So first up I'd like to give full credit to Peter Jung at @PTPFishing for teaching me this set up. He has an excellent video linked below where he talks about how he sets up his lures for weedless fishing from his kayak.

If you're looking for info on fishing from a kayak around the Brisbane area, his YouTube channel is well worth checking out. He's given me loads of advice and really helped me catch my first Australian Bass from Enoggera Reservoir.

So first things first, you're going to need some Rapala Rap-V Blade Fishing Lures. The best source I've found so far is the HookedOnline fishing store, either on eBay or via their website. The lures are currently $14.95 a pop including free shipping which is a bargain. The store is located at Jacobs Well so postage was super quick, I had my lures in a couple of days.

The good news is that they also sell the other kit you need, namely some size 4 circle hooks, some size 6 circle hooks and some size 2 split rings. Another item that's worth it's weight in gold is some split ring pliers, I picked some Jarvis Walker Pro Series ones from Anaconda​ for all of $10.

Once you've got all your kit, it's a case of removing the double and treble hooks that come with the lure, fitting the split rings the top and base and then threading on the hooks.

The advice from Peter is to use a size 4 for the front hook and a size 6 for the back, reason being that the the front hook is the one that generally picks up the fish so it's worth upping the size.

The end result looks great! And it works too, it fishes really well when casting tight to the lily pads (I've lost count of the amount of times I thought I'd get snagged up and the lure just pulls through) and the hook up rate I've had when I've got a bite has been 100%.

After the success of my previous session where I landed my first Australian Bass (and lost a bloody monster!) I wasted no time and pretty much headed straight to the latest 'hot spot'. And it didn't disappoint, after half an hour of casting around I had my first bite and a plump Enoggera Bass was in the kayak. Having had one, I figured it couldn't hurt to keep casting and after working the shore line for another 20 minutes I had my second strike of the afternoon. Pretty stunning, I really wasn't expecting to have two in such a short space of time. Sadly the fish jumped from my hand before I managed to get a picture - so you'll just have to believe me on that one!

However at the point the bites dried up. The weather however didn't dry up... There'd been some rumblings of thunder over my shoulder and when I spun the kayak around to check out the sky I was greeted with boiling black clouds.

Time to beat it for home! As I paddled hard down the reservoir the first drops of rain had begun to fall and by the time I'd made it back to the car all hell had let loose. Luckily I managed to get the kayak loaded before the deluge started...

So not bad! A couple of hours on the water, a couple of fish and some more well spent time in the kayak - happy days!

I'd messaged Peter a couple of times on YouTube and when he suggested we meet up at Enoggera Reservoir I jumped at the chance. Based on his videos, he's got a real handle on the place so fingers crossed he'd be able to put me onto some fish as so far, they'd been more than elusive... I'd suffered 4 blanks if you counted the experimental paddles in the borrowed inflatable kayak!

We met in the carpark at 6am, got on the water, headed up the reservoir to the 1st spot and got casting. Peter kindly let me have first dibs at all the 'hot spots' but try as we might and despite the areas looking prime for a bite we couldn't get a single hit... This continued for the next couple of hours with both of us meticulously working the water, hitting every patch of lily pads and likely looking hole but... nothing.

By this time we'd got to the furthest point from the launching spot and Peter had to head for work the time now being around 9am. I was trying the last of the suggested spots when my phone rang - it was Peter, he'd had a cast at a spot on the paddle back and'd hooked up to a fish! Glancing over my shoulder I could see him only a 5 minute paddle away so I set steam and headed on over, working on the basis that where there's one fish, there's probably more just waiting to have a snap at a lure.

So I began working the water in this new spot and after 20 minutes of diligently working up and down a likely looking margin I received my 1st take! It was pretty darn exciting, only a short fight with a few lunges and the fish was mine! I couldn't believe it, all those blanks and hours spent on the water had finally paid off and I had my first Australian Bass.

And of course, when you've caught one, you want one more right?! So I got to casting and within a couple of minutes I received an absolutely blistering take - the hit was like a freight train, the rod hooped over and I was being dragged into the lily pads!

I just couldn't stop this thing, it went straight into the pads and locked me up solid... Such a shame, I think if I'd been a little more experienced I would've managed to wrestle it away from cover but no joy. In the end, I had to pull for a break resulting in one lost lure and a lost fish.

So a bitter sweet ending to the session but its left me hungry for more. Now that I've got a better read on the water, which lures to use and what the best conditions are I feel like my chances have gone up somewhat - I'll be back!

I decided to get on the road at midday and headed out on my usual route through Dayboro, over Mount Mee and into Woodford for a quick fuel up and a sausage roll at CJ's Pastries (always worth it!). Then it was into the unknown... I headed through Woodford, took a right off to Stanmore and then up over the hills towards Maleny.

Up until now the weather had been great for riding, a little cooler than normal and greyish skies. But when I stopped at McCarthy's Lookout for a look down the valley I realised that all that might change... Within minutes of riding off down the hill the heavens absolutely opened! I spied some shelter at the Maleny Dairies and got in under the trees to get out of the worst of it. The downpour only lasted minutes but it was enough to soak me through and I drove on steaming as the sun came out again.

This was familiar territory again and I was having a blast winding through the twisties onto Montville and then Mapleton. It really is a beautiful part of South East Queensland, real 'diary country' with loads of farms, cows and stunning countryside. But all that was going to change pretty rapidly...

