Messing about in a boat

Today, we were treated to a day on the water. Messing about in boats is a major preoccupation for most people living in the Great Lakes area. But not for us - today was the very first time we had been on these waters in an actual boat, rather than in the water in our swimmers. Our wonderful aquatic hosts today were Peter and Claire, mutual friends of our house guests Marg and Keir. Claire is a boat person of long standing and they own a variety of water craft, of which this 7-seater (below) is the largest.

It was an exceptionally pleasant day; mild temperature, the gentlest of breezes, flat blue-green water and the occasional fluffy cloud. We are now totally ruined for any lake outing in less than perfect conditions.

(Above) the Forster/Tuncurry bridge from a very different perspective than we usually see.

It was awful out there. Just awful.

David reclining in the soft white lounge seats at the rear, suffering.

Not a lot of other boats, being a week day and non-holiday period.

This is Peter who was having a day off from being a surveyor.

Claire and Peter know these waters well as they have boated around here a lot, including with their dragon boat teams. My directional sense is not the best even on dry land and out here on the water I was totally confused. It's quite a complicated waterway, with so many rivers feeding into the lake and so many islands left and right or should I say, port and starboard. We covered quite a bit of territory and it was great to see familiar landmarks from the water.

This is one of many boatsheds at the lakes edge at Forster. David bought worms for bait here, then we moored at The Colonel's and had coffee. Very civilised. I begin to get a sense of why this boating business is so popular. 

The lake foreshore at Forster, with the Reef restaurant building on the right.

This is from the wharf at the Fisherman's Co-op in Tuncurry, looking towards the entrance to the sea, to the left. We bought oysters and prawns for lunch.

We stopped at a few places and tried a little fishing. This spot was near Wallis Island. No luck, although we saw dolphins, lots of bait fish shoals and big black fish (mullet?) mooching about underwater.

Headed upstream in the Wallamba River and David caught three fish on his hand line - two whiting,   one undersize that was set free and another of edible length. Plus a big flathead. We had a yummy dinner tonight.

Does this latte art remind you of a fish? David is getting more creative.