Trip Leader advised us to meet at the Bouvard Tavern by 9.00! Thought that
was a bit early myself, seeing as it wasn’t a long trip and it is starting
to get a bit nippy in the mornings, but I was told that it is the early worm
that catches the fish.
Six vehicles turned up including 2 visitors, Greg Watts with son, Lachlan
and John Hollbrook who brought his father John Snr along. Also along for the
day were the Brinkleys, Kingstons and Rick Lazar plus entourage of kids. A
straight forward, short drive down to the beach, stopping to air down just
before the track became soft. It had been high tide at 7:30am, so we were
not expecting to be able to get very far along the beach, especially after
the extremely high tides experienced the week before. However, what others
might deem a little too risky, was no obstacle for Trip Leader, who pushed
on along the ever narrowing strip of beach between the dunes and ocean –
whilst TL’s passenger sat quietly with teeth, jaws and stomach gripped
tightly in a vice of ‘concern’
After much stomach churning (probably only 10 minutes or so) the beach
started broadening out a tad, and TL decided to pull up for us to do a bit
of fishing, just as the radio crackled into life advising Bruce had become
stuck with his wheels pointing towards the dunes. After airing down a little
bit more, a straightening of the wheels and a little bit of beach
‘reprofiling’ (digging ….. in other words!) he popped out and the rest of
the group caught up.
The wind was a bit fresh but the sun evened things out a bit. Our
Queenslander, Jude, was keen to show us she had had a fine upbringing and
was well acquainted with fishing rods and tackle and in no time had her
jeans rolled up and was casting out a fine lure. Determined as she was,
nothing was biting. It might have had something to do with the couple of
dolphins we spotted close to the shore, followed shortly after by something
else ‘large’ – I heard someone murmuring - possibly a shark? Richard
delighted some of us by unzipping the legs of his trousers, and exposing
strong masculine calves, however, his perseverance for fishing was
outmatched and it wasn’t long before he was seen to be packing up his gear
(left the calves out though! :)
Both the Johns caught a few sand whiting, with John Snr managing a
double-header
Rick earned himself brownie points, allowing his kids to bring along friends
(a tribe) and in no time they were swimming and exploring the dunes. Rick’s
daughter, Chelsa came out trumps with the largest fish of the day. TL
couldn’t help himself by commenting it still wouldn’t have fed a midget!
Other than that, there was not even a nibble and both the herring and salmon
were nowhere to be seen, so from a fishing point of view it was quite
disappointing. TL and Richard however did manage to get rid of some stinky
bait which had plagued their freezers for some months!
It was nice to get to meet our visitors. John Holbrook and John Snr, who are
keen fishermen. Greg, not a fisherman, was content to enjoy the drive and
scenery. When Jude eventually gave up on the fishing, she could be seen
entertaining Greg’s son, Lachlan, with a beach nature lesson. Not only a
keen fisherman, but natural grandma!
We enjoyed a good social lunch and decided to press on and see how much
further we could get towards Preston. Groan, I had thought we would be
heading back. But, turned out to be fine and the beach was navigable all the
way through to the Preston exit. We pulled up to the car pack to re air the tyres and Helen brought out a lovely home baked cake for arvo’s (TL will
love you forever). After a couple of group photos on the back of our new
camp vehicle (just checking it would take the weight of our soon to arrive
camper) we called it a day, and not a bad one at that, just as the rain
clouds crossed the coast.
Some of us, not in a rush to get home, made a small detour to “Brew 42”, a
microbrewery at Lake Clifton. TL wanted to make sure they were still brewing
up to their usual standard. They got our vote of approval and after
savouring our pints, and discussing the possibility of a future club camp in
their paddocks, we said our goodbyes and headed home.
All in all, I think it turned out a very pleasant and social ‘”anniversary”
run.
Trip Leader advised us to meet at the Bouvard Tavern by 9.00! Thought that
was a bit early myself, seeing as it wasn’t a long trip and it is starting
to get a bit nippy in the mornings, but I was told that it is the early worm
that catches the fish.
We enjoyed a good social lunch and decided to press on and see how much
further we could get towards Preston. Groan, I had thought we would be
heading back. But, turned out to be fine and the beach was navigable all the
way through to the Preston exit. We pulled up to the car pack to re air the tyres and Helen brought out a lovely home baked cake for arvo’s (TL will
love you forever). After a couple of group photos on the back of our new
camp vehicle (just checking it would take the weight of our soon to arrive
camper) we called it a day, and not a bad one at that, just as the rain
clouds crossed the coast.