Pouting Trout's blog

GVFFC - MANSFIELD GUIDING SERVICE

Professional Guiding Service Available 7 days a week.

Jamieson, Howqua, Delatite, Upper Goulburn Rivers

Half Day $250.

Full Day $400. (Includes Lunch)

 Brush up on Skills, Fast Track the Learning Curve and enjoy great fishing on some of Victoria's best Unregulated Trout Rivers while taking advantage of my Vast Local Knowledge...... All flies and terminal tackle Included!!!

Beginners Welcome with all Equipment Provided if Required.

Casting Tuition, Stream-Craft, Fly Tying Instruction. Beginner to Advanced

For Bookings and Further Enquiries contact GVFFC on 5773 2513

for the best quality professionally tied flies contact me at pouting.trout@gmail.com

 6 pound Brown, landed 27/09/2011

5 pound Brown landed 13/10/2011

5 Pound Brown, landed 10/04/2012

Guides Day Off

          The fishing has continued to be great over the past fortnight with one of my clients grassing 5 fish for a combined weight of 10 pounds early last week.  The rivers are all running icy cold and crystal clear and being able to spot fish with the polaroids has added lots of value to the quality of fishing we are experiencing above the lake.

    With the main easter break now over and the mass exodus of people from the District overnight I thought what better way to spend my day off than to get out for a fish as I made the executive decision to stay home over easter to enjoy some quality family time and to tie a squillion flies to get me through the remainder of the season.  

   I wont go into too much detail or offer blow by blow accounts of the fish caught over the past fortnight but I will say that Autumn has been every bit as good if not better than the fishing we had up here during Spring and early summer and Im thoroughly looking forward to the last couple of months of what has been an amazing season.  

    Im not going to ramlble on anymore, instead I will let the pictures do the talking...  excuse the quality of some pics from early last week as I forgot the Lumix and had to resort to the Iphone.

Below is  a selection of 2 pounders taken with the Iphone

 

  

and some better quality pics of some good quality fish

the brown below was a tick under 3 pound

below is a 3.5 pounder landed by my client last week

and one I snaffled

just for a bit of added colour, heres a 2 pound rainbow

another client holding a nice brown

   And my prize, a 5 pound Brown that I landed today

and a mug shot

   nothing more needs to be said

 

Rivers Update

 All the rivers up here have cleared nicely and have well above average Autumn flows.... Fished the Upper G for 2 and half hours from lunchtime yesterday and lost count of the fish caught, estimate it was in the low 20's... 50/50 dry and nymph.... lots of fish rising in pool tails and plenty of fish sitting on edges of fast water also.  The Jamieson looks a treat and Im going to go and scope out Howqua and Delatite later this afternoon....  At this stage I am still free for guiding this weekend so sing out if you want to experience some great fishing on small unregulated rivers with some great dry fly fishing to be had.

More Rain and all that Jazz

                After another thumping rain event all the rivers have once again blown out so it looks like this weekend will be a great time to build up some brownie points and tie all those flies that will come in handy for the remainder of autumn. While we should be experiencing Indian summer like conditions, it’s more akin to early spring up here at the moment.  I got out for a look at all the rivers over the last couple of days and although they are pretty much unfishable at present, a few clear days will see them start to clear up and the higher flows, especially at this time of year will auger well for some great fishing in coming weeks, fingers crossed. For anyone who made it up here over the weekend at least the Jamieson Jazz Festival was in full swing and it was great to see the town pumping. 

               When things settled after the last major rain event of a fortnight ago I had some amazing fishing during the day and although they were a bit hit and miss. Evening rises were anything from just OK to absolutely sublime. If you are prepared to do a bit of walking and stalk patiently you will find plenty of rising fish to cast at during the day also. Using your skills of observation and sifting through bubble lines with a strainer net can help in identifying what the fish are eating and this can make all the difference especially when it comes to picky feeders.  I suppose having an intimate knowledge of all the rivers and knowing where some of the better fish reside helps as was the case on Thursday afternoon when I finally got a photograph of a 48 cm brown that had busted me on one occasion and spat the hook on 3 others.  I had seen this fish come up to look at my dry several times which was how I located it in the first place.  Sometimes this fish took the fly on the second or third cast but perseverance paid off on this occasion as it took 40-50 casts into the “zone” until finally up she came and snaffled my fly. As you can it was well worth the effort and is still there for anyone else that wants to have a crack.

