Fishing Club report December 2020

 

In the absence of any December Report from Commodore Barry and his First Mate Pam it seems like Patches and his team have been our most successful fishers for December. Once again the Sinkers have little to report and we still haven’t even been out in the SS Vaucluse or Tiny Tinny. I think I’ll look for a new team.

 Anyway in view  of the old adage “If you can’t lick ‘em then join ‘em” I decided to accompany Patches and Michael across the Ferry to South Ballina one afternoon to catch some of these whiting and bream Patches keeps telling me about. They certainly weren’t leaping out of the water at us but we managed to get two keepers each. Patches said “You should have been down here this morning when every throw was a fish!” That’s about the story of my life.

 Despite the fact that we only managed two fish each the entertainment was provided by Michael (aka Banjo Ray) Sherlock. Banjo lived up to his name by catching 10 banjo rays as well as his couple of whiting. Every time we looked over at him he had another ray. I guess some people have some kind of innate ability which enables them to succeed where others fail. Onya Banjo but I’d rather it be you than me!

 Report on the Sinkers

Although we haven’t managed to catch too many fish we have had a ball with the crabs this month. In one three day period we caught over twenty legal sized muddies from our secret spot in Emigrant Creek. We had an absolutely amazing feast one afternoon and treated our partners to a seafood extravaganza!

Tip of the Month

The danger with catching a lot of crabs is that you can become a bit complacent with the way you handle them. Anchors Away Johnnie and I decided to sort out a big group and place them in to separate buckets according to size to help with the cooking. Now we know that when you take them out of the refrigerator where they have been sleeping peacefully they don’t take long to wake up. Anyhow we tipped them in to a big bucket and we were lifting them out to sort them when one of them woke up and took a vice like grip on my finger. I wailed so hard I was heard all along the Street but no matter what I did the damn thing would not let go. I finally shook it off and despite weeks of treatment from Nursie Joy (the Fishing Club Nurse) I am still getting over the infection. Well Hammerhead has been at it again getting advice from his local cronies and he tells me I should have put the crab on the ground and it would have let go straight away.

I’m not absolutely convinced and I hope I don’t have to try it out but that’s the tip for this month for any of you silly enough to let a muddie get hold of you.

Our Special Guest Reporter

 This Month we are fortunate to have an article from our very special reporter Lyn Pramana (wife of Bam the Clam) and despite the fact it may have some inaccuracies I have agreed to publish it as an addendum to the December Report.

CRABS - CAUGHT – CLEANED – COOKED – CONSUMED (THE REAL STORY)

CRABS OR CRAP – THAT IS THE QUESTION

For some reason none of us can fathom, the guys decided to cut and clean the crabs before they boiled them. This proved not only to be a not good idea, but in fact it was a really bad idea.
It seems that Doug had never seen inside of a raw crab before and was quite put off by all the “translucent crap” he found inside. He decided he better clean all that stuff out and it was about 4 crabs later that someone looked at what Doug was doing and asked him why he was cleaning all the meat out from the crab. It took another bottle of beer each to discuss if it was indeed translucent crap or crab meat.
Once all the crabs were cleaned they were then thrown into the 2 big pots (regardless of size) and boiled up. Even Doug’s empty crabs were tossed in just in case he missed a bit.
The result was not too bad for the smaller crabs but left a lot to be desired for the larger crabs. When you cracked the claws water squirted all over your face and clothes.  They were full of water and translucent crap. There was a lot of scolding and head shaking and “I can’t believe you did that” from one particular wife.
The ladies ate modestly and the guys polished off the rest of the 21 crabs. As luck would have it, Doug did not get one of the empty crabs.

Happy New Year

 What a great party we had at the Centre on New Year’s Eve and many thanks to all those who made it happen. Let’s hope we can have many more great times at the Centre throughout 2021.

 Stay safe and Happy New Year to you all !

 Tight Lines Douggie

New email address for events at Palm Lake Ballina

 

Driftwood Xmas Party photos

Jacqui Baskerville from Villa 262 sent in some photos she took at the recent Driftwood Xmas Party. To view her photos click on the link below:

Link to Jacqui's photos from Driftwood Xmas Party 

Trivia Night

 A total of 96 wannabe quiz masters turned up for the 70s theme trivia night last week. Quite a few dressed for the occasion, as did hosts Peter and Roger. 

