Sensory Overdrive!

Dogs got a bit confused when we walked away from the beach

What an amazing morning walk!

I was reading yesterday about ’tuning your sense’s’ and then this morning about ’improving your 6th sense’.  Deciding to stay away from the beach this morning (croc), I went for a walk out the back of camp.  Taking the dogs I wasn’t expecting to see much wild life.  Pup insists on being in front, and usually scare’s everything off.  Seems though, the birds here are not used to people and dogs walking around, and found us as interesting as we found them!  They were flying at us instead of away!  I was trying to photograph the Borlga’s in the distance when a Kestrel swooped me several times.  After watching two of them for a while I realised they must have a nest close by (when is nesting time for them?), so I left them alone, not wanting to stress them out any more than we already had.

The Borlga’s knew we were there the whole time. When we got too close they flow over our heads, to make sure we were Up wind from them, making it easier for them to know where we were.

Stopped for refreshments in the shade of the mangroves, surrounded by Wail-tails and Bee-catchers.

The Borlga's knew we were there before we got over the hill, but weren't too worried about us in the distance.
The two kites didn't even bother to stop fighting either.

It's hard to sneak up on wild life with Puppy along for the walk!

How's that for a 'get away from here' look!!

Lunch in the mangroves with the bee-catchers was amazing!

Dogs water bowl, may as well take something in it!

Common Brown Kite showing me that even 
though common its still beautiful!

689 Photos later, plus slow internet access to load a few for you to look at, and all of a sudden it's stinking hot mid-day...lucky my Broome mate is on her way out with cold beer!!

Croc sighting keeping me off beach today!

Too beautiful not to swim?
3 Warnings is enough; I'm listening now!!

I should have been listening to Pup anyway, he has been warning me for the last two days, I just wasn't 'Thinking Dog'!  1st morning on the beach alone Pup was acting strange.  When I walked into the shallow water of the sand bar, he would normally follow me, but on Tuesday instead he sat on the beach barking at me.  It was a bit freaky, my first day alone, and I'd already had Mr Clothes Line man scare the crap out of me earlier, so I walked the beach with him until the water had gone out off the sand bar.

Wednesday: 2nd morning alone  We were fishing on the already uncovered sandbar, but Pup wasn't swimming, okay so I wasn't catching many fish for him to chase.  A very big bow wave came up the creek.  I got excited and started casting my lure at it, but in the back of my head thinking, that's a F big fish.  Pup chased it up the sand bar, barking, but not going into the water.  When he seen the Manta-Ray he was in the water swimming out to it.  So again this was a bit too weird for me, here alone, with only Pup to watch my back (he's doing a bloody good job!!!), so I walked the bank back to camp.

These two moments had been playing on my mind anyway, so was contemplating not going fishing today, but then number 3: Johnno text to say the croc has been sighted at the front of the creek again!!  So yah we might hang back here today!  It's neap tides at the moment, so it doesn't come up our little lagoon.  We are far enough away from the water that the dogs can still run around without me worrying about them.  I've been thinking of taking the camera for a walk behind camp anyway, maybe this was just the kick up the butt needed to do it.

Beautiful country behind camp, waiting for me to photograph!

 Think I will have a camera day today...see what we can find!

Might look for some of these NOT in my bed!

Reckon you will have another Twitcher letter tonight, instead of a fishing blog...unless Johnno comes home?

Not sure what these little beauties are?

I'm always scaring the Bustard off!

I haven't seen the baby Sea Eagle for some time...hope he has gone to find his own new turf!

Sailfishing; Day two

Lots of boats out looking for Sails today.

Haha, Title got your interest?  Sorry, I'm not Sail-fishing.  Johnno is, but you will have to wait another two days to get his report.

I've had another day TOTALLY alone!  Today was way more relaxing.  Yesterday I was up before 5am, on the beach fishing before 6am, simply because I didn't know what to do with myself.  Would have been great if I was catching fish, but little Trevalley didn't do it for me; I catch them all day, I was hoping for something bigger up that early!! So today I drunk coffee and read my book, as usual.

