Tag Archives: Sharks

Far North Queensland

The Final Adventures At A Home Away From Home

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After the intermission back on Thursday Island,​ we restocked the boat, left Steve’s baby ducklings at home and made our way back to Prince of Wales.  This time Mark and Rach joined us.   As we docked on the beach, Steve spotted birds hunting bait fish on the surface about 300m away.  Seeing this only meant one thing, bigger predators coming up to eat them!  As we shot back out with our fishing gear, Steve threw a lure in.  Within 2 seconds he had a fish on the line and reeled it up onto the boat.  Catching a reasonably large queeny, lead to us repeating the process and chasing groups of birds.  After sucessfully catching 5 big queen fish, Mark, Stu and Steve retired for dinner.

Dirk and Tanya had the three of us over for a meal that night where they put on a delicious spread.  After enjoying marinated pork wrapped in lettuce for entree, the real unique dish was for mains.  A tasty turtle soup was cooked by Dirk. We definitely didn’t let any of the suprisingly chewy sea creature go to waste.

As our cruisy lifestyle continued on P.o.W, we disappeared into the bush for a wood run taking the old island bomb of a car (both front seats weren’t bolted in).  As usual, the hand reels were already in and were left in Steve’s more than capable hands.  Only minutes prior to our return, he had pulled in a giant Cobia!  This fish is rarely seen swimming around the shallows where we had caught it, it was definitely a treat!  The next wood run we did, we generously hung his Cobia skeleton in a tree as a trophy for any others to gawk at as they pass by.  

As the tide was at a perfect height, we had a crack at skurfing.  After seeing a croc and catching deadly sharks in the same waters, we were slightly unsure.  Reassured by watching both Steve and Mark (brother) standing up on the surfboard being towed by the boat, we gave it a go.  Not being able to stand up after giving it a solid crack, our arms ached after some classic stacks.  Mark making it to his knees was an accomplishment.  We definitely felt like sitting ducks after coming off the board in the ocean.  The boat seemed to take forever to swing back to pick us up.

One last boat fishing venture to catch more queenies lead to bundles of laughter.  We had to traul with the rod as it was choppy with a big swell causing water to lap continuously in the boat.  With every fish we pulled in, we gained more and more water.  On our forth catch, we bled him out and could swear it was still swimming as the water level was so high.  As Mark pulled in another, a dark shadow loomed around the fish and before we knew it, it jumped 2m into the air!  A quick realisation was that this ominous figure was a shark chasing Mark’s fish, but managed to pull it in before the shark had a meal!  Stu wasn’t so lucky as the shark returned and took his entire fish, lure and all!  Having taken on too much water we had to return, still having a successful catch!

As the others had to return to Thursday Island, we continued our stay for more lazy days.  That evening we kept getting baited on the hand reels.  Mark using a smaller hook caught one of these buggers.  Throwing him in whole as bait, it wasn’t long until the reel went off and Stu was pulling in another decent shark!  Having tasted everything else from the ocean, we decided to fillet him.  The next morning we had the most freshest beer battered flake that we had ever tasted.  As we fried most fish from here, it was a little change from our previous numus feeds (queen fish in vinegar, onions, tomatos, soy sauce and chilli).

On our final day at Prince of Wales, we went to visit the old homestead and waterhole.  Only a stones throw away from the house this was a great expedition.  Stu got us onto Roothy’s 4×4 fire pie that we had to try!  We opened up the frozen pie and filled it with onion, ham and cheese, wrapped it in foil and chucked this marvelous creation into the fire.   Lets just say, it has become a camping tradition.  Dirk came around to say goodbye and have one last hoorah as we sunk froffies around the fire on the beach.  Steve greeted us the next morning with his boat, unfortunately at low tide.  Feeling a little rusty, we had a small mission loading the car and carting our bags down the beach, out to his boat.

