Saying Goodbye To Our Abrolhos Islands Season 2014

Wow. It's finished! Was it not just last week we were pushing trolleys and trolleys of food round and collecting last minute paperwork from our passengers???

20 trips this year which was 4 more than last and a real mixture of people from couples to girls on holiday to corporate functions to families and of course all mixed in with our regular customers who love it so much they come every year. In fact we had a few keen fishermen who came twice this season! Yes it has most definitely been a whirlwind of a season.

Passengers were treated to an array of views and landscapes as well as a whole host of animal encounters. Grey nurse sharks were quite curious at times and a friendly seal actually approached the boat and allowed the skipper to hand feed it! But the real star of the show had to be the humpback whale that swam right under our boat and then performed a massive breach for everyone to see!

Next year is already shaping up to be another fantastic season with 6 private charters booked and others filling fast.

Not been with us before but still not sure?? Well have a look through these pictures and a few of our testimonials from this season and see for yourself the kind of service we provide...

 

Mills Charters.

 

"3 days of what dreams are made of fishing, fishing, fishing.
Shaun putting us on the hot spot every time and Paddy and Callum
making sure we were all catered for in every thing we needed
and very understanding and funny
see you there next year."

 

 

 

 

"Just returned from a four day trip from the Abrolhos. We had an excellent trip, the boys on the boat were awesome Shaun, Paddy and Callum works non stop and nothing was a problem for them and were great for a chat. Shaun put us onto some great fish. Overall I would recommend Mills charters to all and we will be booking again for a five day trip."

 

 

"I have just returned from the three day fishing trip in the Abrolhos Islands. The three crew were extremely knowledgeable and worked tirelesly to keep us baited, rigged and fed. All twelve of the passengers mixed and got along well with many laughs shared. Fishing was excellent."

 

 

"Mills Charters offer an absolutely brilliant weekend for anyone, rookies or professionals, who want to catch some of the best deep sea fish that Perth has to offer.

We set out on a private 3 day trip with Mills in late May with a group of 12 people from the same business. Some had years of fishing experience behind them, whereas others like myself had never fished a day in their life.

The crew aboard the 75ft Aussie Warrior, Shaun, Paddy & Callum were an absolutely brilliant team, good lads, and even better fishermen. These guys made it the easiest and most enjoyable way to catch fish that it is possible to experience. All your gear, bait, food and drinks are set up from the moment you leave in the morning, and any issues throughout the day (lost gear, tangles etc.) are immediately dealt with by either Paddy or Callum, while the skipper Shaun is constantly monitoring the boats location to ensure that you are on the best fishing grounds 100% of the time. It was uncommon to have your line in the water for more than a few minutes without pulling up something! Whether it was a small Red Throat, or a 10kg Dhufish or rare coral trout, there was always some quality fish to be found.

The crew fit in well with all the boys from our office, and always provided a few good laughs, which is just a small added bonus to a very memorable weekend.

Hats of to these fella's and Mills charters."



Abrolhos Islands 2014 Season So Far

Each year after a manic yet fun filled and adventurous Abrolhos Season, we take a breath after all of the hard work it takes to get the trips off of the ground and give our crew the well deserved break they need. And then before we know it we are doing it all over again! Shopping for supplies and fresh food, gathering paperwork, getting Aussie Warrior and the equipment ready and waving the boys off! But you know what? We wouldn't have it any other way.

We are 6 weeks in to the 2014 season and already receiving great feedback. We have had a good variety of mixed and private charters, full of families, friends, repeat passengers and strangers coming together for their passion of the open water adventure.

We were most recently joined by cricketer Luke Pomersbach and his Father who showed off their fishing skills and went home with fish to cook and some great pictures for the wall!

It has been great to receive the feedback from our customers, especially as our crew have been putting in a great deal of work to make each trip an unforgettable experience for everyone involved. Mills Charters owners Mark and Natasha have even made it to Geraldton for trips themselves with Mark taking the wheel at one point! What better way to speak of our trips and provide the best adventure than by experiencing it for ourselves.

We still have some spots left for trips in June and July so don't be shy; call us to book or find out more information on 08 9246 5334. You won't regret it!

I'll leave you with some feedback and pictures from this season.

Mills Charters.

"Had a great time with Mills Charters again and would like to thank all Mills workers for the time and effort they put in. Our seven guys were all impressed and again well looked after by the crew Shaun, Paddy and our new decky Callum. Bagged out every day and well looked after, weather better this year than last. Once again please thank all staff for making our trip memorable for all."

"Just wanted to say from Luke and myself, thank you all for a great charter. To Shaun, Paddy and Callum; you're on to a winner with these guys. Their work ethics and attitude very refreshing to see. Good fishing and great ocean conditions. The boat is a ripper and makes all the difference when foul weather hits. Anyway all the best for the season and I will follow your site with interest.''

Goodbye 2013!

Wow! Where has 2013 gone?? It seems as though one minute we were on the Swan River watching the fireworks for Australia Day only to blink and be standing on the bow of Aussie Warrior watching baby humpback whales breach and now here we are; about 4 kilos heavier and looking forward to 2014 and what it will bring!

 

Every year we say the same thing - where does the time go? It's quite scary really but at least we can take comfort in the fact that we have had another amazing year and can't wait to have an equally fantastic one with you all in 2014!