The night was hotly contested with “Golfers plus 1” taking the prize. Fiona Jones was the non golfer in the team and it can be argued whether Lyle, Bob White and the Hogbens, Ted and Sharyn, can claim to be golfers. Serial burglar Doug was there with wife Lesley nictitating (winking) at him all night. 

Some of the team captains submitted profiles of where they were in the 70s and what they were doing. There was skinny dipping, long sideburns, VW Beetles, escaping Cyclone Tracey and some boring stuff like being the CEO of Ballina Hospital.

Information session about a new exercise program

 

Fishing Report November 2020

 

Not too much to report again this month and the most successful team again was Commodore Barry and First Mate Pam who never seem to miss when they take the Rescue vessel up the river. Using mainly yabbies they have had success with bream and whiting and I understand they caught a nice big muddie up in Graham (the Emigrant) Suffolk’s territory in Emigrant Creek. Speaking of muddies now is the time to get amongst them so get out there and have a crack at them. I should have exciting reports on this next month.

 As promised Paul (Ice Blocks) Ison took Anchors Away Johnnie and Stephen (Flash) Fleming up to Casuarina Beach where according to Ice Blocks you can’t miss with the tailor. Apparently apart from a couple of undersized bream and whiting the mission was a total failure. Well done Ice Blocks!

 In the meantime Hammerhead and I were fighting huge barramundi at the Fish Farm in Bli Bli on the Sunshine Coast. We took our wonderful wives up to Mooloolaba to treat them to a couple of day’s luxury and while we were up there we snuck away for a bit of fishing action. It was hard to believe the size of the barramundi in the ponds and while we didn’t manage to land any we had the best time ever fighting them. They kept breaking us off and Hammerhead couldn’t control his emotions as freight train barramundi well over 60cms kept charging away with his line.  If you are looking for a good day of sport fishing you can’t go past this place.

 We’ve had little in the way of reports from Patch’s and his team this month, so he either hasn’t been out much or his efforts have been unproductive.      

Club Meetings

We finally held a very successful barbecue meeting of the Fishing Club on the 9^th November with around 15 members and their partners in attendance. Apparently we broke some of the Covid 19 rules (which have never been explained to us) and caused some angst with Management. Oops! Sorry about that. Anyway now that we have a better appreciation of the rules Gladys has taken the brakes off in NSW and it seems we’re all good to go again.    

 Report on the Sinkers

Now that the blackfish season is over we have taken to fishing the beach and the river for whiting. Apparently the reports (mainly from the Bait Shops) have been that the whiting are thick. We haven’t seen any evidence of that apart from the odd small one from the River. The Ballina Bait and Tackle man told us that we couldn’t miss if we took our (very expensive worms) along the river to the tree behind the Swimming Pool. Anchors Away caught a couple and a small flathead but I wouldn’t say the spot was anything to write home about. Hammerhead certainly wasn’t impressed.

 We still haven’t taken the boats out but we should take to the water with the SS Vaucluse and Tiny Tinny as soon as the winds die down and the weather warms up.

 Tip of the Month

As we heard local reports that the whiting were really on the Sinkers decided to take up the challenge of catching them with poppers. At $8.50 a packet for about three lousy worms we decided it would be much cheaper and more fun to catch them on the poppers.

 Hammerhead in one of his regular visits to BCF, was introduced to the very best,  you beaut , top of the range poppers and despite my protestations forked out the princely sum of $25 of his hard earned to buy one. Anchors Away was similarly encouraged to buy one from Dave’s Bait Shop (this was also supposed to be top of the range and guaranteed to catch whiting) but his only cost $20.

 We headed off to the beach at Flat Rock, me with my yabbies and the boys with their poppers determined to get amongst the whiting. You guessed it, the boys caught zilch with their poppers and I caught four very nice whiting.

 By the way I have since bought five poppers very similar to theirs over the net for $10 bucks.

The Tip

Don’t take too much notice of the bait and tackle stores and don’t expect to get amongst the whiting with poppers.

Happy X-mas to All

Cheers till next month and have a great X-mas and a fantastic New Year.

 Let’s hope we will have lots of very successful fishing outings to report in 2021.

Tight Lines Douggie

 

Palm Lake Photography Exhibition

 Last week the second annual Palm Lake Photography Exhibition was held with 10 photographers bravely displaying their work. 