Back on T.I the Winds of Zenadth Cultural Festival were in full swing.  Going for a stroll down mainstreet there were random dances happening through the town, anzac park and later in the evening on the footy oval – set up like a school fete.  Exploring through a small display village with huts of various sizes made for a good look into their history.  It seemed like the entire Island congregated together at the oval as night fell.  With all the Islanders dressed up in their costumes, we were in for a treat as this festival only happens every second year!  Even the Injinoo tribe from mainland came along with their fascinating dances.  As this spectacular event was happening before us, we were entertained while Will was bopping everyone with his blow up bat.

Hearing Horn Island was enriched with WW2 events, we paid $65 for a tour over to this historical location.  As the ferry slowly chugged over, we were met with disapointment.  We had a ‘cafe’ lunch consisting of a basic take-away sandwich with a lamington and drink included in the price.  After eating, we were dumped in the museum for an hour to be bombarded with a ridiculous level of small text.  Skimming through here the tour guide then took us for an hour around the Island.  Feeling we weren’t at points of interest for very long, he was keener to talk about how a Bendigo Bank was declined on Thursday Island than the war history.  Pointing out some information along the way, it definitely would of been interesting to go into more depth.  One fact we did learn was that barrels were rolled onto the airstrip in war times so enemy pilots couldn’t land without crashing. Good information but wasn’t $65 worth.  Oh well, we wouldnt recommend this one.

After one last homemade meal by Jess, we had a final mission to jag some more mud crabs.  As full moon was approaching, we went out at night during low tide.  We waded around in the shallows (after doing a quick croc check), torches in hand and spear with the designated hunter.  Out for a solid 3 hours we all had a crack at spearing with a bounty of 3 shovel head sharks and 5 crabs.  Two crabs unfortunately escaped as we were trying to grab them by hand, learning next time just spear it!  Cooking them up on our return, it wasn’t until 1:30am we were devouring an awesome mud crab feast.

The last full day on Thursday Island had came along too quick.  Being traditionally late with ‘T.I time’, we watched a parade down mainstreet and model canoe races as the festival was wrapping up. We went for a final explore around the Island and then played cards after a cheap $10 lunch.  One last pub meal with Jess, Steve and the boys, found us kicking on to watch the Doggies destroy Hawks in the semi finals.  What a night we had to remember…

As all good things must come to an end, we packed our bags and said fairwell to our lovely hosts.  They were very accomodating and we had an absolute blast during all of our moments shared with them on T.I and P.o.W.  This was definitely a one of a kind experience.

Departing back on the Peddel’s Ferry we made it back to our faithful beasts left at Loyalty.  Happy to see Big Red had been guarding them the whole time, they were untouched as we went to tick them over.  Unfortunately Stu was getting no response from Woody.  Being able to roll start him and make it to a camp spot, it seemed like we may be staying on the Cape for a little longer than planned…

10/09/2016 – 19/09/2016

Far North Queensland

A Great Mission To Thursday Island & Prince Of Wales

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Having to wake up at the crack of dawn to pack our bags, we left Buzz and Woody at the Loyalty Beach Campground – free of charge!  With only a $5 shuttle bus fee we met the Peddels Ferry at 8:00am that took us over to Thursday Island.  As other tourists went to meet their tour buses, we had Marko’s cousin Jess, her partner Steve and their beautiful boys Will and Ed meet us at the wharf.

Doing a quick drive-by down the small island’s mainstreet, we were shown everything we need to know, in particular where each pub was.  Arriving at their home we met Steve’s brother Mark, his wife Rach and their daughter Lily.  As we walked in their door at 10:30am, beers were flowing and there was plenty to catch up on.  After spending the day settling in, it wasn’t long before late arvo was upon us.  Agreeing to help Mark with a generator at their neighbours place on Prince Of Wale we headed out on the boat.

