Hawkesbury River, Sydney, Australia

Kristine and Al really put on a spread for me while I was staying with them in Sydney. I had delicious dinners and plenty of beers every night. As if that wasn't enough they decided to treat me to an entire weekend of my three favourite pastimes - fishing, drinking and eating! All the arrangements were made during the week and early Saturday morning, after loading up on beer, wine and food, we headed about an hour north of Sydney to Brooklyn on the banks of the mighty Hawkesbury River. While I loaded up on bait and supplies at the tackle shop next door Kristine and Al went about learning some watercraft safety. 12 minutes of DVD and $AU50 of bait, lures and burley later we were el capitans of our very own houseboat for the weekend.

Ripples Houseboat - "The Roland"

Day 1 of The Deadliest Catch Australia was miserable - with rain, wind and swell buffeting us novice captains about. Map reading and navigation in general was an undesirable crew position, each of us preferring to be captain and therefore give someone else the responsibility of giving us directions. We even resorted to flipping the map around so it was pointed in the right direction ... talk about amateur hour ... or maybe that wasn't in the DVD.

Who put you muppets in charge?

1 vote for Captain Kristine

Standing at the stern while we were steaming along to our destination (I'm pretty sure this was captain Kristine's fault) I noticed that the dingy trailing behind us was taking on a bit of water. What started as the odd splash as we punched through the swell eventually got the better of the small craft and before I could yell "crikey mate stop the boat - a dingo ate my dingy!" the poor yellow thing drowned completely. Despite our best efforts at search and rescue, the Hawkesbury claimed the lives of our oars. RIP. Never the less, after some deliberate and some not so deliberate sightseeing we eventually reached Jerusalem Bay where we moored for the night.

Moored up in Jerusalem Bay for the night

Another cold one, ta Kristine

After some serious laying of burley, lobbing of lures and shredding cans it was time to stash the rods and fire up the barbie. We had fresh Kangaroo steaks and kebabs on the menu, and as we hadn't snafooed any fish it looked like that was guna have to do. As soon as it passes your lips you forget all about how cute Skippy looks - he tastes better than he should! During dinner Al somehow managed to securely hook a little Port Jackson Shark - the only fish of any kind for the tip. Well done lad.

Throw another shrimp on the barbie mate

Or a Skippy mate, up to you

Not the Deadliest Catch but still a shark, some of which are dangerous...

Sunday was brilliant, and despite the rods not getting any action you couldn't have asked for anything more (well ok, maybe some fish ...). None of us wanted to give up The Roland on such a beautiful afternoon, but we were outta beers and it was time to ease her back in to the marina. An absolutely magic weekend if anyone gets the chance to do it. I just want to thank you guys again for an amazing time in Sydney. Your hospitality was amazing and that weekend was one of the best!

Sunny Sunday brekkie on the Hawkesbury River