Perth here we come!!

Well we have itchy feet again... time to jump in the caravan and hit the road again. We are moving over to Perth! Third state in three years!
We are super excited about the drive over there and a new adventure.
Hoping to get back into teaching when i get there as there are so many teaching jobs advertised over there each week. I am officially registered to teach in WA so hoping to gain a permanent job over there.:)
So, its time to revitalise the blog and post all our photos and adventures again, so stay posted for the new adventure!!

Lee in Perth

Perth

A few weeks ago Lee headed over to Perth to visit a few mates. While he was there they travelled up the coast to Shark Bay, visiting and fishing in places such as Monkey Mia, Kalbarrie, Denham and Camarvon.
He had good weather for the trip, covering alot of kms and seeing lots of the coastline.
Kids and I didnt go on this trip, it was definately one for the boys, sleeping a few nights in the car and eating sandwiches for breaky!! But then again, it wasnt about comfort, it was all about the fishing. Check out some of the scenery and the catches!!

Hastings Point

Before the school holidays we heading a whopping 20 mins down the road to Hastings Point to spend 3 days at the caravan park in the van. What a great park! They have a brand new kids water park...oh ok, the adults had fun too! They have an adults only spa with lap pool that we visited when the kids went off to kids club, was nice to have some time out sitting in the spa.
The kids had a great time playing soccer with kids in the park too.

Check out the pics
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/webUpload?uname=100249554386212106658

Fraser March 2012

In March we went back to Fraser for our second visit. During this trip we explored the western side of the island and discovered the most pristine stretch of deserted white sand and crystal clear blue water. We spent the day exploring, lying around in the sun and of course fishing. We chased balls of tuna all over the flat lake like ocean. Tyler caught his first tuna, which then became bait for his first shark. He also caught his first mackeral. We had an awesome day on the most beautiful calm ocean alove with fish!!

Check out the photos
https://picasaweb.google.com/100249554386212106658/FraserIsland?authkey=Gv1sRgCM-gy721__3X1QE#

Busted Head trip

All the pics from Busted Head trip, click on link below

https://picasaweb.google.com/100249554386212106658/BustedHead?authkey=Gv1sRgCLHPtanL8qqJTw#

Since returning to Gold Coast

Hi all, have not posted an update for quite a while. Lots has been happening since our trip was unfortunately cut short in Sept 2011. We did not make it all the way around, we made it as far North as Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest.

Since returning life has been pretty hectic. We eventually moved out of the caravan and got a place to rent within walking distance of the kids school at Elanora. We also started our own cleaning business; Ulysses Total Cleaning, Carpet and Pest. As you can imagine this has taken up a lot of our time and kept us very busy.

We have had a few short trips away. We did a three day boat trip from Gladstone down to Busted Head, camping out onthe deck of the boat, fishing and swimming. Jas got her sea legs pretty quickly and handled the sometimes sloppy seas perfectly, Tyler did not cope quite so well and was dependent on sea sick tablets, meaning that everytime we went to sea fishing he slept through the whole trip. He did however have a good time fishing in the river, catching a cool shovelnose ray and some good sized spangled emperor. A couple of good sized mackeral were also caught and i caught a lovely rainbow coral trout, by hand no less, in the reef shallows at low tide after it tried to escape but wedged itself high and dry in a rock crevice!

In March we did another trip to Fraser Island, this time taking my dad for his first trip over there. It was of course full of adventure. We tried on the second day to tow the boat and trailer up over the sand track to the top of the island but got bogged in some cery soft sand. We spent the next three hours or so trying to did our way out, then tearing branches from trees to lind the track so we could gain some traction to drive back out the way we came. Thanks to Dad's inventive use of a shovel as a ski for the boat we were able to get the boat out and retreat to  a camp ground to camp instead. We were disapointed that we didnt make it to the top, but consoled the kids with our usual nightly toad hunt, filling a garbage bag in less then an hour.
We did make it over to the Western side of the island where we had never been before, and it was well worth the drive, White sand, crystal blue calm waters and not a soul in sight. In the river we saw heaps of turtles and took the kids out to sea for a fish chasing mackeral and tuna. Tyler caught his first big tuna, which in turn caught his first big shark, reeling in a cut off line after a decent fight!  He successfully caught his first mackeral which was pretty exciting.
On the way back to camp we stopped about 40 mins into the drive back to collect some fire wood and discovered that the boat motor was not on the back of the boat! We turned around and drove back the way we came for about 25 mins before the headlights shone on our motor lying in the middle of the road. thankfully the roads are soft sand and the motor was not damaged. Lucky it didnt fall off at sea! Sadly though when it fell off the  fuel hose pulled out and the full had been pumping all through the boat, marinating our lovely tuna and mackeral in petrol :(
Well another adventurous trip anyway!