The plan was a quick trip to drop off a generator and show us around the place.  This however, ended up being an adventure of its own!  Before we knew it, we met their other neighbours Dirk and Tanya (along with their kids) and then a fire was lit up on the beach!  Becoming very comfortable we were lucky to share some Dugong ribs cooked on the fire and helped drink a couple of slabs with the crew.  As time flew by, it was 12:30am as we burnt back to T.I.  The night was so dark but as we gazed up to the night sky it was lit up by an abundance of stars.  We were even spoilt on our return as Jess had prepared and made us enchiladas for dinner!

Waking up a little sketchy the next day, we planned our return trip to P.o.W.  This time we were going to stay for a long stint with Jess & Steve joining us with the boys.  Thinking it was going to be a peaceful quiet rest from civilisation as we had the entire Collis Beach to ourselves, we were incredibly wrong as one activity flowed into another.

We pulled up on shore late arvo to do some unpacking and then headed straight back down to the couches where a fire on the foreshore became second nature.  Steve was quick to introduce us to fishing with hand reels from the bank.  We had three lines in and used a stick to stop them being pulled into the ocean.  After a few vb tins were consumed, we dropped them in the middle of the reel to make one hell of an alarm system.  Before we even had a chance to sink into the couches, the reels were going off!!  Beginners to this technique, I’m sure Steve had a laugh as we unsuccessfully pulled the first few in.  Snapping lines or the fish ‘blowing’ our bait was a common occurance.  Threading metal tracers on the end of our line to increase its strength, we were pulling in sharks before we knew it!  As they were only small, we didn’t bother keeping them but we were still having a blast. 

As we used the torches to light up the horizon, Steve spotted two glowing red eyes.  Unsure at first, he quickly determined that it was a croc!  Only 100m from us we slowly walked along the beach to get a better look.  As we were about 20m from him we had a decent view.  As he picked up on our scent, he popped up for one last viewing before shooting away.  Fortunately we didn’t see him again.

The next day Steve showed Mark how to use the casting net and was lucky enough to catch some small bait for that nights hand reels.  We had to drop back to T.I to grab some necessities left behind (frozen pies and dim sims!)  As we exited the boat at P.o.W, Mark totally misjudged the depth and face planted into the ocean with the esky and shopping bags.  Regathering ourselves, we went out on the boat for a short fishing venture.  Steve with his rod and the rest of us with hand reels, the tally was Steve 5 (including a coral trout), Mark 1 and Stu & Nay unfortunately 0, although they had heaps of nibbles.  On our return, we were greeted with some delicious varieties of homemade sushi that Jess had whipped up!

That afternoon Mark went for a walk at low tide along the rocks and spotted dozens of Blacklip Oysters.  Coming back with Steve, a hammer and large screwdriver, they began chipping them off.  Jagging enough for a good feed, we threw them on the bbq that night until they just popped open.  After enjoying an oyster entree, we cooked up the smaller fish from the catch earlier that day.  We couldn’t of eaten them any fresher!

The next animal on the menu was the tasty, yet elusive, mud crab.  Steve, keen for a feed, took us out to go hunting on low tide at Friday Island.  Creeping through the mosquito infested mangroves, we looked for freshly hollowed homes and went digging and lifting logs.  After about 1000 mozzie bites, we came out the other side successful!  With 5 crabs and a dozen snail shells (an interesting delicacy) we returned to P.o.W.  Just as we seemed to be running low on petrol, the tide still hadn’t had time to rise and we found ourselves jumping out and pushing the boat as Steve sat on the side.  Still a successful mission, we shot past the pearl farm on the way back before having a feast of crab on the foreshore.

That night with our steel tracers still on the hand reels, we had a serious bite as the tins went rattling.  Mark jumped on the hand reel and began pulling it in.  Giving one hell of a fight, the unknown of what was on the other end had everyone is suspense.  As it came closer to shore we discovered it was a dirty big shark on the end of the line!  Pulling him onto the beach for a photo, he was much too big to worry about filleting.  Mark pulled him back into the water by his tail and our shark mate sped away to live another day!  After this big boy was caught, Nay and Stu were next to catch two smaller sharks that also had the Rex Hunt treatment. 

