Bato's for the Australia Day Long Weekend

After having a splash at Emily Miller Beach on Sunday afternoon, and dinner amongst the hordes in Bato's afterwards, our party made camp at Benandarah State Forest. Jenny and I packed very simply - as you can see, our shelter is a mosquito net over a tarpaulin. We were very thankful for the net as insects converged upon us after sunset. Phil and Lauren were (relatively) more civilized and brought a tent along.


The weather warmed up on Monday to coincide with the arrival of the 380. Mixy and Dobs (shown below), Kate and Ash expanded our contingent and we decided to explore the area around Wasp Head.


A Red Morwong became my lunch. I cooked it on this portable gas burner that Marko recommended.


Mix speared an empty can and Ash was battling with a spear that was lucky to hold on to a fish. In fact one lucky fish was speared twice but slipped away. While out snorkelling, we came across a couple of octopus and a school of squid. I even tugged on a ray's tail until I realised what it was!


Ash's determination was rewarded; He bagged a fair-sized leatherjacket to cart back to the Monc.