The rest day on Friday was much needed. We read our books, wandered around Coffin Bay and enjoyed the view from the deck. In the afternoon we drove into Port Lincoln to collect my sister, Megan from the airport. Befor the flight arrived, we partook in a drink or two at long time friends, John and Mary's house. After Megan's flight arrived we were to have dinner at the Marina Hotel. Mum had booked a table, but Megan's flight was due to arrive only half an hour before the kitchen closed, so to be on the safe side, Paul and I went to the Hotel so we could order the food, while Mum and Dad waited at the airport for Megan's plane to arrive. Megan's plane suffered delay after delay, so Paul and I waited patiently with stomachs rumbling. We ordered the food at the final moment and it came out to the table before anyone had arrived. We managed to send it back to keep warm in the kitchen, but fortunately not long afterwards, the rest of the party arrived and the food hadn't suffered too much from the delay.
Saturday was another day out in the boat, but we were trying a new fishing spot based on a tip from another fisherman. Boy that tip paid off. That day I caught 2 dozen large garfish and we all bagged a decent share of whiting. There wasn't a bite from a sh**tie all day. Another fantastic part of the day, was the 5 pods of dolphins we saw fishing nearby. Some came close to the boat and I felt quite honoured to be so close to such beautiful animals.
On Sunday, we thought we'd have another relaxing day and I decided I wanted a swim. I got changed into my bathers and sarong and we all piled into the car on a quest to find a beach where I could swim and the others could read. We had a pleasant drive up the coast to Dutton Bay, but decided that the best looking beach was the other side of Coffin Bay. So back we drove again. When we got there, I took off my sarong and waded out, and out, and out, and out. I was 20 metres out to sea and the water had only just got up to my knees. So much for swimming. I collected a couple of pretty shells and headed back to the car, rescuing Paulie from hundreds of miniature crabs on the way.
In the afternoon, Mum and Dad drove Megs back to the airport and Paulie and I decided to have dinner at the yacht club. Gosh, it was a real country town experience! For starters, the place is staffed by volunteers, it has a salad bar full of the old favourites that you remember from bbq's of your youth, you sit at long fake wood laminate tables in plastic chairs, and finally Paul and I would have been the youngest in there by about 20 years. The food, however was great and such good value for money.
We ventured out in the boat again on Monday, but with strict instructions not to be too late as we were having people over for dinner. At first we did a spot of trolling out near "the brothers" in the hope of catching some big salmon trout. That didn't eventuate, so we decided to anchor up in a bay not too far away and try for some whiting. We were actually pretty successful in that venture and ended up with quite a good number. We were a little late back, but managed to get cleaned up in time to greet our guests, Andre and Jenny, more long time friends of Mum and Dad's.
We had chosen to have a slightly different fishing experience on Tuesday. We met up with John and Mary at Second Creek for a BBQ on the beach, fishing out in John's tinny and shore fishing. There were only three in the boat at any one time, and so Paul and I swapped positions at lunch time. There weren't many fish biting on the bottom, so the boat party focussed on squidding. We caught 7 in total and I caught 2 of them. I was pretty pleased with my effort. I remember someone telling me how ugly squid are and my response was that you've obviously never seen one in the water. They're such elegant creatures when they glide through the water. I didn't do any fishing off the shore. Mum and Paul had a go, but only Mum caught a salmon trout and he was too small so had to go back.
Wednesday was the final opportunity to go out in the boat. There was a dodge tide due on Thursday, which means the fish don't bite and we were due to fly home on Friday. We fished in different areas again - Farm Beach, Gallipoli and Frenchman's. The middle of the three, thus named as that's where the movie was filmed. So it was a bit of a touristy day. We did well with the whiting at the beginning and even caught two squid, but then they went off the boil as the tide was really slow to turn. Dad tried to kill me at one stage by having us drop anchor in 15 metres of water. The dropping of the anchor was fine, but when it came time to haul it in, it was not so fine. I felt like I'd run a marathon. It was a good place for a lunch break though, even if the fish biting, did keep interrupting my sandwich!
We had a relatively early start to our lay day on Thursday. It was forecast to be hot, but we wanted to walk the Oyster Trail to the top of the look out. We headed out before the heat of the day, and made it back in time for the 10:30 opening of the coffee shop. Yes, that's correct - you can't get proper coffee in Coffin Bay before 10:30 unless you make it yourself. And that's only on Wednesday-Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday, you're left to your own devices entirely. It's hard getting used to the country twon ways when you've been spoiled for choice in the city.
