A Fischer Family Down Under
Upon arrival in Sydney we took a taxi to my brothers’ apartment in Chatswood. What an amazingly busy city. Even more amazing was the night lights from my brothers’ 24th floor balcony. We only spent 1 night in Sydney before flying off to Cairns where we were met by my parents, uncle and aunt. We were taken by boat to an island called Green Island which was beautiful with its marine life and an amazing variety of fish. The day trip included a glass bottom boat ride, a submarine trip along the reef, snorkelling, diving and lunch on a ship docked at the island. Although the island was small, the atmosphere and the people were friendly and it was definitely worth it, to see the reef in its natural state.
Before leaving Cairns, I made friends with one of the local Aborigine ladies, who made a friendship necklace for me out of shells that they collect on the beach near her home town.
We hired cars and made our way from a very tropical dense Cairns down to Fraser Island and Rainbow Beach. This took us a week to do with overnight stops in towns along the way. Rainbow Beach got its name from the coloured sand cliffs along the beach. Rainbow Beach is a small town with only about 1,000 people living there. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world! I have been here before and its beauty still takes my breath away.
Our main reason for the trip was to visit with my brother and his wife, and so they flew out from Sydney to meet us in Brisbane. We were also here to visit my Uncle who has a house in Rainbow Beach. The other reason to visit Australia? Fishing!! I mean we are “Fischers” after all. Everyone in our family loves fishing and we went over to show the Aussies how to fish. The 'Rainbow Beach Family Fishing Classic' is held once a year at Rainbow Beach at the local Country Club. Although their community is small it is very well advertised and people come from far and wide to take part in this annual event. We made daily trips to Fraser Island to fish for the largest catch – we were only allowed to weigh in 1 fish per category per day. Fraser Island is the most beautiful island and it is inhabited by Dingo’s that are tagged and controlled in numbers. It even has a landing strip on the beach for light aircrafts. Driving for Kilometres on the beach was a real treat and we got to pick the perfect fishing spots.
Joshua amazed me with his enthusiasm. He was up at 5am every morning in the rented 4x4 and on the first ferry over to Fraser by 6am. There is a local 4x4 rental company in town that has great deals. We stayed at a self catering apartment in Rainbow Beach. The apartments were excellent value for money. We fished for 7 days non-stop from 6am till 2:30pm, when we had to return to Rainbow Beach to weigh in at 4pm. Prize giving from 6pm until 8pm. Each night had a different sponsor with rods and reels, GPS systems, freezers and the last night was the main event with all the big prizes. Joshua was really lucky as he weighed in some of the heaviest fish in the children's division and won rods, reels, hampers, t-shirts and was a favourite among the community, so much so that he is featured on this year’s entry form and posters around town.
The children also had nightly entertainment with a special section just for to entertain them with video games, movies, games and baby sitters. After the prize giving, it was off to the country club’s pub area to listen to live entertainers and mingle with the locals. The Australian community are really friendly and we had great fun playing pool, listening to local celebrities singing and having a wonderful time.
The week before the fishing competition, we headed off to Steve Irwin’s Australian Zoo. I have never seen such a well kept, neat and tidy zoo. No expense is spared for the comfort of the animals as well as the people who go there to visit them. We even got to be part of a National Geographic television program featuring Terry Irwin and Bindi Irwin.
After 4 weeks in Amazing Australia, we had to shed some tears and wave goodbye to the family and board Emirates for South Africa. We will be back though for a visit soon enough as there are still many fishing compo’s to come and many prizes to win. Until then – see ya mate!!!