The Coast and Boats of Vietnam

I recently travelled to Vietnam and Cambodia most of the detail is incorporated in one of my other blogs listed in my profile. The blog titled PT and Saigone pretty much covers the trip.

I did however want to make a specific post in here to cover aspects of the trip which included images of the boats, sea, and of course beyond.

This is more of a photo essay than a story about aspects of the trip as that is covered in the blog I referred to earlier.

Here are some of my visualised experiences.

The old man and the sea.

Evening boats in Hoi An

Market trading

On the Beach

The rise of the fire breathing Dragon

Nha Trang Beach

Vietnamese flag and below images on the Mekong

All in all a wonderful experience to compliment Beach, Bach, Boat and Beyond. Looking forward to the next one.

Postcard Inn

I saw this place whilst surfing the net. It is a classic motel done up with modern vision to reflect beach style of days past.

Kind of cool I thought.

POSTCARD INN from Cinematik Films on Vimeo.

Beach Bach Food

Each day as the sun rises above Death Look and Shark Alley we ponder our options for gathering the food we need for the evening. Depending on the weather we have the option to head across the island to the opposite coast or simply put the boat in the water in front of the house.

Our own Medlands Beach location gives us a host of fish species just a few hundred metres out and if you can't be bothered putting the runabout in the water I've always had good luck just surf casting off the rocks around Boatshed and Shark Alley.

Here I am hooked into a big snapper off the rocks at Boatshed.

Both sides of the island in fact deliver excellent fishing including crayfish and a variety of shellfish. A few images below will give you some idea as to what you can expect from a day out gathering our evening meal.

Scallops from Okupu

Matt's feet and our grand daughter Sienna with a kingfish bigger than her.

I've managed to pick up a good snapper and half a dozen crayfish in front of the house.

Another good snap.

And yet another off Kingfish Rock.

Then it's time to prepare and cook. Whether it's seafood or chicken in the pot there's nothing like doing most of it over the open fire.
Smoked snapper
Scallops ready to go in the pan.
Snapper bites in the camp oven.
Crayfish, cockles, mussles, tua tuas, fresh and smoked snapper.

Snapper fillets ready for the flames.

Panfried vege combo and chicken in the pot.

More pan fried veges

Seafood Paella

Plated snapper fillets with half a crayfish a Greek Salad and crispy oven potatoes

And that's the end of another day at the Beach

Beyond to Queenstown

Whilst the sea has it's dramatic personality equally dramatic landscapes tower above it interspersed with lakes and rivers. My wife and I were recently fortunate enough to spend a few days with my cousin Jeff and his wife Sandy at their property in Queenstown underneath the Remarkables range and over looking the amazing scenery that surrounds Queenstown.

If you have never been to Queenstown or the Otago region of New Zealand the landscapes are surreal. I really don't think the introductory photo above does it justice. That scene and the early morning lighting made it look almost unreal in that it looked as if it was painted.

Jeff and Sandy's house is indeed spectacular and these photos demonstrate how the house is positioned and desgned befitting the scenery that it inhabits.

We played two fantastic rounds of golf. One at Millbrook and the other at Jack's Point. Both courses were superb but if you want something really special then Jack's Point will reward you.

Thanks Jeff and Sandy

Cheers

Dolphin Days

We took our boat out of Fitzroy Harbour, Great Barrier Island on a perfect summers day this January 2010.

There was plenty of sea life, both fish and birds, which tempted me to roll out the big trolling gear. (Not to catch Dolphins of course).

We went up around The Needles and over to the ocean coast off Barrier. It was just my Dad, my niece Georgina and her boyfriend Sam on board.

Despite the massive schools of kahawai exploding on the water everywere we didn't really get onto anything so kept going towards Medlands where we planned to anchor up the night in front of the bach. I little spoilt for choice I know.

Do I row in and enjoy an evening bbqing fish on the open fire at the beach house or just stay on the boat and bbq the fish there? Decisions decisions. Who cares either scenario works. We chose to stay on the boat that night as opposed to the house.

Unfortunately the boat trip was the same day as the Memory Park Noseriders Association Annual Longboard Classic. This was the 16th annual and was only the second I have missed competing in. We hung off the beach in the boat for a short time to watch the action and then headed out to check the cray pots. Picked up two crays in the pots and then off for a fish.

Whilst heading down to kingfish rock some dolphins decided that we were interesting enough to hang around for at least 40 minutes. I have to confess this was the one of the best dolphin experiences I have ever had. George and Sam went swimming with them whilst we fished. Totally amazing.

They just wanted to play and play with us. A special event and another example of how Great Barrier Island and the sea around it just keeps giving.