So after surviving the footy finals.....I was thrilled that both of my "teams of the day" were successful, my mate Mike from Travelscene Smithfield and Debbie decided to head for the hills. Actually we had planned this little walk for a couple of weeks and were quite excited, Mike had done it a couple of times and raved about the final vista.
Right on time Mike pulled up at our house (6:30am) and drove us up the Copperload Dam / Lake Morris road. At approx. 10 kms from the start we pulled over to a grassy verge, parked the car and headed up the gravel roadway towards one of those huge electricity towers. The first part of the track is actually the tower service road and believe me, its as steep as. We had not gone more than 100m before we had to take a deep breath, slow down and realise that this was serious stuff. A 45 degree rise is pretty awesome, but we made it and once near the ridge crest, it was relatively easy but undulating.
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| Entering the forest! |
We entered the magic of the rainforest and commenced out trek to the Whiterock peak...it was just amazing. The track wound around giant rainforest trees, patches of ferns and "wait a while" palms, past fallen timber and fungi encrusted logs. The camera came out and I couldn't stop clicking away. I was spellbound by the beauty of mother nature........and every now and again the canopy would open up and you could see the Cairns flats stretch out below to our left, or the Kuranda range to our right.
It took us approx. 50 minutes to reach the highest point, just inside the forest canopy, and then it was an even steeper descent down the ridge face to the actual "white rock".
The view was amazing, a 270 degree vista above the entire "Cairns lowlands"....as far south as Gordonvale, the cane fields of East Trinity, Trinity Inlet, the city and northern beaches....we sat mesmerised for over half an hour. We took dozens of photos. Where's this and that..it all became so clear and after a break, drinks and some energy food it was back up the ridge face as we melted back into the rainforest.
The trip back was equally spectacular.....you never tire of such natural beauty. Rainforest trees reaching for the sky, a strangler fig taking over its host, fungi and ferns....click, click, click!
My knees ached, my hips were screaming and my arms and shoulders stretched to the limit as we first had to pull ourselves hand over fist up the ridge, then brace our bodies as we lunged down the gravel road. I think the descent was even harder on the joints as tired muscles began to wavier. And as we lunged from the forest to the main road it all became clear.........we had done it! We came, we saw and we conquered......an old cliche but oh how true!
Next stop was Copperload Dam, a quick look at the lake, a cup of coffee and then down the mountain and home. Man I knew that I was going to be a bit sore & stiff in the morning. Might as well cut the lawns now that I had "warmed up". It didn't take long and my primeval urges started to take control.
Les.....why don't you go fishing, its been a week!
And so it was that I hurriedly packed the tinny, filled the esky with food and drink and kissed my Debbie goodbye. That real estate thing again getting in the way of a life Ha Ha!
Only one place to go with such a late start, the Mulgrave River. With a low at approx. 4:00pm I could zip down there and be upstream just in time to catch the last of the run out...might be a few barras on the logs and with the waters flowing more sedately, I might just have some luck amongst the snags. Readers will know that I'm into these new "Super Shads" at the moment, so I was keen to give them a run at another location. I clipped on a bright pink model and started to cast away.
As I drifted downstream, I cast to fallen timber and drowned palm tree trunks...it was a bit slow at first but by 3:00 pm it started to happen. A flash, a bump and then a hit. I was on to a healthy 60+cm fish and she jumped all over the place. Now I was all alone on this trip, that's OK and I do it often. But when an excited barra is gyrating all over the place, amongst some serious timber, with the boat drifting downstream...it can get a bit tricky. Trying to stay connected, controlling the boat on the electric and keep it out of danger.........well she was gone and I was disappointed.
Oh well, get back on your bike and do it all again I mused. But this time just stay calm and think it through. Don't worry so much about staying connected, or avoiding crashing into the timber, or remembering about that 3.5mtr croc that was sunning itself just around the corner....she'll be right!
I did manage to keep it all together and next time I quietly threw my forward tethered "lead blob" into the shallow waters, stopped my drift and enjoyed the fight from another 60cm beauty. And I did it again and again.
In all I landed three magnificent barra from 62 - 75cm. For just on a couple of hours fishing it had been magic. I had lost two legal barra by being too impatient, refer above, but the rewards were more than enough. It was one very satisfied angler that pulled the pin and headed home....I couldn't wait to show Debbie my catch.
There are a couple of draw backs when fishing alone, one of them is when you hook up a nice fish, play it expertly to the boat and finally land her. You just don't feel like giving that yell of success, there's nobody to share your excitement with!
The second, there's no one to take that brag shot while you hold up the fish.......darn....can I put up with it?
Catch you on the water,
Regards, Les
www.fishingcairns.com.au