Exhibitors of printed images included Andy Duke-Yonge, Helen Armstrong, Tony Hart, Peter Biddles, John Cross, Michael Armstrong, Jill Greaves, Julie Pallant, Norm Harris and Ali Sidki. Thanks also to Stuart Barker for his digital images.

A big congratulations and thank you to all these exhibitors who put in the effort behind the scenes getting their images ready for display.  

It was great to see so many residents make their way over to the Oasis clubhouse to check out the exhibition, many returning for a second look. Your support, positive feedback and encouragement were greatly appreciated by the exhibitors. 

My thanks also go to those of you that purchased the Birds of Ballina calendar that I produced again this year to support SeaBird Rescue. There are still a few calendars available if you missed out, or want some extras for gifts - give me (Julie Pallant) a ring on 2283 or email jfpallant@gmail.com and I can arrange delivery. There are more details about the calendar on my website: Link to Birds of Ballina Calendar

For those of you that missed out on the exhibition, or want a second look, I took some shots of the exhibition and have put them up on my website, as they are too big for this blog. If you would like to check them out click on the link below: 

Link to photos of Photography Exhibition

If you are interested in getting involved in next year's exhibition, or would like more information please email me and I will add you to the mailing list. We are considering starting a Photography Discussion Group - email me if you are interested in coming along. Details of dates/times are yet to be decided. 

Julie Pallant (Villa 283)

Phone: 2283  Email: jfpallant@gmail.com

Warning about scams

 Dougie Townsend (Villa 108), in his volunteer role with the Ballina Police Station, has sent through a warning about scams that are operating taking advantage of people. Sadly some within Palm Lake Resort have been affected. 

Please be very careful if you are sent a message indicating you must pay using gift cards or ITunes cards. As the flyer above indicates - these are scams. 

  

Golf Report Nov 2020

 

The last game of Golf for 2020 was played at Chinderah with 17 golfers attending. The number of players over the last 6 months has been very pleasing given the restrictions of Covid and no buses.

The winners for November were:

·         Ladies: Sue MacDonald on 40 points followed by Hilary Lewis on 34.

·         Mens: Doug Stinson on 40 points followed by Bambang Pramana on 37.

·         Nearest the pin on the 4^th was hotly contested with Yvonne Smart edging out Steve Horne

·         Nearest the pin on the 13^th was initially held by Robert White until Bob MacDonald put one closer.

Every year an eclectic event is conducted; that is the best score per hole over the year minus handicap.

The eclectic winners this year were (oh no not again!!!) Doug Stinson and runner up was Michael Sherlock; both winning vouchers for Teven Golf Club.

Thanks for coming throughout the year and have a safe and merry Christmas.

Bill Oliver

 

PS Picture of Doug Stinson (serial golf burglar)

 

Wooden Rocking Horses for sale

Bruce Nelson from Villa 25 has some Rocking Horses for sale. 

If you are interested please give him on the phone numbers shown in his ad above. 

 

Last day for the Palm Lake Photography exhibition

 Just a quick reminder that today (Friday 27 Nov 2020) is the last day of the Palm Lake Photography Exhibition. If you haven't already done so pop across to the Oasis Club and check it out. 

Congratulations to the winners of the Palm Lake Tennis Challenge

 

Palm Lake Massage

 A message from Mel Miller from Palm Lake Massage: 

Hi Everyone,

Thank you all for your kindness and patience with my latest recovery. Palm Lake Massage is now back in business and available : Monday, Wednesday and Friday..

 Last Day to grab your before Christmas Massage is 21st December 2020

 Christmas Holiday Dates: Christmas/New Year Holiday = 22nd December 2020-3rd January 2021

 Begin again in the new year Monday 4th January 2021.

 We wish you all a fun and fulfilling 2020 Christmas holiday season.

We look forward to enjoying a bigger and brighter year with you in 2021.

 Many thanks for all your love and support

 Kind Regards,

 Mel Miller

Ph: 0449 524 284

Clinic hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10am - 6pm

Trivia Night 8 December

 

Access to Palm Lake facilities

Message from Rick Stewart Resort Manager 

Good morning everyone. Further to yesterday’s introduction of QR codes becoming mandatory in NSW, we are working to transition into this process. 

