We took our time packing up the van this morning before our drive back down to Cardwell. The girls had a final play on the Wii in the games room, before we headed off at around 11.00am, without the tinnie. I would return to pick it up later and save myself a couple of hours of packing up and re-setting it up in the process.
We pulled into the Kookaburra Caravan Park at Cardwell, where we were greeted by our friends Heidi and Leon, who own & operate the park with Heidi’s parents, Peter and Denise.
We set up the van and then went into town to check for mail at the Post Office. We finally received a package that we had re-directed from Broome. It should have arrived there 2-3 weeks earlier. I left Sue and the girls in town and drove back to Kurrimine Beach to pick up the tinnie. The girls checked out the shops and bought a couple of goodies at the bakery before returning to the park.
Heidi and Leon’s twin 8 year old boys, Blake and Mitchell, returned from school just before 4.00pm and while initially a bit shy, all the kids soon picked up where they’d left off 2 years earlier, playing happily together. Heidi and Leon’s youngest son Brock is about 18 months old, having been born not long after Cyclone Yasi devastated their caravan park. We certainly noticed the difference in the park, with a lot less greenery than what we remembered.
We didn’t get together with Heidi and Leon and the boys that night because the older boys had a taekwondo class, so we had dinner in our van.
Cardwell – 24 October 2012
After a bit of rain during the night, we had breakfast and then headed down to the marina, to check out the water conditions. We had planned to go fishing but it was very windy and we thought we should check it out first. The Hinchinbrook Passage was chopped up pretty severely with the onshore wind, so we decided to give it a miss and returned to the park.
Sue went into town to have her hair cut while the girls and I stayed in the van and chose some photos for inclusion in their powerpoint presentations for school. After lunch, Sue made a potato bake and the girls played with the boys when they returned from school. Both families enjoyed a bbq dinner in the camp kitchen after which the kids put on a magic show.
Many feats of amazing magic were performed . . . . how do they do it?
Cardwell – 25 October 2012
After a lazy breakfast we piled into the car and drove 25km south to the Fishers Creek boat ramp. We launched the tinnie and ventured out into many creeks of the Hinchinbrook Channel. We struggled to get live bait early, but finally managed to put a few in the bucket. We fished the livies at a little creek junction and scored one good hit on a live bait. I also missed a strike on a cast lure, but we failed to hook anything. We left that creek and tried a bit of trolling out in the passage itself after we’d seen some bust-ups on the surface. No luck with the trolling either, so we tried a little more live baiting, before pulling the pin and returning to the ramp at around 3.00pm.
Back at camp, the girls took off to play with the boys, who had just returned from school. I cleaned up the boat and showered, as did Sue. The boys had another taekwondo class tonight, so we enjoyed a feed of spag bol in the van.
Cardwell – 26 October 2012
I got up before dawn for another assault on the fish at Fishers Creek. Sue and the girls chose the remaining photos for the school powerpoint presentations and after lunch went for a walk/bike ride along the waterfront. When they returned, they played in the pool with the beach ball until the boys returned home from school.
Out in the channel I picked up a few fish, including 2 barramundi casting lures, 3 grunter on live herring and 2 catfish on live mullet. Unfortunately all fish were undersize, but I still had a great time on a virtually windless day. I finally returned around 4.30pm and tidied up the tinnie before showering and cracking a cold one. After happy hour, we joined the other crew for dinner again at the camp kitchen. This time Sue cooked up a feed of mackerel in beer batter, while Heidi provided some beautiful chips to accompany it. After the meal, we attended an auction put on by the rugrats, where we bid on items of art work they had created during the afternoon. All the adults went home with many fine treasures.
Cardwell – 27 October 2012
We planned a day at home today, so the kids could spend plenty of time together as the boys weren’t in school. Blake and Mitchell came down for breakfast at 8.00am and enjoyed a feed of scrambled eggs with our girls, then took off to play. Sue and I had a lazy morning, then left the kids in Heidi’s care while we went for a walk into town. Sue bought a dress at a small boutique where we chatted to the owner for about 30 minutes, as you do when you're on holidays. We stopped at a café for lunch and returned to the van at about 1.00pm.
We both went up to the house and spent the afternoon with Heidi and Leon. Heidi kitted Sue out with a cocktail dress and all the accessories for my work Christmas party. Sue & Heidi popped down to the IGA to get some supplies for dinner before happy hour. The kids hopped into some cocktail franks while we adults enjoyed a beautiful 2 course curry feast prepared by Heidi. After dinner Heidi surprised us with a delicious and potent cocktail each. It rounded off a lovely evening. We returned to the van at around 10.00pm.
Cardwell – 28 October 2012
After breakfast, Sue, Heidi and her mum Denise drove to Mission Beach where they browsed the Sunday Monster Market. Sue picked up a scarf for herself and some Halloween muffins for the kids. Heidi and Denise had decided to put on a surprise Halloween afternoon tea for the kids, so all the girls picked up a heap of Halloween knick-knacks and novelties for the kids at the $2 shop.
Georgia, Kelsey, Blake and Brock stayed at home under Leon’s watchful eye, while Mitchell and I took the tinnie down to Fishers Creek for a day of fishing. Earlier in the week Mitchell has asked if he could come out fishing with us, so we decided to go on this Sunday. Hopefully, he would have some stories to tell in class the next day. We again struggled to get livies early on, battling a high tide, but managed to get a few in the end.