                What I have come to appreciate in the past 18 months is how vital local knowledge is up here.  With all the rivers above the lake being totally unregulated, weather conditions, water temps and river levels all must come into consideration when planning a sortie. Nothing remains static for very long and resident fish will hold in different parts of pools and runs depending on what is happening on any particular day and basic stream-craft will only get you so far.  Catching upwards of 20 smaller fish in a day is fun but I have really challenged myself this season to target larger fish in the 2 pound and upwards class.  Walking heaps and thoroughly combing water that I suspect or know larger fish to be holding in has produced some great results throughout the season with over 120 fish over 2lb coming to hand with around 20 of those being over 3 and up to 6 pounds in weight. That being said there have been a few sessions in amongst it all where I have drawn a complete blank, but hey, that’s Fishing.  

                Over coming weeks it will be my intention to do as much fishing as possible. It is disappointing that the lower Goulburn has come up to such high levels for this time of the year as even when the water was discoloured at 500meg a day, the fishing was great and the prospect of having a clear G at 1000 meg a day had me tying up dozens of flies and chomping at the bit to get into it.  All this rain has turned things on its head again and now those flies look like they may be just as handy up here and I’m looking forward to  guiding as much as possible this autumn on the Mansfield side of the lake.  I still have a lot of unfinished business with several oversized fish that have eluded me throughout the season, especially a fish of around 4 pound that one of my clients dropped a few weeks back that busted me off earlier in the season. 

                All in all, it has already been a terrific season and in between the two recent major rain events the fishing has been fantastic. Having higher flows up here for the remainder of the season will be great for fly fishing and mean that the options will be limitless. I have been an especially happy camper since finally getting the tip replaced of my beloved Loomis. Although I have several rods nothing comes close to my GLX classic and while I’m at it I would like to thank Milton and Faye from Hook up who looked after everything for me with just a couple of phone calls.  I will update the blog early in the week to report on river conditions but as of today they are all high and dirty.  Usually the Jamieson is the first to clear up but due to where the rain fell on Thursday it’s unusual to see the clearer water at the Goulburn/Jammo confluence being from the Upper G.  It’s no secret that I have a real soft spot for the Jamieson and I prefer fishing it with more water anyway... she should be good as gold by Tuesday and I will try and get some pics to show you what the water clarity and levels are like in the rivers with my next update... In the meantime, I will leave you with some pics of the better fish I have caught in the last week to 10 days and hopefully that will inspire a few of you to call Ant @ GVFFC (5773 2513) and book me for some guiding and quality companionship on the rivers that I know and love.  Please be advised that if prevailing weather/river conditions are unsuitable for the day you book you can cancel without penalty and based on availability you can do a 3 hour evening rise session starting as late as 5 pm with half days starting as late as 3 pm fishing right through until dark.  

Im not sure what was wrong with the fish in the pic below... it fought well and swam away strongly after release but my suspicion is that poor handling may have caused the marks that has on its side.

although not large, the fish pictured below is beautifully marked specimen

and last but not least, the best fish from the last week, a 54 cm 3.5 pound brown, beautifully coloured and conditioned and worth 2 pics.

 Hope you are all doing well and ill be back with more soon

cheers, Werner

Stating the Obvious

   Unless you have been in a coma or living under a rock it doesnt take much imagination to work out that fly fishing isnt really the best option up here at present due to the massive amount of rain we have seen this week.   My Gauge here at Howqua copped 126 mil from 7 am Monday to 7 am Tuesday and recieved another 50 mil in about 7 hours from around 2 am yesterday morning.  With the catchment being so dry a lot of water was soaked up into the ground but yesterday while driving over to Thornton, every gully and creek that is normally dry was hooting and half of the Josephine cutting on the road on the Yarck side of Alexandra had collapsed onto the road closing one lane of the Highway. 

   Yesterdays rain appears to have all run off into the river systems and as a consequence thay are all running very high and dirty, except for the Lower G where releases have dropped back to 500 meg per day but still looking more like the colour of the yarra at The Collingwood childrens farm. 

   Although we probably have a week or so to wait until we get back to "Fishable' conditions on the rivers up here the upside to it all is that without any more major rain events we are in for a Stellar autumn.  Increased flows and cooler water above the lake with reduced flows and slighty higher temps below the lake will start to trigger some fantastic hatches along with some superb dry fly fishing on pretty much every river connected to Lake Eildon and their tributaries.

