Hooked Up In T'Ville!

Hello from Townsville! We finally managed to get the photos off our old camera so here are a couple of underwater shots from Opal Reef off Port Douglas that we managed to snap before the camera shat itself!

Although, we were worried that we might encounter some of these guys in the water! The lycra suit is supplied to ward off stingers but they forgot to give us the knife. Luckily we didn't run into some of these nasty ones!

After all the excitement of Brons' first barramundi at Bluemetal Creek he wasn't fully satisfied so he did it all over again and managed to bag another Barra, a Mangrove Jack and a nice Flatehead as well. Ruth caught nothing! The rain was not really letting up and we got rather soggy one night walking back to camp after and evening fish, so we packed up and drove to Townsville to spend some time with Cousin Regan.

We've had a week in Townsville now and Rene has been looking after us too well and we don't want to go. It's been great catching up with Rene and little William. We have been using her place as a base to go fishing about the area. We have checked out a few places (Reid River, Majors Creek (down towards Charters Towers), Crystal Creek, Toolakea Beach, Saunders Beach, Pallarenda Beach and a couple of spots on the Ross River (Aplins Weir). All we have managed to turn up are a couple of Sooty Grunter at Reid River and a few Tarpon at Aplins Weir. Not big fellas but lots of fun on the smaller fly rods and our first Tarps for the trip.

Here's one of the little fellas.

And here is a bit of by catch!

Ouch and Bugger this one hurt. Abandoned the fishing for the day after this incident. Headed to home to see if Nurse Rene could extract the hook. It was in pretty deep and despite considerable yanking it wasn't going anywhere. Off to the Townsville hospital! Had to have a ring block put in to extract it and a tetanus shot for good measure but all is good now. Oh just in case you were wondering it's Ruth's finger.

Brons has been busy the last day or so changing the head gasket on Lulu. We decided to change it seeing we have been loosing water over the last week or so. Although we only have 1400km to go we didn't really want Lulu to die prematurely. Will be sad to leave Rene and Will. We have been totally spoilt with beautiful food and lovely hospitality. We'll probably hit the road on Saturday and head to Ayr where we hear there is some good flats fishing.

Bronson finally caught a barra!

Yep it's true! But first, where were we...? After browsing the markets at Port Douglas where we acquired some very tasty coffee choc bits, we headed not far from town and camped at a no camping site (with a few other campers) near Yule Point. The wind was atrocious so no fishing was had. The next day we packed up and headed into Cairns to re-stock the fridge and buy a new camera. From there we made for a little place called Babinda with a rest stop beside the river. The weather was pretty ordinary with plenty of rain. We managed to have a bit of a fish in the river and each caught a few small fish called Mouth Almighty. They look alot like little barra and true to their name they have one helluva mouth on them. After a pretty wet sort of an night we made our way back to Blue Metal Creek where Poppet got her barra with the aim of getting a few more. That was yesterday and after a late afternoon session we returned to camp empty handed. This morning we woke to more rain which wasn't heavy enough to dissuade us from going for a fish. Not long into the session and Bronson was on. It didn't prove to be a big fish but importantly it was a barra and that was the main thing! The rest of session didn't see us catch any more but we'll be heading back out this afternoon for another go! Will probably spend another couple of nights here before making our way to Townsville to catch up with cousin Regan for a few days. Hopefully we'll have a few more fish to report!

How happy is this guy?!

The return journey begins...

Not much to report from Cooktown. We stayed for a night at Little Annan river but could not tempt any fish from the waters. So south we went, stopping at the "Mighty" Palmer River roadhouse for a toasted sanga and a beer. We settled for the evening a half hour from Mossman in a little bird watching sanctuary by the side of the road. When we woke the next morning, the temperature was a very chilly 8 degrees. Aren't we supposed to be in the tropics? It was freezing, we're not sure how we're going to cope with southern temperatures again! From Mossman we headed into Cooyah Beach hoping to find some tarpon at the mouth of the Mossman River. We saw one or two decent fish but all we came up with were a little moses perch and a flounder! We headed back into Mossman for a couple of supplies and headed to a picnic area to do a bit of research. Here we bumped into one of the local personalities. A charming aboriginal chap who called himself "Stan the Man". Stan appeared to have reached a state of inebriation hard core alcoholics could only dream of. Most of his rambling was somewhat incoherent but through his remaining cracked and discoloured teeth we were able to decipher a few words including often repeated declarations of love for us both! Plus he thought Bronson was "queer" because he didn't have any children. We hastily bid farewell to Stan and his overpowering aroma (we agreed he may well not have heard of a little invention called "soap"), and made our way into Port Douglas. We booked a couple of nights accommodation at a backpackers resort called Dougies. Not a bad spot, alot cheaper than a caravan park and with better facilities. Yesterday we took a cruise out to the Barrier Reef and did some snorkeling. It was absolutely fantastic and we had hoped to post some beautiful photos had our water proof camera not shit itself. Apparently it isn't as waterproof as the manufacturers claim them to be. It would seem it's a common problem made worse by the fact ours is 18 months old and no longer covered by warranty. Not happy Jan. Now we have no camera. So now we're sitting out front of the bar at Dougies, about to head into town to check out the markets. then we might head down the road abit and see if we can find some more fish! Be good peoples!