Jess, Steve and the boys departed us after these action packed days.  Leaving us here for another couple of lazy days where we fished (a little successful), lounged on the deck and generally relaxed.  Their neighbour Dirk had a suprise for us and dropped by one night with some beers and crayfish!  He joined us around the fire as we threw them on the hotplate.  Before we knew it, another exotic seafood creature was being consumed!  Somehow the goon came out as Mark was napping on the couch.  Once Stu flashed this in front of his face, a second wind came about and we all partied until 3:30am!

Heading back to T.I for the football finals of Geelong vs Hawthorn, we also caught a glimpse of the Cultural Day of the local primary school.  We watched the students parade down the mainstreet and dance at Anzac Park.  Retiring to the Jardine Hotel for a meal meant we could use their pool as Jess and the boys joined us for an afternoon swim!

As Saturday rolled by again, we lazed around Thursday Island and checked out the historial Green Hill Fort along with the old cemetery (home of very impressive tomb stones of old japanese pearl divers).  After a week had flown by so quickly on this magical little island, we thought we’d stay for a second…

03/10/2016 – 10/10/2016

Coastal Queensland

A Deep Exploration On The Great Barrier Reef!

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Waking up that Monday felt like we were back at school again.  Waiting out the front of Cairns Holiday Park, our bus arrived to take us to Cairns Dive Centre.  Upon arrivial we met our wacky diving instructor Ethan, who was up for a good yarn.  With only 3 other students in the class, we smashed through the morning theory/videos, with Ethan’s out-there stories about past dives helping our labourious paperwork.  Before we knew it we were in the pool completing some basic swimming and treading excerises before the next stage.

The time had come when we were introduced to our diving equipment which was incredibly exciting.  All geared up for our first test, we were to go against all we have been taught, breathing underwater.  It was simply inhaling and exhaling through our regulators but without goggles on.  As Nay soared through flying colours with no hesitation, Mark on the other hand shot up after 5 seconds as his mind was playing tricks on him.  After another couple of tries, we were all under and having a blast.

The second day we completed a few more basic exercises underwater in the pool.  This included removing our regulators and replacing them, removing our goggles and clearing them, removing our BCD (lifejacket) and some emergency procedures.  Once these were ticked off by Ethan, he then taught us how to became neutrally boyant (practically zero gravity).  From here he made sure we all swam at an even level and once confident we were doing laps 4m below waterlevel!  After having a blast underwater we had a little more theory to tick off and before we knew it our final exam was complete!

The next day was what we were here for, diving in the ocean at the Great Barrier Reef!  We had set ourselves up for 3 days on the Kangaroo Explorer (KE) with CDC having 9 dives which included a night dive!  After Ethan ran through the basic induction with his usual fan fair humour, we sat patiently like excited kids for two hours until it was time for our first ocean dive!

Gearing up and running through the necessary buddy check before diving, we performed a ‘giants stride’ from the diving platform into the ocean.  We were beside ourselves as we slowly descended from the back of the boat as a mixed emotion of fear and exhilliration took over.  The first sight we saw as we dropped below sea level was a great big barracoota!  Upon calming down, we continued to descend and put everything we’d learnt in the pool into practice.

As part of the course, we had to accomplish the skills learnt from the past two days in the ocean.  Once a few were done in each dive we spent the rest of our time underwater looking for cool sea creatures!  During the first dives we were lucky to see a little manta shrimp in his home (a deep hole about 50mm wide), a feather star (starfish with feather like points) and even a frog fish!  These were all pointed out by Ethan as most of the time we were distracted by the vast sea life and the pure amazement of diving in the ocean!!