  There looks like being one more sting in the tail of this mighty trough that has been punching down from the countries Interior into the south east and we will know more about where we stand on that by tomorrow evening.  My best advice for all you fly fishing junkies out there is to get behind the wheel of your tying vise and start whipping up a heap of dun patterns in readiness for the magic that we are about to experience in the next month or 2.   Im going to be far too busy to fill any fly orders in the coming weeks but the shop at GVFFC has plenty of Dun patterns in stock if you need any.... Blue Winged olives will be a must have pattern and after doing a couple of entomolgy sessions this week with school kids you would be crazy not to be armed with something larger as Kossie Dun nymphs where found in every sample we took.

  Thats all I have time for now but as conditions improve I will be sure to update the blog.  Hope you are all well and managing to stay dry.

Quick Report

     The fishing up above the lake continues to be pretty good and we can be thankful that it hasnt been a sweltering summer as lower water levels have seen some fairly high water temperatures affect the fishing when we have had prolonged periods of warmer weather.  Evening rises have been a mixed bag but when you find yourself in the right place at the right time there have been some absolute crackers with up to 5 fish going berzerk within 5-10 yards of eachother.  Unfortunatly, Hoppers have been pretty quiet this year and although they are accounting for the odd decent fish here and there, I have had more luck fishing small stimmies and size 12 elk hair caddis patterns with my best fish in the past 2-3 weeks being taken on a size 12 yellow sally.  Nymphs are still accounting for plenty of fish also and as the fish appear to be deeper down in moving water when things heat up it is always worth attaching one when things appear to get a little desperate when fishing a single dry.  The rivers also appear to be fishing more consistenly in the upper reaches with Carp being much less of a problem the higher up you go.  The biggest problem I have been having with carp this season is the fact that if you spook one, you spook them all and although the trout dont appear to change their behaviour too much with one or two carp skulking about in the same run/pool, once you spook a carp, it will take off followed by all of its mates and usually the trout will take off and dive for cover also which can be frustrating.  Until we finally get K.H.V approved and we can deal with these incidious vermin once and for all its going to be a matter of being mindful of their presence and adapting in the way we approach the water.

    With Autumn almost upon us and not much hot weather to come, we are on the verge of my favourite time of year above the lake.  clear cold nights with milder but sunny days will trigger some amazing hatches at any time of the day and we will find ourselves experiencing some classic dry fly fishing and cooler water will see the fish sitting back where we can find them easily enough even when they arent giving us that beautiful "heads up" as to their location in the form of rings left on the water by willing surface feeders. 

    As far as Guiding is concerned, I have been flat out in recent weeks and things dont look like letting up until mid to late april. for those of you interested in a half days guiding, it is possible to start as late as 3 pm as it isnt dark until around 8.45pm so a lunchtime getaway from Melbourne could still see you on the water to enjoy some great fishing.  I always carry an extra 2 rods for clients who fish the evening rise so that they can make the most of that last 30 minutes fo daylight and not miss a moment of the red hot action while maximising your time by being able to have different rigs set up and ready for every different type of water we encounter prior to the sometimes frenzied rise.  It is recommended that you give Ant at GVFFC a call in advance to check for availabilty if you are considering some guiding in coming weeks. 

   thats about all for now but tight lines and good luck to you all in the meantime.

Cheers, Werner

Another Great Session

 just a quick update on the fishing above the lake.... I got out for about 3 hours on Saturday afternoon for a a much needed bit of R+R on my lonesome and had a wonderful time of it... Unfortuantely I only had my Iphone camera on me so the 4 fish caught during the evening rise were'nt even shown the net as fish were going berzerk and a quick release was in order to save time mucking around trying to get a picture without a flash and also allowing me to release the fish without having to balance them up and spend too much time allowing them to get their breath back... all fish were taken on dries totalling 6 with 4-5 others taking the fly that i failed to hook up with. The best fish on the evening rise was a 2 pound brown and the the 2 fish captured in daylight went 3 and ahalf and 2 and half pound respectively.

