Hopetoun Fishing

We called into Hopetoun to catch up with friends Rusty & Val.

Rusty asked if we would like to go fishing?

Now what religion is this new Pope bloke ???

We beat the sunrise down to the groyne & the sea looked "calmish".....

Now as we were going 20 nautical miles out into the Southern Ocean...

"there'll be a bit of a swell, but that's o.k." ! 

Now 3 plus metre swells that were travelling at 

12 to 15 knots were o.k. ?????

Anyway the fishing was fun but the results so-so.

What made it exceptional for us was the visits 

from the not so Shy Albatrosses.

With a wing span of between 7 to 8 ft 

it's an awesome sight to see them coming into land!

Does having these magnificent birds waiting for some more

 bits of bait to "fall off" the back of the boat classify

 as hand feeding them?They also managed to score 

a couple of Sargent Baker's which they scoffed down whole.

We moved off to try a different spot and they would turn up again.

A wonderful experience... 

We also had a visit from a group of Great Winged Petrels.

They would stick their heads under water to see what was about..

When we finished we chucked the left  over bait to them...

that was fun to watch them squabble.

Then we "surfed the swells" back to Hopetoun.

Thanks again Rusty, and he got us back in time

 to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix..

How good was that !!!!!