Molins Down Under

Monday, February 13, 2017

Surfing at Surf Beach!

Our second night on our road trip to Sydney was spent at Surf Beach (just down from Bateman's Bay) - and of course, we went surfing! We stayed the night with an old friend of Toby's from his Zermatt days, and Sally, Greg and their family made us so welcome. Sally made a fabulous dinner for us all which included a big barbie and slow-cooked lamb. The weather wasn't great for our stay - torrential rain at times - but it didn't dampen our enthusiasm for the surf. You'll have to wait for the movie, of course... here's just a taster. It was beautiful even with the grey skies.

Zoe on Surf Beach

Catching up

Just happy to be here

All just happy to be here

Ready for a feast

Toby, Sally and Geordie - the old Zermatt crew

Eden

Goodness - one little road trip later and I am more than a week behind on our blog. Time to catch up!

We decided to do a road trip to Sydney and Canberra while we still had a car and not a camper van. We took the coast road up from Flinders and spent a couple of nights en route to break up the drive. Our first stop was Eden - a small fishing port about five hours from Flinders. We stayed in a cabin in a campground that was a short walk from the - empty! - beach. The weather was cool and rainy but it didn't stop the fun in the surf for Toby and Zoe - and the waves were big! They swamped little Zoe at times. For dinner we had some of the best fish'n'chips we've ever had - it was so fresh. We could even go to the harbour behind the shop to see the boat that had caught the fish. The perks of staying in a fishing town.

The next day we drove to Surf Beach a little further up the coast via Pambula and Merimbula. And we saw our first kangaroos of the trip in Pambula! I don't think you could really say 'in the wild' since they were just in a paddock and not really doing very much, but it still felt like a significant moment on our Australian travels.

Wait until Toby's film for pictures of some of the big waves

Ugh - another person on the beach. I hate when that happens.

We did notice a couple of dead 'bluebottles' on the beach - definitely to be avoided in the water

The walk to the beach

Enjoying a Bundaberg traditional lemonade - not to be confused with Bundaberg rum (or a 'Bundy') which is also a typical Aussie drink (but of a different kind...)

Fish'n'chips from the source

Yum - just watch out for diving seagulls

Checking out the crabs in Snug Harbour

The boat wot caught the fish and the fella wot ate it

Kangaroos!

Gorgeous beach at Pembula

Pembula

Friday, February 3, 2017

Gone Fishing the Movie

First the blog - now the movie! Toby has already finished a little movie about our fishing trip yesterday. You can view it on his Molins Down Under YouTube channel
Gone Fishing the Movie

Gone Fishing

What a great day out fishing. We booked a four-hour trip from Rosebud pier on the bay side of the peninsula with a little company called 'Jillian's'. It was a bit of a windy and cool start but the weather improved and we caught a lot of flatheads, which are small whitefish with some pretty sharp barbs but make good eating when filleted. Indie also caught a barracuta (not to be confused with a barracuda) which are supposedly very tasty but really bony (and some might say not worth the effort). A few people also caught some red snapper, but they weren't big enough to keep. We definitely got enough fish for a good fish supper tonight. The plan is to pan fry them with a bit of butter and lemon. (Update: it's now after supper and the fish was DELICIOUS. Really - some of the best fish we've ever eaten. Well - according to me and Toby and Zoe. Anna was less convinced...)

It was our first time out fishing, and so the first time the girls had ever caught their own fish, and it definitely caused a bit of concern and guilt when they saw the fish thrashing about on the hooks and gasping for air in the buckets. There was also a bit of squeamishness at the start about baiting their own hooks and taking the caught fish off the hooks. But the deal is - we like to eat fish, so it's important to know where fish come from and what's involved in catching, filleting, preparing and eating them.

Supposedly the fishing is going to be great along the south and west coasts so we're now inspired to pack a couple of fishing rods in the camper van as well and try to catch our supper whenever possible. Toby got some good advice from the friendly skipper of the boat. Ah yes - more kit to buy.

Rosebud pier and the surrounding beach turned out to be a really pleasant surprise, and the pier was right by perhaps one of the best play parks we have ever seen. The water was so clear by the pier it really did feel like we were in the tropics for our picnic lunch on the beach.

A great day out.

Rosebud Pier - early morning

Fish or cut bait

Ready to go

Trying our luck

Zoe caught a lot of fish

Indie caught a barracuta

Proud Indie

Red snapper

Rosebud Pier from the water

The stingrays came to meet the boat

Our boat (not our kid)

One the way back

Beautiful water

Pushy gulls

Looking for shells

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Red Dog (it comes with a warning)

Last week our friends kindly bought a copy of the Australian classic movie, Red Dog, for the girls to watch, because Red Dog 2 is now in the theatres and they thought our girls should see the original first. The movie is based on a novella by Louis de Bernieres who heard about the real legendary Red Dog when he was travelling in Western Australia and then wrote a book about him. Every Australian has seen this film about the spunky and independent Australian kelpie (a kind of Australian sheep dog) who travels all over Western Australia - and we were expecting a funny and heartwarming story about a great dog. It should have been exactly the girls' kind of movie. But what was really funny was by the end of the movie the girls were in FLOODS of tears, literally sobbing on each other's shoulders, and our friends were so surprised - they'd completely forgotten that Red Dog dies at the end. The girls gave them looks of such betrayal: 'how could you,' they wailed.

Still, it is a classic of Australian storytelling and the girls are going to read the book too, which is completely charming and very funny. Hopefully we'll visit the statue of Red Dog ourselves when we pass through Dampier on our way to Broome from Exmouth in Western Australia.

(Red Dog 2 is supposedly about his early years - so we should be safe in assuming he's still alive by the end of that one...)

Balnarring Beach and Somers Beach

Toby was hoping to do some kite surfing on Balnarring Beach today so the girls and I tagged along for a bit of beach time ourselves - and decided to check out Somers Beach as well, which is just down the coast.

Sadly for Toby the wind wasn't strong enough at noon for his lesson, so he stuck with us instead. Ironically, when we returned to Balnarring Beach at around 2pm it was blowing a gale and we watched a couple of - thankfully experienced - kite surfers battle the surf. The girls had great fun playing in the strong winds with their gorgeous new towels (courtesy of our friend Jo) and we also enjoyed our new blow-up beach lounger - nicknamed the Big Blueberry (also courtesy of lovely friend Jo - thank you again, Jo!). We were practically the only ones on the beach - kids have just started back at school this week after the long summer holidays in Australia so everything is suddenly really quiet. A pretty special time to be here.

We also had lunch at the really nice cafe at Somers Beach. Eating out is not cheap in Australia - but the quality does seem to be high. At least at the places we've been! The girls had a snack at the Balnarring Beach cafe earlier in the day and pronounced it one of the most delicious things they've ever eaten - a toasted nutella croissant. Hmmm... why am I not surprised?

Tomorrow we're going on a fishing trip off the bay side of the peninsula (from Rosebud). We've never gone fishing before so expect some good shots of the girls (hopefully) landing some big ones and gutting their first fish. We should see some seals and dolphins as well. Then on Saturday we're going to get ready for our first road trip - we're driving to Sydney via the coastal road. Exciting.