The Entrance, October 2011 Cont.

November 12^th, The day started off with an electrical storm and settled into steady rain, so no fishing today. The weather cleared during the afternoon so we had a happy hour get-together with Carole and Rob at Terri and Patrick’s RV, who were leaving on Monday.

November 13^th, Val had a hankering to go crabbing, although we had been told that the crabs weren’t around. I had saved up 3 bream heads, from my catches, for this purpose. We went up the main channel and anchored just short of Pelican Island, just off the weed. We both fished while waiting for some crab action and caught a small flathead and several small bream, between us, all throwbacks. It was a very pleasant outing but not a crab was interested in our fish heads. On the way in we stopped near the shallows and fed the fish heads to the Pelicans.

November 14^th, Carole & Rob bought us some beach worms, while out shopping, that the Tackle Shop guy assured them would catch Whiting. The whiting were everywhere in the Lake, but would not touch my bait (cooked prawns). We had early lunch and headed out to try our luck, Carole and Rob went out at the same time. We had used most of our worms and still could not get a whiting to take the bait. We headed in around 5pm, no fish and Val was looking red around the shoulders and arms after 2 days out in the boat, in the hot sun. Carole & Rob did well by catching some whiting, flathead and bream

November 15^th, I went out fishing by myself this morning. I had a few leftover worms and picked what looked like the perfect spot to nail myself a whiting. I anchored in the shallows just off a deep hole and I could see the whiting swimming all around me in the shallow water. I had rigged up with a smaller sinker and hook and in desperation changed to no sinker, with the last of my worms. Still no luck, I was losing the bait and not even feeling a bite, very frustrating. I went to using my cooked prawns for bait and caught a 46cm Flathead, in the hole, so was able to go in feeling happy with my catch. The prawns were running, so I spent the afternoon getting all our gear set up for tonight and checking that all the boats navigational lights were working. Val couldn’t miss “Junior Masterchef”, on TV, so it was dark when we ventured out on our prawning trip. We navigated the shallows and the prawners, walking around the shallows with their hand held lights and nets and made our way to our usual prawning area the other side of the Bridge and decided on a spot inbetween 2 other boats already set up. Val drops in the front anchor and I can see it wasn’t holding, so I grabbed the torch and wouldn’t you know, were over thick weed. Up anchor, reverse out to clear the weed patch, this time we get set up with front and back anchors out, despite Val having trouble tying her anchor rope to the boat. I handed Val her prawning net and proceeded to connect  the prawning lights to the battery. Suddenly Val yells, “I’ve dropped my prawning net into the water, I just let it go” and sure enough, it was floating with the current and out of reach. Fortunately, the boat downstream from us had long handled prawning nets and was able to rescue Val’s. Up come the anchors again, Clatter, clatter, clatter, we must be annoying everybody out there trying to catch prawns. We drifted down to the other boat and collected the prawning net. We thanked them and they kindly lied by saying, that’s OK, no trouble, and I motored back to our spot to set up again. Val dropped her anchor out front and was again having trouble tying it up to the boat. I told her, calmly, that she has to tie up to the rope coming from the anchor, this she could not understand,  and continued tying to the rope inside the boat and pulling vigorously to tighten the knot, but we still continued to get further from the anchor. So after telling Val that I will have to teach her how to tie up an anchor and I can’t believe you can’t do it or understand, I then said “Do you want to go in”. Answer YES. Up anchor again and in we head with Val, in a bad mood, telling me she is never going out in the boat again. As soon as the boat nosed into the shore and I was getting out to pull the boat up onto the sand, Val jumped off into the shallow water, the boat came up and she fell into the water, up to her waist. After I helped her up and set her on her way dripping wet, I secured the boat and brought all our gear in. What a night to remember and I’ve vowed never to go out prawning after dark again, it’s just too difficult to set up.

November 18^th, After 2 days of Storms and rain, it finally cleared, so I went out for a fish after lunch but didn’t catch any keepers. When I came in and got out of the boat my back was killing me (lower back pain) and I was struggling to walk. My back kept collapsing on me, so I cancelled our outing, with Carole and Rob, to The Bateau Bay Sports Club, for raffles and dinner. I took a couple of nurofen and lay down, flat on my back, for a couple of hours.