Anyway, the walk was lovely. The water was peaceful and we came across a couple of kingfishers and a heron in the shallows and a couple of roos on the trail. We had planned to have a pizza for lunch from the local pizza place which had come highly recommended. However, as we run by small town ours, the pizza place had decided to open late that day, so we had to make other plans. So off we went to the Oyster Boat sheds and found somewhere selling fresh oysters. I ordered $20 worth, which turned out to be 40, plus I got a free lesson in how to open them without hurting yourself and a free taste test. We stopped by the butcher on the way home where I picked up fresh bacon and parmesan to have on top of the oysters. Well, it wasn't gourmet pizza, but we had to make do with what we had at hand. Hehehe!
Friday was our final day. We packed up our suitcases and headed into Port Lincoln, where the airport is. We had coffee at the marina and watched the boats coming in and going out and then went to Delacolline winery for lunch where we had 2 tasting plates to share for lunch. One seafood and one standard antipasto fare. They were both delicious!
We got to the airport at 3pm for our 4pm flight. Okay, so we were a little early, but I don't like being rushed when I'm flying. Unfortunately the plane hit birds when it was landing at the airport so we had to wait for an engineer to assess the plane before we could take off. We were first told there would be a short delay, then a longer one and then told our flight would be cancelled and the next would be delayed until 8pm. We rushed to the counter to try and get on the 8pm flight and were fortunately 2 of the 13 passengers who made it on to the flight. Phew! Mum and Dad had hung around in Lincoln waiting to hear from us to see if they needed to take us back to Coffin Bay for another night, so when we got onto the 8pm flight, I promptly called them and asked them to bring us something to eat as we couldn't leave because there was no guarantee that that flight wouldn't be cancelled as the engineer still hadn't arrived to inspect the plane. Our saviours came baring pizza and garlic bread - and enough of it to feed 3 other people and 2 small children. It was very much appreciated by all.
Finally at 7:30 the engineer arrived and gave the all clear after about a 10 minute inspection. We boarded the flight at around 7:50 but we sat on the tarmac for what felt like an eternity. Finally we were in the air at 8:20 and on our way to pick up our new puppy at 9:15... but that's another story for another day! It's late and well past my bedtime. Hopefully I'll be up to date and ready to post some photos on the Easter long weekend.
Saturday was another day out in the boat, but we were trying a new fishing spot based on a tip from another fisherman. Boy that tip paid off. That day I caught 2 dozen large garfish and we all bagged a decent share of whiting. There wasn't a bite from a sh**tie all day. Another fantastic part of the day, was the 5 pods of dolphins we saw fishing nearby. Some came close to the boat and I felt quite honoured to be so close to such beautiful animals.
On Sunday, we thought we'd have another relaxing day and I decided I wanted a swim. I got changed into my bathers and sarong and we all piled into the car on a quest to find a beach where I could swim and the others could read. We had a pleasant drive up the coast to Dutton Bay, but decided that the best looking beach was the other side of Coffin Bay. So back we drove again. When we got there, I took off my sarong and waded out, and out, and out, and out. I was 20 metres out to sea and the water had only just got up to my knees. So much for swimming. I collected a couple of pretty shells and headed back to the car, rescuing Paulie from hundreds of miniature crabs on the way.
In the afternoon, Mum and Dad drove Megs back to the airport and Paulie and I decided to have dinner at the yacht club. Gosh, it was a real country town experience! For starters, the place is staffed by volunteers, it has a salad bar full of the old favourites that you remember from bbq's of your youth, you sit at long fake wood laminate tables in plastic chairs, and finally Paul and I would have been the youngest in there by about 20 years. The food, however was great and such good value for money.
We ventured out in the boat again on Monday, but with strict instructions not to be too late as we were having people over for dinner. At first we did a spot of trolling out near "the brothers" in the hope of catching some big salmon trout. That didn't eventuate, so we decided to anchor up in a bay not too far away and try for some whiting. We were actually pretty successful in that venture and ended up with quite a good number. We were a little late back, but managed to get cleaned up in time to greet our guests, Andre and Jenny, more long time friends of Mum and Dad's.
