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!

Goodbye and Thankyou Abrolhos Islands 2013

It has been another superb season for our Abrolhos Islands fishing and we cannot thank our crew and customers enough!

It literally feels like yesterday that we were getting our first trip on its way and now Aussie Warrior is back here at Hillarys and we have 3 months worth of fantastic memories and feedback.

Each year we aim to make our trips bigger and better and this just wouldn't be possible without the help from our crew. They pretty much live and breath the Abrolhos Islands for 3 solid months and spend most of their time on dry land in Geraldton away from their friends and family. Even in their down time they clean the boat and get ready for the next trip, showing true dedication to the job. They are on hand to our customers from the moment they step on the boat to the moment they step off and it has been amazing to hear the fantastic feedback they have received. We are very, very proud of the boys - Shaun our Skipper and Paddy and Mikey our Deckhands as well as Jake who helped out on our most recent trip.

The organiser of our most recent, and last, trip of the season had this to say:

"We have been doing an annual fishing charter for our Bunbury Toyota Managers for 15 years. In the past we have done live abroad at the Montenello's, Mackeral Islands as well as numerous day trips right across the state. Collectively we have never been on a charter anywhere that would even come close to what Mills Charters provided to us on our recent Abrolhos Islands Trip. The variety of fish we were able to catch was simply mind blowing. Aussie Warrior is the perfect vessel and was kept in tip top condition for the entire trip. Not to mention the food...that was top notch. What made the trip though was Shaun, Paddy, Mikey and Jake, these boys were an absolute asset to Mills Charters! These guys made the trip the experience that it was, I have no doubt that you will be seeing us again."

It's comments such as this that make all of the hard work everyone puts in so very worth it.

Mark and Tash who own the business have also put an incredible amount of effort into ensuring the guys have everything they need in order to make each trip the success that they are - Mark even attending a few of the trips himself. It's the seemingly little things like ordering the food for each trip that is done behind the scenes that also goes a long way to ensuring our customers are happy ones so a big thank you to Mark and Tash for constantly pouring your heart into the business.

Lastly but by no means least, a MASSIVE thank you to our customers, both new and repeat. Without you Mills Charters simply would not be and we count ourselves very blessed to have such an amazing customer base. There are those of you who we see regularly and have formed wonderful relationships with and those who we met for the first time this season and hope to see again. We promise to always raise our standard of customer care and endeavour to make each trip an even better one.

You make our working life a pleasurable one! Roll on next season :)

 

The Beauty of Abrolhos

With several Abrolhos Islands trips under our belt already, as you can imagine, we with have been inundated with photos of customers and their catches. There have been heaps of weird and wonderful species and fish of awesome sizes.

However in our quest to land our biggest catch yet we often forget the sheer beauty of the Abrolhos Islands and its pure serenity. Seeing as it is comprised of over 120 unspoiled islands it's no wonder that anyone who visits is met with sunsets and views that you'd be hard fetched seeing anywhere else.

So let's take a few moments to gaze over some of favourite photos from this season so far...

Abrolhos Islands Feedback 2013

Our Abrolhos Season is well under way and we have had some fatastic guests aboard Aussie Warrior!

Our crew have been working really hard to make sure they deliver the best experience possible so it has been amazing to hear some of the feedback our customers have had to say...

 

David Kelly

"Just returned from the Abrolhos trip dated the 19th to the 21st and I was keen to give some feedback. I tried the web site but could find where to send it so your getting it and I hope you can pass onto Mark, Shaun, Paddy and Mikey.

This was my first ever deep sea stay on board charter and I was a bit worried how things would go??? But I should not have been concerned one bit, Shaun , Paddy and Mikey were fantastic , made the trip fun and couldn't help out enough. Shaun was dropping us on fish almost every drop, and if there wasn't anything happening he would move us to where the action was. Paddy and Mikey were great deckhands and constantly made sure we all were feeling comfortable with everything we were doing, then on top of that they looked after us with great cooking .

The guys that came up with me were also really impressed with the guys professionalism and ability to make the trip fun as well, and we all wouldn't hesitate recommending this type of trip to our friends and we are also seriously thinking about coming back again next season.

Again that's for a great trip. "

 

 

Ashley Lyle

"G’day

We have some photo’s of our fishing trip attached if you wanted to use any. I’ll send them over a few emails as the file sizes are large.

We all had a great time on the Aussie Warrior, the crew definitely made the trip what is was. They (Shaun, Paddy and Mikey) did not stop the whole time we were out there, they are a credit to the organisation and a good team. Please thank them for us and keep them around for next year!"

 

Chris Fitzpatrick and Group
"Hi all, we have just returned from a 4 day fishing trip to the abrolhos islands on the aussie warrier.
To the 3 crew members shawn paddy mikey what a fantastic team great fishing. great food. and best of all a great team . It is a real credit to these 3 guys & mills charters.
Hope to see you on the next trip.

