, which is really nice. There's that water sort of clarity settles down with no rain and yeah, those tuna are definitely in the harbour for the sashimi. So haven't had a chance to get back out there since we packed up the camp in Jabaroo the other day, but yeah, as soon as I do, I'll be getting into a few of those long tail tuners. And, you know, one thing, actually, you're talking about the beer can regatta.

It's always a really fun day on the water. Of course, you can put your boat in at the ski club or even at Diner Beach boat ramp and just poke about, poke around the corner there into Fanny Bay and sit there in your boat and watch all the, all the fun and even go ashore and participate in the tug of war and all that sort of stuff. And then the, in between races and that sort of thing. It's only 4 or 5 K's out to where the tuna hang out. So you can go out and have a bit of a fish ride in amongst the beer, can regutter. So, yeah, it makes it doubly good.

Yeah, absolutely mate. It does sound fantastic and I just love it up there. But we're talking, as I mentioned earlier, about those places. And we spoke about Mindle Beach and about Darwin itself. And you and I have had this conversation. It's probably one of those places where multiculturalism actually works.

Would you agree with that? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, we just had the Greek Glenty Festival up here over the long weekend and I didn't hear the final numbers, but they are expecting 40,000 people to go through the festival there. It's a, it's one of the largest free um, cultural festivals in the country and mate, they had something like 4 tons of octopus come up here from um, from Western Australia for um, to put on the grill, mate.

Yeah, and the, the, or it might have been 2 tons of octopus and 4 tons of lamb for the euroses, and they're making some extraordinary amount of dolmartis, which all get hand rolled by all the local Greek community up here. So, yeah, I mean, if you add that into all the other festivals that pop up throughout the year, it's, um, yeah, we're really lucky up here, and the, the big, big benefit of all that is that, um, you know, all our kids grow up with a higher level of tolerance for people that aren't quite the same as them, and also, we get to have all these delicious tucker that, um, that we can get access to at the markets, as, as well as all the, um, you know, sporting, um, all different sports and sporting abilities from people all around can bring to the northern territory. So yeah, that's why we pump out a lot of good athletes as well, I think, mate.

Yep, absolutely. All right, mate. Well, it sounds good up there, and we should be there a little bit later in the year. cannot wait to get there.

Cannot wait to get there, mate. Have a look. Yeah, beautiful. Well, um, yeah, we've just, we've sort of, we're over.

I think we might have had winter mate, unless it comes back. We've had 10 days or so under 20 degrees here, so overnight, so that's probably enough, and if we consider about 2021 overnight, perfect camping weather, and keep that humidity low for a couple of months until we get into late August and September, and then off we go for another big buildup. Yep, absolutely, mate. All right.

Well done, Watty. It's um all still early days as we get stuck into the tourist season, up there in the Top End, the place to be. And as you say, all these events, the beer can regatta. I wish I could be there for that.

But we'll be at Blue Lagoon for that one. But anyway, Blue Lagoon's going to be a big weekend, but geez, I'm not sure whether it's going to be as big as the beer can regatta, especially now that you're going, now that you're attending as well. I mean, that just tops you right off. Yeah, that's right.

I'm gonna lock it into the calendar right now. It'll be a good day to stay at a hotel in Darwin, I reckon. Yeah, absolutely, mate. All right.

Well done. We chat to you next week, eh, mate? All righty, mate. Good on you.

There he is. Glenn, what do you want? Barefoot Fishing Safaris, if you want to go fishing in the Top End. You check him out, Barefoot Fishing Safaris.

You can do that online. Of course, on his social media platforms, just look for Barefoot Fishing Safaris, and of course, angling adventures if you want to take your fishing excursion to the next level. What is your man? And he does go fishing in some of the most exotic places across the world.