Tried our luck at Triluck!

Hubby had to go out to Cairns for a few days PD so the kids and I said yes to our mates who were going to throw a swag into their tinny and head up to Triluck Crk for the night for a fish. 

I threw some beers and snags in an esky, wrapped up a swag for us to share and the kids and I were set.

The shack is on a sandy bank in between "Crocodile lake" aka Triluck Cr and the ocean.  There's a dog cage up in the tree and the whole shack is enclosed with sheet metal about a metre high as the crocs walk across the bank in between. (you can see their tracks and they are tracked online).

We flicked some lures, got a couple of fish then settled in for sunset over the ocean.  A few rolling clouds of a monsoonal storm began to encroach on our turf and the wind was building quickly which was great cause it blew the mozzies away but we strapped down in case. Lucky.  The kids jumped into the swag off the ground and it wasn't long before the rain came down hard.

They checked the boat a few times to make sure it was tied up right and not taking on too much water then we settled in for a few reds and solved the problems of the world.

Squished in between my two rats in a swag I was awoken at 3am with my girlfriend shouting "The boat's going under! Cass HELP!".  I leaped out and ran down to see that the transom had gone under with the weight of the rain water and angle it was tied up to when the tide went out further than expected.  My mate was in the boat bailing like mad but the water and rain were coming back in two-fold.  HOLY SHITE! This was not a place you wanted to be near the water let alone at night or worse - stuck here for days until someone came looking....

My girlfriend held the spotty while I climbed into the boat too and used my weight (who knew my ass would come in handy one day lol) to balance out the boat while my mate bailed.  At one stage the boat swung out into the middle of this damn creek with me perched on the bow like a human sacrifice. I was hoping to God not to lose my balance in crocodile lake cause there'd be no coming back.

Have you ever heard a crocodile up close?  They sound like the GRUDGE aagggaagghhhaaggghhh and he was not happy with us in his bed.  He popped up a few times then we lost sight of him but you could hear him and he was way tooo close for us who were now knee deep in his home.

My girlfriend kept the spotty on him while we bailed like crazy, balancing and hoping luck was on our side.

About 20mins later the boat was looking better and we came closer into the bank, tied her up and took it in turns to check her.  The rain was pouring and we all knew the croc was next to the boat so there was going to be no chances taken on repeating that exercise ever again.

The following morning the kids woke up and we headed back into shore with my rats none the wiser of the events of the past few hours.

We tried our luck at Triluck and, if anything, came home safely with another good story to tell.

A Cape Christmas!

I think the best part about Christmas is the anticipation and lead up. From barge delays to cyclone warnings, postal service sorting issues to spotting Santa and of course then there's the food...... This year was no exception - absolutely memorable in every sense of the word. 

A Cape Christmas means you will continue to receive presents for approx 5 weeks - one present at a time. Our parcels only come in once a week so if it misses the barge then it goes to no-mans-land for an undetermined amount of time and is only recovered on the odd occasion....  When only one of our bikes arrived a week before Christmas without it's partner I was beginning to panic. Oh oh  who was going to get coal this year?  I'm sure our kids now think that the postal service here is only to provide them with more gifts.  Thank goodness, the other bike came on the Friday before so we were set.

The barge came in late and the mad panic to get food before others was ridiculous.  Forget the Boxing Day sales in myer, up here it was more like a whole heap of muddy scrubbers fanging for some fresh fruit and vege before the rush....that was Woolies!  I grabbed my vegies and lamb and got the hell outta there before I too was stampeded.  We got our cartons off the pallet and erected the 'Christmas feature wall' with yellow bricks, bicardi and wine cartons, stuck on the tinsel and we were set.

Christmas Eve was priceless.  For weeks we've been talking about Santa coming and how he would find us wherever we were on Christmas eve whether we were camping or just at home.  They'd baked for Santa from a recipe my girlfriend had suggested; processed tim tams with philly cheese, rolled into balls and stuck on a stick affectionately called by my son "Poo on a stick!". They were his favourite.  Santa was given milk and beer, "poo on a stick" and the reindeers had a plate of lettuce and carrot. Perfect.

At about 6pm the excitement really started when I was positive I'd heard a thud on the roof.  Makayla went bizurk with excitement and they both ran outside to have a look to see if the slay and reindeers had finally found us.  It was too dark so they ran in and got their torches.  (Their pack torches have a swiss army knife on the base of them).  Xavie went armed.  We listened intently for 'bells' when you wouldn't believe it but a flock of birds took off from the tree sounding like a stampede in the sky and leaving us covered in raindrops.  It was too much for them and squealing in fear they ran inside for safety.   After a few more minutes of 'hearing bells' they were convinced to go to bed and wait for the big fella to come in.  I tucked them in and handed them their torches in case they heard or saw something then they could check - they were so frightened and excited and bursting out of their skin in anticipation.  I opened up their louvers so they could see what was happening outside and we sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer again.  It wasn't long before there was a thud on the roof, then a red torch light moving outside their window through the garden.  It was too much for them and they were hysterical.  "Santa" ran up the street, leaping around in the darkness making it look like the reindeers were on the street and our garden....  I thought Makayla was going to cry she was soooo convinced they were there. Xavie on the other hand was beside himself with fear and was trying with all his might to convince himself it was anything but Santa. 

