Chores

 We made sure the house was exceptionally cleaned before we went away so we could come back and just put the feet up. We had no food so made a quick dash followed by another major supermarket haul.  The weather is brightly sunny and not a breeze so I have filled the line with washing from the last 10 days. Why bother trying to find Sun up North it you have it here by the thermometer full.  The lawns have gone jungle like. We may have had a clean house but the outside was left to itself. So an hours mowing effort turned into two as the Minister for Home Affairs suggested mowing the neighbours as well. They have been in and out of hospital she says, mowing their lawn would be good she says. Groan. I did have time to make a short clip of our turtle friends.

One Hump or Two

 Where do they keep all their camels around here?...... Humpty Doo!!  Our driver was from there who also has pet crocodiles up to 4m long. The sunsets here are lingering and do not seem to need many clouds. Our home sunsets are better with clouds. The sports bar is a good venue for light meals however I am more impressed with the Townsville one but the locals don't care.  I tried the the lagoon pool again for a swim this morning and that is still a long way.

Corio Gulf Stream

Yes that is my new claim to fame and contribution to the maritime lexicon by inventing a term to describe the current running around the edge of the bay here. The groynes that have been built deliberately interrupt the flow of this current mainly to stop erosion of the shoreline. I have maintained that a side effect of this is more seagrass.  I have confirmed my October swimming status by taking to the water the other day even though it took a while to adjust to the cool.  The water was so clear I had to give it a try. However getting out past the groyne I entered another world. There was this stream of particles in my face from the East, that discoloured the view. It was disorienting and hazy.  I turned back behind the shelter of the wall and the clarity was returned.  It seems the runoff from the storms the day before can still have an effect.  No fish to be seen except the jellies and shells.

It's upside down, so floating not swimming

October swimming

 I promised myself that I would get into the water earlier than last year. I know it was sometime in November that I got in after Winter last year, so todays swim means I made it in time. I know I was swimming around up in QLD this month but that doesn't count. Only submerging in Corio Bay counts.  I didn't stay long. Not much to be seen except a golf ball, sandy ripples and a rock shelf.  I will bring my proper snorkel gear next time and go a bit further.  I am way out of practice.

Good Weather

Can't let days like this go without getting outside.  I started with a swim at 9:00am. The tide was high with little wind and the Sun was out.  The water temperature was good and so was the visibility.  I mainly followed a school of zebra fish around the end of the closer groyne. I did not swim all across to the other groyne as a could feel a knee niggle but I went half way. The green goo is sitting mostly undisturbed on the bottom at the moment.  Later we got the bikes out for a shorter ride however the knee was fine during the whole ride.  We did a 14km slow circuit, stopping for coffee and the newspaper.  Those bananabenders might be having poor weather but right now it is perfecto here.

morning swim

morning ride

green tea under a tree

Tassie Wave stirs the Pool

 I went across in the morning yesterday but after those storms the water was dark with grass. I tried again this morning as there was calmness and reasonably clean water.  This is the hottest time and when the water is warmer it starts to cloud with different growths.  I was swimming along nicely and I could see the Tassie boat passing and then 5 minutes later the Tassie wave floated me up a bit in that classic bell shape. That was fine but the bottom floor resting place of beach detritus really got churned and up it came up blacking out where I was swimming. Of course the answer is to be swimming out much deeper but I haven't gotten my proper sea legs this year.

Back in the Swim

 I have had stitches out for five days now so it is about time I tried the swim properly. First off I still have a dodgy knee so when I tried to put a flipper on I could not properly bend it so ended up breaking another bit of the buckle. The other flipper already has a cable tie holding it.  I did the swim anyway using one flipper.  Over near the pole line is always the best action. There was a school of whiting and also a ray snooping around the floor there.  I got the cable ties out again when I got back and drilled a hole through one buckle to thread it and secure it again. It might work. I will try it tomorrow.

note cable ties

Ideal Swimming

 Hooray all my fussy swim requirements were ticked this morning, however my camera was was out of battery juice and the flipper that was tightened with a cable tie last year decided to break on the otherside.  The swim was still very clear, except for a few floaties but the view to the bottom was perfecto.  It makes a big difference not having flippers when you are used to them.  I can report that the deeper sections further out have had the seagrass stripped back so as to reveal mostly spindly shoots. I have seen this before as by the end of Summer these areas can have thick growth again. I have a mind to go back this afternoon when the camera is charged again.  The tide will be lower by then.  I did a quick beach walk to retrieve a sodden piece of carpet I pulled out of the water yesterday. That was heavier than I thought to get it up to the bin.

chunky carpet

Tethered Swim

 My Williamstown neighbour has made up a contraption to keep herself relatively stationary in a small pool, whilst at the same time keeping up as best a swimming pace as you can.  I have now tried out this idea and it does feel a bit strange.  The below photo shows a weight belt, which I think came from a scuba diving suit. There are also different stretch type cords with a carbiner style attachment and also one inflexible length that attaches to the wall.  When I first tried it I was touching the end of the pool with my hands. So changes were made to swap out a stretchier cable for a stiffer one.  This was all just a tester for me but in the few minutes of usage I hadn't gotten used to it. There is a constant tugging from behind but it seems with time you can smooth the experience. In my case a shorter section of the stretchier rubber would work better.  When I am full time at Willie I can explore this a bit more. 

This hook was placed in the wall for the tethering

From the Deck

 Due to the video camera being pinched, I only have those short phone snippets that most people do.  I will try to combine a longer version from two phones but I have a few snipets from my phone now.   At least we found Debbie's purse wedged between car seats.  We will be submitting an insurance claim for the camera so I will get a replacement at some stage however I could use it right now as there is a huge ship unloading on the Naval pier right now. I cannot wash any more clothes as the line is full but this breeze should dry some. It is cooler here than FNQ but much drier. I have UGG boots on.

