Forster 2008

Went on a 4 day fishing trip to Booti Booti National Park with my mates, Warren and Chris despite unfavourable tides and weather. Life’s too short to only go fishing when conditions are good. We went on a similar trip almost exactly a year ago.

We first fished the rocks south of 7-mile beach. This is a particularly scenic spot and the Australian landscape presented itself in full glory on this clear winter’s day.

It wasn’t long before Warren was hooked up. Things are always exciting fishing off the rocks and it is touch and go with waves crashing all around. an angry fish on the other end of the line trying to break you off. Warren did a great job in landing the first fish of the trip. As a bonus, he retrieved an additional set of ganged hooks and pilchard from the fish!

I don’t know the reason but sunsets are different in Australia than other places and I love to watch the colours turn from highly saturated to soft pastels.

That evening we dipped our salmon fillets in flour and breadcrumbs and fried them. There is nothing like fresh fish eaten outdoors.

One other simple pleasure is standing around a camp fire on a cold night and stare at the stars. We met a family having an extended camping trip in the park and they kindly invited us to share their fire. This is a 1 minute exposure with the fire in the foreground and stars up above.

It was a really windy night and our tents were flapping around noisily making sleep near impossible. We really needed a hot drink while fishing the morning session.

Back at camp, we had kookaburras for company.

Took a drive to Wallis Lake and this pelican came over to check us out.

Although we were fishing hard for salmon, better fishermen than us appeared in the form of a pod of more than 10 dolphins. They made fishing really tough the entire trip.

The third day was very slow and I took time to repair an important piece of equipment, my sandals. I usually bring a Swiss Army knife and Leatherman tool and needed both to sew them back together with fishing line.

I also noticed that my 25 year old tent is probably not waterproof any more. Time for a new one and lucky it didn’t rain. Here is a picture of the roof from the inside.

Although there were about 10 people fishing the same beach, nobody was catching anything. Fortunately, the day was saved with this flathead, saving us from starvation.

That evening our new friends lit a massive fire. Here is a group photo.

The fire was really appreciated as it was very cold and windy. It was snowing nearby and that night I was cold even though I slept wearing all my clothes and fleece jacket.

On the final day, we ventured to the north part of the park. The wind was even stronger that day and we were sandblasted just standing on the beach. It was very beautiful there.

Here you can see most of Seven Mile Beach.

Warren caught the last salmon of the trip just as we were about to leave. After he had landed his fish and I took this photo, I put my cast right into the middle of the school. As I hung on, waiting for a take, a couple of dolphins chased them away!