2.5 pound

3.5 pound

hope you all had a great weekend, Cheers, Werner

Aahhhh, The Serenity

      To say I'm feeling rather relieved that the silly season has come to end is somewhat of understatement.  Today was the first day in over 5 weeks where the sounds of V8 powered motorboats on the lake weren’t echoing throughout the valley and tonight was like being part of the Kerrigan family minus the burnt lamb chops, "Ahh, the Serenity".

     It’s been such a busy month with Guiding and teaching people to fly fish that my personal fishing time has been kept to a minimum but I can’t complain as its part and parcel of life on the lake and without the tourists we would all struggle to make a living up here.  for what it’s worth, 60% of the Mansfield shires annual income is purely from tourism throughout the district and apart from a few bad eggs who leave rubbish behind and generally make arses of themselves, I have met so many cool and interesting people throughout the holiday season that those one or two turds that I have encountered really pale into insignificance and have only helped me to appreciate how lucky I am to live up here and be part of  a community that genuinely love the region which is why we all ended up here in the first place.

     Apart from last weekend, it has been relatively easy to find decent stretches of water to fish without heavy angling traffic and for the next couple of months it will be pure bliss up here.  

    With 34 mil of rain in the gauge here at Howqua over the past 24 hours and some cooler weather to come in the next few days I’m looking forward to some superb fishing again.  The recent heat wave had water temperatures soaring to levels that were even going to slow down the smallest and hungriest of trout.   I had noticed that the trout that I did encounter up here over the past week were particularly spooky and even with the most careful of approaches and presentations it was hard work to get the fish to take the fly.  It isn’t hard to understand why as the volume of traffic and continuous shadows and foreign objects being cast at them would have me a bit edgy also but things will settle quickly and luckily most of the holiday makers got through without getting drenched and the rain and cooler weather has arrived at a perfect time.  That being said, even in my few brief sessions out on the rivers I was lucky enough to land several 2 pound plus fish and several clients also managed to land some great fish.  I did notice that the fish  we caught, especially the larger specimens,  did take a bit more time to balance up when releasing them back into the water but I’m pleased to say that all the fish we caught did eventually swim away and looked very healthy as they disappeared back the depths they consider home.

    From a Guiding point of view it has been a fantastic summer and I have really enjoyed spending quality time on the rivers with a wide array of wonderful people from all parts of Australia and different corners of the Globe.  The thing that rings true, is that no matter what a person’s background or profession is, once we get onto a river with a fly rod in hand we are one and the same.  Fly Fishing is a great leveller that brings us all together and allows us to share a passion that only other fly fishers can truly understand.  To all my friends and clients who I have had the pleasure of fishing with during the summer thus far, I would like to express my sincerest thanks.  Catching a fish myself is great fun but to be there to capture some special moments and guide others in their fly fishing journey's has been a totally rewarding and humbling experience and although guiding will never make me a tycoon or share market mogul I can honestly say that apart from my beautiful wife and adorable son, nothing makes me happier than being able to spend time on the rivers every day.  

 Anyway, I've waffled on enough so as promised here are a few of the highlights that were captured on the lumix over the past few weeks.   I still have more pics on my I phone that I’m yet to upload but I reckon this selection of pics should be enough to whet your appetites for a bit of fishing on the rivers of Lake Eildon.

Tim with his PB rainbow

As if that wasnt enough he bettered his PB with this Lovely Brown

A well conditioned 3 Lb willow grubber

Michael with his PB to date.

John, an international visitor from the U.K, who fishes the Test, Itchen and Kennet rivers back home adapted well to the tight conditions on backwaters and after straightening hooks and getting busted off managed to capture this lovely brown.

after dropping a nice brown into the river before I could get out the Lumix, Darren managed to grass this healthy little brown.

Another International visitor, Jimmy from South africa was unlucky losing a fish that was close to 4 pound when it was almost at the net but he buttered up on the evening rise with this beautiful brown.

 One of the real highlights of this seasons guiding is Sof with his PB brown, especially after being busted off by a monster fish only a week earlier...  Congratulations Sof.
definitely worth another angle.

Yet another P.B.... Rowan is one of the nicest guys you could wish to meet on the river and this is just another example of a Fly Fisher being rewarded for patience and perserverance, well done mate.

and just to finish,  My first brown  landed on a hopper this season.

 ciao for now, Werner

Things are looking up, Trout Things that is!!!

