Penefather paradise and then there's Weipa

6^th June 2013

Penefather River 12^o 13.852S 141^o 44.233E

Seisia is not a one horse town.

I’ve seen both of them.

The navigator arrived on the second and seeing as I had seen all that Seisia had to offer we set off the next morning.

First we went and filled the water tanks at the wharf which was interesting.

If the camera angle looks a bit high in the previous photo, this is why…

It was a bit of a climb up to turn on the tap.

Within the first hour I had lost the Navigators favourite lure when something big broke it off.  It could have been one of these. I let him hold it up for me while I took the photograph.



Barracuda.  Love the shorts …

We had a great sail out past the shoals but were going to be against wind and current to get back to the coast for the night.  In the end we gave in and set up a rhumb line for the Penefather River and decided to motor sail overnight.

We arrived just after dawn on the 6^th and tried to enter the river.  The channel has changed since The Navigator was last here so after touching the bottom a few times we anchored out.  It has only bee 20 years since he was last here.

We took Merv in and sounded out the new channel with some cord and a lead weight.  Finally getting in and anchored by ten.

Merv, Charisma and The Navigator all in the Penefather River.

We do have a bit of wind versus tide but the location is well worth it.  There are a few campers up near the mouth and lagoon but we have the place to ourselves.  As promised it is a really great bit of the cape and the fishing has been pretty amazing at times.  We haven’t landed anything really worthwhile but we have had some amazing hookups.  Probably the largest barramundi  I’ve had on the end of a line. It was about the size of a 120 litre drum when it was lauching itself.  Just the fun of it and knowing there are still places like this around is worth it.

Eventually it worked through the 120lb leader with its’ gill rakers so no photo. It doesn’t matter. When a Barra gets that big the the chance of landing them on light gear get smaller.

A day off on Friday with even a walk up the beach scavenging.

 

The Navigator likes a wander

The lagoon

Murder at the Penefather river:

This night will be talked about in hushed tones and murmured whispers for times to come. After having spent the first couple of days having huge fish hooked and close to the boat one poor specimen finally capitulated to the old gut hook and died.  Well we thought it was dead until the navigator, aka the butcher put the gaff in it.  It took the gaff and later a knife and an axe before finally being winched about the duckboard to be dressed.  Actually dressed is not the appropriate word. Butchered would be much more suitable.

The following photo is one of the more suitable for publication.

The Butcher. Yes. That is a panel saw…

And for those of you who crave something a bit more gruesome…

We wont need to keep another fish for a while.

To bring the tone back up this was our view out of the entrance the following morning.

Penefather entrance

Later that afternoon the breeze came up the river and was giving an uncomfortable tide over wind condition so we left and anchored just off shore where it was much quieter. We went on the beach and the pyromaniac went to work.

Bobby Darren just waiting for Annette Funicello to turn up.

The Navigator enjoying a red wine at sunset. Beach etiquette says that glasses are optional.

As you can see it was quite a crisp clear night.  There was no moon and the highlight would have been the phosphorescent dolphin chasing bait fish around the back of the boat.

Final night at the Penefather River.

By the way, the Penefather river was the first recorded landing in Australia by Europeans. Wiiliam Janze in the Dufken, a dutch ship, recorded landing in 1606 which was 160 odd years before Captain Chef.  We had Gouda and Edam cheese in the salad mark the occasion.

As a final foot note from the Penefather we had a late night visitor. A bird turned up attracted to the lights and the party atmosphere and couldn’t find its’ way out of the cockpit.  The Navigator gave her a helping hand. That’s what he told he was doing…

Booby Bird
We forgot to give it some of our bait fish but, it happily left into the night. Unlike the previous nights catch, it got a kiss goodbye. It was a happy booby...

 

7^th June 2013

Weipa 12^o 40.523S 141^o 51.572E

Well we had a really frustrating day getting into here.  The wind was right where we wanted to go and every time Charisma buried into a set of waves we would just about stop.  We had to tack with the jib and the motor running just to get even some headway.  The waves weren’t big but the wind was the problem.  I’ve probably used more diesel today than I did all of week 15. 

We found somewhere to anchor just on sunset.  We will have to move before 7 tomorrow or there won’t be enough water.

Congratulations to Scott and The Jordie!!