Palm Cove- Life is not about avoiding bruises but collecting scars to show you turned up

Palm cove and Cairns part 2  20th April

Continues saga air con it does – Thanks Yoda
Third engineer and not much further forward. It looks like the new inverter controlled model that we have is still in NPD stage .We  are now taking up the argument (full scale assault) with the manufacturer and van manufacturer . I think its going to be long and drawn out ! To  be continued ……

We picked up the new parts for the satellite phone that the eBay seller had kindly sent to the Cairns post office for us, Bang ! sorted and working perfectly . Thank you Mr Galacticom for your after sales service .

After giving the car a good seeing to in the car wash unveiling all sorts of scratches and bits missing we  wished we hadn’t ! We then trundled the 25 k to Palm Cove . The weather was good , the croc and jellyfish net was holding  strong and we had a great feeling about Palm Cove.

We have been working hard on eradicating any traditional  gender stereotype activities in our modern relationship  . We took time out to reflect deeply on this,  i went fishing off the jetty whilst Kate washed clothes and prettied herself up . Later i scrubbed the caravan floor , cooked tea and washed up as a penance at the altar of modernism .
At the jetty I was fishing off two rods on a rising tide , despite no action  I was feeling good ! I then met Stewart who was a great bloke but as a local experienced angler explained that the turbid waters Palm cove had been experiencing since Cyclone Debbie meant that no fish of any note had been caught for two weeks or so . He then regained tales of catching a dozen Spanish mackerel in a day, barramundi that shook the jetty and catfish that could eat your arm .
He was a really interesting fella and he mentioned that his mate would be fishing the high tide the following day and that i should introduce myself to him . He was an asian looking fella called Quack . I felt like i was some part of a a cheap bar joke…
I caught a little catfish and could only dream of mackerels etc .

The Jetty is known as the most expensive fishing stand in Queensland because the council built it to allow Great Barrier Reef trips to depart directly from Palm Cove. The jetty sticks out into what is a predatory fish motorway that is the channel between Palm Cove and the Double Island Reef.  However the rough seas that Palm Cove can get meant it never took off and the tour operators  bus people into Cairns to sail from their . As a white elephant i love it ! It gets incredibly busy though and often has over 50 people fishing at once which is not really my cup of Earl Grey. If wanted to be shoulder charged by octogenarians , elbowed by juveniles and teenagers trying to prove themselves I would still be playing rugby !

Day two at palm cove saw much of the domestic stuff getting done along with some walks along the waterfront. We had a quick trip up to Port Douglas for lunch. Port Douglas is a highly commercialised remote pod with multiple eateries , shops and  a fantastic big wide beach. Its firmly on Kates must do list and we will be camping there later in the trip .
At teatime there was going to be a healthy marriage of sunset and high tide. So I hightailed it to Wangetti Beach which we had visited on the day trip to Port Douglas. It has waves crashing on one side and  Hartleys Creek  mangrove swamp tributary on the other.  I first set about catching my bait. I did this using the faithful yabbie net and for the first time a little bait jig ( it has numerous tiny hooks ). I soon had a bucket with half a dozen eager baitfish. The target species are the river predators such as barramundi ,bass and the tropical snappers (fingermark and mangrove jack).

It was great to watch the activity in the estuary ramp up as the tide came in and the sun started to set. I watched schools of baitfish being chased by some unseen predatory fish pushing them up to the surface and fizzing across the top. There were a few big fish gently coming to the surface but one fish about 20cm or so jumped a metre out of the water no more than 2 metres away from me . I think it was either just partying or escaping something bigger . I have been told that this was likely a sand whiting.

I was rewarded with a 35 cm 1.5 to 2kg Mangrove Jack that took a very small live bait on nothing more than a line with a hook on (floating line).  For a relatively small fish it was a great fight . It has long canine teeth that make it look quite intimidating when you are trying to get the hook out. I latterly found this quote about the fish that i liked .

Mangrove Jack -“It is a violent ruffian; a hooligan; a thug; a close associate of terrorists.”