  After this weeks Guiding and Fishing above the lake its become quite clear that a box full of big dries is all I really need to carry.  Although this will be a quick report I must let you all know that the fish are starting to hit hoppers and about any large dry fly with Gusto and evening rises have been nothing short of frenetic .... fish up to 4 pound have been landed with another one dropped today when it shot downstream into some very fast water after taking a big stimmy fished on its own.... After next weekend it will be bliss up here for me with most people back to the dailly grind of working life so for those of you with a bit of rec leave up your sleeve it may be time to cash some in after Australia day and get yourselves up here.... I will post some pics of this weeks action once I have sought the approval of my happy clients.   Although water levels are a lot lower than what I would consider ideal the great fishing that we experienced during spring has continued.  It's amazing how well things have recovered after the drought and last seasons floods.... the trout are all in amazing condition and compared to last season the average size of the fish has almost doubled.  more to come shortly.

Life wasnt meant to be Easy

                Former Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser is probably most well remembered for two things. His statement...”Life wasn’t meant to be easy” is one and the other thing we will probably remember him for was getting caught in the hallway of an International hotel without his trunks on.  For the purposes of this post let’s run with his quote that became one of the questions on a Trivial Pursuit game card.

                In the time that I have been doing online reporting in regards to fishing conditions relating to the Rivers connected with Lake Eildon I don’t think that I have ever described the fishing as easy.  Fly Fishing is a challenging sport and that’s why we choose to do it. Even when the fishing is great there is still a degree of difficulty attached to it and sometimes you will need to challenge yourself and raise the bar a little in order to achieve a result.   Sure there will be those red letter days when it seems like every fish in the river is up and about but for the most part we do have to think our way through and be prepared to change tack if things aren’t working out the way we had planned.  Those magical days where everything seems to go our way, although they are great fun and will always remain indelibly etched in our fly fishing memories, these are also the days where we probably learn the least and it’s those tough, frustrating days where we leave a river with our heads bowed and tail between our legs that invariably make us think harder about what we are doing and allow us to grow and evolve as fly fishers. 

                The key to any form of advanced learning is that we do need to get out of our comfort zones in order to achieve a higher understanding of what we want to learn about and this relates to anything in life and not just fly fishing.  If we fish in the same places in the same way all the time we are only limiting our ability to learn.   I know it sounds clichéd but fly fishing is a journey rather than a destination and the main purpose of this blog is to help others enjoy that journey as much as I do.

                Every river that we fish has its own unique complexities and characteristics and the same river will have very different dynamics throughout its course and the way they need to be approached my vary dozens of times throughout a single season.  Very rarely will conditions remain static for more than a few weeks at time.  Just like a big jigsaw puzzle, it takes time and patience to put it all together yet with fly fishing there is always going to a few missing pieces and for those of you who have the disease, it becomes our life’s mission to try and find a few of those pieces.

                A few people have perceived some of my recent comments in relation to sustainable fishing practices as being a tad on the negative side...  I would like to elaborate by saying that these comments are directed at those experienced fisherman that should know better by now....  I have absolutely no qualms with your average mum and dad with 2.3 kids who like to drown a worm while on holiday and throw a fish into the frypan on the campfire when they are lucky enough to catch one.  I am not a snob and I fully appreciate that we all need to start somewhere... For the most part, your average holiday maker isn’t going to have the knowledge or skills to harvest that many fish anyway.   A good percentage of my work this season has been teaching kids to fly fish and without them having had the chance to experience trout fishing at a basic level they would never have had an interest in fly fishing in the first place.  Part of my mandate as a guide is to work as an educator also. I find that the kids I work with embrace catch and release quite readily and are more than happy to have their picture taken holding their fish before experiencing the joy of the release. 

              As far as fishing news is concerned things are still good.  The decent whack of rain we had recently along with the much cooler weather we are enjoying has been a great tonic for the fishing above the lake... I’m actually looking forward to getting out up here as much as possible in the next week after having a stellar time of it below the lake last week.  Hoppers are really starting to become important and there are usually a few fish rising to duns, emerging caddis and a wide variety of beetles and ants at any time of the day.  Small nymphs fished under the dry are still as effective as ever but blind searching with just about any small dry pattern will result in just as many takes.  The only negative thing to report this week is that Carp numbers, especially in the lower reaches of the rivers appear to have escalated considerably in the past month.  If you do happen to find some carp with their heads down and tails up “hoovering” whatever they can off the rocks in pool tails, they will eat a black tungsten nymph if you can drift one by them.  Unfortunately, KHV may be 4-5 years away but hopefully some more funds can be tipped into testing and the release of this promising virus can be fast tracked a little... until then we will just have to learn to live them.    The best use I have found for them so far is to help teach people how to play a bigger fish and they can be a bit of fun for the kids as there are plenty about and they aren’t too hard to catch.

