Here's a link to information about last year's season:

http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/wildlife/permits/pdf/waterfowlfact.pdf

I have never hunted them. We see a few during the wet season down here in Katherine, but by then the season on them has closed. I suppose a Katherine fellow could get a permit and keep it just in case he saw one on a swamp (a fluke for the swamps I have access to), but I usually have a rifle, which happens to be not allowed for use on them. I see that steel shot is required.

As for the fishing, I am not much of a fisherman, so don't know too much about it. Although I've heard that the run-off at the end of the wet season is the best time for barramundi, I do know that people fish all-year-round, and do get a few. Some of my students and their families have pulled-in some good ones even in the last month-or-so, even though it is the cold season.

I hope you've got time to visit here, too, John!

Cheers!