My wife and I are about to retire, and plan on many things, one of which is to hunt water buffalo in northern Australia. This would entail getting to Darwin and chartering out to the hunting concession. Since we finally have arrived at that point in our lives where time is of little consequence, we got to thinking, why not fly to say Sydney, rent one of those fully equipped 4x4 camper Toyota type vehicles and drive to Darwin - In other words, make a real adventure out of it and see more of the country than just one small piece.

Here in the US when I have done that with my own vehicle, if I see a place that looks like it might have some good small game hunting, (rabbits, squirrels, doves, grouse, etc.), I'll stop at a sporting goods store, buy a license, and do a little pot hunting. (We both love to eat wild game). My question is, can this be done in Australia? If so, what kind of small game would I be most likely to encounter? I thought besides my .375 for buffalo, I could also take my double 12ga. and .22 bolt action - would I run into any trouble traveling around with these weapons in the vehicle? What do you think, does this sound doable, or, as my wife says, another one of my hair brained schemes?

Juneau,

I think the biggest issue would be that you need a Shooter's licence and guns must be registered. I have no idea what the requirements would be fora tourist. However if you go to this link:

http://www.ssaa.org.au/conpublic.html

there is an email address. I pulled this from the Sporting Shooters Assoc of Australia (SSAA)which is our counterpart of your NRA. This came from the "contact us" and was listed as International Public Relations.

You might be able to get some sort of licence for tourists because international benchrest championships have been held in Australia.

If you are OK with the gun side, where our shooting is different is that we shoot on private property. If you have time, then probably the ideal thing would be to establish some contacts from your initial stay in Sydney. In general, Australians tend to be very helpful for overseas visitors. If you are going to shoot on a booked hunt in the Northern Territory then I think those people should aslo be able to give some information.

Actual shooting opportunities would be determined very much by the route you took from Sydney to Darwin. For example, to travel up the coast through Brisbane and onto Cairns would be totally different to travelling through the inland. 99% of Australian live on the coast and farms which are close to the coast are quite small.

Personally, I would not do the trip from Sydney to Darwin with only one vehicle and especially in the summer months. If you have some time in Sydney you might be able to hook up with an Australian about to do the same trip. A lot of people look for someone else to go with so that there is more than one vehicle.

In our inland towns I think an American tourist would be able to get a shot on one of the properties by simply asking around. The local hotel would be a good starting point

Mike

Thanks Mike - Good info.!

Juneau,

I also meant to post this link:

http://www.australianhunting.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

This is a small Australian gun forum and some of the members there may be able to add some more or better info for you.

And don't forget, Australia is the opposite to America in that it gets hotter as you go North, not colder. If you were in Sydney for the last few days you would have had an extremely low desire to head North

Mike

Juneau

Mike's spot on with his advice. The only state that has a game licence system is Victoria, they also allow hunting on some public land, the Northern Territory allows hunting on crown land around Darwin with a permit ($10 or so) All other states hunting is on private land with owners permission. The local pub would be a great place to start looking for a property, also the local police station. If you get the gun issue sorted make sure you follow the guidelines for safe transport of firearms.

Its aloooooong drive from Sydney to Darwin. Why not start in Darwin hire a 4x4. This is the web site for one of the bigger hire companies www.britz.com

Game found in southern states include.
Rabbits
hare
fox
goat
pig
deer (VICTORIA for public land)
Ducks in season (licence required, must also sit a ID test.

Northern game:
Pig
Buff
scrub bull
Dingo
donkey
Barra (bloody big fish).

If you make it the the Territory look me up and I'll be only to happy to take you hunting (work allowing) after pigs and Donkeys,might get some barra fishing in as well.

If you need some more info such as web site's of licencing and such let me know.

Bakes

Juneau

I actually think your idea is a great idea. A lot of tourists are doing just what you are planning. Hiring a good 4WD equipped as a camper. Some of them doing around Australia trips. I would think most of them do stick more or less to the tarmac though. If you go via Central Australia, some sights do require a 4WD to get in (eg Palm Valley, Chambers Pillar - scanned a slide for that last night. Will post it as its "fresh") but these roads are usually pretty good and easy.

From Sydney as the others said you can take the Coastal road through NSW and Queensland and then cut across to Mount Isa and then onto the Territory.

The other route is inland across NSW to Broken Hill and to Peterborough in South Australia and then North to Alice Springs / Ayers Rock etc. Some New South Welshmen go via Maree via a shorter route but I wouldn't recommend this to you as it will be rough tracks in the bush/desert.

But NOTE either way is very LONG. If you do either way, especially in the Outback carry lots of water, emergency fuel, emergency food, axe, shovel etc. The people you hire the 4WD camper may be able to help. Drop me an email and I will send you some info.

Beware of the heat in the Outback in summer. I am talking 40 deg C plus. When are you planning the holiday?

If you come via South Australia you are invited to drop in. I live in the Barossa Valley which is one of Australia's premier tourist destinations and famous for wine and food. If going via Peterborough it is only a 200 km divergence from your route. "Not far" when you add up the total kilometres. I would leave 5 to 6 days for the Sydney to Darwin route via Central Aust and similar for the Queensland route. Just for travelling, not sight seeing.

