Fishing, phishing, family and friends - phew!

Heaven has arrived at the Kingscliff Beach Holiday Park.

The wind has dropped and the clouds have vanished. The sea has lost its anger, changed from a soupy brown colour to a glorious aqua marine and has come alive with fish.

Once the word got around about the fish, every person in the camp with a rod and line headed to the surf out front. And they weren’t disappointed.

They have hauled in bream, whiting, swallowtail, tailor and flathead. The conversation has been all about bag sizes.

You can see the fish in the waves as they roll in. On the horizon the professionals are dragging nets.

I contemplated rigging up the old rod that my young brother Pat gave me in Grafton to join in the frenzy.

However, either through laziness or logic, I figured a better plan of action might be to head down to the nearby fish depot, where fish would soon be arriving by the tonne, offering a more convenient option, less messy and probably cheaper if you cost in bait and gear.

Committed anglers may disagree, saying it’s not about the fish, it’s about the fishing – like, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.

Carol resolved the dilemma when she said she felt like steak and sent me off to the butcher’s.

By the way, a random online check of my Mastercard statement revealed that someone in Milan, Italy had withdrawn around $2500 in Euros the previous week. I kid you not! Was I the victim of phishing? The card is cancelled and the bank is investigating.

Meanwhile, we continued to receive visits from family, the latest being Carol’s niece Bernadette and her kids Casey, Ellie and Lucy; and another niece Therese, her husband Ben, and their kids Bridgette, William and Max.

Right: Therese Green and son Max, dad Paul, son William, and husband Ben.

For the record, we have four daughters (Sue, Louise, Julie and Angela) and 10 grandchildren aged from 19 down to one bun waiting patiently in the oven: Emma, Luke, Tim, Amelia, Tom, Lucinda, Bryce, Cameron, Kurt, Lily and Yet to be Born.

Carol’s only sibling, her sister Kay, also has four daughters (Bernadette, Catherine, Madonna and Therese), and 12 grandchildren, all under 10 years of age: Casey, Ellie, Lucy, Bethany, Jacob, Emily, Ruby, Jack, Grace, Bridgette, William and Max. Imagine babysitting them all at once! Above right: Bridgette and Lucy in the surf.

We topped off our Gold Coast sojourn by visiting old friends, Diane and Des Kenny at Bilinga (Diane and Carol were pupils at All Hallows convent).

Right: Diane, Des and Carol doing what they know best.

Then Rick King and his partner Rosie, who are doing up a home at Mudgereeba, joined us for a big seafood cook-up and stayed overnight. Rick and I were workmates on The Courier-Mail back in the ‘60s and later partners in PR in Sydney. Did we enjoy a few beers?
Is the Pope a Catholic?

Next comes Brisbane where we plan to reconnect with many more family members.