Pavement Art in Cairns

Wednesday and Thursday, Jas, Tyler and I took part in a two day pavement art workshop with Ulla Taylor. Here are some pics of what we created during both days. We had a great time! And even earnt some busking money!!

Cairns Milkfish

Lee is most upset that i have taken the time to update the blog with amazing pics of crocs, but at the expense of taking the time to update our milkfish expedition. Milkfish are a fish that can grow up to 1.7m and live in mangroves, estuaries or swamps. Our quest to catch one focussed on a brackish swamp, at its deepest the water wouldn't be over my head ( to the chest of the average person). We walked out to the middle of the swamp where there is a snag to put the camera bag and keep the bread used for burley and bait..
The first day we went to attempt catching one we could see them tailing in various spots around the swamp, this means they are either swimming or feeding and their large and powerful forked tail breaks the surface, looking a lot like a shark cruising in the shallows.
We threw quite a lot of bread for burley and this got them feeding less then a few metres from our feet. They were clearly visible in the clean water and we could tell most of the school were of a decent size of 4 to 5 kilo.
After about an hour of burleying with bread I  could feel the subtle take of the bait and the distinctive sign of the brad slowly trailing off. The slow lift of the road was all that was needed set the hook, it screamed off line for about 10 seconds before 'pop' the line broke. This scenario was quickly repeated by Tyler and Lee. Prognosis, leader to light and drag too high, these fish really have a lot of power and strength of the raped turns is just to much for light leader and braid with no stretch, the answer step up the leader by 2 pound, longer leader to accomadate  for some some give and less drag pressure. The answer( I hope) stay  hooked and fight time just went out to at least half hour may be more.
Armed with new hooks, heavier leader and drag adjusted we returned to try and conquer the milk fish again.Game on, 3 nil there way.
We started to burley and for a long time weren't seeing any sign of fish, which was really frustrating because we knew they were there. I was starting to get a little bored and ready to give up, slowly winding in my bread to check that it was still on and i got an almighty hit, for the next 3 or 4 minutes and  all i could do was hold on while the fish tore out  70 yrds of line and took off across the swamp. Yay, finally hooked and line holding i was pretty excited. Everytime i would get a chance to wind some line back in he would take off, screaming out line again. This went on for about 20 mins, then i started to try and off balance the fish as i wound so i could tire him out a bit; everytime you unbalance him he has to right himself again and it makes them tired. This seemed to be helping a little and i was starting to gain some line, the fish was just in front of me , the large tail leving large boils on the surface and the leader clearly visiable. I was getting pretty confident of landing this fish when zzzzzzzzzz out tore 20 yrds of line again, just when I thought i had him beat and he couldnt possibly take another run, these fish have awesome stamina. I weaved him and walked him around the snags so he wouldnt cut me off. That was successful until he took another mighty 50 yd run right across the swamp, around the only other possible snag being a small sand island, and POP!!! NO!!!!!! I couldn't believe it, i wanted to spit the dummy and throw the rod in the drink! I had played him out for over half an hour, how could i lose him when he must have been getting tired enough for me to finally land. Views of the tail indicate that he could have easily been 80cm long.