                It has been a great season so far and with the amount of rivers we have to fish we really are spoiled for choice at the moment.   The crowds have thinned out and once again it has become quite easy to find some very nice stretches of water that you will have all to yourself, either below or above the lake.  For those of you planning an overnight stay there is plenty of accommodation available from Boutique right down to the some great budget options also...  If you are planning a trip up here, please feel free to contact me if you would like any info regarding places to stay or where to fish, even if you aren’t interested in any guiding.

                For those of you who are back at work I hope you managed to tussle with a few trout during your break...  for anyone who is still enjoying their leisure time the next couple of weeks will be a great time to get out for a fish.

              I will do my best to start posting more pics in the coming weeks as I’ve just been too damned lazy to take many of late and the ones I have taken are yet to be up-loaded.

              Until next time, stay safe and tight lines.

Dude, Where's my Float Tube

Before I start with my latest rant I would like to say I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and got to spend some quality time with quality people while managing to find something decent under your Chrissy Trees.  I must also thank James Boags for having me think it was Monday for 3 days also... Cheers!!!

                As far as the fly fishing is concerned the period we are in now is akin to fly fishing “purgatory”.  The fishing is still good but there are going to a few obstacles between now and the weekend after next.  The intense heat that is forecast, with temps approaching 40 degrees will impact the water temperatures massively.  The lower reaches of the rivers will all feel more like the deep end of the pool at the Ringwood Aquatic centre by the middle of next week and this will affect the fishing.  The other challenge up here will be to tolerate campers who decide to drift the rivers in just about anything that will float.  In the last 2 days it has been frustrating when you are trying to approach a particular fish or sexy looking bit of water carefully, only to have your chance spoiled by half a dozen people who come screaming down the river.  Good luck to em though, I’m not sure if they are just really brave or really stupid but it looks like a hell of a lot of fun and for all the fun I have up here year round, I can’t begrudge from enjoying their holidays as they are inadvertently  doing us all a favour. If they make it hard for me to catch fish they certainly won’t be doing the “Cormorants”’ any favours and less dead fish is always a great thing. 

                I got a great laugh when one group of 7 came yahooing down the Jamieson only to discover there was an 8^th member of the party about 400 metres up stream who was trying to traverse the river in his thongs with is deflated float tube under his arm. He explained that his Tube had come to grief when he encountered some barbed wire a couple of hundred metres back.  With all the empathy and grace I could muster, I quickly pointed out that he had another 4 Km of river ahead of him before explaining how frisky the tiger snakes were as the hay bailers had started working the adjacent paddocks and they were all still pretty toey.

                Up until yesterday I had been catching 5-6 fish in average 2-3 session by searching with a single dry, I even got a leave pass to have an evening crack on Christmas day which resulted in 5 fish in 40 minutes before the lightning kicked in and the rod was put away.  We then received about 20 mil of rain in 15 minutes with woods point recording 41mil from the same storm. This had very little impact on any of the rivers except for the Upper Goulburn which dirtied up terribly and was flowing coffee coloured although it is starting to clear up again... In fact, all the rain did was discolour the rivers without raising their levels very much at all.

 When the Holidays are over and things settle down the hoppers will be in full swing. They are getting to a decent size now and with the grass drying and browning off rapidly we will be in hopper heaven very soon.  Beetles are everywhere at the moment and the cicada’s are starting to become very noisy also so big dries will be the go.  At the moment early mornings up until about midday-1pm will offer you the best chance.  The upper reaches of most rivers will still be great for catching lots of smaller fish on dries also, although I’m wary of venturing too far afield on these high risk bushfire days when soaring temperatures and hot northerly winds are a recipe for disaster.

                Hopefully the next cool change will coincide with a lot of holiday makers heading back to Melbourne and we will be able to commence the next phase of this wonderful season we have been having.  In the meantime I hope you all have a very happy and safe new year.