We are very close at getting back into the camping lifestyle, at least with Maggie, however this was another outdoorsy holiday on the luxurious side of things. We stayed at the nicest house I’ve been in, certainly the most expensive. Maggie was completely in her element, with all the grandparents there, and her two favourite things in the world: a swimming pool and the beach. We even made it to a waterfall but she wasn’t that fussed as she couldn’t swim in it.
For my birthday Claire and I went down to Cape Schanck. It is a new resort and I think the RACV have done a great job with it. I hadn’t been to Point Nepean either, so that was a nice walk, not overly rustic though. That was a bit of a theme of the holiday. We went to some natural hot springs. Unlike what you might find up north, they had been completely tiled and resembled more of a swimming pool. They were very hot though. We went to Bushrangers Bay, again a very nice place. It’s not exactly the true outdoors that I had in mind, but things have changed quite a bit now we are parents. It was a great escape for a night though, and I guess I am now 36!
Over the summer we had a lot of fun in the outdoors. We went the beach a few times, Seaspray and Golden Beach. We went to the Blue Pools and also to Marlay Point. Although this wasn’t a true outdoors holiday, Maggie really loved the day trips. She especially loves the water. It will be great to see her adapt to these things as she grows older. She is getting close to the age where camping will be a lot easier.
Was in Innisfail for a long weekend visiting friend’s of Claire’s. I got a chance to go fishing, unfortunately I had crippled my back and the idea of jumping into a boat and hunting for some massive barra was out the window. However we did some shore fishing and the target was jungle perch.
I had never really heard of jungle perch before, but apparently it’s quite a popular sportfish. It’s small and very hard to find. So we hit the light gear and went for a bit of a bushwalk. The first cast of the day netted my my first jungle perch.
Got three sooty grunter to back it up too. Aaron (from ACM Custom Rods) also got one, and three sooty grunter to back it up.
Was a bit of a shame to miss out on the planned session, but I got a few fish, remained uninjured and ready to fish another day.
Day One – 13th of September
Up early (Andy, Judda and me) and out on the boat. Was destined for a good day for wind, but a lot of movement would make fishing difficult. We didn’t have any trouble bringing in some Indonesian Snapper between 30 and 35 cm. Nothing great but at least we were getting a feed. We also saw an adult whale fully jump out of water – never seen that in person before, it was great. Got a good feed but didn’t get that photo fish I was after.
Day two – 14th of September
Up early (Brigitte, Judda and me) again but had limited time. Once again just getting smaller fish, until suddenly I was on! The line was screaming and I thought I had a whopper. Hopefully something great and not a shark… Judda was sure it was a shark. It was neither though, a 60cm Trevelly. Good fun!
Not too long after Brigitte was on! I thought it was a Trevelly, Judda once again thought a shark. Both were wrong and she nailed an impressive 101cm Jewfish! A short sharp 3 hours on the water and a decent feed.
Day three and four – 15/16th of September
Did some land based fishing. Got one hit and no other action. I have previously done alright on flathead in that area. Nevertheless since I get flatties in Victoria I decided to hard on barra. Probably silly given I didn’t know what it was doing. But Airlie is very pretty so it was good fun nonetheless.
I loved it in Airlie. It has changed quite a bit, definitely busier. Still, I would jump at the chance to live there again. Then again, there are a lot of places around Australia that I could say that about!