Having Ethan knock on our door at an ungodly hour the following day, he was suprisingly already up and about in his bouncy mood!  Learning a second way of entering the water, we dropped in backwards off the boat (this definitely woke us up!)  Having a camera man on the Kangaroo Explorer, he joined us for a couple of dives while we continued our skills.  The previous night we were given some slate to draw on and take under water with us.  While being 14m underwater, we took turns in showing our slates as they were filmed.  It was a nifty idea and fun showing our creations!

While completing the skills of removing our goggles and regulator, we had an opportunity to wear sunnies and drink from an empty beer can.  As you can see Nay was looking super fly and Mark was getting jolly deep down at the Great Barrier Reef.  Having each dive last between 30-35mins it was always exciting once the course components were done and we cruised around.  At one stage Ethan showed us a brittle starfish.  Being ever so gentle, it floated onto our arms, crawled around on us and then made its way to the next diver.

It wasn’t long before our first 4 dives zoomed by and we had our open water certificate!  This allowed us to dive up to 18m without an instructor.  In our first free dive, as we buddied up with another classmate Mathieu, we were thrown literally, in the deep end.  Achieving a 44min dive, 16m deep, we were incredibly lost by the end and had no idea where to find the boat.  It wasn’t until we resurfaced that we found we were 150m away and we had to snorkel our way back as we’d run out of air in our tanks.  During the dive though, we had the best experience, seeing a stingray, copious amounts of fish (including nemo) and even two white tipped sharks – Mark unfortunately missed them.

Next up was the night dive!  Absolutely packing ourselves as we were briefed, there was still a rush of excitement among us.  With only a small handheld torch, we descended into the dark with only 5m visibility.  Close beside our buddies we went searching!  An amazing activity during the night was to shine our torches on little bait fish.  This points them out to the larger fish and there was neverending enjoyment watching these big boys chase their dinner.

Feeling like we were ‘lost in space’ with darkness surrounding us, we luckily found an epilept shark.  This small ground dwelling shark nests on the coral beds and has a secondary set of fins which enables him to crawl.  During our eerie night time exploration we spotted a green sea turtle swimming around us too.  With these two great sightings and the thrill of floating in ‘space’, the night dive was definitely one we were going to remember.

As all good things must come to an end, the final day we were looking like zombies.  Deciding to complete our advanced open water dive coarse (allowing up to 30m dives) which involved late night briefs, had our eyes glazing over.  Once we dived back in the water, we were alive again!

On our deep dive that took us to 26m we had a couple of fun activities.  Ethan brought an egg down with him and cracked it open.  Due to the density of the water at this depth, the egg yolk was intact and we took turns passing it around the circle.  It wasn’t long until the cheeky fish caught wind and snapped the egg out of Nays’ hand!  Also taking a tomato and apple to this depth turned them green (as the colour red doesn’t carry this deep through water).  We also had a small game of down ball with the apple and bounced it around on the sand!  After blowing up a decompressed 1.25l bottle of coke and banging it around, Ethan made a loud thumping noise with the bottle.  This apparently attracts sharks as 4 white tips came in to check us out!  The thrill of attracting these beasts outweighed being scared.

Two final dives remaining lead us to navigation skills and one final free dive.  The dive site we were on was unbelievably fun as there were tunnel systems throughout the bombies.  We swam through and navigated the wildlife and coral formations.  Being neutrally bouyant we took full opportunity to do flips at a depth of 18m.  It was mad fun!  Going through so many tunnel systems we definitely didn’t put our navigation skills to use as we lost the boat for a second time having another 100m swim back.  All part of the adventure!

There was a sad realisation on the Friday that our time was up.  Having to catch the charter boat back to Cairns we departed and left our newly found diving friends and hilarious instructor Ethan.  As holidays were ending for these new friends, ours was still continuing with a new companion.  Stu had arrived to join us on the road just as we left to go on the Kangaroo Explorer.  The next great achievement for us on the horizon was the tip of Australia…