I completely understand the confusion surrounding this new process.

We currently have the  manual sign in sheets available, while we work out the “bugs” of this new system.

We can also sign you in through the office, so please see us for help.

If you need help setting up the app, or learning the process, we can also help you with that.

I understand that this is a less than ideal system, but it has been released state wide, and is causing anxiety and confusion it seems everywhere, not just here. 

I will send out more information as it comes to hand.

Please be reassured that you are not going to be stopped from using any of  the resort facilities.

Rick Stewart 

24/11/2020

Palm Lake Photography Exhibition

 

The Palm Lake Ballina Photography Exhibition is on in the Oasis Clubhouse from Monday 23rd to Friday 27th Nov 2020.

Make sure you come over to the exhibition and see what our photographers have been up to over the past year. 

 Exhibitors this year are:

·        Andy Duke-Yonge

·        John Cross

·        Michael Armstrong

·        Norm Harris

·        Jill Greaves

·        Julie Pallant

·        Helena Armstrong

·        Tony Hart

·        Peter Biddles

·         Ron Taylor

 Slide shows of images will be showing on the TVs in the clubhouse – grab a coffee and sit back and enjoy!

My calendar for 2021, featuring images of birds from the local area, will be available for sale. All profits go to the SeaBird Rescue group in Ballina. These make ideal Xmas presents.

Cards will also be on sale, featuring the images of Helena Armstrong and Julie Pallant. 

The exhibition will be run in accordance with the current COVID guidelines.

Look forward to seeing you there,

Julie Pallant (Villa 283) 

 

 

Garden Club Report October 2020

 GARDEN CLUB NEWS 

On 28^th October the Garden Club had a most successful garden visit to two villas. A total of 21 members attended. The villa of Don and Lois Willet (Villa 18) gave us all an example of how planning and precision can result in a beautifully laid out garden. 

Don and Lois really care for their plants and the display was outstanding. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my phone with me (world’s worst mobile phone user) so I haven’t any photos of this beautiful garden to show you. 

Don revealed behind one of his garage roll-a-doors a compact and well organised storage for garden tolls and chemicals. Our thanks go to Don and Lois for allowing us to view their garden.

From one end of the resort to the other where Sue and Bob MacDonald showed us their garden. 

Instead of accepting the traditional Palm Lake layout of the back garden, Sue and Bob have used up some lawn space to plant a deeper garden complete with quirky sculptures.

A 'magpie' guards the plants

Layout of the garden

The lawn is carefully maintained by Bob and was beautifully manicured for our visit.

Again, our thanks go to Bob and Sue for allowing us to view their pride and joy.

NEXT MEETING: NOVEMBER 25th 2020 Old Clubhouse 9:00 am

Agenda

Review of October Garden Visits

1.Planning for 2021

(a)  Garden Competition – Don Willet

(b)  Activities for 2021

(c)   Organisation of Garden Club for 2021

2.Finances

3.Other Business such as garden problems, unusual or problem plants

4.Recess over December and January.

5.Next meeting Wednesday 24^th February 2021, Old Clubhouse, 9:00 am 

Morning Tea. Gold coin donation appreciated

Robert Barlow

Villa 219

Results of election for Residents Committee

 The results of the recent election for the Residents Committee have been announced by the Returning Officer Terry Polwarth: 

Declaration of poll

 

Below are the names of the elected members of the Residents’ Committee for the next 12 months. The list is in alphabetical order.

 

John Adlington

 

Megan Edwards

 

Tony Hart

 

Fiona Jones

 

Roger Pallant

 

Lyle Rawle

 

Peter van Iersel

 

At the first meeting of the new Residents’ Committee the committee will decide upon the executive positions.

 

Terry Polwarth

Returning Officer

 

Volunteers for Palm Lake Ballina library needed urgently

We have a great library available for us to use here in Palm Lake Ballina that is run by resident volunteers. 

Can you spare some time to help out? Duties include wiping down the returned books and returning them to the shelves. 

If you can help please contact Sue Christie on 2468 as soon as you can - she is going away on Sunday (15th Nov), and needs to find someone to help out while she is away.

Golf Report Oct 2020

Another good day at Chinderah Golf course on Friday 30th Oct with 16 Palm Lake players enjoying the day. 