As luck would have it, while i was busy lamenting, zzzzzzzzzzzzz went Lee's line, he had hooked up. He was determined not to lose his fish and straight away started working it pretty hard to tire it out, throwing it off balance and winding in line pretty hard. This didnt affect the fish, it still kept making a run for it and pulling out line as it darted all over the swamp. Heading repeatedly towards the snags Lee had to coerce him back into safe open water. Lee fought a fight of will power and strength for half an hour, finally getting the fish withn metres of our feet. Still not ready to give in the milkie started doing laps of us, I had to keep ducking under the line as we where in knee deep water he swam circle after circle around us. He would have done 8 or 9 laps as Lee slowly got in more and more line making the circle tighter and tighter. The fish was now within arms reach and swimming, clearly visible at our feet. Twice Lee attempted to grab its tail, yet before he could do that it once again tried to take off, tearing out all that retrieved line. It was hard to believe just how exciting it could be catching a fish in such a relatively small and shallow body of water. As far as exciting fishing goes, its up there with playing out a big mackeral.
After this run, Lee really stuck it to it and got all the line back in, after a few more desperate laps around our feet he managed to grab him by the tail and get him out of the water for a good look. He was about  90cms long and would have weighed a solid 5 kg. They are such a streamlined fish, built like a torpedo, made for speed. Unfortunately they are not a good eating fish, apparently full of bones and very strong flavoured. Asians don't mind eating them but their flesh is too strong in flavour for  the average palette.
So after a few photos and a close look at him, Lee showed him the way home and gently let him go as he swam off to fight another day.

Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest

Cape Tribulation and The Daintree Rainforest

Cape Tribulation was named by British navigator Lieutenant James Cook on 10 June 1770 (log date) after his ship hit a reef as it passed over it, north east of the cape, at 6pm. This made Cook pull away from the coast, looking for deeper water. At 10.30pm, the Endeavour hit a reef almost sinking Cook's ship, on what is now named Endeavour Reef. Cook recorded "...the north point [was named] Cape Tribulation because here began all our troubles".^[4]

In the 1930's some European settlers started arriving in Cape Tribulation, but they found the rainforest environment a difficult place to get established. Various ventures such as fruit and vegetable farming, fishing, cattle, and timber cutting were started and abandoned over the years, and having weekly barges as only transport in and out was another handicap. In the 1960's a rough track was bulldozed and the first vehicle access created, although the road remained a four wheel drive track until the early 1990's. In 2002, the road was finally sealed all the way to Cape Tribulation and in early 2011 the last bridge was built creating year round all weather access to Cape Tribulation for the first time.

We spent the last two days exploring the Daintree and Cape Tribulation, two days was not enough. We drove straight into the Daintree Village and grabbed lunch, Lee and the kids were pretty boring, but I thought I would be adventurous and get into the feel of the environment a little, so i had a crocodile burger! It was really nice, quite flaky meat and quite sweet.

We took a one hour cruise on the Daintree River which proved to be unbelievably exciting, we got a croc show that was a once in a lifetime experience.

After spotting a few on the banks we rounded the corner and saw a huge 3.2m croc sitting in the water with his head near the bank, it was clear even from a distance that there was something in his mouth. As we got closer we could see that it was a calves hoof hanging out of its mouth. The guide said he had spoken to the nearby cow farmer that morning and he had said he may have lost a calf the night before as their was a cow calling for it in the morning. 

As we sat in the boat only a few metres away he brought half his body out of the water and thrashed his head around, a huge spray of water went up around him showing the amount of force in his head, he thrashed again, snapping the leg off and throwing the remainder onto the bank. He slowly sank beneath the water to swallow that then lumbered up the bank to grasp the remainder of the calf in his huge jaws and then back back down into the water. The boat guide drove us further up the river then and spotted some really small crocs, about 18months old. When we went back past the diner, he was sitting at the bank and all that remained was the calves head. The guide said he may have had his full but would sit like that holding on to what was left because he wouldn't want another croc to take it, he may even shove it under a log for a few days then come back and finish it. If he has had enough he will hide it but wont feed again for two weeks.

After this excitement we drove to Cape Tribulation and set up camp at the camp grounds 100 metres from the beach. We headed down to the beach for a quick look but it was time for dinner so any exploring had to wait till morning.