Jawbone Swim

 We packed the car to the brim and we were not even camping just setting up for a Christmas lunch at Williamstown.  After unpacking I went down to the jawbone area with the snorkel gear. The tide was the lowest I had seen but on a calmer day I think you could still snorkel.  I tried it anyway but the water was stirred with gritty stuff.  Calmer and deeper is better. The water temperature allows a swim at anytime it did not feel cold at all.  I am not used to walking 10 minutes on a path in thongs or i could just walk it slower.

Cool Swim

 The tide was up, the Sun was out, and the breeze was low.  All three of the tick boxes for me to try the swim. What about water temperature?   I can't really measure that until I get under.  It wasn't too bad.  The swim was a stop start effort. The sea grass beds are harder to avoid as they are more extensive.  Also I broke my flippers in QLD some months back so I was trying old fashioned toes to kick with. I was using goggles not my normal mask as it was leaking.  I have to get familiar with the Kogan camera again so I think I was turning it off more than on and I didn't see a single fish.  At least it's a start.  I do need a new snorkel set.

This Pirate ship dropped anchor nearby

Starfish in the shallows

Swimming Not

 Each time I swim lately I break something.  This time it was a strap on the back of a flipper. I have done this before to a previous set but I have retrieved the old good one so now I have different colours on each foot.  Another retrieval was for the old Gopro. I gave up on this one some years back, as I had to use a waterproof case for it and it was a fussy camera to use but I have resurrected it for the time being. It is still a temperamental unit.  I tried the swim with no flippers after I broke one, its like someone is holding you back as you are trying to move without flippers.  

Another camera rescue job. This is Beryl's old camera.

Not bad considering it hasn't been used for years. I can remember getting hundreds of photos printed via the internet from this camera. Those one's I am not scanning.

SwimTime

 An ideal picture postcard day of 21° no wind.   Debbie is concentrating on more garden projects today so I went over to the beach and had my first groyne to groyne swim this Spring not quite Summer.  The water is very clear but that green foggy growth is still hanging around some of the sea grass beds. I saw one ray completely submerged in sand except for the eyes. The tide was out so I swam close to it but there was never a flinch, it just ignored me.  

Do we look like paupers here? Needing to sell our produce out the front. Our lemons have reduced in number over the last week to about 12 or so. We opened up the letter box and people have been putting money through the slot.  A tidy sum has been building up. If we wanted to set up shop maybe we should have squeezed them and started up the lemonade stand.  We have olives by the kilogram, strawberries, lettuce and enough tomatoes to start our own tomatina.  Con the fruiterer  beeeeeeeautiful lemons.

All three lemon scent, lemon sent and lemon cent

Sea Grass Map

We have a nasty weather front moving thru yesterday and today. A good indoors stamp day. As it is I had my first online bidding duel today as well. I have been bidding on one lot for the last two weeks and there was a rival out there because we had been swapping the lead and I had it up to $50 going into the auction.  I messed this part up last time and I was not going to let it go without at least getting in a bid. I took it to $110 before the hammer dropped. It required 4 more bids before they sold it to me. Hooray.  This photo shows the front coming in but the Sun was also highlighting the grassy tracts and the sandy tracts.

I try to pick the sandy paths between the grass for swimming

Under the Sea

I went to the Doc's first thing about some red skin areas on my face. He had looked at them not to long ago and doesn't think there is anything carcinogenic hiding there. However I did get the three week Ufedex (Fluorouracil) skin torture treatment.  This is the one where you coat your skin with this skin eating cream which makes sores on the whole area then having stopped the cream your healing can start and provide you with a new skin layer.  I am to coat the area around my eyes, nose and forehead thus making a late halloween mask. I also finished a few short films on yesterday's Ozone swim.

Later cool off

It was 6:30pm and still very warm on our deck so we decided to amble down to the waters edge as we were already in our swimmers. That is the second set of swimmers for today.  Only six other people down on the beach and spread ways apart.  We just lolled 20 metres in and a banjo shark came swimming up to see what was happening.

cool aid

The Ozone

This was a ship that ran aground about 1925.  We have been trying to get to this wreck via the snorkel and flippers ever since we moved.  Last time we went during school holidays and they were like barnacles all over it.  Ideally you want high tide, sunshine, no wind and mid week school time. However shoot me with a spear gun, I am getting jealous of school kids theses days when a class turned up today in their snorkel gear for a lesson in wetsuit water wonders. Fortunately we timed our swims around theirs. We went out three times and the water depth at the wreck is sudden. You can walk 40 metres but the last 10 are deep.  There were no fish to see except for one ray, but the underwater parts of the wreck are worth it. Not to mention all the pelicans that call this part home.  I have video but will take some editing.

Pelican parade - Ozone background 

Melbourne - background

Salad lunch

Fish Food

Blue Fish

Another good beach day today. I went over for around two hours and managed two swims this time, one with the camera and one without. The same fish are still in the same location except there were a lot more this time and they did not shoot off to hide either.  Good thing there were no spear guns around as they all were slow moving today. As a result of the office clean up 10 yar of financial documents need to be shredded. I have been at it off and on for two days. The shredder gnaws thru paper and staples but needs to switch off after 10 minutes due to over heating. Getting it to go again is the problem.

Fishes

I have been perusing the handy Port Phillip Bay Taxonomy Toolkit.  This identifies everything in the water and there are two fishes I saw the other day which I have now IDed.  This must be like underwater bird watching.  The fishes are Zebra and Blue Warehou.  I'll become an ichthyologist yet. Do ichthyologists have a big year?  What is the group name for a gathering of ichthyologists? A swell of ichthyologists.

A still from above