November 19^th, I woke up with by back still a little bit sore but it wasn’t going to stop me going with Greg, Dianne and Rob on our planned fishing trip to Budgewoi Beach tonight. Dianne had told me they would be up for lunch, after Annaliese had been to her 8am Volleyball match. At 12 noon I decided to find out where our visitors were, as we were ready for their arrival. I rang Greg, to find out that he was still at work and wouldn’t be knocking off for another 40 minutes and didn’t expect to be up here till 4.30pm. We had rolls, meat and salad organized for lunch, so invited Carole and Rob to have lunch with us and the leftovers we would use to make up rolls, for the fishing trip. So far so good, then another phone call from Greg to say they were on their way but in his haste to leave home he had packed their rods but left their reels and line at home. But, hang on, that’s not all! Somehow he had also got the tide times wrong and we would not be fishing under the optimum conditions. We were to be fishing around the high tide at Budgewoi Beach, 6pm until 9pm (that sounds great) but because Greg obviously had a “seniors moment” we would be fishing around the low tide. However, they arrived with a new reel, line, purchased on the way up, and borrowed a reel off me and the fishing trip was on anyway. It was good to see Jessica and Annaliese again, it has been a while, and are they growing up fast. We loaded up my car with all our gear, including chairs and rod holders and drove to Budgewoi. Gathering up our gear the 4 of us head up the path to the Beach, into gale force onshore wind, Oh No! Still determined we trek up the beach to Greg’s designated fishing spot, with Rob and myself lagging behind. It  is difficult walking in soft sand, so with extra sinkers on our lines, good company and fresh rolls for dinner we enjoyed the experience and Greg did catch a small flathead, not a keeper. We will be talking about our beach fishing trip to Budgewoi for years to come. Back at the Caravan Park, after coffee and relating the highlights of our fishing trip, we all went down to the waterfront to admire the view. The prawns were on, so we quickly fetched our prawning nets and dolphin torches and Greg and Dianne wandered around the shallow water and very soon had caught a dozen prawns. This was Dianne’s first prawn catching experience so was very excited. The Girls had a sleepover in our Van while Dianne and Greg stayed at the El Largo Motel, just across the bridge.

November 20^th, We started off the morning with Greg and Dianne fishing off the waterfront with Jessica and Annaliese, until the bait ran out. They caught a few small bream, so that kept the girls amused. The funniest sight was watching Greg trying to teach Jessica to get the fish off the hook and return the fish to the water without feeding the Pelicans, who were hovering around waiting for the free feed. Steven called in around 11am, on his way home from a Wedding at The Hunter Valley, so we had all the family together for a short time. Steven didn’t stay for lunch as he had to get his borrowed vehicle back to Sydney. Greg, Dianne and the girls stayed for lunch before they left for home. After a light dinner we spent the night playing “Tiles” with Carole and Rob.

November 21^st, Not a great day today, overcast and showery rain all day but we drove up to Blue Haven for lunch at Sandra’s place and had an enjoyable day, catching up. Those girls never run out of something to talk about.

November 24^th, It hasn’t stopped raining for the last 3 days but a little break in the afternoon allowed me, with Rob’s help, to get the boat out of the water and back up on the car rack. After dinner we had another great night of “tiles” with Carole and Rob, they have picked up the game very quickly.

November 25^th, Still raining and it was very noticeable that the water in the lake was rising, my estimation was around 18 inches higher. We went to the Bateau Bay Sports Club for dinner, raffles and karaoke with Carole, Rob, Joan and Robert. We had a very enjoyable night and came home with a meat tray from the raffles. We leave for Sydney tomorrow.

November 26^th, Early start this morning, still had the car to pack, awning to put down etc. before being ready to leave. I walked around behind the car and noticed that I had no towbar! I knew that the towbar was attached to the car to pull the boat out of the water and was still there when we left for the Club last night. I did a quick search of the garbage bins around the area including the public park outside the fence. I was hoping it was only some practical joker. I then drove down to the Club to check around the grounds and report it to the Club Security Officer. No luck, I had to accept that my Hayman Reece Towbar had been STOLEN. I rang Sydney gateway Holiday Park and changed our booking to Monday and extended our stay at Dunleith Caravan Park to match. I still had the sway bars so Rob and myself went to a Caravan place near Erina to see what he could come up with to get me out of trouble. Rob knew the guy and had always found him helpful and honest. After a lot of raking around, he came up with 2 different length right angled support bars and a hitch mount for the sway bars and towing ball. Back at my Caravan we measured the required height of the tow ball and came up with an assembly that was OK. After returning the unused part to Erina, we did a final fit and tighten and installed a locking pin to prevent this problem from ever happening again. So, $163 later, a little wiser, and we were ready to leave for Sydney on Monday morning, until Rob came wandering over and asked me if I had tried the sway bar for fit. We had been told that they would fit the new hitch, but to be sure I tried them and “You Guessed It”, the locating lugs were too big. So out came the side grinder and after sparks flying in all directions and a lot of noise, I was definitely ready to leave.

The Entrance, October 2011

October 29^th, Dianne, Jessica and Annaliese came to the Sydney Gateway Holiday Park this morning for a final good-bye, before we left at 10am. The girls took the opportunity to play on the jumping pillow while Val and Dianne checked out the Saturday Markets put on by the permanent Residents. We checked into Dunleith Tourist Park for a 4 week stay and, after setting up, caught up with Carole and Rob who also arrived today. After a quick walk around the Park, we found a lot of regulars that we know are also here. I unloaded the boat off the car and started setting it up.

October 30^th, I finished setting up the boat, put it in the water and took it for a short run around the island, to make sure everything was in working order. No problems, so drove into shore and chained the tinnie up to the retaining wall. It is very windy and showery today so not my type of fishing weather.

