Bream full

Yesterday's post included some snaps of powerboats laden with anglers and a proposal that a big Bream fishing competition was in the offing.  At about 6:45 on the 9th of June I looked out to see what the sunrise was like.  This was the scene in the Inlet below the house:
 It was rather dark and the handheld camera had some issues with range!  On getting down to the jetty the scene was a little clearer.
 It turned out that there had been a big Brem comp at Lakes Entrance on the weekend so they decided to run the Mallacoota one Tuesday and Wednesday rather than next weekend.

At 7am the boats started to leave: basically flat as a maggot as they cross the line.  Again a bit difficult to capture in low light.

They went with three finish times, the first being at 2pm. The weather wasn't too bad: cool and cloudy and the wind not that strong.   Here are some punters coming back.
They take the fish out of the tanks on the boats and put them in these bags for weighing, keeping them in aerated water while waiting to ensure the fishe are not damaged.
 Here are a couple of large ones being photographed for the organisers.
This is a 1kg job finding its way out of the enclosure into which they are released as protection from pelicans.
The event is pretty well organised as they have the results up on the web before the second starts!

On the dog walk we have noticed a profusion of Pittosporum fruit.  That is my only vegetative image today!
We also saw Azure Kingfishers on the walk and they are contenders for Bird of the day.  But I didn't get a snap: perhaps tomorrow.

Our outing today we went to Quarry Beach where we found this odd looking beast.
 On turning it over it was clearly an abalone.  It was lobbed back into the sea.
 The tide was low, so I was able to scale one of the rocks and get a good look at the strata as revealed.
Our little friend was allowed off the lead and she behaved very well as we went down the beach, paying great attention to all the scents.
I paid some attention to some Gannets and a Square-tailed Kite overhead and these two Sooty Oystercatchers on the beach.
When I looked up from my photography small dog had decided to pay some attention to a flock of gulls about 200m up the beach and was achieving about warp factor 7.  So I had to sprint off after her as she was showing no signs of coming back to us (nor indeed sniffing at rocks at the speed she was travelling).  I caught up and butter would definitely not have melted in her mouth.

We then went to the heathy paddocks behind the airport and found more Jacky Winters ...
... and a very good crop of Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters (of the usual race, photophobica).

Back at the fishing comp I got this snap of a departing Great Cormorant ...
 ... and some anticpatory pelicans.

That was about it for the day.

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