A Weekend at the Shack

Steve has been without a boat motor for more than six months.   In has been in getting fixed and it seemed to have taken forever.  All this year in fact.  The mechanic had a deadline of last weekend, as Sarah was coming home and she wanted us to go up to the shack for a family weekend of fishing together.
We nearly didn't make it.  The motor only arrived at 5pm on Friday afternoon, after many phone calls from Steve this week, trying to hurry them along.  It still needs a fine tune but we managed our family weekend away.  It was much need this year too after the year we have had.

A huge photo share of the weekend.  I will let the photos tell the story

 

Sarah's sister in law Amanda joined us for the weekend.  Amanda and Pete are living in Emerald at the moment so it was a good chance for the two girls to catch up with each other.

It took us a little longer to longer to get there than we excepted.  The road was pretty bad and it was the first time that Sarah had towed the boat along a 4 x 4 track. (She really enjoyed it)  The tide was almost too far out for us to launch the boat.  We had to wade through the mud and it was up past our ankles

Our first task was to get the boat into the water and then get it loaded as quickly as possible

Then it was a wade back wards and forwards through the mud to get the boat loaded.  Fortunately I didn't have to do too much of the wading.  It was sloppy slop and hard work.

Once we got accross the creek, we had to haul all our gear up the hill to the shack.  Thank goodness Steve put the wheelbarrow in.  It was hard work.  

Our home for the weekend.  A very primative shack sitting on the top of a hill.  We had beds, fans, and at least a roof over our heads. 

 

The views are magnificent.  Even though it is a bit of an effort to get here, it is sucn a relaxing place to camp.  Total peace and quite. 

 

After getting everything unpacked,  Steve, Amanda and Sarah took off to go fishing

Both Chloe and I had a great bit sleep.  I also managed to finish reading a great book I started reading when Mum was sick.  Even Penny the dog managed to have a good snooze, snuggled up with Chloe. 

 

They had a good time out fishing and managed to come home with quite a catch.

 They had quite an appetite when they got home so, some spag jaffles were made for an afternoon snack.  They didn't want to eat too much as the lamb roast was about to go into the fire. 

 

Mind you those jaffles tasted pretty good after sitting out in the boat fishing for the last few hours.  

Whilst Pete is in South America, his beautiful Cocker Spaniel Penny has gone to live with Colin and Sarah, so of course he had to come with us.  He loved it up there, and had so much fun on the mud flats getting yabbies and chasing after all the birds.   

Mind you she was pretty spoilt by us all too.   

Decided to get the fish all filleted before dinner.  Guess whose job this was

 

Chloe had a chance to help her dad fillet fish.  She thinks she will leave it to her dad to do in future.

 

We all enjoyed a lovely roast lamb dinner.  It was cooked to perfection.  

  

Then after dinner we toasted a few marshmallows and sat around the fire and enjoyed each other's company. 

 

Got to have a game of cards when you go camping, so cards we played before we hit the sack.  It was late when we started playing so we thought we would only play for half an hour, well an hour and a half later we were still playing,   Lots of fun. 

Breakfast was a treat the next morning

  

Breakfast was a team effort.  Stack of pancakes, maple syrup and cream... quick and easy and tasted great.  A rare treat.  It has been a while since we have had pancakes for breaky.  

As soon as breakfast was over, Steve and the girls all took off fishing again.    

 

Chloe got the catch of the day,  She caught the biggest fish and was quite proud of it too. 

We had a quick lunch and then it was time to pack up.  

 We were loaded to the hilt.  Good thing that the shack isn't too far from the boat ramp.  It took us two loads to get back.  Steve, Sarah and Amanda went over in the first load and started loading the car.  

Chloe and I stayed behind with the dog and we did the second load

 

We enjoyed the scenery.  The views up there are quick spectacular.   Just wish that we had a few more days up here.  So peaceful. 

  

We dropped Chloe and Penny back to the boat ramp and then Steve and I headed off to pick up the crab pots.  

We were late getting out.  It was after 4.30pm before we got back to the boat ramp and we still had a good hour and a half before we would get home,  There was at least an hour on the dirt road.  Poor Amanda still had to drive back to Emerald.  

Last few photos of just of the kids. 

 

  

Had to take some photos of Penny of course,  These are for you Pete.  

It was a good weekend and we really should do it more often.  It does you good to get away from all the hum drum of life and just appreciate the beauty that is around us and that we often take for granted.  

Big week this week,  two birthdays.  Will be back to share real soon.