 

So what's in store for us next year? Well we have a few river cruises up our sleeve such as our yearly Australia Day shindig and ideas already in the mix for a Charity Cruise that we hope to blow last years donations out of the water (pun intended!). Then we have our highly ranked Abrolhos season from April though to July which just keeps getting better and better from the people we have on board to the variety of food our boys cook up. And then it's always a great way to round the year off with our whale watching cruises from September through to December and indulge in some humpback acrobatics! And let's not forget our deep sea fishing tours which will continue to run daily, taking care of everything from the food to the gear just leaving you to bring yourself and have a great day out.

 

Aside from our tours we will be entering the Western Australia Tourism Awards 2014 and hope to place as a finalist again and take home one of the top 3 places. We have begun works to obtain our Eco Accreditation and will continue to fly the flag for Keep Australia Beautiful and the Adopt A Spot Campaign of which we are a part of. We plan to spread a strong message about the importance of our environment and keeping it clean and hope that you will all join us!

 

After maintenance on both Aussie Warrior and Blue Strike this year we are very excited to continue to show them both off and hope that you can see for yourself the improvement in the facilities that we will be able to provide to you.

 

 Overall we intend to improve on the level of service we provide to you as our customer and hope to see much more of you as we grow Mills Charters and our family. We would not continue to be here today nor look back with a smile over 2013 were it not for your ongoing loyalty and support so from the very bottom of our hearts, thank you and have a very wonderful and safe New Years!

 

Here's to 2014 :)

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

WA Tourism Awards 2013

For those of you that didn't know, Mills Charters entered the Adventure Category in the 2013 Tourism Awards which was a 30 page presentation on our Deep Sea Fishing package.

 

 

We were delighted to be announced as one of the 8 finalists as the standard was extremely high and spent weeks excited to wear our best dresses and suits.  

 

Seven of our team attended the Gala Dinner at the Crown where we were treated to a spectacular 3 course meal and entertainment throughout the evening. Everyone was dressed to impress and there was a real glamour feel about the evening making us feel very proud to be a part of the tourism industry which is of huge importance to everyone in WA.

 

Unfortunately we did not place in the top 3 and although we were disappointed we were not disheartened and we intend to come back bigger and better next year and continue to provide an outstanding service to our customers and the tourism industry! We were able to share stories with others in our industry, enjoy hearing about some spectacular businesses and eat several desserts - how could we not have had a fantastic night?!

 

 

 

 

Protect The Place You Live

If you know even the slightest thing about us you will know how deeply passionate we are about the environment. And not just the marine environment where our boats spend the majority of their time but also the jetties around the harbour, the waterways and even the car park directly in front of our office. It is of the utmost importance to us all here at Mills Charters that we understand the role we play in every day life at protecting our beautiful surroundings and also the example we set to our customers.

Therefore we were absolutely delighted to be awarded the Clean Beaches 2013 Award at the Keep Australia Beautiful WA Awards breakfast earlier on today!

Not only did we get to meet heaps of other like minded people and hear about the amazing efforts they too have gone to when it comes to litter clean ups, we were able to take a moment and feel proud about what our staff have already done and started to get a little bit excited for what the future holds and how we can maximise our efforts even more!!

As most of you will know we are already a current member of the Adopt A Spot Campaign which sees us organise and take part in monthly pick ups around Hillarys Boat Harbour Jetty. We are thrilled to say that we are putting the wheels in motion for a community pick up with our local younger generation! What better way to send a positive message than to get children on board and supporting this great message - they are the future after all!

So with this morning's award in mind we are extremely excited moving forward to involve more of our customers in our pick ups and furthermore increase our current efforts.

There is always more we can do to help our beautiful planet and this is simply the beginning!

Call This Spring Perth??!

Wow. What has been up with the weather these past few weeks? The wettest period we've had in the past 70 years? Well I believe it!

The wind has not been in our favour of late and it seems as though we have been booking and cancelling tours non stop. We are so thankful to our loyal and supportive customer base as we have all suffered with the disappointment at not being able to get out on the water to catch a fish or spend time with our whale friends. Safety is paramount to Mills Charters and we won't allow any charters to go ahead if we feel concerned for our crew and customers in anyway.

But hooray for today as it was back to business as normal and we waved off a fishing trip at 6.30am this morning following shortly by keen whale watchers at 9am. We can't explain how excited we were to finally take our customers out and deliver an experience we know is like no other!

Every day we have been glued to our phones or computer screens or tvs, watching the forecast and hoping for a break in the weather and it looks as though our prayers have finally been answered and all in good time for the bank holiday. The sun is out, the winds have dropped down and the ocean is calm!

Summer is fast approaching people and where better to be than out on the water with a rod in your hand or watching a humpback whale breaching?

On that note I'll leave you with some of our new whale watching pictures from this season :)

Our whale friends are back!

Is it just me or does it seem like only yesterday we were coming to the end of our fantastic whale watching season in 2012? It was an amazing experience for anyone who came out with us and it set the bar for the next season to come.

A lot of our fisherman were lucky enough to see the whales whilst out deep sea fishing with us so it was exciting for us to see them making their way into the shallower waters of Perth.

We are into our second week of whale watching tours this year and they have not disappointed. So far we have been treated to not just up close and personal visits from our friendly humpbacks but schools of dolphins keen to get in on the fun and the occasional southern right whale!

A most fantastic show was put on by a humpback mother and her calf with our customers and crew being treated to a double breach in perfect synchrony. It was almost as if they knew they had an audience!

A great start to the 2013 season and one that we're sure will continue to get better and better. It's great to have you back whales!