We spent quite a few hours fishing unsuccessfully with the live baits before I decided it was time to pull the pin. I thought a half hour troll back to the ramp might be worthwhile, so we set off with a couple of shallow running lures out the back. We trolled unsuccessfully for a while, and were almost back at the ramp, when we struck a purple patch. Over the next half hour, along a 300m stretch of bank, Mitchell caught a 40cm estuary cod, his best barramundi, at 62cm, and his first two ever mangrove jacks at 45 and 38cm. To say he was rapt was an understatement. We exchanged many high fives as he put fish after fish into the kill bucket. In the end he declared it the best fishing day of his life, and I was very happy to have shared it with him.
The fishin' magician returned home to show off his catch to the rest of the crew and many photos were taken. I cleaned the fish while Mitchell took off to play with the rest of the kids.
Mitchell's best barra - 62cm - almost as big as that grin . . . .
Mitchell's big catch
Mitchell requested that his prize catch just had to be cooked in Sue’s tasty beer batter. Sue prepared that while Heidi whipped up a large batch of delicious special fried rice.
Sue and I both agreed that the mangrove jack was the best fish we had eaten since leaving Brisbane, and even Kelsey ate the fried rice, testament to its quality.
Cardwell – 29 October 2012
We had planned to go fishing today, but a morning on the phone to Optus, organising our new home phone and broadband in Brisbane, waylayed us a lot longer than expected. That and a couple of other phone calls saw us through the morning and into the afternoon. When finished, we took the kids and went for a walk into town, where we dropped into the Visitor’s Centre and bought a t-shirt for Kelsey. We wandered around the shops with the kids for a bit and then returned to the park, where we had happy hour with Leon. Heidi invited us up for dinner, so we all had a feed of chicken and potato bake at the house.
Cardwell – 30 October 2012
Today we all went fishing down to Fishers Creek again. We concentrated our efforts on the stretch of water where Mitchell and I had done so well on Sunday. We trolled up and down the same stretch of bank and had immediate success, with a really nice mangrove jack for Kelsey of around 45cm. Her first, and what turned out to be our best, for the day.
Kelsey with her first mangrove jack - a beauty too - 45cm
We picked up 2 other smaller but still legal jacks, one each for Sue and I. Sue also generously handed over another fish she had hooked to Georgia, who was fishless to that stage. Georgia expertly fought and landed a really nice barra of 67cm, her first keeper barra. She was a very happy girl. Besides the four fish we kept, we also picked up a handful of small cod, which were all released. We also missed quite a few other good strikes. After a great session, we retrieved the boat around 5.00pm.
Georgia's first keeper barra - 67cm
And another nice little jack for Sue
Our afternoon's effort . . . . . well worth the trip
On the way home we had a phone call from my contact in Perth regarding some drafting work. While he couldn’t promise anything, he said the chances were pretty good for a possible start in Darwin in the new year, and asked me to call him next week when he might know more.
When we got back to the van, I cleaned the fish and we had dinner at home.
Cardwell – 31 October 2012
I got up at 4.30am and launched the tinnie at the marina for a run over to the northern end of Hinchinbrook Island, at Hectate Point. Within the first hour I had picked up 2 barra. The first, at only 30cm, was released, but the second was a healthy 62cm fish and found its way into the esky.
62cm barra on a cast Gold Bomber, now looking a little worse for wear
I spent the rest of my day on the water casting to snags and trolling the edges without putting another fish in the boat. I also missed at least 4 strikes from pretty good fish. I bashed my way back to the ramp through a short, sharp chop and cleaned the fish on the water before retrieving the boat.
The tinnie on an isolated stretch of Hinchinbrook shoreline
A lone houseboat enjoys a glassed-out Hinchinbrook Passage
After breakfast Sue and the girls walked into town, to the hairdresser, where the girls had a trim and had feathers put in their hair. They dropped into the Op Shop. Sue bought some clothes and the girls got a heap of fluffy toys, all very cheap.
Sue made a banana loaf in the afternoon, before joining Heidi in the house to prepare for the Halloween afternoon tea. The boys returned home from school, and our girls joined them, to find a lovely surprise when they entered the house. Sue and Heidi had done a great job with streamers, balloons, skeletons and all sorts of ghoulish decorations on the walls. The kids had a ball getting dressed up and having their faces painted. We took many photos of the little monsters. We all enjoyed heaps of party food, which continued on to become dinner, and we returned to the van around 8.30pm.
Sue and the Halloween table before the onslaught
School's tough in North Queensland
Our two little ghouls . . .
Georgia with a real bad headache
Blake minus the chalk outline . . .
Brock with his witches hat
The girls enjoying a quiet wine after the mayhem
Cardwell – 1 November 2012
A slow morning in the van saw us working on the blog and selecting photos for same. After lunch I prepared the boat, while Sue left the kids with Heidi, who had generously offered to babysit for us. Sue and I headed down to Fishers Creek for an afternoon on the water.
We hit our favourite patch of creek again, and while we had 2 big hits on the first run, we experienced no joy thereafter, only boating some small grunter and cod. It was nice to be out on the water with just the good lady wife again, something we hadn’t done in over 10 years.
We retrieved the tinnie and picked up a few groceries on the way back to the van. We all had takeaway burgers and chips for dinner, our shout.
As this was our last night in the park, and Heidi was busy the next morning, we said our goodbyes to her and the boys before returning to the van.
No comments:
Post a Comment