I woke early both days needing to pee.  Only to scare the shit out of myself (both days!) thinking there was someone watching me from the beach!! Then couldn't go back to sleep.

Clothes line man scared the crap out of me!

I spent yesterday thinking I should be doing something, anything...so went fishing even though there were not many fish around, and then spent the rest of the day making a movie about my no-fish fishing morning: Day one

We walked too much yesterday, Pup wasn't walking well today, so it was a stay at camp day.  Still walked to the beach twice for a little fish, disheartened at not catching much we weren't there for long.  I was pretty happy to sit around and read most of the day, learning to live in the NOW!

A whole liver just for me!!

Johnno got the call about going Sail-fishing when we were leaving Woolies, after shopping.  Had I known I was going to be alone on the beach for 3-4 days, I would have shopped differently.  Not wanting to waste it, I cooked and eat the whole liver myself, man it was good!!!

Pup has followed me everywhere.

 Today I noticed how much I talk to the dogs...or myself ;) Yesterdays post
Turns out they like and respond to my talking to them.  If I start walking off without saying anything, they do get up and follow me, but with uncertainty.  If I say 'walkies' or 'lets go fishing', they react with excitement and rush off towards the beach.  So I'm happy I talk to my dogs!!

2nd Sunset alone

All day alone on the beach

We (the dogs and I) were on the beach when the sun came over the dunes!

Deepak Chopra told me today, that people often feel like they are going crazy when learning to be silent for long periods of time.  A moment of urgency comes over them.  

That was how I felt this morning, unable to do anything, because I had too much of nothing to do. 

So I went fishing!

YouTube link: 1st morning alone.

Great morning for boating!

I heard Johnno and Steve's tinny leaving the creek around 5am this morning, first light, as they had planned.  A little lost with no-one to talk to over morning coffee, I went to the beach.  Flat water and clear skies, Johnno would be so happy!

Early morning light on the beach

 All photos are taken off the GoPro footage I recorded.  Johnno took the waterproof cased camera, I don't like bringing my Canon onto the beach while fishing, it's one or the other.

I recorded the out going tide washing away my foot prints.  Anyone turning up at low tide would think they were the only people who had been on the beach that morning.  Turns out I was the only person on this beach ALL DAY!!!  One car drove up the dunes, but didn't even stop, just turned around and went back the way they came.

Beautiful morning walk.

A morning of catching little Trevalley got Pup excited

Tide washing away my foot prints

 I spent the morning on the beach talking to the dogs and my GoPro, pretending that Johnno was just around the corner and we would walk back to camp together soon.
I spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun, listening to an Audio Book 'The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success', where the author talks about meditation, time alone, and the importance of silence.  Tomorrow I am not going to talk to the GoPro, I might not even take it...maybe that's going too far, I take a camera of some sort everywhere.
The dogs didn't need shouting at today, due to no-one else here all day.  Wonder how they will go if I don't talk to them, this could be an interesting experiment!  I'm sure if I walk off down the beach without saying anything they would follow, but would they come back when I do??  Haha, stay tuned to find out tomorrow.

Talking to the GoPro, my best friend today.

Dogs and Twitching don't mix well!

Serious dog training coming up!!

Curlews on the beach, Yah I love them!

 Yes It's another Twitcher letter!  Sorry no fishing in this blog. 
 We went to Broome town this morning; no fish there?
Unpacking the car when we returned mid-day was interrupted by the loud quacking of Sea Eagles.

I'm a bit worried about 'baby' Sea Eagle that I photographed last week.  When our Broome mate was out on Friday night he described what could possibly be it, or the Bustard I was also following, dead on side of track in. Too sad to think about.

Brahminy Kite, stealing from brown kite!

But wait!  They were fighting over a STICK!!!?

I was lucky, while having the camera out, the hard to catch (photograph) Brahminy flow over.  Because of it's smaller size and faster movements, it's a hard one to get photos of.  I was pretty happy with this afternoons efforts!!

As stated in earlier blog, my dogs are in for some serious TRAINING over the next few days!  They also might have to learn to stay at camp while I am trying to get close to birds.  Mind you, they are pretty cool to photograph as well!