Michael Sherlock won with 42 pts, just ahead of serial burglar Doug Stinson on 41 pts . The women’s comp was won by Hilary Lewis on 34pts with Sue MacDonald on 32pts. 

Nearest the pin on the 4th first belonged to Sue but Paul Denmeade pipped her with a better shot. The 13th was won by Dustin Johnson lookalike Steve Horne. 

Friday Nov 27th is our last game of the year so please come along. Contact Bill Oliver villa 185 if you like to play .

Bill Oliver

Photos from Melb Cup

 For those of you that attended the Melb Cup event organized by Warren and Eileen I have put the photos from the day up onto a OneDrive album. You can access the album using the link below: 

Link to album of photos from Melb Cup

Individual images can be downloaded from the album and saved on your own computer by clicking on the Download option on the top left of the album screen.

Julie Pallant (Villa 283)

Fishing Report October 2020

 Fishing Reports

Once again we had a predominately windy month so there wasn’t a lot of activity in the angling department. Most local reports for the area were suggesting things were pretty good but I’ve had few success stories come in from our Club.

 Peter (Jaffa) Kafka et al reported some success with the bream from the creek in North Creek Road just past the Oyster Farm but I haven’t seen any proof by way of photos so the sizes might be questionable. Ken (Miss’em) Jones took his grandson down to the same spot to show him what to do and I understand the boy gave him a lesson in how to catch flathead.

 Commodore Barry and First Mate Pam have been the most successful by boat fishing the main river with yabbies, but once again I haven’t been privy to any photos to confirm the numbers and sizes.

 I understand Paul (Ice Blocks) Ison is keen to take some of us beach fishers up to Casuarina where he guarantees we will catch some tailor. We’ll see what comes of that.

 Club Meetings

We held an unsuccessful meeting of the Fishing Club on the 23^rd with only a few members turning up so we tried again on Thursday 29^th with a bit more success. We are keen to get members to team up and find fishing buddies so they have someone to join them on fishing jaunts. We suspect a number of members would like to go but don’t quite get around to it. If we had members teaming up we might get more fishing action.

 To this end we decided to have a BBQ (including wives and partners) at the Oasis to talk amongst ourselves and see what we can organise. This will be held on Monday 9^th November at 2.00pm for anyone interested in attending. 

You would be most welcome whether you are a Fishing Club member or not.

BYO supplies and drinks and give me a call if you need any further information (0412 663 872).

Report on the Sinkers

Not much to report as we are pussycats when it comes to a bit of windy weather. We have caught a few bream and flathead from the beach at Flat Rock but nothing to write home about. I understand Patches and Missus Patches and their team have had similar results so all in all we couldn’t say it was a successful Month. We had one go at the crabs in the drain but apart from Hammerhead and myself being absolutely hammered by the midges we had nothing to report from that little venture.

Tip of the Month

I thought I might report any useful (or otherwise tips) I get during the month so here we go for October.

Roger Ramjet (alias Stingray) told us about these fantastic new soft plastic lures that the flathead just can’t resist. After searching every bait and tackle shop in the Region we finally found out that you can only get them over the net. Anyhow the Sinkers all chipped in some of their hard-earned and bought a few packets of varying sizes. Sorry to say that we only found one little undersized flathead that found them irresistible. Thanks for nothing Stingray!

 Cheers till next Month

Tight Lines Douggie

Message from Mel Miller from Palm Lake Massage

 Dear Clients of Palm Lake Massage,

Due to injury Palm Lake Massage will be closed until Monday 23rd November, 

Anyone with existing appointments before this date will be contacted about the option to reschedule.

My sincere apologies for any inconvenience this causes

Many thanks

 Mel Miller

Ph: 0449 524 284

Clinic hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10am - 6pm

Photography Exhibition Nov 23rd to 27th November 2020

Here is a date to put in your diary. 

The Palm Lake Ballina Photography Exhibition will be held again this year in the Oasis Clubhouse. It will run from Monday 23rd to Friday 27th November 2020.

 Make sure you come over to the exhibition and see what our photographers have been up to over the past year. 

My bird calendar for 2021, featuring images from the local area, will be available for sale, raising money for the SeaBird Rescue group in Ballina - ideal as a Xmas present. Cards will also be available. 

Look forward to seeing you there,

Julie Pallant (Villa 283)