Lady Musgrave July 2012

[Schuey]

Gday all. A couple of weeks ago I got back from a trip with 6 mates to Lady Musgrave. We were on the island for 16 days and had some pretty ordinary weather. Out of the 16 days we were able to get offshore 4-5 days and the rest was blown. Anyway we made the most of it and speared fish or scuba dived when we could. The sharks were a bit of a problem when spearing and lost a few good trout to them. On the line fishing front all the usual suspects were caught like hussar, cod, coral trout, tuskys, mackerel etc. I speared the biggest squid I have ever seen underwater in one of the photos and the next day we sent the whole head down on a snood rig and within 30 seconds is was smashed which returned a nice blue maori cod. Big baits big fish.

Cheers Schuey

[Schuey]

8317483173

The blue maori cod that fell to the large squid head.

[fishfeeder]

Looks like you guys had a ball, Shame about the weather not playing the game.

Cheers
Brett.

[cuzzamundi]

Good stuff, mate. Bugger about the weather. What was the vis like? Heard it's been average out there.

Cuzza

[Goodoo haven]

You's got a lovely haul of nice eating fish there. Well done.

[outwide1]

Nice going Shuey,looks like an awesome camp site mate.
What an adventure.
Mick

[Schuey]

Gday Cuzza. Yeah the viz wasnt the best on the ebb but coming in it wasn't too bad. We also speared other reefs like Boult and that was pretty good viz.

Mick - campsite wasn't too bad at all. Going for 16 days you want to have some comforts. The trailblazas made the difference with freezing down fillets well. I wouldn't go past one of those units. Hence why we had 4 of them for 7 blokes.

Cheers

[madmackrel]

Hey Schuey do you need a permit to camp on musgrave.

[lightsout76]

Mate, good feed of fish there, sounds like an awesome trip and as Mick said, what an awesome campsite. It must've been a bit of effort lugging all that out there.

How many boats did you have?
And how did you run your freezers?
And what is the camping like?

Sorry for all the questions, i'm just intrested in what's involved out there for a camping trip. I realize by the photos it seems a self reliant type set up but was just curious what your suggestions would be for, necessities and creature comforts...... after all i'm all for creature comforts, ha ha.

Cheers,
Leon.

[Muddy Toes]

Hey Schuey do you need a permit to camp on musgrave.

http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/capricornia-cays/camping.html

Can't get a house for September?

[Te Whiti]

Good pictures Troy, Love the photo of 4 new Trailblaza's lined up.

[Schuey]

Madmackrel - You can camp on Lady Musgrave but a max of 50 people at any one time with also a closure of the island around Australia day.

Leon. We drove 2 * 6.5 metre centre cabs over there with 4 blokes and a bit of gear on them both. The other 3 blokes went on the barge out of Gladstone with all the other gear. Due to the big blow on the forecast, we had to drive the centre cabs out there 2 days before most of the gear turned up and ended up having to sell our SOO Game 3 tickets - spewing, but had to be done. We run all the trailblazas on solar panels, usually Kyocera or Sharp panels. My trailblaza (95 litre) was hooked up to 2 * 135 Watt Kyoceras and went real well. I wouldnt skimp on panels if you are looking into them. No generators allowed on the islands, so it's gas or solar. I have taken the old gas chescolds over there before but they just dont have the muscle to freeze down fillets. The camping is as basic as you like which I find appealing. Just camp spots amongst the pisonia trees close to the beach with a composting toilet there. You have to bring everything yourself, water, power,food the lot. You also have to be prepared to stay longer if you come out with a charter or some other boat. While we there a family of 4 had come over on a boat to stay 2 nights, weather turned sour and they ended up staying for 6 because the boat didnt come out due to the weather. You could imagine how little gear they brought thinking it was a 2 night gig, but we ended up giving them heaps of food, fish etc and they got through, but the point is it can be pretty isolated. But nothing that cant be achieved with a fair bit of planning etc. Hope that helps mate.

Cheers Schuey

[madmackrel]

http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/capricornia-cays/camping.html

Can't get a house for September?No mud just curious.

[lightsout76]

Cheers Schuey,

Well atleast that family that got stranded there got to eat 5 star while they were marooned, i guess it was lucky for them that there were other campers on the island at the time.

Thanks for all the info mate that helps heaps. I have looked into the details, before via websites and so forth but it's good to know from someone that has done it, what they suggest, ya know, the do's and dont's from a first hand experience.

I'm definitely keen to plan a trip out there one day so thanks again for all the info.

Leon.