Back at camp we cooked dinner while the kids flew the kite, then sat around the fire toasting marshmallows. There were a couple of local aboriginal guys staying at the camp ground while they work on the roads, they were telling us some chilling stories about crocs and croc attacks and agreed that what we had seen that day was pretty amazing stuff to witness, even after their entire lives around crocs, they had not witnessed anything like that. They told us a story of a group of people related to the farmer whose calf we saw demolished, who on New Years Eve about 11 years ago were stupid enough to go down to the river in that exact spot. Two of the men were swimming in the river and two women standing in 18 inches of water on the bank. One woman turned to talk to the other and she was gone, all she saw was a ripple on the water, she didn't even have time to scream. Gone! After watching the power of this big lizard demolish the calf, we all have a whole new respect for the croc!

In the morning we got up and packed up camp, after a yummy breakfast we headed down to the beach. It was low tide and we were able to walk out among the exposed coral and explore the pools of water left behind. We spotted some beautiful bright blue fish, a couple of octopus, brittle sea stars and a pristine cowry shell.

We then walked up the beach and climbed up to the tip of Cape Tribulation. What a view looking down the beach, the rainforest covered mountains reach all the way to the palm tree fringed beach, it really is where the rainforest meets the reef. Mount Sorrow which looks down on Cape Trib recieves 10 metres of rain each year!

After a look around and a few pics we headed back down the beach to a path that leads over the cape to Cape Tribulation beach, this is a sheltered cove, perfect for a cooling swim before walking back. When we did get back we were all saying our legs were a little sore and we had perhaps done alot more walking then we realised, this was true as a look at the time shocked us to realise it was almost 3pm.

Next stop for a late picnic lunch was Mason's Shop, at the back of the shop is access to a beautiful crystal clear swimming hole, complete with rope swing. We had a nice swim among the jungle perch and turtles. What a great way to finish our exciting trip. Definately recommend a drive up here, try and allow 2 full days to explore at least! The scenery is spectacular, walking along the reef edge looking up the beach at palm trees and rainforest was truly beautiful, we could have been stranded on a tropical island!

Click on the link to check out all the pics!! Not suited for vegetarians.

https://picasaweb.google.com/100249554386212106658/CapeTribulationDaintreeRainforest?authkey=Gv1sRgCM6kwMelwNLu3AE

Tinarro Atherton Tablelands FNQ pics

Click on the link here to see the rest of the pics from our trip to Tinaroo in the Atherton Tablelands.

The second link has updated photos of Palm Cove and Port Douglas.

https://picasaweb.google.com/100249554386212106658/TinarooAthertonTablelandsFNQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCNWmxPCk9_D1Wg

https://picasaweb.google.com/100249554386212106658/PalmCoveTropicalNorthQLD?authkey=Gv1sRgCJrew8DnusiJdg

Tinaroo Dam, Atherton Tablelands

Tinaroo Dam, Atherton Tablelands

We have spent the last four days in the Atherton Tablelands, the mountains behind Cairns, at Tinaroo Dam. Absoloutly stunningly beautiful spot. Peaceful and serene, gorgeous weather. The locals warned its cold and will need jumpers, but their version of cold is very different to ours and the only time we needed a jumper was at night if we weren't near the fire. We still swam everyday, in the dam, the freshwater crater lakes and in the waterfalls.
The highlight of the trip would have to be seeing a platypus in the wild, and seeing dusky rat kangaroos, the only place in the whole world you can see these is between Innisfail and the Daintree. But all this pales in comparison to our early morning fishing trip in the dam. We got up at 4am and paddled the canoe along the bank of the dam, after about an hour and a half of fishing with no luck we decided to head back. When WHAM! I thought my lure had just hit a brick wall, it just stopped dead, then there was a giant splash as the barra launched itself out of the water. Judging by the splash it left i knew it was a decent fish. It pulled out line and bent the rod tip over until it touched the water. It fought like this for quite a while. I think Lee and I might have woken every camper on the dam with our laughing and screaming! When at last it tired and rose close enough to the surface for us to get a good look at him we were shocked. He did not give up just yet though, he took one more run before i got him to the surface again. Lee gaffed him in the lip and stood to pull him into the canoe, at this point we really realised how heavy he was because the canoe nearly tipped as lee took his weight. We got him in the canoe and he filled the floor space. We spent the entire paddle back to camp looking at her and shaking our heads, repeating, holy sh** its a big fish!
We measured her and she was 116cm, and would have weighed about 28kg. An absolute stud fish!



