We woke up early and I rang mum for her birthday – I had to use Rod’s phone as this was the first place Optus was out of action. We still didn’t get away until 10-ish and we met up with Shane & Jayne again in town.
We stopped at IGA and got a few supplies and poked around town for a quick look and headed out towards the Bay of Fires. Rumours were out that Parks & Wildlife were going to burn off so not to stay at Cosy Corner North, but we had to. It was the best of the all the free camps and the specific spot we got was amazing.
We set up by lunch time and the kids (Mitchell, Rhys & Tiffany) went off and played and made a massive sand fortress on the beach. We also collected firewood as there just happen to be a fire pit right next to our site. We went for a walk along the rocks and saw many starfish, little fish and these black squishy things. The water looks so nice.
That night we had a combined dinner of pepper steak, sausages and salads all around the campfire, which was nice. While sitting around the campfire we came up with many stories to tell the ranger when he came the next morning as to why we cannot evacuate. These included: we have sighted a spotted quoll, which are endangered; there were German tourists out in the bush walking somewhere; or lastly, Shane was going to come out naked and tie himself to a tree. Also, while we were sitting around the fire I could feel my lip burning, the early warning signs of yet another cold sore. NOT HAPPY!
We saw a spotted quoll and a bunny, while the other crew experienced possums on their roof through the night.
The next morning we woke up hoping that we would not have to pack up and leave our gorgeous spot. Along came the Ranger man and he broke the good news that the winds were going to change and they were not going to burn; we could stay!
So with that Rod and I unpacked the boat and decided to head out for a fish. We only took Mitchell as Rhys didn’t want to come and he was happy staying back playing with Tiffany on the beach. So off we headed. We didn’t get out there until 10:30am, but that was ok.
The water was pretty good, a little swell and a little cool but good.
We had the MOST AMAZING EXPERIENCE! While we were fishing a dolphin was swimming around, it kept popping up and came within 2 meters of the boat. Next minute Mitchell spotted a seal. Not quite as close as the dolphin but close enough you could see it swimming and flipping its tail in the water. We moved on a bit further and fished some more. Next minute we saw another dolphin. All I wanted to do was go in and get Rhys, however the waves were breaking right near the beach and it was difficult to pull up and get him; however we thought we’d try.
So we motored fast heading for the beach where we were camping and next minute there were dolphins bow riding with us. There were at least 8 on my side and I was unsure how many were on Mitchell’s side as I was too excited videoing and watching the dolphins out my side. They were jumping out of the water and splashing us, they were putting on an amazing show. You just felt like reaching over and touching them. This lasted for a good 5 minutes. It was a once in a life time experience with nature, truly an experience that I hope Mitchell never forgets.
Moving along, we caught 3 fingermark perch, small but we kept them and it made a nice snack for dinner.
When we returned Jayne, Bianca and I went into town to grab a few things and me, well I bought coleslaw stuff (the patches and tablets). Yep, I got yet another coldsore L Not happy.
We returned to camp and cooked up a couple dozen oysters. Some we were Kilpatrick and others we did a way Shane had done previously, with sour cream and chilli sauce. They were actually quite nice. We cooked up the 3 perch, on the fire, and added a vindaloo and fried rice to the mix. We all sat and ate dinner around the campfire.
We spotted the most fattest possum ever and a few more of his friends. The spotted quoll was also out and about. However, another early night for us all.
The next day Rod & I woke up fairly early and got organised to go out on the water before the winds blew up. We were out there by 8:00am, again Rhys stayed behind.
We tried to find the spot we had fished in the previous day which had lots of fish there. We thought we found it ok, caught a fish there. Anyway, decided to go over towards the rocks and fish. The fish finder was beeping like anything. That day there were no seal or dolphin sightings, but we did catch 8 fish; 4 wrasse, 2 flathead (returned one), 1 leather jacket, and 1 fingermark perch.
Today’s fishing experience was occurred once we returned to the jetty. There were 2 guys diving for sea erchants. They had a tinny full of them and he explained how they catch them, how much he gets for them and what part they (the Chinese) eat. He even threw one up on the docks, cracked it open, washed it and let me try one. Texture of an oyster and similar taste, however looks like orange muck! Not too bad though.
We returned just after lunch with our catch and was beginning to feel a little cool and the rain (well drizzle) we coming over. So we headed into town to have nice hot showers (for free) and grab a couple of items from the grocery shop.
On the way back to camp we decided to drive all the way to the end of the road, which our camp site was on, heading towards The Gardens. Lovely scenic drive and a straight stretch of road; which is very rare in Tassie!
Dinner: The idea of making pizza pockets and cook them on the fire was diminishing fast with the drizzle so we put them on the webber – they turned out sensationally. Thanks to the boys for making the dough and cutting up all the goodies to go on them. We ate them inside the van, rather than in front of the fire, as it was drizzling L I love campfires.
Photos: St Helens and Bay of Fires
Video: Dolphin Experience
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