October 31^st, First job today was to put my paperwork into Centrelink, then place our bets for tomorrows Melbourne Cup, at the TAB. I re-acquainted myself with the local Library and borrowed 3 Westerns, did a bit of shopping and checked out the entrance to the Lake. Surprisingly the entrance channel was the widest I have never seen it, 3 or 4 times wider than usual and the locals tell me it was opened out by the bad weather that they had recently. I arrived back at the Park to find that Val had done the washing and I was just in time to help hang it out. What lousy timing! Only kidding. Our good friends, Gwen and Neal, arrived today and are here for 3 days in a Cabin. After dinner we went to Carole and Rob’s Van for a game of “sequence” and wound up an enjoyable night around 12.30am. 

November 1^st, Typical Melbourne Cup weather today, overcast, windy and threatening rain. The girls dressed up for the occasion and as you can expect and looked very lovely, the guys did very little. The owner of the Park put on a “Melbourne Cup” Lunch for all the residents, free of charge, and provided an 8ft Fishing Rod and Reel as a lucky door prize, with our site number as entry. David and Cheryl (Managers) organized $2 Sweeps, the Tables, seating and booked caterers to provide the food. David dressed up as a (very tall) Jockey and Emceed the whole proceedings. We put a table together with Carole & Rob, Gwen & Neal, Val & Ken and Val & myself, and all enjoyed a great lunch with desert. Beer, Sparkling Wine, Orange Juice and soft drink were also provided. David did a fabulous job as emcee and had us all in stitches. They took up a collection of donations for the Starlight Foundation and raised $630, which was a very poor effort for 95 attendees. If everybody had put in just $10 each, very cheap meal and entertainment and a free raffle for a very good fishing rod, that would have been $950 for The Starlight Foundation.

November 2^nd, Finally the clouds cleared away and the sun was out, so I’m off for my first fishing expedition since I launched the Tinnie. Its sounds like I’m travelling a long way out to sea and in a huge sleek launch but in fact I’m only motoring about 50 metres out to fish by the bridge. Success! I caught my one and only fish, a 29cm Bream. We had a BBQ dinner tonight in the camp kitchen with our Melbourne Cup group and Terri & Patrick (friends of Carole and Rob), which was great. After dinner we played “Sequence” with Carole and Rob until the early hours of the morning.

November 3^rd, It rained all night and was wet and miserable, so we went to Bateau Bay to make enquiries at the Southern Cross Retirement Village, as we are now thinking to find an alternate option to The Fingal Bay Village, that is closer to the Family in Sydney. The area manager was away but is back at work next Monday, so we will ring for an appointment then. After putting away our shopping and having lunch, I went out fishing. This time I ventured to the other side of the bridge but the bites were few and far between, although I had caught a small bream and a flounder, which were throw backs. I moved back to the other side of the bridge and with the guidance of some people from the Caravan Park, who were walking across the Bridge, was able to cast a line into a large school of bream. The water was very clear and it was an amazing sight to watch these fish swimming along the shaded area under the bridge. Most of them were in too much of a hurry to stop to eat but I did manage to catch one beauty, who put up a great fight. It came in at 34cm and the fillets will do Val for 2 meals.

November 4^th, Went out for a fish at 5pm and caught 3 throwbacks and a 40cm bream. Val raced all around the Park showing the fish to everybody. It was the biggest bream I have ever caught and people in the Park were telling Val it was the biggest they had seen, caught in the lake, for a long time. Very exciting, it weighed in at 1 Kg.

November 5^th, Joan & Robert came down after lunch, with our mail. Nothing exciting, mostly Bills that I didn’t want. After catching up on all the news I had planned to take Robert out for a fish, but he didn’t have a current fishing licence and all our efforts to buy one failed, as it was late and all the shops were closed. We enjoyed a game of “sequence” after dinner.

November 7^th, Went out fishing after lunch and came in with 2 bream, 29 & 31cm. After dinner we had another “sequence” night with Carole and Rob.

November 8th, Sandra came down from Blue Haven this morning, for lunch with a water view. Fortunately we still had a water view to see, as there wasn’t anyone on the site behind us. It was great to catch up and Val got her fill of family news and gossip.

November 9^th, 10am we met with the Area Manager of the Southern Cross Retirement Village at Bateau Bay, to check out their accommodation and cost. We were thinking that this is an area we like and it is central to our group of friends and family. Both Val’s Mum and my Dad lived at the Southern Cross Head Office/Village, in Merrylands, Sydney. It was a good layout with all levels of Aged Care available on site, but the 2 bedroom Apartments were too small and the cost was more than we could afford. So it’s still Fingal Haven Retirement Village at Port Stephens, for now. We drove on to Erina Fair Shopping Centre for lunch and shopping.

November 11^th, Only caught a 28cm bream today, they are getting smaller each day. We went to the Bateau Bay Sports Club with Carole and Rob for raffles and dinner. We won a leg of lamb, first number drawn, and Val had a bit of luck on the Pokies and came home with $95.