Lulu's most northern point

Well it's been a while since our last blog. From Bluemetal Creek we headed further north but we stopped off for a spot of bridge fishing on the way. As we were driving past the Russell River I thought to myself that sandy bar over there looks like a good spot to have a fish, then moments later Brons hit the brakes saying "Croc!". On that nice sandy bank was our first confirmed sighting of a croc. Not a big fella but made that nice little fishing spot appear not so nice anymore. We saw heaps of fish off the bridge and the 10m drop wasn't enough to stop Brons from heading back to Lulu to collect a rod. A couple of tricky casts later and he had hooked into what we think was a jungle perch but we're not entirely sure. Then to the Boulders (it had been a couple of days without a wash) for a swim. The water was crystal clear and deceptively deep. A brisk swim across the river and back and we were all clean again! Then onto Goldsborough State Forest where we ended up staying three nights (it was a public holiday up here and nothing would be open to restock the fridge). Here we floated down the river a couple of times, again the water was clear as and we were all set for a spot of fishing until we found out how deep it was and that wading wasn't an option.

Then onto Cairns to restock and find a second hand book shop to do a spot of trading. We then headed north to Barron Gorge for a night but called into Machans Beach along the way to check it out for fishing options. Didn't fish but looked ok for flats fishing on the right tide. Barron Gorge had a cold shower and no one else there. Up early and hit the road checking out some fishing spots along the way. Yule Point didn't look as great

as the fellows on Brons' fly fishing forum had made out so we kept on going to 4 Mile Beach. Here we trudged through the mud (knee deep in spots) in bare feet to the mouth of the Mowbray. Here there was more mud, heaps of oyster covered rocks and angry crabs trying to attack. Brons landed a small GT and we found an aerobee on the beach. Off to Cooya beach to inspect the mouth of the Mosman (apparently a hot spot for tarpon). Ended up at Newell to have a look at the mouth (bit of a walk from Cooya) and ended up camping here for the night in a no camping area. That night it hit, think we had some dodgy water at Barron Gorge! A couple of emergency toilet runs and madly foraging for toilet paper in lulu and we were ok. The next morning we noticed that in the rampant foraging that we had knocked the fridge plug out and it had been off all night. Better throw out that chicken to be safe! Fished early and didn't turn anything up.

Headed to Mossman for supplies and then onto the ferry to cross the Daintree River and headed up to Cape Tribulation. We camped at Noah beach for four nights in amongst the fireflies and had some really good fishing. The best thus far. We fished the mouth of Noah Creek which was about 20 min walk from camp. Here we caught dart after dart and occasionally hooked into something a wee bit better. We managed a couple of GTs, a couple of long toms, Brons got a very nice Queen fish and Ruth lost a diamond trevalley. A great spot but a bit variable it didn't turn on quite as well the next day at the same time in the tide, the locals also told us about a 5m croc that lives just near where we were fishing! Think this area might be another hotspot for nudists, there was a lot of wang and boobie out action on the beach there! We also fished Myall Creek mouth but only managed a small cod and some baby GTs. We headed out early leaving probably our favourite place in Qld so far, to get some more supplies and head up to Cooktown.

Bit of a boring drive to Cooktown going the conventional vehicle way but we made it and headed out to Archer Point to camp and hopefully fish. The road was 4x4 only but Lulu managed to cross the creeks and negotiate the pot holes ok. Here we camped right on the beach in amongst the coconuts and managed a little bit of fishing before the wind started. Wow it's blowy up here. We fished a small inlet around in the next bay from where we camped. A bloke we met who has been camping there for a month or so said there had been a fair bit of croc activity there recently, and he was right! We saw some lay marks in the sand and one just over the creek from where we were fishing, but we think we scared him more than he scared us. We saw a couple of decent fish in the creek, we rec

kon they were barra but didn't catch them. Brons caught several baby Moses perch and Ruth another small cod. We took a walk up to the lighthouse on the point and just about got blown into Cooktown. Couldn't excite anything off the reef with a popper so we are now in Cooktown bloggin.

Ruth's first GT. Best for trip so far!

A nice Queenfish from Noah Beach.

Lulu fjording a stream to get to Archer Pt.

Should we really be fishing here?!

An amusing site on our way into Cape Tribulation.