Mushies and Bushies!

It's officially autumn and we're all pretty excited about the weird and wonderful fungi popping up all over the place - so we went on a Mushie Hunt for bush school.

Warning: unless you get really excited about fungi, this video will probably be very boring.

But Mrs Stevenson (my senior Biology teacher), this one's for you :)

Video Back Log ... Sudbury Reef

Okay, it's a while ago now, but better late than never.

Reminy and Budi collaborated on this one.

Nude Fishing on Pandion, by Malachy

(You'll notice there's a recurring theme since we reached the tropics, and it ain't fishing - Liss)

Today we started from Butterfly Bay, Whitsundays, and began our longest passage yet. It was really rocky! We took turns doing watch. Mum was helming, we were lounging round in the cockpit and dad was sleeping (nude) and we had all our sails out. It was almost dark.  That’s when the fish decided to bite.  “NNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!” went the reel.  “Fiiiiiiiiiiiissssh!” went Mum, and “Aarrgggghh!” went Dad (nude). Dad raced up the steps (nude) and grabbed the rod (nude). We started furling the sails.  Dad, reeling in the fish (nude) yelled, “It’s a tuna!” Dad for some reason brought the fish into the cockpit; it flopped around and hit the floor. “Eeeeeeekk!” went everybody, leaping out of the way.

Tuna = sea chicken.

Yum.

Hot tip for Dad: sleep in boardies.

 

Where are we now and Video reflections on Lady Musgrave Island

Hello all, it's been a while between posts - we've been to the Whitsundays, had Melissa's parents on board for a few excellent days, and stayed with our long time friends Katrina and Chris on Maggie Island. Reminy did her Open Water dive course in the almost zero visibility of Nelly Bay, but as she said, it was kind of cool wondering if she was going to lose her instructor in the murk and never be seen again. Currently Pandion is in the lee of Orpheus Island riding out some heavy rain and wind, the first wet weather we've seen since leaving Iluka. The boat is dry, the crew have colds, but there's ample fresh water for showers and time to catch up on chores.  We'll head north tomorrow when the storms pass and check out Hinchinbrook, Dunk island and onwards to Cairns where Liss has to fly south for a workshop.

Sylvie and Budi finished their Lady Musgrave video.  Lady Musgrave is in the Capricorn Bunker group off Gladstone in Central QLD.  It is one of our favorite places;

 

 A secure anchorage inside a natural lagoon, crystal clear water, good spearing, excellent snorkeling (among the best we have seen), whales, manta rays and a magical pisonia forest.  Interesting fact, the stunning white coral sand beaches are largely made up of Parrot fish poop. The chew the coral and poop out 'sand'.

image from: https://www.jimhensonsfamilyhub.com/home-1/2017/6/6/have-you-thanked-the-ocean-today

Here is the video - enjoy,
Miles

Crocodiles

Miles here, At Gary's anchorage on Fraser Island we saw a sign that said Beware of Crocodiles.  Really?  Crocs at Frasers, that is sobering. Crocs are 200 million years old and unchanged in that time; they outlasted the dinosaurs which left 65 million years ago.  Of the 23 species none have been driven to extinction - I guess if you can survive a global dinosaur extinction you can deal with just about anything the humans might cause.


The ready supply of .303 rifles post World War II and the soaring price of crocodile skins created an opportunity for a classic breed of maverick adventurer croc hunters.  By the 1960's reports were that it was hard to find a crocodile just about anywhere.  The Territory and Western Australia imposed bans in the 1960s, and Sir Joh held out in Queensland until 1974 when both species of crocodile (saltwater and freshwater) were declared protected.

The Kimberley mob are very familiar with salties; the locals report increasing numbers of interactions, and it now seems almost common for crocs to be bumping and biting tinnies.  They're pushing higher into Katherine Gorge, and are happy to live in fresh water all year around.