Regards from chris,dane,blake fitzpatrick. big len & steve mazga"

 

 

Dave Hunt Abrolhos Trip

Mills Abrolhos Season is well on its way and got off to a great start with Dave Hunt and his group who hired Aussie Warrior out privately for a 3 day trip departing on the 29th March.

Here's what some of them had to say about the trip:

"We had a ball - it was absolutely awesome. As a group it was really well catered for and we caught heaps of fish. The trip went above and beyond"

"The food was very good, quantity was great. We caught lots of fish and the quality and service all round was impressive."

"Good all over and we couldn’t find anything wrong. All 100% happy with it."

"The trip was great. It was well organised and we were looked after."

Abrolhos Islands

With our first Abrolhos Trip now well on its way it seemed only fitting to have a post about the Abrolhos Islands.

The Houtman Abrolhos (often informally called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands, and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia and it lies about eighty kilometres (50 mi) west of Geraldton, Western Australia.

It is the southernmost true coral reef in the Indian Ocean, and one of the highest latitude reef systems in the world.

It is one of the world's most important seabird breeding sites, and is the centre of Western Australia's largest single species fishery, the Western Rock Lobster fishery.

It has a small seasonal population of fishermen, and a limited number of tourists are permitted for day trips, but most of the land area is off limits as conservation habitat.

It is well known as the site of numerous shipwrecks, the most famous being the Dutch ships Batavia, which was wrecked in 1629, and Zeewijk, wrecked in 1727.

According to the surviving historical record, the first sighting of the Houtman Abrolhos by Europeans was by the Dutch VOC ships Dordrecht and Amsterdam in 1619, only three years after Dirk Hartog made the first authenticated sighting of what is now Western Australia, and only 13 years after the first authenticated voyage to Australia, that of the Duyfken in 1606. Discovery of the islands was credited to Frederick de Houtman, Captain-General of the Dordrecht, as it was Houtman who later wrote of the discovery in a letter to the directors of the Dutch East India Company:

"On the 29th do. deeming ourselves to be in an open sea, we shaped our course north-by-east. At noon we were in 29° 32' S. Lat.; at night about three hours before daybreak, we again unexpectedly came upon a low-lying coast, a level, broken country with reefs all round it. We saw no high land or mainland, so that this shoal is to be carefully avoided as very dangerous to ships that wish to touch at this coast. It is fully ten miles in length, lying in 28° 46."

The word Abrolhos is of Portuguese origin, making the Houtman Abrolhos one of only two Australian places with a Portuguese name, the other being Pedra Branca in Tasmania.

At last count, a total of 389 species of fish have been recorded from the Houtman Abrolhos. 16 species occur in very large numbers; in decreasing order of abundance, these are:

• Pomacentrus milleri (Miller's Damsel)
• Scarus schlegeli (Schlegel's Parrotfish)
• Stethojulis strigiventer (Stripebelly Wrasse)
• Coris auricularis (Western King Wrasse)
• Kyphosus cornelii (Western Buffalo Bream)
• Choerodon rubescens (Baldchin Groper)
• Chromis westaustralis (West Australian Puller)
• Thalassoma lutescens (Green Moon Wrasse)
• Scarus ghobban (Blue-barred Orange Parrotfish)
• Abudefduf sexfasciatus (Scissortail Sergeant)
• Thalassoma lunare (Moon Wrasse)
• Stegastes obreptus (Western Gregory)
• Halichoeres brownfieldi (Brownfield's Wrasse)
• Amblygobius phalaena (White-barred Goby)
• Asterropteryx semipunctatus (Starry Goby)
• Anampses geographicus (Scribbled Wrasse)

The Houtman Abrolhos also maintains a breeding population of Australian Sea Lions, probably numbering between 75 and 100 and these have been a favourite for our customers as well as the fishing on our trips.

MC.

Think Fishing is a Mans Sport? Think Again!

Now I'd be lying if I said I haven't always thought that fishing was more of a "mature gentleman's" sport...

But shut me up because the females and younger generations are excelling in this popular hobby and I've been forced to eat my own words!

Here at Mills we welcome people from all over the world, male and female and of all ages. And whilst we don't always recommend children under the age of 10 due to the nature of the business, that's not to say we haven't had plenty of youngsters aboard who have impressed us with their fishing skills! We often have couples enjoying the day out together or parents with their children and large families. What better way to spend quality time together, away from the busy world and in the sunshine.

When it comes down to participating in something you love, gender and age don't factor into the equation regardless of the labels we may subconsciously apply to certain activites.

Who knows, perhaps I'll even get out on a little fishing trip myself soon! I can sunbathe too right..??

MC.