Charlie deeply concentrated on the Brahminy; she hates kites of any kind!

Not the best Twitcher buddy!

Once the dogs settled a little, so did the Brahminy.  I think I got my best photos of it so far.

Stay tuned for plenty more photos over the next few days, while Johnno is away!!

John’s Gone: 3 Days Alone!

Beach tonight; Just me and the dogs here!

How quickly things change!  We were in town (Broome) for Pup’s weekly vet check (injections for his leg), when Johnno got the call from our Derby mate.  He’s coming to Willie Creek with his tinny, ‘Do we want to go look for some Sailfish‘?  Well of course!  ‘Do we want to camp on the other side of the creek for 3 days, to help him get his boat in and out’…well no, I don’t want to pack up and move camp just for 3 days.  So Johnno is off ‘proper camping’ for a few nights.  Swagging it, with warm beer…I kept the fridge!!  Take what ever you want or need, but leave me the fridge and enough beer for my time alone.  

John's taken the 4x4, leaving me stranded on the beach alone

‘My time alone’  that’s when it dawned on me; I’ve never been alone for 3 days, like TOTALLY ALONE!!  Who can say they have? John drove off in the car, my only transport, and it was just me and the dogs.  Two quad bikes who had ridden up the creek early, speed past on their way home.  No-one else left on the beach, just ME and the dogs.  Even if you are ‘alone’, there is always other people around, you still go to work, someone is next door, across the paddock, or down the street.  I’ve been alone lots, mostly while camping with johnno.  Haha, we camp remote, just the two of us, a lot.  So you can imagine how we need our alone time!  But a simple walk down the beach, knowing that the other person will be back at camp when you get there, means you are never really alone at all.  Now there is no-one but me at camp, and there will be no one but me at camp for 3 days…these dogs better start communicating!!  Funny that; Due to our disobedient dogs running off after other dogs a lot, I got two dog books out of the library today.  I feel 3 days of dog training/communicating coming on.

I know Johnno has been totally alone before.  When we were care-taking for Kimberley Coastal Camp, and I had to leave early for family/house stuff.  Johnno was left opposite Mitchell Plateau  for almost a month, totally on his own!  The only way back to town (Kunnunarra) was the once weekly mail plane from the MP run way, which was a hell of a mission to get to!  
YouTube clip: Having to leave KCC

  Thinking about that suddenly made me realise I’m not really in the middle of no-where.  I have a phone and internet, and I can see the Coconut-Wells houses down the beach, which I could walk to if needed.  Oh and Johnno is just across the creek, with a tiny, and a phone, so easy access to him as well, if needed.  

But with no-one to talk to for 3 whole days, you can expect a few long blogs coming at ya’s!!!

 Pup & Charlie were very confused when Johnno left without us!

They watched for his return until it was too dark to see outside.

Getting off the 'Green square'

No more Auto for me!

Practising with Focus Points

I have the best models!

I was lucky enough to meet Dom before leaving Derby.  He started me on the road to using my Canon for what it's meant for, not just point and shot 'Auto' photos.  I've loved photography for years, and have millions of great photos, but now want to take control of my photos, so i know why the not so good ones didn't turn out the way I wanted.  

Dom has been helping me with a few questions I've had over facebook.  I had a feel good moment today when reading his message about 'f/22 apature' I said out loud 'that will be because the smaller circle will let in less light'!!! Wahoo!!  Something is sinking in!!  Dom if you are reading this you will now realise that I'm right at the basic beginners level, so the rest of your message might take a bit longer to sink in, and I will not be using my tele-convert for a while.

Photo taken on 2x Teleconvert

Smaller tides mean better fishing again, finally.  Even though I had eaten enough Salmon last week, with a few days of none, I was happy when I got my first one this morning.  We were thankful for the overcast, cooler weather today.  A few extra beers with our mate who popped out from Broome for sundowners with us, meant we were happy for a slower paced day today.   Photos below taken on Johnno's G1X camera, with it's cool Super Vivid setting, (all on Auto), 

  

Tonights amazing sunset, being enjoyed by campers on the beach.  Not sure we will get much sleep tonight...Pup wants to go and play with them, he will not settle.