SHELLHARBOUR, FRIENDS & FISHING

Well anxious ones, the wait is over. You have to remember that being retired is busy work. We are at a loss to figure out how we fitted work in!

Since we last communicated we have been at Shellharbour, still only 1.5 hours from Sydney and home to our friends Bev and Fred. It is quite an amazing little jewel on the coast. Standing on the breakwater at the quaint harbour, looking north are the smoke belching stacks of the Port Kembla steel works, looking south are the mountains of gravel and ship loading gantry of Hansen's Quarry, and in between are beautiful sandy beaches, and an ever increasing urban sprawl. The Shellharbour Village itself, seems to have stood still, and is your usual coastal seaside village full of Fish & Chip shops, Ice Cream Shops, Cafes, a Beachfront Pub, General Store & Touristy Shops.

Our caravan park is seaside, as the photo shows, and we are right on the beach, being the first caravan from the right in the photo. We sit at the back of the van and at high tide could literally spit into the ocean (except if the nor easter is blowing!) There is a beautiful saltwater pool next door, and it is only 250 metres to the shops and the pub.

We have quickly learnt that being this close to the sea, whilst being scenic, presents problems with the salt spray, and we are constantly washing down cars and exposed metal caravan parts, as the rust can start to appear within 2-3 days. You should see our bikes, even with being diligent!

Our great friends Bev & Fred live just up the road, and much of our time has been spent with them, as fellow retirees, they too have the time. There has been much lunching, much dinnering, much shopping and much fishing, and the odd cleansing ale and glass of wine has been taken.

Our first major celebration, was Australia Day, and what better way to celebrate the day, than at the beach. The flag was raised, and the celebrations began. It was a crazy weather day. We started with a thick sea fog, which when it lifted revealed a large Tongan community, that had set up camp next door, between us and the pool. Thre must have been a hundred or more! They had the charcoal BBQ's going, which from the smoke, had me second guessing about the sea fog, and they partied hard all day. A lot of chooks died that day. Boy can they party!! Still it was a lot of fun, and they certainly kept us entertained. We stuck with tradition, and BBQ'd our lamb chops and snags, never once surrendering our tongs! The sea fog returned mid afternoon, and quickly left us again, for a beautiful balmy evening at the beach. All in all, a great day.

Even though the wind tried to interfere with our plans, John & Fred still managed to get out on the water to do some fishing. And I can add with some success, as the freezer is now stocked up with a plentiful supply of flathead fillets. I can confirm that when you are standing by the sea side, and the sea looks quite calm, it isn't! It is a lumpy teeming mess that never keeps

still! Thank God for sea sick pills. They didn't fail us once.

Fred is really keen about his fishing and boating, and as an active member of the local volunteer Marine Rescue unit, is extremely safety conscious. We have all the safety gear, and login and logout with Marine Rescue Port Kembla, every time we go to sea. He has a number of "favourite spots" in his GPS, so we usually find fish. We have caught so many varieties, some you can eat, some you can't or wouldn't bother. We have caught Red Rock Cod, small and large. The big ones have a huge mouth, and when you are reeling them in, it is like hauling up a big bucket of water. Needless to say they go back. We have caught snapper, morwong, flathead, sargent baker, boneto, kingfish, a variety of colourful reef fish and a wirra. Now fred has a recipe for wirra. You take a large pot and fill it with water, seasoning and an old boot. You throw in the wirra, and bring to the boil. Simmer until the boot is tender, then throw away the wirra and eat the boot!!!! John also caught the ugliest looking thing, which after much research we decided was some kind of catfish. We certainly didn't want that in the boat, so it went staright back, hook line and sinker.
The biggest fish I caught was a kingfish. Boy was that fun. They really fight. The sad thing was, that at 50cm it was undersize for this species, so back it went.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to get out on the water with Fred, who everyday packed us our picnic lunch and cold drinks.
Carol and Bev also enjoyed our fishing trips as they got to eat the rewards, and had time for girly things like hairdressing appointments, shopping, lunch, girly movies and much much more.

Another  couple of people we caught up with, were Cheryl and Phil Wall, who live nearby at Figtree. Cheryl and Carol became friends when working at Warner Bros. at a time long ago, when music was recorded on black discs that looked like dinner plates. We've kept in touch through Xmas cards and the odd lunch. They are now also retired, and share our passion for caravanning, now the proud owners of their second van. They have seen a lot of Australia, so it was fantastic to catch up over morning tea (great cake Cheryl), and a lazy lunch at the pub. We will now work on meeting up somewhere along the road.

Sadly out time at Shellharbour came to an end on Saturday 5th February 2010. We farewelled in style, with a few drinks at the Shellharbour Pub, followed by a terrific Thai feed at the Harbourview Thai Restaurant. A fitting end to a fantastic 10 days. Bev and Fred even turned up to see us off. Making sure we left town???

For the foodies among you, if you are ever in Shellharbour, try Relish. It is a classy spot upstairs halfway down the hill on the left, as you head to the water. Very nice for lunch or dinner.

We headed down the road for Kioloa Beach, but never made it. Stay tuned for the reasons why in our next update coming soon.