3rd visit to Millers Point Reserve and 1st to Bremer Bay.

27th May
Being only a short detour off the road from our drive to Bremer Bay, we decided to go back and try a third time for black bream at Millers Point Reserve. We were also keen to show the place to Judy and Barry as regardless of the fishing, it was a scenic little area and likely to be fairly quiet.
Had we been maybe 10 minutes earlier, we would have been able to pick our site, however another van had arrived just before us and chose the best place right down on the point near the water. Fair enough we thought! We would have done the same.
It was very important that we had unobstructed signal to the satellite dish as the 1st State of origin footy (rugby league to all of you not from NSW or Qld) match was on that night and for the other person who shares my caravan, it was one of the most important reasons for us to have TV regardless of where we traveled. So, once we knew we had a TV signal we set about getting our camp organised, with shadecloth walls which would help protect us from the nasty weather which we have experienced here in the past.
Then there was a rush to get the boat in the water to determine whether there were fish about. Unfortunately, probably in hindsight due to the wrong bait, or more specifically using lures or soft plastics rather than bait, the fish were not a bit attracted and we did not eat fish caught in the estuary that night or any other!
The ranger or campground caretaker visited us and we parted with $15 per night to stay. Given that the long drop toilet was filthy and almost full and garbage bins were the only facility provided it was a bit pricey, and even more so when we could not catch a fish! But geez...maybe I am beginning to sound like a grumpy old pensioner! It is a small price to pay for such a quiet pretty little camping area.

On our first night there, we heard rain on the roof but the weather was ok the next morning for Judy and I to do the short walk to the lookout where we met the other couple staying in the reserve. The men of course went back out on the water, refusing to be defeated!
Towards dark I got a fire going and managed to cook us all lamb shanks in my camp oven and we christened Judy’s new one with a damper. The clouds were replaced by stars and we had a most enjoyable evening around the fire. Because the men had returned empty handed from fishing once again, we decided to move on to Bremer bay the following morning.

Bremer Bay.
Bremer Bay.
Although we took ages to find a suitable site, we did not check to see whether we could get satellite TV in it, and the caravan park on the foreshore was shaded by many very large trees. So we spent four nights there with none which was kind of annoying, although we watched many episodes of 'Breaking bad' instead and become firmly addicted. John missed two games of rugby league which made him a little more careful when selecting a site later in the trip. The sites were very generous and green however some areas of the park were out of operation, being newly top dressed and leveled in preparation for the next busy tourist season. There was a ‘Stay 4, pay for 3’ deal on which made us think it was definitely not that when we were staying. It cost us $22.50 per night for our 4 nights for a powered site.
The Staff in the park were exceptionally helpful too, especially with fishing information, and as soon as they could escape, the men were gone and we saw little of them during daylight hours for the next few days.
Nights were cool although not cold, and we used the fan heater to warm up the van interior for a short while in the early mornings. I was up very early as is my usual habit, and went off for a walk each day, sometimes before the others were out of bed. Have loved the early mornings ever since I stopped working, and especially so since I stopped drinking alcohol about 7 years ago! There’s a walk along the foreshore but most is very flat, although I also found a track up the hill and around the headland, with a couple of viewing areas over the inlet and coastline, and it was a good 6 to 8 kms walk each day. I find that it is great therapy for me.
I phoned our son on 30th May to wish him a Happy birthday on his 38th and felt very homesick for our little grandson and the rest of the family. It is the first time I have ever felt this way and I can only attribute it to us leaving our 3 week old grandson behind this time, before we had a chance to get to know him at all really. I guess by the time we return he will be delightful and interesting at close to 6 months of age and he will never remember us not being around. But I also feel guilt to have left his Mum, our daughter in law, to get these first few months with no support, as I remember it being a particularly testing time in my own life. Anyway, I digress and I guess it is good and natural to miss them. I did feel slightly better after talking with all three of our daughters!
The men were successful on their fishing trips, returning with some beautiful black bream which were devoured at dinner time. One afternoon John took me out on the estuary and it was so beautiful out there in the afternoon sun that I would have been content just to sit and take photographs. I fished half-heartedly and didn’t catch anything. Also it was quite stressful trying to guide the boat between the rustic and very hard to spot channel markers as to deviate at all would cause us to run aground. Not all that good for the propeller and a tad dangerous to boot if we were traveling at any speed! We only managed to do it twice while I was navigating, and I blamed the fact that I was looking directly into the sun.

I didn’t actually walk into the town centre although think there is only a general store/service station there. I did see signs of a sub division which doesn’t appear to have been very successful although I would think this little town is absolutely chockers in the summer holidays. John took me for a drive to the boat ramp and past the second caravan park and it looks lovely there close to the beach also. We chose the one near the estuary thinking there would be boat ramp access nearby but it didn’t have enough water in it to do that, and the only one suitable was a few kilometres drive away.