Easter

I was just remembering what almost happened on Easter. The day started off well enough. I went to Easter Mass and enjoyed the religious gathering. I found out that about 85% in attendance were visitors to Exmouth, including the priest. Then I had to work a LATE shift. Later on, I was driving the GOV back to my house, after spending a pleasant evening at an Aussie couple’s house that invited me to an Easter BBQ. It was night time but that would not have stopped anything had the scenario played out during the daytime. As I was turning onto one of the last roads before my house, two rabbits ran across the road in front of my car, one after the other. I could have hit both at the same time, one with each front tire! But the first made it across, barely, as the other stopped on a dime and just avoided being run over. Potentially hitting the wildlife in the area is a constant fear, but I usually watch out for the mindless kangaroo or inconsiderate emu. The other wildlife that occasionally makes an appearance are the feral cats, lizards (like the monitor or Tata), and the sheep and goats near the Observatory. But never had the rabbits made their presence known until that night; EASTER night. I almost killed the Easter Bunny or one of his relatives. On a side note, no one in Australia would have cared and some would have thanked me if I did. Rabbits are about as loved in Australia as the cane toad. They are considered a pest that destroys their eco-system. Some Aussies are trying to replace the image of the bunny during Easter with the bilby. Don’t be scared or surprised if the Easter Bilby comes to your house next year!

I saw a new one...

Today, while spear fishing (more on that below), we saw a hammerhead shark. It was about 7 feet long and moving away from us. I am not sure how aggressive a shark they are but I think that is the kind of shark that attacked a surfer on the northern point of the peninsula. I don't think he even looked in our direction but I wasn't going to hang out to find out if he was friendly. I swam for the boat while trying to keep an eye on him; making sure he didn't circle around back toward us. It was a bit alarming, but like I said, he didn't seem interested in us.

I took out my "new to me" spear gun today. It was acquired on Ebay.com from a person on the other side of Australia, NSW to be exact. It is a bit used and needed a new rubber band and some TLC, but it fires. I wanted to break it in with a good-tasting fish but came up short. I shot an Estuary Cod in the head but he managed to shake off the spear and hide. I guess I will have to get him next time.

Some of the same....some new things.

It's been awhile since my last post. It feels like I do the same things over and over again. The things I do are fun to me but they do not change. I love to go spear fishing. There is something about finding the fish I want, rather than wait for one to take the bait off a hook. I get to be selective and picky. I can let that little tarwhine go and wait for my big coral trout to poke his head out of a bommie. I get to chase him back under his bommie and hopefully have a clean shot at him.
Anyway....
I changed things up a bit and went shark fishing from the beach with a few friends. We do not keep them, we just catch and release. We usually go out at night when the sharks are more active. Because we are fishing from the beach, it is hard to cast our lines out far enough for the tide to take it. We figured out a way to take the line and bait out. We kayak it out from the beach. It is a bit unnerving; kayaking by moonlight in waters that I know have the same sharks we are trying to catch. They are not usually any bigger than 3-5 feet longs but I know there are a few big ones out there somewhere. The ones to worry about are the tiger sharks. That night the group caught one black-tip reef shark and two bronze whaler sharks.
Not to worry, I do not enjoy fishing from the beach too much. It is boring to sit and wait for something to take my bait. Like I said before, I would rather go out and find the fish I want. And sharks are not the ones I will actively go out and look for, trust me!

Australia Day

Time to celebrate all things Australian!

From what I can tell, it involves cricket, drinking, BBQs, going to the beach, and.........did I mention drinking?

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!!!

SHARKS

I went spearing the last two days and found some excellent coral reefs. This one area has some of the best selection of bommies and little caves for fish to hide in. This area was crawling with a limitless amount of fish to spear. The area is so good that it has another permanent inhabitant; the whitetip reef shark. This area had a bunch of them, from 3ft. babies to 6ft adults. It's tough to spear in the area because they will be attracted to the fish I spear and will try and take them from me. If I do spear a fish I have to swim like hell back to the boat before one of them sharks me; steals the fish off my spear. I know they are supposed to be relatively harmless to humans but they are still sharks. It is hard to tell yourself that you are fine when you have a six footer swimming nearby with the theme music to JAWS in your head.

From Under the Sea

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday Mom!~~~Happy Birthday Sherman!

Both my Mom and Father-in-law share the same birthday.

Dolphins

We were on the boat looking for a place to stop and spear some fish. This family of dolphins swam by. There were at least 5 of them swimming around. They stayed in the area for a few minutes then I lost track of them.

From On the Water

From On the Water

Finding Nemo

From NEMO

From NEMO

I FOUND HIM!

Poker

It was poker night. Long story short, I get to keep the poker trophy for another week. Go me!

My first coral trout

I went spear fishing today and got two fishes, one cod and one coral trout. I heard coral trout are extremely good eating and I wanted to find out. And he was a decent sized fish at 50cm. It took me about an hour and a half to get the trout because he was determined to live and I was determined to get him. I took at least three shots at him with my spear before I hit him the first time. When I hit him the first time, he wormed his way off the spear; it must not have gone through. That was when I spent an hour trying to find him again. I was about to give up when he gave me one last shot. I finally got him with a clean shot through the side of the head. He was also the first fish that I got to clean myself.

Those roos...

I love them but they are as dumb as the dirt they hop on. I was driving into work this morning for my sun-up to sun-down shift and I know they are active when the sun is not out. There must have been an all-night kangaroo fiesta because I saw at least 20 of them near the road. Now to drive around them safely, you have to slow down to a crawling speed when (if) your see them because they will do some stupid things. They are known for jumping in front of the car at the last minute. Or they will see you coming a block away, try and escape across the road but forget what they are doing and stop in the road. They also hide in the bush on one side of the road and dart to the other side for now reason. But what happened to me this morning is one of my favorites. I saw my roo next to the road and slowed down. I then moved the car to the center of the road to give him some room and try not to spook him. As I was almost past him, he jumped into the side of the car. I was in a hit and run from a roo. It was ok, I think, because I could not find him after I turned the car around. It is not my week for driving related incidents!

I am an amateur stunt car driver.

I had an adventure on my way into work today. I crashed one of the government cars and rolled it over. The front tire drifted off the pavement into the soft dirt and burst; possibly due to the rough transition back onto the pavement. It caused me to spin around almost 180° and slide sideways into the brush. I must have been moving fast enough that it ended up flipping the car. I know I completed at least two full rotations before landing back on what tires I had left. I exited the vehicle without a scratch.

From Car troubles

From Car troubles

A rough New Years Day

I spent my first day of the year like many others I'm sure; tossing my cookies, losing my lunch, or just plain old vomiting. But my reasons were a bit different because it was not alcohol related. I decided to go fishing out in the Indian Ocean. I figured out that I am extremely prone to sea sickness in the open ocean. I didn't even cast out a line, I just fed the fish with my unique offerings. At least the day wasn't a total loss, I got to see a few turtles in the water, a bit more than I was expecting. They were doing the hibbity-bibbity!

From On the Water

I hope everyone has a successful New Year.