https://youtu.be/AQHHMvaz22k It may have rained for most of the week, but we didn’t let this slow us down. We did some deep sea fishing, dived with ragged-tooth sharks (grey nurse sharks), raced toboggans, and so much more!
What’s the best things to do after getting PADI Open Water Diver certified? Jumping into the ocean with a bunch of sharks of course! Having had our Christmas trip to Brisbane foiled by Covid enforced border closures, we managed to find a single campsite in Port Stephens and quickly made a booking. Our mates then surprised us by making the long drive down from Brisbane, showing the ultimate level of dedication to spend New Years together. Amidst the rest of the fun, Nick and I decided to do a shark dive with Let's Go Adventures. We'd both grown up looking at ragged-tooth sharks at the aquariums in South Africa, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd ever be swimming with them...voluntarily. None the less, before I knew…
https://youtu.be/O1c4U2Drt_4 Never a dull moment when you jump off a boat into shark infested waters! Diving North Rock Gutters, at Broughton Island, with grey nurse sharks was definitely an experience I won’t quickly forget, and highly recommend.
Sunrise at the Tunks Park boat ramp 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. But whilst all this was true, there were fish to be caught, so I loaded up my kayak, and headed to the port... I launched from my usual, Tunks Park boat ramp, to a glowing orange sky and started paddling towards towards Clontarf. To kick things off I stopped off at my squidding spot, where I quickly landed a few southern calamari for dinner. The nice thing about the squid is that they're either there or they're not...and today they were there. With dinner sorted, I packed away the squid rod and got down to some fly fishing. I fished around the Clontarf area,…
My life has always include the ocean. Growing up, our family holidays were spent surfing, snorkelling, and fishing at Cape St. Francis (South Africa). And when we weren't holidaying there, we were often rock fishing in the Transkei. I have many a fond memory of free-diving for abalone with my father in the cool Atlantic waters of Cape Town, before we moved to Durban. I then got into fly fishing, and spent many a year targeting trevally (and multiple other game species) in the salty water of Cape Vidal. And then, after arriving in Australia, one of my first purchases was a Hobie kayak to get me out onto Sydney Harbour. I just can't seem to escape it. So when an excuse (finally) landed on my doorstep (in the form…
Sunrise off the coast of Brisbane With my freezer running low on fish, I decided to head out off Brisbane in search of some Spanish Mackerel, that were being caught in good numbers. I loaded the boat the night before, fueled the tank, re-tied all my leaders, made the wire traces, and with all the admin done, I called it a night, ready for the 3:30am start. The alarm sounded, I snuck out of bed not to wake the wife, made a quick cup of coffee and was out the door heading to the boat ramp in no time. The plan for the day was to head to South Passage Bar and cross it on first light, and then pull high speed lures around the local reefs. It was a…
Adulting seems to have taken ahold of my weekends, with the majority of my time being spent either house hunting or attending kid’s sporting events. And while these are both massively exciting activities, I’m always itching to climb onto my kayak to catch a few fish on fly. On Sunday, eager to try something new, I headed for Lane Cove River to target Australian bass. Although I've caught many an Aussie bass before, they’ve all been impoundment fish, and the prospect of targeting wild fish amongst the snags excited me. I arrived at the park just after the gates opened at 9am, and headed straight for the kayak launch site. After putting the yak in the water, I headed downstream, focusing on the structure up against the bank, likely to…
On Saturday morning I decided to try my luck for some early season kings on fly. While they are generally much harder to find this early in the season, it's well worth the effort as the fish are usually larger. I decided to launch from the Tunks Park boat ramp, predominantly because it's close to home, and is a decent venue as it offers access to most of Middle Harbour. There was a beautiful orange glow on the water as I paddled out at 6:30am, brimming with anticipation. Sunrise at Tunks Park Boat Ramp As is the case with many of my trips, I forgot one key item. This time it was my polarised sunglasses which, as all fisherman know, are invaluable both in terms of spotting fish, as well…
Our exploration of NSW continued with a 4 day visit to Koala Shores, which is beautifully located on the shoreline of Tilligerry Creek in Port Stephens. We chose Koala Shores for two main reasons: firstly, it promised good fishing opportunities (specifically around the oyster farms); and secondly, it's known to have a small population of koalas - possibly Katie’s favourite animal. We took a leisurely drive up on Friday morning, and were thankfully allowed to check in a little ahead of schedule. After unpacking the vehicle, we did our usual exploration of the park (and of course spent some time on the jumping pillow). For me this meant checking out the boat ramp, and sussing out potential fishing opportunities. Other than fishing, we had some great fun over the course…
Poor planning meant that most holiday parks were fully booked long before we started planning our 3 nights of camping bliss. Thankfully we found space at Budgewoi Holiday Park, which we’d stayed at before, but was worth another visit. Our previous trip to Budgewoi, earlier in the year, had been with my mom and we’d stayed in the deluxe bungalows. This time however, we decided to “rough it”. I say “rough it” since our camping setup included a coffee machine, fridge, and a large canvas tent, so there was very little roughing it involved. In fact, I'd definitely refer to it more as glamping than camping. Our campsite at Budgewoi Holiday ParkAnother view of our campsiteSunset over Lake Munmorah The campsites at Budgewoi were fairly standard for Australian holiday parks…
