Harry, and two of his mates, Kadge, and Adam (Whom were later renamed Vadge and Adam Internet) went down to Hillocks on Thursday night in order to secure a decent camping spot before the Easter rush. Apparantly everyone else had the same idea though and they were forced to squeeze in between two main camps. Still a decent enough spot though.
I, along with Sani and her cousin Alisha on her first trip made our way over Friday morning. Sitting in the same car as Sani and Alisha for three hours was a worrying prospect, but armed with my new Garmin Nuvi 760, loaded up with Mastodon's new album amongst my other awesome tunes, I was content for the journey.
We arove around 10am to a somewhat quiet group of 3 guys, hungover from the previous nights drinking. I set up the tent and cracked a beer, which was enough for Harry to consider it time to start up again. Reliable Harry!
After a cookup, we headed down to Salmon Beach, and the "good spot" was taken, so we headed further down the beach and set up. Our other spot on the rocks was also taken.
It didn't take long to land a fat mullet. I just wanted one for bait, but this one was too huge, so I kept it to eat later. I managed to get a just legal Salmon Trout, and immediately set up my wire trace and sent him back out. This would be my Shark trip (or not, as it turned out).
The others lost interest in the later afternoon and headed back to camp. Me and Harry stuck it out until we ran out of beer. I managed a few more mullet and a bigger salmon on the surf rod. I'm sure we could have caught a bag of mullet if we tried, but sitting back sipping beers, and waiting for the big rods to go is more appealing.
Back at camp with many more beers drunk, I decided to try out my artistic skills with the camera. It didnt really work too well, but the effort was there :). Side note: do not drink a Dr Tims immediately after a Sparkling Ale - it is a BIG step down.
The following day, we considered going for a fish off the rocks, as the water was dead calm on Friday and would have been ideal for rock fishing. Arriving at the beach, the good spot in front of the reef was free, and since it was 1km less walking, we set up there. We had spoke to a guy the night before who said he'd been hooked on to monster for over an hour before snapping off at the rocks. He thought it was a large kingfish, he was rather devastated. This did have me keen to go down and have a go, but the swell was a lot bigger on this day - not the best for a relaxing fish off the rocks.
Once again, I showed off my amazing photography skills.
I pulled in a Salmon which had a big chunk taken out of it and teeth marks all down its side. I felt he'd had a rough go, so let him back in. Now, rather excited about the prospect of sharks in the area, me and Harry both had live baits out and sat back, waiting. The girls had a quick go with the small rod and Sani managed a nice Mullet, which was kept for later. Harry also pulled in a small Salmon and added that to the pile.
Back around camp at night, the Nuvi really made me thankful of its purchase. The FM transmitter works from around the "fire" (a gas lantern in this case). Sitting back, drinking Coopers, and flipping through my MP3 library from the comfort of my chair, gold!
Came back home on Sunday to avoid the Monday traffic, and cooked up a few mullet that we brought home with us. Harry took a few Salmon home for his mum to cook, awww :)
More photos can be found over at flickr
