Camping at Lake St Clair with Doug and Claudia

A relaxing weekend with Doug and Claudia and Lucas, exploring the lake by boat and doing some fishing.

 

Lucas

I went fishing with Doug and Claudia off their boat. Lucas caught a fish within two minutes, I caught nothing in three hours. Go figure. I'm just not much of a fisherman. But its still fun. We got caught in the middle of a big storm so I kept my camera under wraps - but managed to snap a couple of Lucas. He's as adorable as ever .

Fishing at Ettalong

We joined Doug and Claudia in Ettalong (about an hour out of Sydney) for some fishing today. They have a boat which is very handy for getting out where the fish are. We talked Mike's fishing prowess right up (fishing is one of his favoutite passions back home) so he was under enormous pressure to perform. He lived up to expectations and was the only one to catch a fish (a flathead which we took home to eat). Well done Mike!

Little Lucas is growing up fast and loved playing on the beach...

When Aussie slang finds itself onto boats...

How is this for a home made boat? Looks like its made from old furniture...

Fishing

I went fishing today with Doug and a friend of his in the rain. And, believe it or not, I caught a fish. Especially as I was the only one to catch one. This is highly unusual for me - fish usually give me a wide birth. Now it wasn't a very big chap to put it mildly and I put it right back in the water after saying hello - but very exciting nevertheless...

Houseboating in Hawkesbury River

We just spent an idyllic 3 days houseboating with Doug and Claudia, Linda and Dan. Amazing food, beautiful scenery and lots of time to chill out. It was a great get away.

Swimming off the boat. The water was suprisingly warm. There were some jellyfish to avoid but all part of the fun.

As with all Dough and Claudia outings, the food was splendid and we did little but eat. Each couple was responsible for a day. Ally excelled with her Yoghurt and Cumin Lamb and prawns wrapped in pancetta ham on the barbie. Went down like a house on fire.

What would a boat trip be without a leap from the boat.

On our final night, we had a Bond night were we dressed up in "costumes" and played poker. Guess who cleaned up? Yes, Ally!! She's quite the poker player and spent the evening accumulating everyone's chips.


Ally and me in our Bond outfits. Can you see my bow tie?



And here is the whole group. We had an enormous boat, equipped for ten people, so were spoiled with lots of space.



Relaxing on the beaches along the river.

We all did a fair amount of fishing. But only Dan caught any fish - 7 of the blighters!! What we were all doing wrong is anyone's guess.

These crabs only have one claw each. Who needs two hands when one will do.

All her fish catching made Dan very popular with the local pelican.

Beautiful it was.

Doug trying hard.

Beautiful sunsets.

Ally's new T-shirt - a present from the Fletchers.

And my boogey board - a Xmas present from Ally. Perfect colour and message for Bondi Beach!

Driving the boat was a lot of fun. Had to be particularly careful aiming through the bridges.

A very cheeky jump in the lake by Dan. Needless to say, she was a lot of fun...

Fishing in Sydney Harbour

I woke up at 5 am to join Doug and Claudia on an exciting fishing expedition - something I haven't done since I was 7 years old. We hired a motor boat in Rose Bay for $20 an hour (what a steal!) and spent an idyllic morning exploring the harbour and fishing to our hearts content.

Dad taught me how to cast when I was a very young pup - and must have taught me well, for I still remember vividly how to do it. My memories of tieing fishing knots are not quite so steadfast and I needed some patient reminding from Doug .

I'll never forget my first fising expedition with dad. After learning how to set up my rod, I cast into the Uilenskraal Lagoon and literally 50 seconds later pulled out a 3 kg steenbras. Exhilerating it was. After that, I never caught another thing, despite many hours of trying. Talk about beginners luck!



Here is Claudia with her Xmas present. Doug bought her the net, a rod and a full fishing box of tackle and wrapped it all individually. Talk about a clever present. In our relationship, it would be the equivalent of me buying Ally a set of camera lenses!! Not a bad idea :)



Suddenly there was a mighty splash and this enormous, thrashing fish leapt over our boat, in a desperate attempt to escape my hook. For a minute, I thought our boat would be dragged out to sea, "Old Man and the Sea" style.



But I managed to hold fast and after a terrific battle between man and fish, I pulled him in. Holy Mackerel, what a beaut!!



So after playing with my bait in such a fashion, we decided to go and pick up Ally from our flat across the bay (Ally had decided she wasn't wasting a perfectly good sleeping in opportunity to come fishing at 5 am in the morning).
An epic journey it was past Mosmon and the Opera House and under the Harbour Bridge. Ally was waiting for us on the beach outside our flat and she then joined us for a bit more fishing and a relaxing trip back to Rose Bay to pick up our car. You can see our flat in the background, under the bridge.



What a lot of fun it was. Who cares that we didn't catch any fish. We did catch a little squid (too cute to keep) and Doug narrowly missed on a big crab. Now we are dreaming of hiring a bigger boat and doing a bigger expedition. Maybe some time in 2007.

 
Sydney skyline - not a bad back drop to a fishing expedition. Yes indeed, its a tough life out here in Australia!




Some video highlights from the day

View our epic journey on the boat