Queensland trip to visit Cousin Kwan

I always look forward to visiting Cousin Kwan in Queensland.

Sydney Views

We had great views of Sydney on takeoff.

Around the farm

This is Pete the Parrot who comes whenever he is hungry.

Moving a chicken house.

Fishing

Unfortunately, a nearby cyclone prevented us from going offshore. The first day we went crabbing in the small boat.

This wooden boat has had better days.

There is nothing better than Cantonese style mud crab with ginger and shallots.

The next day we went a few kilometers offshore in the bigger boat. We had excellent fishing, hooking about half a dozen good fish. Sadly, we lost them all.

The first broke my 30lb rod. That’s two travel rods broken in 3 trips. I don’t think I’ll do bottom fishing with travel rods any more. The other fish were all lost to sharks.

Knife making

Next we made a knife from a leaf spring. Kwan made an amazing forge that uses sump oil as fuel.

First cut it to size with a plasma cutter and weld on a steel rod as a handle.

Then a lot of pounding.

Grinding bevels.

Quenching.

Knife before annealing.

Annealed twice, each for 2 hours at 200 degrees celcius.

I’m very pleased with the knife. A file doesn’t bite into the stell and it’s definitely sharp.

In fact, on my DIY sharpeness tester, it measures better than a new Stanley knife blade.

Boating

We also went for a ride in Brad’s restored fibreglass boat.