Denham.....

Bare, isolated, barren Denham……………..loved it! Just getting out of the car there was a warm welcoming feeling to this tiny little fishing place on the way to Monkey Mia. Even the kids noticed it and loved it. Our first night we went down the beach in front of the caravan park to feed some bait to the local fish and Craig hooked a green turtle, through the flipper thankfully. Craig managed to pull him into shore and I picked him up and we pulled out the hook, knew I should have been a marine biologist Dad!!!!! It wasn’t any dinner plate sized turtle either, it was a proper one! Our relief was great as we watched the turtle swim straight out to sea. Any further fishing was put on hold as we got a bit put off by the potential turtle soup we’d caught!

Monkey Mia the next day was exciting for the kids. We caught the last wild dolphin (not monkey feed Granpa!) of the morning. The kids loved the dolphins swimming up and down behind the ranger only a metre off shore and got to all hold a fish together to feed to one of the dolphins. Though the emus walking around the resort were nearly as exciting for them as the dolphins I think. It always amazes me that what you think would be the most exciting things for the kids often aren’t. We bought a bird identification book at the beginning of the trip as we couldn’t find our own (have lent it to someone if anyone’s reading this who has it!) and couldn’t remember who we lent it to. The book is pored over most days by the kids as we see birds we don’t know and try to identify them. We have started to write a note of date and place beside the most exciting ones we see.

We spent the rest of the day at Little Lagoon just out of town, fishing for tiddlers in a shallow lagoon that has a small inlet to the ocean. The kids enjoyed fishing, Will actually caught his first ever fish by himself! Craig and I are starting to wonder if we will ever eat a fish that we haven’t bought though. Maybe one day we will catch enough to feed the family more than a mouthful! Mmmm, now I’ve written that I realize that the next thing to report on is , for the kids one of the most exciting things of the trip so far……………………squid fishing!

Talk about excitement plus! Down to the Denham jetty after sunset  where an old fellow showed us how to catch a squid, clean it and prepare it for the pan! You throw out the jig and slowly wind it into the jetty light from the dark inkiness of the sea, you can often see the squid chasing the jig in, you jiggle it, just a little bit, then, when the squid has wrapped its tenticles around the jig you drag it up onto the jetty avoiding the hissing, spurting squid as it squirts out its black ink all over the jetty. Over the next two night we caught enough squid for a couple of meals and bait enough to continue fishing feeding for quite some time! It really is a very exciting past time and happily everyone in the family caught some squid.

The next day we left the trailer behind in Denham and set off for Francois Peron national park, which occupies the northern peninsula above Monkey Mia. It’s a 4wd only park and is much like driving around Moreton Island track wise. The scenery couldn’t be more different though. Rugged red cliffs crumbling into a turquoise blue ocean, pied cormorant colonies stinking up the cape and sharks and dugongs in the bays of sea grass meadows. Craig and I loved it, the kids were a little focussed on the next squid catching event! Late in the afternoon we went into Herald’s Bay where I had a swim with some shovel nosed rays (not sharks thankfully!) and Craig tried for a whiting or 2 with no success. Just as well the squidding that night was extremely successful!

So its northwards we go…….