Gone Fishin'

So, what have I been up to? (Apart from housekeeping and waitressing, neither of which you need any details of...) Me and my roommate went fishing with one of the chefs here and his friend. We wandered along the shore of Willie Creek at low tide, barefoot and muddy, to catch mullet to use as bait. The bit of Willie Creek where the crocodile lives. As we walked along the bank towards the side creek where he basks, people on the other side of the side creek started shouting a warning that the croc was there, but it must have just slipped into the water as we arrived. Needless to say we were keeping a distance from the water and keeping our eyes peeled when our chef headed to the water to throw his net. We didn't realise quite how big the risk was until we asked what the 4 pronged spear was for. “For the croc” was the reply. After that we noticed that the guys were always walking between us and the water. We retreated onto a ledge a safe height above the water to fish. My bait kept being stolen, but my roommate caught a catfish and our chef caught a large Barumundi – a much sought after fish here – very expensive, so we were pretty excited, especially when he cooked it up for dinner and gave me and my roommate special staff meals (Thai style lemongrass and tumeric marinade) making everyone else who had beef curry again very jealous!

We were meant to be heading off fishing again, with two of the other chefs. But they never checked the tides, and it was always going to be more about beer than fishing, then suddenly it rained! So yes, I've been fishing, but there's not a lot else to do here... You work, you hang out on the beach, you play tennis (we can use the hotel facilities) if it's not too hot, you drink, you laugh at the hungover people trying to do housekeeping...