PGA Gulf

Well Keegan Bradley may have won the US PGA but the Piscatorial Gastronomic Award from fishing in the Gulf Of Carpentaria goes to Woodley Hall (applause). 

Here he is with his 67(cm) under blue nose salmon which we filleted (yes we know how to fillet now), rolled in flour and seasoning and cooked up with some lemon, rice and veggies- an absolute gastronomic sensation.  Woodley caught a school mackerel, the blue nose and a steelback salmon for the day and then went back to the caravan park and rounded up some frogs and put a cane toad under arrest.  Solid performance by the young pro.

We all warmed up on the beach before starting our round with Kerry D (an experienced pro with good knowledge of the Carpentaria Gulf Course). 

By the time we got to the second hole Kirst was on fire playing with the great white shark (little smaller nowadays), Kerry suggested it was because he had 2 doodles.

Then Arch got on the leaderboard with a few nice blueies as well.

The Child told me you catch baby hammerheads here and here is one for you Child.

All NaDan caught was a bout of sea sickness, and retired hurt, falling asleep in the players tent.
This morning the players were taken to the Barramundi Discovery Centre to get a feel for what they were up against, and this big mama gave Arch quite a fright as it took a fish from him.  He got boofed by a barra and it certainly fired him up for the afternoon. 

The day before the players had a nice leisurely bacon and eggs brekky at Royal Kurumba, followed by a leisurely bike ride, an afternoon swim in the pool, a skate at the skatepark and then they walked down to the Sunset Tavern to enjoy a lovely dinner and beautiful view over the water.

I think the champ knew what was coming, he has a bit of an aura around him as he poses for the press.

The players wandered wearily back to their accomodation, turning away from the sunset to the full moon.

When they finally returned they were introduced to a few of the locals who seemed to be quite a handful! 

I wonder who stayed up too late?
Special mention to Pa E who had to return home, being one of the early favourites for this star studded event.

Mount Supplies

I better make this one a bit shorter for Deacs, don't want to stress you too much mate.  We had a nice little stay (2 nights) at the Bedrock Park in Mt. Surprise with the Flinstones.  Lovely people there and great food.  Did the lava tube tour which I thought would have been better if the volcano was at least slightly active.  This is a shot from the rim of the crater looking down to where the lava tunnel is which has rainforest growing over it.

Then we went down into some of the tunnels and enjoyed some great commentary by our tour director Rob, who is very passionate about his lava tubes.

Anyway Rob turned it on for us and even organised for us to see 2 unfortunately named bustard birds walk past the bus, and we spotted a koala in a tree (apparently very unusual up there).

I think Rob threw him up there.  We were lucky to meet 2 nice families as well and all the kids had a great time staying up late and playing under the full moon.

 Next stop was Kurumba and it was a decent drive along roads that were generally good but in patches average.  We didn't leave til 11.30am so I had to sit on about 120km/hr to make it there by 5pm. 

 First caravan park was booked out but the second was good and we cashed in on free fish for dinner and some great live entertainment.  There was lots of wildlife floating around too because we are on the Gulf now and it is quite isolated.  All the oldies come here for the warmth and the fishing and they are just starting to leave now, otherwise we wouldn't have got in anywhere.  We met Rowan and Leisa who own a golf course on Phillip Island and Rowan trained as a pro at the National and Leisa played softball for Australia. We will have to look them up at Red Rocks when we get back.  Life is starting to get very simple now, which ofcourse is no supplies!

Atherton Fablelands

Atherton Tablelands is a place to savour the many fruits of life with wineries, distilleries, coffee, dairies etc. all situated in a magnificent setting  We had beautiful weather, still and warm during the day but pretty chilly at night, got the heater on tonight.  On arrival did the best setup so far in just over an hour, then the boys had a swim and I went to the shops.  So we saved the bacon and eggs for Monday, having had to pack up the morning before, and relaxed and had a lovely brekkie out in the sun.  Then we rode down to the tackle shop and restocked our gear and also got some gear to catch barras, although the guy said if the boys hooked one they will be doing waterskiing too.  Then we packed the car with fridge, barbee, swimming stuff and fishing stuff and headed off to Lake Tinaroo.  We pulled a car out of a ditch on the way there,stopped for a leak, and then found a nice protected spot at the platypus camp area.   

 The plan was to hook some small fish and then use them as live bait to hook a barra.  But we didn’t get a nibble, so it ended up being a sunbake and swim sess which was nice and relaxing looking across the stunning scenery of the lake.  As the day started to wane we had a nice cook up and the boys made up some fun games.  

  Wooz was doing his branching technique on a tree again and the whole branch came down on me and Arch and flattened us, which Kirst thought was hilarious.  The bird life was amazing and all the cockies were flying back to their roost for the night.  On the drive back we checked out the dam wall in the dam dark and the boys did a dam race down the dam grassy hill.  Then today we had a look in the crystal cave and the boys broke their own geode.  The crystal collection was amazing but we only got a 6/10 in the quiz, so we didn’t get a prize.  Kirst checked out her future in the crystal ball, then felt the love in the rose quartz fountain and the boys checked out the amethyst empress.

  Then we headed off to the Coffee Works for lunch and a tasting session.  The boys had some fun quizzes to do and they tasted the teas and chocolates while Kirst and I tasted all the coffees and chocolate liquors.  The museum there was great and we saw the coffee beans being roasted and then bought some coffees and teas and 2 plunger mugs so we can have some quality coffee in the camper now.  

  From there we went to Granite Gorge and had a little swim in the rock pools then did the walk down the gorge and fed some wallabies. The rock pools were slippery so the boys slid down the little waterfall and Wooz saved Arch and I in the deep pool by throwing us a bone.

Then on the way back Arch caught a noddy head lizard and we wandered up and saw the ladies collection of birds and lizards including quite a funny cocky that wanted to know what we were doin!  When we got home NaDan had his first tooth fall out and then dropped it and lost it.  Hopefully the tooth fairy will find it.

Today we did a tour of the waterfalls, first stopping at the curtain fig tree and platypus walk at Yungaburra where Wooz spotted a platypus from the bridge and Kirst tried to get a shot of it (not shoot it ofcourse).  

We had a nice picnic lunch at Milla Milla falls and Arch and I braved the icy chill for a couple of Last of the Mohicans shots.

All the falls were quite impressive but we only got in the first one.  The boys hopped on the dead tree stump for these shots.

Then we trundled off to the Mungalli Biodynamic Dairy farm for some cheese and yoghurt tastings.  Archer got a mango icecream and said it was the best on tour and Kirst and I had a coffee.  Then we headed back for a swim in the pool.  Tomorrow we leave the fablelands for much harsher territory as we start to head west on the Savannah way.  First stop- Mt. Surprise.  The Chinese must have built that town and were always asking for more supplies!