Motorhome Travels - November 2010

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05/11/2010

The one good thing about being stuck in the city for weeks at a time is that it makes us appreciate the bush more. I am sorry to keep going on about it - but the more time I spend in the city, the less I like it.

For the last couple of weeks Tracey has been working (as an agency nurse) while I focus on some of our website work. It seems that nurses have to be able to prove that they have worked a number of hours in order to keep their nursing registration. This is the motivation for the early mornings and the driving through traffic and listening to city noise 24 hours each day.

For some reason that I can't seem to remember, we are in Welshpool which is very close to the Perth airport. Airplane noise combined with the normal city noise is starting to take it's toll on my sanity.

I am glad to say that there is light at the end of the tunnel ... the plan is to leave Perth next Thursday after Tracey's next specialist appointment, and head north in search of quiet.

The crayfish season starts on the 15th of November, and the plan is to help Ian (our cray-fisherman mate) load his boat and bring her to the mooring at Cliff Head. We then plan to do a bit of crayfishing ourselves before heading south to avoid the summer heat. It is really starting to warm up and yet again we are talking about air conditioning (not happening). I still can't see why we can't run our new diesel heater in reverse and suck heat OUT of the bus and put diesel into the tank. Now that would be a great invention.

In preparation for the season, we have been sorting out all our dive and snorkeling gear. New line for the faithful spear gun, new gloves and a new camo wetsuit. Now Tracey says I look like a w@#ker in a camo wetsuit - but I reckon it is more important what the fish think about it. After all, I didn't buy it to attract woman (although I personally think it looks quite sexy)!

I really did feel like a bit of a w@#ker the other day when I ran out of diesel on the freeway. I knew it was getting very low - but I didn't think it was that low. Of course it was peak hour traffic and I was running late, fortunately we always carry a 20 extra litres of diesel in a jerry can. This is to get us out of trouble when in very remote places - never thought that would have to put it in on the Perth freeway.

21/11/2010

Arriving at our camp site at Cliff Head was just great. It was a fairly quick trip north from Perth via Three Springs. Our friend Ian the cray-fisherman was furiously preparing for the opening of the season and we were very keen to catch a ride on his boat as he brought it down from Geraldton to the mooring at Cliff Head. As Tracey was not feeling the best and the weather was a bit rough, she decided not to join us on the boat. This turned out to be a good move as the sea was very rough for the first part of the trip. The wind and waves eased and the last hour of the boat trip was very pleasant.

Since arriving here, we have been snorkeling most days and there seems to be plenty of crayfish. We have picked up two or three most days and we can report that they taste fantastic.

We had a visit from Mike and Kate a couple of days ago. Mike has been reading our blog for long time and it was nice to catch up with these guys. It was very strange to meet people who knew all about us and we knew nothing of them.

Last night Ian (the fisherman) took us (blindfolded) to a secret beach fishing spot. It quickly became apparent why it is kept secret. We hauled in fish after fish as we enjoyed a few cold drinks and watched as the sun set on the western horizon at sea. Tracey was very happy to catch her first (and second) Mulloway. These are very sort-after fish that put up a tremendous fight. She was exhausted after landing the second one. Time just seemed to slip by on that beach and we were all very surprised to see that it was almost midnight when we got back to the camp.

The one thing I did forget was the camera - so you will just have to take our word about the fish.

BTW - the new wetsuit is working well and not attracting as much pointing and staring as expected! (I think the fish can still see me though - might be the bright yellow fins I wear ... I wonder if you can get those in camo?)

 

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