While in Atherton we took a drive to Yungaburra, a tiny little town. We tried two different places to try and buy a decent coffee, and tipped both out. We had a picnic down by the river and went spotting for the elusive platypus. Thinking it would be pretty unlikely to see one, we actually spotted two, both of which we sat and watched for about 15 minutes as the came to the surface then dived for fodd, and came in and out of their burrows. We were well and truly stocked to see such an amazing animal in the wild.
We then headed to Lake Eacham which is one of two fresh water crater lakes formed by a volcanic explosion 65,000 years ago. After the explosiion the hole solidified and the crater has since filled with rain water. They are both about 65 meteres deep and the water is crystal clear. The temp was a little fresh but by no means too cold for a swim. We went for a snorkle hoping to spot some freshwater turtles, we didn't see any but did spot a good size, tasty looking red claw, a local crayfish.
Next stop was Lake Barrine the second of the two crater lakes. We were advised to visit here for the scones, which have one many first place prizes in local shows. The tea house which sits right on the edge of the lake has been owned and run by the same family since the 1920's. And yes the scones were really really good.

Each night we built a fire and cooked damper and roasted marshmallows, Lee taught the kids to whittle, and they sat around the fire at night trying to whittle snakes out of branches.

The next day we drove to Milla Milla, about 35 mins away to take the waterfall tourist drive, visiting three waterfalls. They were all beautiful, my favourite probably being the first with its jagged verticle, mossy rock formations and over hanging vines, it looked like something used in a movie.

Our last day we took the drive around the top of the dam to the dam wall, we did not take a wrong turn because i was giving the directions, we did not drive down a bumpy, narrow dirt track that led to the dam with no room to turn around, and it was not then rather difficult to try to turn the caravan around in space only wide enough to do a three point turn in a car! None of which was my fault!!!

We had a great trip, definately a place worthy of spending at least a week at if you ever have the chance. Wildlife and scenery five stars.
The first few pics are below, stay posted as i will add more from this trip asap.

one very happy girl!!

Palm Cove, Tropical North QLD

Palm Cove, Tropical North QLD

We are currently staying in a small caravan park across the road from the beach at Palm Cove, which is about 30mins from Cairns, we are only paying $20 per night for a non powered site, while 500metres down the road, guests at Pepper's resort are paying $400 and more per night. So what if they have a fancy pool, we still got to use it, and we are all a step from the same beach.

 It is really beautiful, we have been getting up each morning and going for a big walk and then spending the day laying on the beach and swimming. Finding it hard to leave because it is so pretty and so relaxing.

We went for a drive a few days ago to the Daintree National Park, Mossman Gorge. While there we swam in the fresh clear water flowing down through the rainforest. I will admit that the water was very refreshing! It looked too nice to resist a swim even though it was pretty cold. A very beautiful place in the world.

On the way to the Daintree we drove over a bridge where people were fishing, so of course Lee decided we should stop and throw a lure. There were some locals at the river, lying on the riverbank sun baking. I refer to the scaled kind. We counted 3 but after looking back at the photos we spotted a fourth poking its eyes out of the water next to a big one! They were across the river on the opposite bank, however, one got a little inquisitive when Lee was fishing, you can see it swimming up behind him while i took a photo of his catch. i was trying to quickly take the photo while screaming at him that the croc was coming!, It got within about 3 metres of us then disappeared, a few minutes later it popped its head back up then just cruised away. Pretty freaky but very cool to see our first crocs in the wild!

Today we went to Port Douglas for a look around, had a nice picnic on the water front under the palm trees. Not much else there other then shops, we had a bit of a look around but it is pretty expensive resort type stuff.

To see photos click on link

https://picasaweb.google.com/100249554386212106658/PalmCoveTropicalNorthQLD?authkey=Gv1sRgCJrew8DnusiJdg