We had chosen to have a slightly different fishing experience on Tuesday. We met up with John and Mary at Second Creek for a BBQ on the beach, fishing out in John's tinny and shore fishing. There were only three in the boat at any one time, and so Paul and I swapped positions at lunch time. There weren't many fish biting on the bottom, so the boat party focussed on squidding. We caught 7 in total and I caught 2 of them. I was pretty pleased with my effort. I remember someone telling me how ugly squid are and my response was that you've obviously never seen one in the water. They're such elegant creatures when they glide through the water. I didn't do any fishing off the shore. Mum and Paul had a go, but only Mum caught a salmon trout and he was too small so had to go back.
Wednesday was the final opportunity to go out in the boat. There was a dodge tide due on Thursday, which means the fish don't bite and we were due to fly home on Friday. We fished in different areas again - Farm Beach, Gallipoli and Frenchman's. The middle of the three, thus named as that's where the movie was filmed. So it was a bit of a touristy day. We did well with the whiting at the beginning and even caught two squid, but then they went off the boil as the tide was really slow to turn. Dad tried to kill me at one stage by having us drop anchor in 15 metres of water. The dropping of the anchor was fine, but when it came time to haul it in, it was not so fine. I felt like I'd run a marathon. It was a good place for a lunch break though, even if the fish biting, did keep interrupting my sandwich!
We had a relatively early start to our lay day on Thursday. It was forecast to be hot, but we wanted to walk the Oyster Trail to the top of the look out. We headed out before the heat of the day, and made it back in time for the 10:30 opening of the coffee shop. Yes, that's correct - you can't get proper coffee in Coffin Bay before 10:30 unless you make it yourself. And that's only on Wednesday-Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday, you're left to your own devices entirely. It's hard getting used to the country twon ways when you've been spoiled for choice in the city.
Anyway, the walk was lovely. The water was peaceful and we came across a couple of kingfishers and a heron in the shallows and a couple of roos on the trail. We had planned to have a pizza for lunch from the local pizza place which had come highly recommended. However, as we run by small town ours, the pizza place had decided to open late that day, so we had to make other plans. So off we went to the Oyster Boat sheds and found somewhere selling fresh oysters. I ordered $20 worth, which turned out to be 40, plus I got a free lesson in how to open them without hurting yourself and a free taste test. We stopped by the butcher on the way home where I picked up fresh bacon and parmesan to have on top of the oysters. Well, it wasn't gourmet pizza, but we had to make do with what we had at hand. Hehehe!
Friday was our final day. We packed up our suitcases and headed into Port Lincoln, where the airport is. We had coffee at the marina and watched the boats coming in and going out and then went to Delacolline winery for lunch where we had 2 tasting plates to share for lunch. One seafood and one standard antipasto fare. They were both delicious!
We got to the airport at 3pm for our 4pm flight. Okay, so we were a little early, but I don't like being rushed when I'm flying. Unfortunately the plane hit birds when it was landing at the airport so we had to wait for an engineer to assess the plane before we could take off. We were first told there would be a short delay, then a longer one and then told our flight would be cancelled and the next would be delayed until 8pm. We rushed to the counter to try and get on the 8pm flight and were fortunately 2 of the 13 passengers who made it on to the flight. Phew! Mum and Dad had hung around in Lincoln waiting to hear from us to see if they needed to take us back to Coffin Bay for another night, so when we got onto the 8pm flight, I promptly called them and asked them to bring us something to eat as we couldn't leave because there was no guarantee that that flight wouldn't be cancelled as the engineer still hadn't arrived to inspect the plane. Our saviours came baring pizza and garlic bread - and enough of it to feed 3 other people and 2 small children. It was very much appreciated by all.
Finally at 7:30 the engineer arrived and gave the all clear after about a 10 minute inspection. We boarded the flight at around 7:50 but we sat on the tarmac for what felt like an eternity. Finally we were in the air at 8:20 and on our way to pick up our new puppy at 9:15... but that's another story for another day! It's late and well past my bedtime. Hopefully I'll be up to date and ready to post some photos on the Easter long weekend.
Your trip sounds great. I love fishing, although I've never fished in saltwater. I'd love to take a fishing vacation.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great relaxing time.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing photos of your new addition.