What followed next was priceless and I'll never forget it.   "Its just a crocodile eye mum! It's not Santa.  Go AWAY SANTA! It's not Santa is it mum???? Its not Santa, maybe its just a bird with a red singlet! Is that right mum, just a bird in a singlet?".... What do you say to that? 

I told them that Santa wouldn't come until they were asleep so they ran into bed, Xavie more out of fear than anything else, and hid under their blankets.  "Please mum, don't go, go away Santa!" and for the second time tonight he went to bed armed....they were cared out of their wits but asleep shortly afterwards.

Dad and I stayed up and put together their bikes. I supervised the work like a great foreman should, with a Christmas beverage in hand and holding the spanner.  "Santa" wrote a lovely letter of thanks to the kids for the "poo on a stick" and explained it was his favourite snack as well.  Xavie would be pleased.

Christmas morning came and the kids, after their exhausting night, got up around 8 o'clock.  Xavie came in first and I asked him what Santa had brought him as I could hear him playing for at least an hour in his room.  "Nuffing" he replied.  I asked him had he gone out and checked yet in the lounge room?  Looking very concerned he asked "Is Santa out there?"  I laughed and told him to go and check.  He woke up Makayla and they went out together.  It was on like Donkey Kong! 

Makayla at one stage told Xavie that she had too many presents and started to give him everything in her Santa sack that was green or blue.  When he realised he too had the same presents in his sack, they exchanged colours again.  Once they opened the cap gun rifles it was over.  There was no need to open anything else until that night and the next day as the only thing they wanted to do was ride their bikes up and down the street with the other kids (who'd all gotten bikes as well) with their cap gun rifles strapped on the back.  At one stage Xavie went and got his camelpak and made himself a little picnic with his knife/torch, all his caps, a wrapped up "poo on a stick", a museli bar and a water bottle.  He was ready for anything.

Our Christmas Day consisted of bike rides, pig hunts out the back, community BBQs, sharing a drink with our beautiful friends, skyping with our families back home in BrisVegas and stuffing our faces with Christmas cheer.  I couldn't think of anything better!

For Boxing Day we all went out quading in the mud and spent the day sitting under the waterfalls and swimming in the now full 'crocodile lakes'.

Cyclone? What cyclone? ...... 

Makayla put it best "Mum, this is the best Christmas EVA!"

Crocodile Lake!

Crocodiles are a daily consideration up here and they get big!  All waterways at our house are referred to as "Crocodile Lake" which was taken from a Dora the Explorer movie where Dora couldn't cross the river because of the crocodiles....

We've seen them as big as almost 5m in length and there's something prehistoric about them - like swimming T-Rexs.  For kids growing up it's hard to teach them what water is safe to swim in and what is most certainly not.  After watching a mumma turtle, over a metre wide and longer in length, lay her eggs on the beach a few weeks ago, we were on our way down to the mouth to fish when in the corner of my eye I saw a big splash and something brown and scaly thrashing in the water and before I could readjust my eyes to see what it was; it was gone..... until it resurfaced a moment later.  Laying flat on the top of the ocean about 50m off the beach was the "Black Croc" - an infamously enormous and cunning crocodile that frequents our camping beach - with a  mumma turtle in its jaws.  It thrashed about every 10mins or so but held her under in an attempt to drown her.  The process took about an hour to devour and in the end the croc just floated home to the mouth with it still in it's mouth.  The kids went to kindy and daycare the next day and show-and-tell consisted of the photos of the whole life cycle from egg laying to croc-attacks, glued onto cardboard in their own little projects....

Because there are crocodiles in every waterway, whether they're fresh or salty, you have to be so careful.  We've been out on a friend's property, running the cheribin pots (fresh water prawns/crays that grow to about 40cm) in their man-made dam situated several kilometers from any waterway a few times. They're delicious with garlic and butter on the coals!  It's a giant fresh water dam with a rock/sandy wall and you tie the pots to the trees and check them on the hour.  My friend spends her Christmas' swimming in this dam and there's permanent watersport nets set up on the side ready for volleyball.  I have a rule - never swim if you can't see the bottom (or what's coming for you).  A week or two after we left there was another couple out there and as she pulled in her pot, a crocodile snapped it and wrestled her for it!  Needless to say, we'll be going back out this holiday to 'catch it'.... We can't have it eating our cheribin.  This croc would have had to have walked kilometers in 40C heat to get in there so you can't trust any waterway!

We also frequent the Wenlock River quite often. It's fresh and shallow and perfect for swimming - just not in the dark bits....  People hunt around this river because the pigs come down at night to drink.  Our mate "Red" has several hunting dogs and they're not all croc-savvy so after a hunt they were all hot and sticky so his "Hairy Goat" which it was affectionatly called jumped into the dark bit and began to paddle around.  Red turned around to watch his dog moving like a perescoped submarine into the middle of the dam and then it was gone.  Quick and silent.

Never swim in the dark bits.

We moved up into the Cape when my son was just 5months old so it's all he knows.  On a trip to Cairns last holidays he sat on the side of the pool and refused to get in saying it was "Crocodile lake".  He sat on the bank for over 3hrs refusing to get in until we realised that there were painted pictures of marine creatures on the bottom.....  Dad and I got out after awhile and we were baking on the side when both kids starting screaming out "Snake!" and were quite panicked.  We went across to see what all the commotion was and saw the giant anaconda..... attached to the pool vaccuum....

Better to be safe than sorry..... or eaten.