jayneandmarty.com

Two Sundays ago down at Ocean Grove with Johnboy and Damian I caught a pearler of a wave - a clean 4-footer that broke perfectly. I almost lost my balance making the drop, but stayed on my feet and managed to pull a decent bottom turn.

When I looked up at what the wave was doing I realised I was right in the slot, and things went surfingly for once as rode along, carving it up. Seriously, I did.

Until I saw Damian pop up right in front of me after a duckdive, that is.

I’d like to think that I assessed the situation and made an informed, skilled decision about exiting the wave, but to be honest I just bailed, and as my board and I parted ways I was sure that I or it would hit him or his.

And hit it it did. It could easily have been fin to the head for Damian, and with his wedding in less than a month I would have been ostracised from the Dalton/Claydon-Platt community, but luckily, all was well. His board had not a scratch. My board did, however.

Hmmmm. I stopped in at Tonik in Barwon Heads on the way home, showed Tony Tonik the ding, and he told me to try SunCure, a resin that sets hard with less than two minutes’ exposure to direct sunlight.

I can’t work that fast, but it takes longer in the shade, so this weekend I went to work.

It was a bit tricky to work with, but after thoroughly sanding the area and liberally applying the resin I now have a board with no ding. Plenty of resin-y bits to sand off at some point, but no ding.

I’ll post a picture of the fixed board when it’s fully sanded and smooth. Until then, I can report that SunCure seems to work a treat.

Jayne and I just spent 30 minutes trying out Safeway’s HomeShop.com.au, their online supermarket.

Here’s what we thought:

• Of the 40 items that were on our list more than 10 weren’t available online, so we have to go into the shop to buy them anyway. They weren’t exactly unusual items, either. Sweet potato, crushed tomatoes, the type of dishwasher tabs that we use, etc.
• Items are sorted according to the categories chosen by Safeway. I guess we’d get used to them, but it took us more than three minutes and a number of unsuccessful clicks before we found toothbrushes.
• The breadcrumb navigation appears and disappears, seemingly at random. Sometimes I used the nav, sometimes I used the back button. Not ideal.
• We have no idea what brandnames we’re buying most of the time - we go by the design on the pack to remember the one we usually get. That’s not the way HomeShop is organised. They list items by brandname but you have to click an item to see a picture of the pack, and not all items are clickable. If they had a little picture next to each item we would have found it much easier to select the items we usually buy.
• We couldn’t find salt anywhere.

After 30 minutes we had 75% of what we wanted and no chance of getting the remaining 25%. Given that it would have taken us 30 minutes to do this shop in person, we decided to abandon our shopping cart and exit the site.

I suppose it’s handy for people who buy the same things every week, or if it’s too difficult to get down to the local store (no car, small children etc), but it didn’t really work for us.

We might try it again in few years when we have a family.

Take a look at this map.

Then have a read of the accompanying hotspot notes from FishVictoria.com.

1. Inner Harbour

Area 1 is straight out from the St. Helens ramp and starts from the
channel edge to out near the reef area that divides the inner and outer
harbours. Here you may expect to catch snapper, both big and small, and
flathead. The bottom is muddy so there are no real whiting marks here.
Fishing along the main channel is OK and you will find some good reefy,
shelly areas along here using your sounder. Try not to use to much
berley as it will attract those blasted banjos.
 
 2. Shell Refinery

Turning left out of the boat ramp, going towards the Shell Refinery,
you pass Corio Quay and the North Shore rocks. This is a good spot to
fish for snapper but beware of the ships. Fishing out the front of the
refinery pier is a good place to have a go at some snapper both in and
out of season. There is a water cooling inlet and outlet just past the
pier and the water that gets pumped out after being used for cooling
sometimes get fairly warm so closer inshore pinkies often congregate at
sunup and sunset. The bottom around here is muddy.
 
 3. Limeburners Bay

This area  is only 200 metres to the north east. Here you can catch
whiting, big flathead and some very good snapper. The bottom changes
from mud to sand on the east side of the small channel here. I find
difting for whiting (sand whiting) here works well with some decent
sized fish being taken. There is a small ramp here but is only good for
anything around 4 metres at high tide and at low tide you could just
about forget it.
 
 4. The Paddock (between Avalon & Pt. Wilson)

Start off by using a bit of berley to get things going and then settle
in to have a fish for just about anything. Snapper, gummy, flathead,
whiting to name just a few. Let’s just say be ready for the unexpected.
One rod out with ganged hooks and wire trace will not go astray.
 
 5. Pt. Wilson

This has to be one of the prime whiting spots in the whole of Port
Phillip Bay. There are heaps of spots around here and all you really
have to do is move around until you find them. Once you find them,
lightly berley to keep them interested. Also just out from the pier is
a good place to have a go for snapper.
 
 6. The Turning Bouy (out near Clifton Springs)

This is to snapper what the last spot is to whiting. One of the best
spots for snapper that’s going around. Fishing near the edge of the
channel with your baits spread to go into the dropoff and onto the
flats on the side of the channel is a good way to get started. Also, as
with most snapper spots, there can be some pesky flathead but be
patient. When you anchor make sure you don’t swing into the channel or
believe me you will cop a big surprise. There are a few leatherjackets
taken when really close to the markers but not to often.
 
 7. The Chair

Here we can get snapper, flathead, whiting and leatherjacket. There is
alot of weedy/sandy bottom here and this is good for whiting nearer the
shore. There are some reefy areas as well. This is a large area to
cover with most of it being productive. On the way back to the ramp
give the Alcoa Pier a go in winter/spring for salmon that collect there.
 
 Summary

The overall experience of fishing here is very good. If you are going
from the Inner to Outer harbours or visa versa, stick to the main
channel until you get used to the area. There is some very shallow
water on the edges here and it pays to be cautious. Be very alert and
look out for container ships as they can sneak up on you. Remember when
fishing here be ready for an ambush from the big one because it will
happen and if you are not ready it will bust you off.

Then take a look at this photo of Matt.

Can you guess how many fish we caught out on Corio Bay today?

Yes, 0.

It was fun, though, cruising around the bay in Matt’s (unnamed) speedboat. We tried areas 7, 4, 3 and 2 and they gave us nothing, but we’ll be back having done some how-to-fish research, with some berley, some idea about how to rig up the hooks and line, and some warmer clothes. Note Matt’s hands. Yes, they’re the gloves he uses for waterskiing. It was that cold.

Maybe the snappers’ll say hello next time.

Just bought a new mower. We went the ecologically-sound / no cash in the bank route and opted for a push-mower rather than a motorised one, as recommended by our friend Johnboy.

It’s a bit of a beast - those blades whizz around if you push it fast enough. It took me about 30 mins to mow the front and rear lawns. Max wasn’t particularly bothered by it, although he did jump out of the way when I started heading towards him.

Aaaahhh … the smell of cut grass. Summer must be on the way.

Today it’s all about Max, our beautiful, gentle, loyal golden retriever.

We brought him home from the breeders two years ago to the day, on August 4, 2004. When this photo was taken we were on the way home in the car. We had been warned that he might play up or get carsick, but he was totally cool. And gorgeous. Look at those eyes.

He was mildly troublesome when he was 1, but when we hear horror stories from other dog owners we realise we have been pretty lucky. If I knew then what I know now I wouldn’t have disowned him and called him Jayne’s dog for a month or two.

Here he is one year on. He had a party.

And here he is about five minutes ago. This is where he’s spent most of the last year (when he’s not on our bed).