The other fellows have summed up the game pretty well. Deer in Australia includes sambar, red, fallow, hog deer, chital, rusa + you may be able to take a Kangaroo, emu, wallaby. I know at least one state now sells permits for up to 5 roos. You would need some sort of permission to export roo products though.

Private land is the main issue but if you have the time to look around you should be reasonably lucky. I think Game or hunting permits are required in most states (usually just a simple licence fee except for ducks as Bakes said which requires a video visual ID test), not just Victoria and are also required for feral and small game - though no bag limits except for eg quail and ducks in season. If down my way I will take you hunting after small game - foxes, rabbits, hare, duck, roos, plus possibly goats and pigs.

I do not think you have any real problems in bringing a firearm temporarily into Australia and getting a temporary firearms licence. Nowadays all the states also have reciprocal agreements so eg a NSW licence will cover them all. Your main problem might be the length the licence is required for as usually I imagine they would be for shorter periods (?). Don't bring any semi-auto rifles, semi-auto or pump action shotguns, pistols. Ammunition only for the firearms being carried. Barrels should be 18 inches or longer. Magazines should be 5 rounds or less except for I believe .22s where a 10 round is OK (eg I've got one). No folding buttstocks or anything like that.

You will probably also require import licences for any ammunition you bring with you. I got stung coming back in through Perth from Southern Africa as I had re-import licences for my rifle but not the ammo. Customs were very good and friendly and I got the ammo back 3 weeks later when I got around to getting the paperwork done and provided to them.

When travelling note the firearms have to be unloaded, including all bullets removed from the magazine, bolts removed and stored separately. And locked up in the vehicle. I usually use the priciple that what people don't have to know about or can't see, I don't tell them and its none of their business. Eg in National Parks I just leave it in the gun case out of site and leave them there. Very few tourist 4WDs will have fireams - next to none.

The fishing is great in the NT as Bakes indicates. You can find lots of places to fish - river crossings along the roads etc. Also for a lot of rivers the river bank is actually public property and also often there is reasonable access to it. Not sure if a fishing licence is required. I have never bought one! In the North watch out for salt water crocs though and don't go swimming unless you KNOW it is safe.

I think if you do what you are thinking you will have a GREAT time and there lots to see and do as well along the way. Go both routes. Sydney to Darwin via Central Australia and then back to Sydney via the Queensland coast. A trip of a lifetime.

Have fun and don't hesitate to drop me a line for help.

john.hahn@NitroExpress.com

[ 11-28-2002, 21:33: Message edited by: NitroX ]

Hi Juneau
Try
www.thestockade.com.au/firearms.htm
for info on bringing in firearms to Oz.

Regards
Deafdog

NitroX, Bakes, Deafdog,

Thanks for all the good information. We are off to Africa this summer, so will probably be looking at the summer (our summer, your winter) of 2004. We did this same kind of trip in Namibia two years ago and had a ball, so thought that a like Australian adventure would be a lot of fun, especially considering no time constraints.

When you look at a map of Australia and see all the miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles , I figured that it would be similiar to our western states where much of the land is owned by the federal gov't. and open to hunting, but apparently this is not necessairly the case?

NitroX - The fishing opportunities (access) you describe sounds great. I've heard of Barra. What other kinds of fresh water fish might a person run into?

Thanks again - Juneau

Juneau

Bakes might be your man for true "Top End" fishing experience. The fishing bug has never really "caught" me yet. But fishing in the Northern NT and Kymberleys of Northern Western Australia leaves the Southern states dead (IMuneducatedO).

We have caught barramundi and catfish in the estuaries. Shark. Plus that other predator.

Barramundi are a fighting fish and good fun inland of the estuaries as well as near and on the coast. So you get them in saltwater as well as freshwater. By the way the salt water in the estuaries can reach many kilometres inland from the coast in many regions due to the large differences between low and high tides. The Kymberleys has the world's record for that (as much as 30 feet ??? from memory ??). For eating wild barramundi is my favourite fish.

Catching giant mud crabs in the mangrove swamps is also meant to be great fun and good quality eating but so far I have missed out on this.

I'm sure there are other fish species as well.

[ 12-03-2002, 04:43: Message edited by: NitroX ]

Juneau

In the salt you can catch reef fish such as red emperor,black jew,coral trout,cod. Pelagic's like queen fish,travally, spanish mackerel,tuna,sail fish.

In the eastuary's you have Barra, mangrove jack,cod,BIG mud crabs, prawns, flathead.

Up the rivers in the fresh water you get Barra,saratoga, sooty grunter and a big fresh water shrimp called cherrbin.

I live in Katherine which is 300km from the nearest salt water, we still get saltwater croc's in the rivers this far up, so care is needed if fishing off the banks. Don't fish from the banks at night
If you make it to Darwin, there are plenty of places to fish from, off the bank. There are also lots of fishing guides and charter boats to take you fishing over some of the reefs. Here are some photos of a barra and a cherribin to tease you.




If you want to know more just ask, only to happy to help.
Bakes