Two Lucky Ducks

Thursday, 23 April 2015

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Had a bit of sleep in then went for a walk down near the river and beach area to check out what they called the boat ramp.
The tide was very low, it was going to be a 61/2 metre tide about
1.30 pm.
The ramp didn't appear to be much good for a boat our size, very slippery washed out river clay, and the wind was blowing pretty well by the time the tide came in enough to launch, so we decided to give it a miss.
There was some people fishing in the river at half tide, catching plenty of catfish, so we decided to wait till the tide was right in and toss a couple of different lures about.
We caught nothing, the others catfish, so it was hamburgers for dinner.
Threadfin and blue nose salmon do come into the river, but like most fish are seasonal, this isn't the time.
We met some people while fishing that was travelling south, we had happy hour with them, they told us some good spots to stop, and we did the same for them.
One couple from Newcastle left their address and phone number for us to contact them when we get over there

Monday, 30 March 2015

17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd March, Crossing the Nullabour

17th, Arriving in Melbourne after the roughest trip I have ever had across Bass Strait, it wasn't too bad but not as calm as it usually is, we head for the big4 where we had the boat stored, it was a pleasant surprise when we arrived I still owed 2 weeks which amounted to over $100 they decided not to charge us. We hooked the boat up and had breakfast then hit the road toward Ballarat, the wind was horrendous and the sky was a peculiar shade we thought it may have been the tail end of the cyclone. That night we pulled into Keith show ground the wind had not abated but the show ground was pleasant with good facilities.

18th Nothing extraordinary during the days trip we stayed the night at a working sheep station that had set up a caravan park they called it Nutt Bush Retreat, when we arrived they were in the middle of shearing with the paddocks full of sheep, I tormented Merv telling him I would have to lock him up for the night. It was a nice place to stay except there was one working dog that barked a lot during the night. The facilities were good and there was a licensed restaurant for anyone who didn't want to cook.

19th Another day on the road, all was going well till we got a blow out on the boat trailer, this was a new tyre and we had done approx 300kms. On the road again after the tyre change we caught up to a wide load that took up the whole road there wasn't any way to pass so after travelling some distance we stopped at a rest area for the night.

20th We travelled along the actual Nullabour today and stopped to admire the beauty of the region it has a lot to explore if anyone wants to take the time and the coast is awe inspiring, we never saw any live animals this time only road kill and a couple of magnificent wedge tailed eagles. When we started to climb up onto the range we decided to stop at the lookout for lunch only to find another flat tyre on the trailer, this was when we noticed the springs were worn out and each time we went over a bump it allowed the tyre to hit the mud guard which in turn shredded it, we put our last one on and hoped it would last until the next day. We spent the night at Baxters rest area where we went for a walk and looked at the sink hole the rest area is named after, it is a huge rest area with space for everyone.

21st We got off to an early start as we wanted to get to Norsman to buy another tyre before the shops closed being a Saturday, we arrived with plenty of time so we organized the tyre to be fitted to the spare rim while it was being done went back to the roadhouse for a shower and some lunch. That afternoon we stayed at the Karalee Rock camp ground it was close on 40 degrees with the wind nearly gale force, not pleasant, when we set up we tried sitting in the shade to keep cool but the flies were intolerable so in that heat we had to stay inside till after dark, welcome back to WA. Later we went for a walk even though I don't like to walk around under trees in strong wind, it is such an interesting area with some great historic points and the way they have made it so they catch all the water on the very large rock area and channel it into dams.
22nd The wind has dropped today and it is only around 26 degrees much better, we arrive home and Liza was out moving some of her things but we met Ranni her dog, I wasn't sure about the dog and the dog wasn't sure about us at first, she made a big noise but was quite timid being very young.

13th, 14th, 15th, 16th March Gagebrook Tassie

13th Weather is nice today so we head down to Kingston to visit Steve at Channel Court shopping centre, this is a very modern centre quite new but not very busy yet, Steve and Tina are trying to sell their business. We had taken a crayfish down for Steve so we stopped and had a catch up for awhile then headed back to Pauls where I sat in the sun in the afternoon and watched movies in the evening.

14th Merv and Paul went to Safety Cove with the metal detectors for the day so I rang Lola to organize for her to pick myself and Lil up to go and spend some time with Anne, unfortunatly Lil couldn't go so Lola and I went up for morning tea. Paul and Merv had a great day and found quite a few coins, nothing really old.

15th Paul, Esther, Merv and myself went down to Shelly Beach for the day with the metal detectors the weather was perfect I had thought of going out with the canoes but was too lazy I went for a walk instead around toward Newmans Creek, when I went around the corner on a flat rock was the remains of some very large flathead that had been cleaned there it looked as though they may have been caught from the same spot.
I returned to the others and took over digging for Paul and we found a silver chain, there was only a couple8uple of other coins found on the day, Esther spent a fair time picking some juicy blackberries.
On the way home we stopped at Dunalley at the store that used to be owned by our old school bus driver Mr Duggan, we picked up some very nice scallops in batter with chips for dinner.

16th This is another sad day we are leaving Tassie this evening on the ferry. After breakfast we went into constitutional dock as I wanted to see the memorial for professional fishermen who have lost their lives while fishing as brother Graham was one of them. It was sad to see all the names but sadder to think that there would be a lot of names not on it and there is a large space for future fishermen.
In the afternoon we headed to the ferry stopping at Latrobe to try to see a platypus in the creek, no luck, so we went to a local shop and had another feed of battered scallops for dinner, we have been spoilt with all the delicious seafood in Tasmania.