Melbourne, Part III, or Chuck and Debbie Rent a Boat

Well, as we have sometimes found on websites down here, the advertised services do not always meet with reality.  For example, we decided it would be fun to go out on a charter boat and fish and easily found an outfit that claimed to be fishing 365 days a year, 7 days a week.  They even picked up from the pier a 10-minute walk from the hotel.  They even have a sign ON the pier, advertising said services, complete with people smiling and holding very large fish.  So we made a lot of plans and then we called them.  It turns out that they're open 365 days a year... except when they are not.  They were on "break."  This is like the guy running the Macquarie Harbor cruise out of Strahan in Tasmania who was operating until he decided to take the Friday off (and we were told this enroute on Thursday afternoon) - the ONLY day we had planned to be in Strahan...  I don't mind people having lives, but how about posting on your tourist-service website (if I can do it, anybody can) when you intend to do it so that some people who may NEVER be (like my brother) coming back to Tasmania can make alternative plans?

So - PLAN B.  Rent our own boat - which we found in a small town down the coast from Melbun - at Mordialloc, a typical beach town that is probably hopping in the summer.  But it's winter.  However, they were open - Allnutt boat rental.

 http://melbourne.citysearch.com.au/E/V/MELBO/0053/01/59/

You Humphrey Bogart and Kathrine Hepburn fans will recall that Charlie Allnutt, Bogie's character in "African Queen," operated a small boat on the Ubangi River.  Ironic. 
  

 Well, it was actually a pretty good little business, although I understand it may not be around in a few months.  The guy running it was very helpful and in the end it was a great deal.  The little boat ("Christine") even sounded like the African Queen.  He even - in typically Australian fashion (one of the things I love about them) - talked me out of buying a $25 rod, pointing out that a handline (which he threw in) was perfectly serviceable for our needs.  We got our licenses and our bait (whitebait - like small sardines) and with hearts of oak, we headed out into the bay (see below), jib in the wind, singing sea chanties as we went out about 1.5 miles (we were told regulations prohibited us from going beyond a 2-mile arc).  Ah, for the life of the bounding main (in sight of the changing sheds on the beach).

.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordialloc,_Victoria

Here's the inlet we fished out of, courtesy of Google Maps...you can see the reef we had to get past past the end of the long pier at the center of the shot...

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&q=Mordialloc+map&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Mordialloc+VIC&gl=au&ei=rFA8TNj5PMjXce-9-dMC&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ8gEwAA

So here she is - "Christine."  That's her in the center.

Now anybody who knows us knows we like small boats ( a la "Master and Commander" see the story at the link here):


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/25/AR2007052500551.html

We like doing this sort of thing ourselves (unless you are going out 60 miles and then...)

 Oh yeah.  I have a beard now.  I was doing the full Charlie Allnutt.


Well, it wasn't long before my "fish-wife" Debbie hauled up the first flathead (kind of like a flounder although it's not flat with two eyes on the same side).  It's what is usually served in fish and chips and here is a good site for information on it - Raw Fish:

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rawfish.com.au/images/wild-caught-fresh-flathead-fish-fillets-1.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.rawfish.com.au/flathead-the-finest-fish-fillet/&h=1712&w=2560&sz=2103&tbnid=dHqLvMaEGBAgUM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dflathead%2Bfish&usg=__9a0RfhL1NXavERxz0yv7G2OEmws=&sa=X&ei=ul88TNuQOciXcf7ckNAC&ved=0CBoQ9QEwAA

I wasn't far behind...

And no fishing trip would be complete without our
favorite beer from Germany, from the Andechs monastery
(which we fortuitously found in our favorite bottle shop
in Canberra).  This is a centuries-old monastery which has
been brewing beer for something like 500 years (or longer).
This is for the benefit of our neighbors John and Esther, who
introduced us to it.  We have visited the brewery/monastery
twice - it's in the suburbs of Munich (take the S2 tram to Ammersee
and walk the two kilometers or so through the woods).

Or take a taxi.  Either way it's worth it.

http://www.andechs.de/englisch/brauerei/fuehrung/bierbrauen_im_kloster.html

Oh yeah - back to fishing.  Well, we caught about 6 or 7 keepers
(we measured 'em they were over 25 centimeters)
and after 5 hours or so  we headed back.

There were of course the usual ecstatic crowds on the pier hailing our return...

Followed by our Cuban victory cigar (now wait a minute, it's legal down here...)
and a Belgian beer at a local bar and restaurant with a great view of the inlet:

And so we end another installment of the adventures of Chuck and Debbie Down Under.

With, as usual, Debbie taking care of the tab...

How many guys have a wife who:

1) Likes Cuban cigars;
2) Likes Belgian beer;
3) Likes to fish; and
4) Has a degree in accounting?

I still have to bait the hook however.

Eat your heart out.  More later.