Itz been a hectic week with lotz of fishing to keep me busy plus a V8 Spit Roast weekend to cap it all off!
I even managed to complete another room on my tiling schedule and Big Ash and I built a 22meter long Limestone wall to hold up Mum and Dad's new fence. So as you can tell my holiday is just as relaxing as my "normal" life.
The fishing has been the stand out event over the past 10 days with several trips out wide and a few inshore as well to vary the catches.
Mr Mick was more than happy to catch his 9kg Grey Banded Cod on a trip that saw a record amount of pink snapper land on the deck of his boat. We reached our bag limit in just 4 drops plus a nice mulloway and small sambo graced the icebox so we headed just inside Rottnest to catch a feed of sand whiting.120 whiting was the limit and this took less thyme to catch than they did to clean.
Mick now reckons we'll stop for whiting on every trip as his family gave them the thumbs up.
2 days later Big Ash, Brother Mark and myself met at Ash's place around 4pm loaded the boat then after a feed of minestrone for energy we headed out for a night phish with the weather boffins foretelling of a cracker evening.
They neglected to mention the pouring rain in their forecast. However this vanished around 8 pm and soon the fish were filling the ice box rapidly. Many sharks of various sizes between the snapper had us working to reach our limit this thyme. But just after 1 am we had our fill and headed back to the boat ramp at a leisurely 30 knots. 
That was until we got into mobile fone range and all those annoying devices went off together. It seems Mark's wife had reported us over due to the Water police who were busy organising our rescue.
This was unnecessary but they were all thankful we were safe.
Needless to say Mark and Kym had a few choice words upon our arrival at Mark's place.
I went back with Mark as the following morning was the V8 round in New Zealand (easier to spell than Pukecowee) "Sorry Ken" and Mark had a crew of 10 or so arriving at 8 am for bacon and egg rolls before the racing and then a pig on the spit for a celebr8ion feast after.
(FORD WON! "of course")
The only minor problem with this planned event was our arrival around 5 am and after a clean up we managed just 1 1/2 hours of shut eye B4 the crew arrived.
The banter and rivalry waz interesting to be part of, as I'm normally alone while watching the racing. Several wagers were won and lost during the morning.
With the beers and bourbon flowing, the rivalries become more intense as the laps counted down.The roasted pig aroma filled the house with a final addition of hickory chunks to give a real smoky undertone to the pork.
The chef in me surfaced with the suggestion of a fresh apple sauce to compliment this culinary delight.
While the action is fast and constant here, my thortz are drifting more and more often to my "home" some 7000km's away in a small boat yard bak in Townsville. I miss the life and the special place that is the slipway.My return is already in the planning with refrigeration (wkoa) and a major repaint of the Yot high on my priority list.
The Yot will be a busy place for a few months with Mum and Dad planning to visit The Whitsundays and Reef with me.
Much work must be done B4 another trip to The Reef and Islands as I need to repair the WFT's (sails) and the auto-pilot needs a complete overhaul.
5 days and 3 fishing trips later, The fence is finished the internal floors have all got their cement toppings and the bathroom now has a bath and a completed "hob" to support it.We are finding the W.A fishing rules a little challenging but with a little outside the box thinking we are all managing to slowly fill the freezers with fresh fillets.
The weather in a word : PERFECT!
flat calm oceans and overcast skies giving us maximum thyme on the ocean.
Last night we returned with our limit of pink snapper and mulloway again B4 an early start this morning saw me on Cockburn sound with Big ash and his rugrats,. Lots of bait for his upcoming trip to shark bay was the target and as usual we caught our fill with the kids all taking turns to land herrings and garfish by the dozens.There is a saying "never work with kids or animals" I understand this sentiment totally after what was a truly painful morning.
I've pledged to remind Ash of this day next thyme he suggest's we take all the kids fishing again.
That'll give you an idea of my land based life!'
Captain Felix