I find it amusing (and scary) that our conservation efforts which are often motivated by an ideal of making nature more beautiful and more abundant, could lead to nature also becoming significantly more dangerous.  Similarly I wonder if the increase of shark attacks is caused by the protection of great white sharks and the ban of whaling - an abundance of both predator and prey.  

Of course there are also significantly more humans, (14 million in 1974 and 24million now) pushing more into remote parts and it could just be that there are more interactions.

I suspect that there will be a line of tolerance for crocodiles; they're at Fraser, which is not far from Double Island Point, which is not far from Noosa.  Global warming could assist that southwards migration.   No Crocs in Noosa might see the reinstatement of crocodile safari hunting.

At Yeppoon, Reminy pushed Budi into the marina (apparently he was asking for it).  I had thought about paddle boarding around the berths, to the wonderful looking fish market on the other side of our berth.  The photographs of a crocodile in the marina in 2014 stopped all that and made Budi turn white thinking about his recent dip.

We decided that some family education was required.  School would be science and science would be a trip to the local croc farm.   The tour was impressive, the employees were very experienced and their knowledge and love of crocs was more than enough of an education for us all.    However, I suspect a trip to the hatchery and abattoir sections of the farm (out of bounds) would have changed the experience greatly.  The crocs are farmed for skins, and are sold to Louis Vetton for $7000 a skin.  It is a market into which they cannot supply enough skins.  We didn't find out how many they kill a year, but they hatch several thousand every season, so I assume it is a lot.   The ethics are murky, and the kids found it as conflicting as we did.  However, there was no denying (excuse my frothy cliche) the awesome power of these animals.    Enjoy Budi's film.

Newbies get slammed

The way the tasks have divided themselves:
Helmswoman & Navigator (Liss): It's a bay, right? There won't be any swell.
Emergency Response, Weather Forecasting & Cocktails (Milo): Thirty-five knots, could be hairy...[hands wife a handwritten summary of the weather modelling, knowing that she takes things in better visually]
Liss: Yeah, but it's a BAY...
Milo: Could be hairy...

Enjoy
Film by Malachy

The Walk, by Malachy

Today we went for a walk to Lake Mackenzie on Frazer Island. Before we knew it we were climbing a very steep hill. There were about 30 false summits, but finally we reached the top.  We walked and walked until we came across a sign that said 3 hours and 30minutes to Lake Mackenzie, and then at last we reached a fence.  It was an electric dingo fence meant for keeping dingoes out, so you can probably guess how I felt, being on the SAME SIDE as the dingoes.  After a long time of walking on gravel we came to the dried up sandy forest and a really beautiful creek. I told Reminy to hold my heels while I drank but I forgot to take my cap off so it fell in.  It was about to disappear when Sylvie prodded it with her stick and it sunk.  I finally I fished it out but for a long time my head was underwater.  Then I got up and didn't even get my drink!  At last we got to the lake and I realised that I didn't bring my swimmers so I had to go in my underpants with a knot tied stylishly on one side because they were too loose.  The lake was clear, freshwater and really amazing.
p.s. We ended up walking 26 km there and back. Even Sylve.  

Mooloolaba, by Malachy

Budi's impressions of Moolooolaba.

Fishing

Fishing

Today I woke up at 6.20am to go fishing.  I woke up Dad and he linked three hooks together because that’s what I saw other fishermen doing yesterday.  Then I got some white pilchards I had used yesterday (and got nothing) then I went to the jetty.  As soon as I got there I rigged my line with a whiting sinker, a rolling swivel, my linked hooks.  Then I put my pilchard on; I put one hook through the tail and one hook through middle, and one hook through the eye. Then I cast.  As soon as I dropped my bait into the water, I got a bite and I waited.  Then I felt a tug and a jerk.  I had a fish.  I reeled it in and it was a yellow tailed pike.  I waited some more as I could see other pike stealing my bait.  Then they were gone and I caught nothing, so I filleted it and it put its skeleton in the crab net.  Then I fried the fillets in butter and ate them with lime juice.