Blue Marlin Club.

As soon as we're all on board the captain guns it to the deep, about 1.5 hours out on the ocean. This is where the illusive Blue Marlin roams.

The 150$ lures trail 10 to 40 meters behind the boat. The reason for them being so close is that a fish will be attracted by the noise of the motor, will have a look and then hopefully have a go at one of the lures.

And now we wait, it is 07:30, so time for a beer. At 7:35 a giant body throws itself at one of the lures, misses; has another go, misses again and then... hits mine!

Before I get the chance to sit and strap in, it's taken about 400 meters of line. I put the brakes on and feel the full force of 250 pounds of pissed off marlin.

Reeling in the massive animal is hard work. My arm gives after 10 mins and I need help. David is all too happy and helps me out.

It's a magnificent Blue Marlin, about 250 pounds. We have to let it go quickly or it will die.

Still shaking with adrenaline, I grab a cigar to celebrate and before it's smoked: ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzz... Emma's line goes off! Emma has a good look at the monster jumping and tail-walking and decides to let Nigel reel this one in... it's about 300 pounds! We catch a Tuna and a good sized Mahi-Mahi as well, we keep 'm for the Barbie.

Awesome!

Flow Rider

They've come up with a new toy. Basically a jet pump blasting water up a ramp at 50 kph. The cool thing is that you can actually ride it like it's a never ending wave. 

Since I do have some prior surfing/wakeboarding experience, it turns out to be quite easy.

1,000 dollar steak

As most species in this universe are well aware off: the very best steaks are found on the planet earth, in Rockhampton, the Great Western Hotel to be exact. The exception -of course- is the 'Bos Taurus'-species, which against common sense breeds prolifically and thus provides a steady supply of perpendicularly cuts of muscle fibre we know as steaks.

The steaks taste very much like fish don't and are a lot more delicious than you might think, even if you start from a position of thinking that they're pretty delicious to start with. I checked it quite thoroughly and am quite sure of this statement. Proof, I guess, is that we flew 800 kms north just to get one.

The restaurant holds a rodeo ground, the lifework of an overzealous taxonomist with at least 15 bull-heads hanging from the walls and a giant grill. The owner came up with the concept basically to annoy vegetarians, who's evolutionary state -in his view- is stuck between a pressure cooker and carrot munching rabbits.

After such a fantastic meal, there is nothing left to do but celebrate summer in Queensland and have a daytrip to the Keppel Islands. 

Turning into a moron

Previously tolerable parents turn into complete morons trying to communicate with an 18 months old. A good example is our prodigal son yesterday yelling "biatch, biatch, biiiiaatch!" while pointing at his feet. For parents whose brains have turned into mulch, of-course, we understand 'Pied, Pied' which is French for “foot”.

What Kieran really meant was: "Bitch, I'll kick your ass with my right foot, if you don't get me a cookie now." But we are parents and misunderstand Kieran's theme.

To me, this is an early warning sign of what's about to come:

Moderately intelligent parents with semi-intellectual quasi-philosophical pretentions who normally can be above average debaters and generally good discussion partners turn into absolute social-psychopaths, completely unable to speak 2 sentences without mentioning their offspring. The problem is, of course, that discretion no longer appears in the parent's thought patterns.

So they openly talk about:

- the fact that their child woke them up, brutally humping the teddy bear. (soo cute)

- the fact that their child blasted a brownie in the swimming pool. (oh my.)

- the fact that their child viciously spread a candy-bar over 12 square meters of paint and carpet. (naughty, naughty, naughty).

Listening to the remarkably dull stories I think to myself: lucky I'm with Emma, I think we'll be able to prevent this brain-rot by staying active and doing the things we do. Although my last 3 posts mentioned Kieran... O my god... and so does this one... O noooo, IT’S HAPPENING...