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Brett_Hoskin
09-03-2002, 01:57 PM
Hi guys,
as a few of you know my wife and I are on a 'round Oz holiday and have stopped in Darwin for the "wet" before heading across into W.A.

On arrival to Darwin I was told to look Muzzy up which I did and have been fishing with him on several occasions and have had a fantastic time.

Last Wednesday afternoon the phone rang and Muzzy asked me if I wanted to take a trip down to Shady Camp with him. I did, and made arrangements for Julie to go shopping (which wasn't too hard). The horn sounded out the front of the unit we are staying in at 8.30 am I packed my gear into his car and off we went, first stop Beaurepairs to get the spare tyre repaired. I looked at the tyre as Muzzy rolled it over to the workshop and noted that it looked like it had done several thousand revolutions after it had deflated and bits of the steel belting was sticking out at all angles but he had another tyre case to be fitted to the rim and in ten minutes the tyre fitter had everything in one peice and we were underway.

The drive to Shady camp was uneventful but enjoyable and the 60 km of dirt road wasn't too bad considering it is mid wet season. We dropped the boat into the water on the Salt water side of the barrage and Muzzy got in as I steadied the boat in the fast moving water. I guided the boat into water deep enough so thet the motor could be started before we were carried away by the current and after 4 pulls of the rope and on the fifth a string of expletives at 400 decibels came from his end of the boat. The pull start rope had snapped.
We pulled the boat to shore and Muz went to get some tools returning with the only spanner he had found in the car after undertaking a "major car clean-up" a few days before. Luckily it was the right one. So we pulled the recoil assembly apart "blindly" as neither of us had ever done it before. We ended up dismantilling the entire recoil assembly before we realised that we had got carried away (at least we know how it works now)!!

Anyway we re-assembled the motor and pushed the boat back into deeper water and Muz grabbed the start handle and pulled and the bloody thing let go again. This time there were no expletives we just pulled the boat back to the bank and Muz grabbed a beer and went for a walk. I set to work and re attatched the rope in about a quarter of the time as out first attempt.....it was an "easy job " now I knew how!!

Back into deep water and 2 pulls later the motor started and we were on our way to the first fishing spot.

There were fish everywhere. Tarpon tailing by the dozen and Barra in twos and threes following lures right to the boat. It was only a few casts into the session that a nice little Barra around the 50 cm plus mark was boated and released. Things only got better from there with Tarpon and Barra sometimes chasing the same lure . Muz got a couple of fish up to 70something cm ,one on fly too. This was good!!!!

With things still active but quietening down a bit we decided to move on, Muz pulled the start rope and guess whaat? It broke again. This time with all the practice we had rectification took only about 5 mins. You beauty!!!!

Trolling around a bit we saw the clouds approaching and were relieved from the heat by a small shower which lasted a few minutes. Less than a minute later the heavens opened up and in the blink of an eye we were both drenched to the skin. The rain was cold too. Cold enough to make us shiver. So we turned around and headed back to our first spot as that was nearer the boat ramp.

I wedged a rope into the rocks at this spot to stop the boat drifting away and again we were rewarded with a few good fish and lots of hits without hook ups. The next minute it was raining hard with drops as big as buckets and the wind whipped up so strong that when we decided to get going we found that we had been blown up onto the rocks and as I got out of the boat to un-wedge our holding rope the wind nearly blew me off my feet. Thankfully the pull start didn't let go and we got the motor started first pull but with the wind and the rain visibility was down to less than 20 feet. It was as if we were looking into a wall of water. Next thing my favourite $50.00 canvas hat gets blown of my head and before we could get to it the River swallowed it up..Gone...

I dont know how but Muzzy somehow got us back to the boatramp in one piece, to his credit, as I had no idea where we were going.

The water went through everything, wallets soaked, cigarrettes soaked, mobile phone wrapped in plastic and stored in a nylon tackle bag full of water,and the boat had close to 200 lts of water in it.

So we packed up and set off home through the mud and water for 60 km before hitting the bitumin and we stopped at the first store we came to for a drink.

I smelt something and so did Muz and after a check of the car and boat trailer we discovered that the trailer wheel bearing had collapsed . This was at dusk and 120 km from Darwin. So we left the boat there and drove home laughing our bloody heads off!!!!!

What a day..

Brett

PS. Should I go fishing with him again?????!!!!!!!!!!!!! ??? ???

Luke
09-03-2002, 04:23 PM
Gday Brett,
love some adventure mate and I reckon you should definately go fishing with Muzzy again. They are the times you look back on and have a good chuckle together. Fishing sounds fantastic up there.
Cheers Luke

Muzzy
09-03-2002, 06:32 PM
Mate I read it then read it again and again...

i still cant see any thing that went wrong? just another day in the office.

that storm but was pretty full on hey, nearly did me dacks.

Got the trailer no worries today, rip it down and pack it up so I can do it all again next weekend. See what mother natures got for us this time

Come on mother give me your best...

Muz

P.S that beer hit the spot at the ramp my man, and how good are you with a 10mm spanner now?

Brett_Finger
10-03-2002, 04:06 AM
Brett,
Geez mate sounds like the Muz and yourself had a full on day!! seems a little rain might not be good for you ::)
hehehehehe.
say hi to julie from the mob down here mate.
Hookin,Brett