One dam to another.......

Tac managed to beat his personal best with a 103cm barra on our last arvo at Kinchant Dam. We had an amazing time here and we caught some huge barra.

Next stop Theresa Creek Dam where we had a lovely quiet campsite.

Spent a day checking out the historical town of Clermont which was not far away.

One of the redclaw we caught and had for dinner!

Kinchant Barra!

Had an amazing week fishing for barra in a truly magic spot.  We head out at 4.30pm and fish into the night. 

Tac was the first to land one on a soft plastic and just shy of a metre she put up a great fight. Lots of aerial maneavoures.  It was very exciting fishing!!  

A few nights later I was lucky enough to get this beautiful barra into the tinnie. Tac did a great job netting her and it took two of us to pull her in.  We quickly took the photos and released her back into the water.  It was awesome to watch her swim away.

She was 110cm in length and pretty bloody heavy!

We spent one of our days touring the area taking a walk out to Finch Hatton Gorge and then on to Eungella National Park. 

From salt to fresh...........

A Trevally caught on our last fish at Cape Palmerston.

Next stop Kinchant Dam where Tac is sitting on the deck taking in the view.

Our new mate "fat duck" loves a drink on the deck!

Sunset over the dam let's hope we can catch a Barra over the next week or so.

The Cape was calling..............

We have finally left Mackay behind and are now back on the road.  We couldn't resist another stop at Cape Palmerston.  Our friends Ken and Helen had unfortunately already left.

The creek that we have been flicking lures in. 

Not a bad mangrove jack which I caught in the creek using a floating surface lure.  Nothing beats watching the fish engulf a lure on the surface.  It's very addictive fishing.

Tac had a barracuda slam his lure. 

Another jack caught not long after.

We topped off a great day fishing with the weekly "jaffle night" around the camp fire.

Tac has decided to swap building for cane cutting.  He says it would be much easier....ha ha!

Harvest time.........

Christy and Ben's house in Mackay before the makeover.

The front is now complete with a new porch, windows,
stairs and handrails.

The massive rear extension which incorparates
a huge undercover back deck, large master bedroom
with ensuite and a laundry.

The finished product which only needs a paint job!

On Saturday morning we were lucky enough to get the chance
to go out to a local cane farm at harvest time.  Tac jumped in with Chris
while he operated the harvesting machine and I sat alongside Gary in the
tractor which pulled along the carriages that the harvester filled with the
cut cane.  I then took my turn to ride in the harvester and Tac sat next to Gary
in the tractor.

This is the harvesting machine in action cutting the top off the cane and also the front rollers
sucking in the bulk of the plant.  It's an awesome machine with heaps of grunt!

At the same time the harvester cuts the cane up into small sections and shoots
 it into the train carraiges ready to be transported to the sugar mill.

Once the carriages are full they are labelled and ready for the mill.

The sugar mill is actually visible from the farm so doesn't have far to go.

We had smoko with the boys after sitting along side them while they worked.

Our ranger is parked on the trash from the cane that has already been harvested.  The new cane resprouts itself for 7 years then has to be dug up and replanted.  Each crop takes one year to mature.

What an amazing experience!

Feels a bit like deja vu!

Sunset over the caravan park in Mackay. We are back here again for a few weeks to help finish off the extension.

The back deck has been plastered and ready for painting.

Tac and Ben working on the handrails on the new front verandah.

Forty Fish!!

We had 3 great days of fishing this week and on the last day caught over 40 fish in a matter of  hours.  We had an absolute blast!  There was no shortage of species and these photos are just a few.  Here is a long nosed trevally I caught which put up a decent fight.

This is actually Dad's reef shark that Tac is holding.

The prize catch is this Red Emperor that Tac caught and released.
Such a beautiful fish with magnificent markings.

A type of sweetlip which had really pretty blue markings around his eyes.

Another trevally......this time a small giant trevally.

Not quite sure what this fish is.  We have tried to find the species in two different fish guides but can't find it!

A very pretty parrot fish.

Dad caught a bit bigger giant trevally.  We thought he had a horse on when he was pulling it in!

Then along came the hump headed batfish.  We caught quite a bag full of  these with Dad reeling in the majority so we nicknamed it the "Geoffrey Fish".

Another "Geoffrey Fish"

A species of nannygai (which we think is the large mouth nannygai) was a brilliant pinky red.  A great end to a fantastic 3 weeks in Airlie Beach catching up with Mum and Dad.