August 18th, On our way to Benaraby we stopped for fuel and light lunch at Mirriam Vale. We booked into the Boyne River Tourist Park (Big4) for 13 nights. It’s a nice park, on the river and has 2 boat ramps and we are told there are plenty of fish. We drove into Gladstone, only 20 minutes away, for me to visit Centrelink while Val did some food shopping. When we arrived back at the Park, we drove down to the river for a quick look around only to find the typical North Queensland “Crocodile Warning” sign. There had been a recent sighting, so it said. I checked with the Office and they told me that The Parks and Wildlife People had been out and checked the river without finding any sign of croc activity, so the general consensus is that it has moved out of the area.
August 19th, Took the boat off the car today and got it ready to launch into the Boyne River. I pumped up the tyres on the boat wheels and found that one had a slow leak. My spare boat tyre was also flat so when we drove to Tannum Sands, to check out their Shopping Centre, I had a new tube fitted at the Tannum Tyre Centre. We were surprised to find that Tannum Sands was a large Coles Supermarket Centre and about half the distance than going to Gladstone. I rang the Windscreen Wizard (found them in the local phone book) and booked the car in to have the cracked windscreen replaced, 8.30am to-morrow.
August 20th, About 9.15 am The Windscreen Wizard arrived (Shannon) with a young assistant. Rain was threatening so I raised the Caravan awning up a couple of notches and drove the front of the car under the awning, just in case it rained. The old glass didn’t want to come out easily but 1-1/4 hours later the job was completed. They just got the new windscreen in place as a shower of rain arrived and was blowing under the awning. A great job, professionally handled under slightly difficult conditions. After lunch we went for a drive to Tannum Sands and Boyne Island then back to The Awoonga Dam which backs up Awoonga Lake. As we entered the Dam area we came upon a Wallaby with a joey in its pouch, how special. It was very tame, so obviously used to seeing people and cars. The Awoonga Dam has been stocked with 3 million Barramundi and is one of the Dams on the “Barra Trail”. There was a Barramundi Competition starting to-day and finishing to-morrow. It was a catch and release, lure only, competition where each catch had to be photographed and entered on their “brag” sheet. We couldn’t go and watch the fished being weighed in, which was a pity. A few of the competitors were staying at our Caravan Park.
August 21st, Caught up on a few caravan repairs and took a rod down to the river at dusk, to try my luck. I came back with a 27cm Bream, which I filleted and Val enjoyed for her dinner.
August 22nd, Launched the boat and spent a couple of hours fishing, on a run-out tide, without any luck. I was using cooked prawns for bait, same as last night but couldn’t get the fish interested during the day.
August 23rd, Same story as yesterday with this mornings fishing expedition. Decided to try off the bank again, just on dark, and came home at 7.30pm with a 39cm unidentified fish. I had no idea what it was and nobody in the Park was any wiser. It was fun to catch as it put up a good fight and at one stage jumped clear out of the water. Val wasn’t having anything to do with this fish until it was properly identified and specified a good table quality. I gutted the fish and put it in the fridge until I could go to the Tackle Shop to-morrow for identification.
August 24th, No fishing to-day. I went to Boyne Island Fishing Tackle Shop and put in a fishing rod for repair. They were able to positively identify my unknown fish as an “Oxeye Herring”. On the rating scale for table quality it was rated as 1, which is the lowest. They said it was edible but would be full of bones. When I think of Herrings I picture those small fish soaking in oil in a tin, so once again we “live and learn”. Val is passing on this one so I might use it for bait. On the way back I had a haircut and then dropped off my spare boat wheel into the Tyre Centre at Tannum Sands, to have a new tube fitted. Not much point in carrying a flat spare around.
August 26th, It was overcast yesterday and rained all last night and to-day. So, nothing to report. Did a lot of reading and picked up my repaired boat wheel.
August 28th, The weather is back to “Beautiful one day and Perfect the next”, so yesterday went fishing in the boat but caught nothing. To-day I decided to just throw a line in off the bank and caught 2 bream (25cm & 30cm) and 2 throwbacks (a hairtail bream and a butterfish). I was given a 34cm grunter by a couple fishing next to me. Val had the grunter for tea and said it was good.
August 30th, Didn’t catch any more fish and spent the afternoon packing up the boat and getting it up onto the car, with Val’s help. Picked up my repaired fishing rod from Boyne Island Marine and Tackle.
August 31st, Left Benaraby this morning and drove to Biggenden with a stop at Gin Gin for morning tea. We walked around Biggenden Township and grabbed some lunch before booking into The Mountain View Caravan Park for the night. We were surprised to find that if you book in for one night, they give you the second night “free”. This is a great spot to stay for people interested in National Park, hiking etc. There are 3 National Parks around Biggenden. We will be moving on to Toowoomba to-morrow, we are now on the return trip back to Sydney.
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