The fish was released to fight another day but everyone i spoke to raised an eyebrow as they are one of the best eating fishes in Australia. Maybe next time the BBQ would be better ?

After being chewed on my thousands of sand flies I chatted with a couple of surfers who were having a beer after being out on the waves. One put me onto a fishing app that may help me identify what fish Im catching (someone needs to invent an app where you take a picture of a fish and it tells you what it is ). They were both in late twenties married and had finished work and had a Friday tradition of catching a wave and having a beer on their way home. Both would be home by 7pm  having had some physical exercise and essential male bonding to boot !

Being crocwise when fishing around here definitely adds an element of danger lacking in almost all my fishing experiences before (as long as i remove any alcohol related trips) . Even the simple act of putting in the yabbie net or filling the bucket with water has to be thought through and you need your wits about you to . My lightning reactions have saved me from  numerous fatal attacks by submerged logs,  branches and one particularly threatening stray bobbing thong .

The best fishing in Queensland is normally built on the foundation of good live bait. This is not for the squeamish , little fishes put on a hook , for big fishes to eat and be caught on a hook for Gary and Kate to eat – yes i know .But catching little fishes can be tricky. First of all i tried using a jig which is a little line of hooks for tiny fishes. It does work but i often feel like a garden gnome rather than Ernest Hemingway.

So i progressed onto a cast net which it the mode that the locals use. It is a 7 foot diameter net with lead weights around the perimeter. Its very simple as the Boating Fishing and Camping salesperson told me “you put the loop on your right wrist ,one metre coils on your right arm , capture the right hand edge with your  right hand , another edge with your right arm and hold the net simultaneously partway up the left had edge with your left hand at waist height. Then cast the net in a singular flowing motion as you would when delivering a topspin forearm that means the net opens up, drops to the bottom and catches the bait fish. Any Queensland kid can do it ”

After trying it , having to do a harry Houdini to avoid being croc bait I went back and asked if he had a deal on a Queensland kid ! After 3 hours of practice i finally got the hang of it . And the results were amazing , from murky estuary waters i got good little bait fish , when i could see through water i actually managed to get sand whiting and perch of a size to eat – who needs rods ! The sand whiting were up to 500g each .

I then hooked onto what I think was a Golden Trevally and a couple of black tip reef sharks.

We watched the Anzac day Aussie rules game ( traditional game between Collingwood and Essendon )  in a local hotel and then feasted on shallow fried shark steaks with lime and beetroot salsa .

A 5k run in 90% humidity is not good even for an antique teenager !

Buchans point . Kate and I decided to go for a long stroll along Ellis beach which starts at Buchans point . As we got out the car Kate was confronted by two old  codgers todgers  .

Apparently Buchans point is the local old peoples gay nudist beach . A swish of the towel and all the twinkly wrinklies were covered up .

In the end we stayed at Palm Cove for a week. The balance of good campsite , proximity to the beach , good fishing spots and a variety of drinking holes with food was hard to beat.

Kate cut my hair in the dark whilst i was sleeping

Mornings begin with some nice coffee. I may have bought a fancy Japanese grinder but the coffee make is over 25 years old and wonderful !

We also twitched our first stone curlews . We were very excited until they had a rave outside the caravan and sounded like they were strangling the local tone deaf cats . I am considering stone curlew shark bait.

We have just managed to get our heads around deadly snakes (land and sea ) , crafty saltwater crocodiles that steal your appendages when you least suspect , venomous spiders and of course weak beer. But nothing prepares you for the threat from flimsy jellyfish .

Lets take one from the list

Irukandji 

Initial sting is often undetected ( thats good ?). The stung area may have goose pimples (not too bad ) or localised sweating or jabbing /itching feeling (mmm bit shitty ) Symptoms such as severe backache muscle cramps sweating nausea and a feeling of impending doom (Kate reckons it should be renamed the pregnancy jellyfish ) 

Ying/Yang

Now i must ask that all northern europeans sit down at this point but Aussies don’t like ,appreciate , provide or understand vinegar with fish and chips (despite doing fish and chips very very well) .

So in Queensland it is great that they provides free condiments at EVERY beach !