I'd clearly not studied my route closely enough as things got tricky as I headed out of Mapleton and onto Obi Obi. Alarm bells rang when I spied a big read sign by the side of the road stating 'very steep descent next 3km' and then a 2nd sign further on stating 'caravans prohibited beyond this point'... And then the road turned to gravel... Where the hell was I going?!

Pulling over to the side of the road I flagged down a passing ute and asked the driver what I was getting myself into. He took one look at my loaded bike and said 'yeah... you should be ok if you go really slowly'. Not exactly confidence inspiring?! Looking at the map, there was no other way and with time marching on it was time to put on my big boy pants and soldier on.

Initially it wasn't too bad... but then the road quickly got steeper and steeper until it was (in my mind!) near vertical. It was pretty hairraising but I limped the bike down the steep incline using a mixture of engine braking in first gear and a very light foot on the rear brake - the last thing I wanted to do was start a skid as I doubt I'd ever stop and would end up in the bushes! Luckily the road surface was heavily compacted gravel and despite the number of cars that'd whizzed past me while I was deliberating if I should set off down the hill, I managed to make it down to the bottom of 'the mountain' unscaved and without anyone on my tail giving me the hurry up.

It was with a sense of relief that I continued my journey through stunning countryside, first onto Kenilworth and then on and on and on to Kandanga. I really had underestimated how long the ride would take and it was almost 5pm by the time I pulled into town. A quick stop at the local bottle shop for some beers and then onto the campsite.

I'm not going to lie, first impressions were not that favourable. Initially I put it down to being slightly exhausted after my ride but I couldn't help feel a little disappointed by the location but I found the host, managed to buy a bag of firewood, got the tent set up and cracked a well earnt beer.

Although the site is secluded I quickly realised that the rest of the campers used my area to get down to the the creek! The fire pit did overlook the creek as advertised but it's was on a 'cliff', I imagine where the bank has caved in - it defo was not safe for small kids and to be honest I stayed away from the edge. The creek water was pretty slow moving and stagnant and the banks are crazy steep so getting down to the water side to fish wasn't really possible. Despite fancying a dip I defo wasn't going to be swimming as I spotted at least one snake (this is Australia though right?!). Its prettyish but kinda ruined by the massive electricity pylon right overhead.

And the less said about the 'amenities' the better... They were grim! The shower and toilet shed behind the 'Macadamia Camp' was damp, dirty and pretty foul... In the end, I headed to the excellent public toilet block at the park up the road which was really clean! I think there might've even been showers there as there was a 'public RV Park'.

But hey, gotta make the best of a bad situation. Yes it was disappointing that the campsite didn't live up to the reviews but I'd had an excellent ride getting here, I'd got some beers, some food, a new camp chair to try out and it wasn't raining!

As always in Australia, it got dark quick and after getting the fire started I got stuck into dinner which I'm ashamed to say was a very basic 'noodles and snacks' meal - the next time I head out I'm doing proper camping over the fire! I was pretty exhausted and crashed out early but two interesting things happened overnight.

The first was I was woken up by some croaking and got out of the tent to investigate. It turned out there was a cane toad under each tree, staring fixedly up into space and croaking... Really weird.

And the second was that I was visited at around 2am by a horse and her foal who were investigating the bike and my tent which terrified the life out of me!

Apart from that, the night passed pretty uneventfully and I was up bright and early to have breakfast (a slightly more civilised boiled egg wrap) and got up and out by 9.30am for the long trek home.

I had a loose plan to stop in at the Eumundi Markets but by the time I got there around 11ish it was absolutely heaving... So after a quick bite to eat and a drink I got back on the highway and just blasted for home. The weather was turning and I was knackered!

Somewhere between turning off to Landsborough and heading onto to Beerwah I began to notice a knocking coming from the bike and after stopping at a cafe for a drink I realised the bracket on my tail tidy had snapped and the number plate and light fitting had been bashing on the exhaust pipe and rear tyre! Far from ideal. But if you can't fix it with cable ties and gaffa tape it's unfixable right?! Ten minutes later I had everything botched back in place and thankfully the light still worked so I could continue my journey getting home at around 3pm.

So, my official review of Platypus Hollow, Creekside Farm in Kandanga: ok for a quick overnighter but defo nothing spesh! On one hand, I enjoyed my stay - after a long day on the motorbike, I just wanted to pitch the tent, light the fire, sink a few beers & crash out... and I did just that! It was cheap, cheerful and did the job. On the other hand, there were a number of things that were less than perfect and if like me you we're attracted by the write up of the site and reviews you might be disappointed...

The highlight of this trip was defo the ride out, the steep decent down to Obi Obi being the thing I'll always remember. But the search will continue for the perfect motocamping campsite!

I decided to keep it relatively local for my first trip, think of it as a 'shake down ride' before heading off somewhere remote, a chance to test my gear and decide if this motocamping malarke was for me. My thinking was to find somewhere that felt remote but was close enough to a town, was basic but preferably had at least a toilet (a shower would be a bonus!) and wasn't honkingly expensive.

After a lot of searching and asking around I finally found a website/app that appeared to offer what I was after. HipCamp appears to be a direct clone of the very popular AirBnb website (perhaps it's the same company?!) but tailored to camping. The ability to filter by amenities, location features (lake, river, farm, beach etc.) and activity was really great and I soon had a fairly extensive list of places that fitted the bill.

The clear winner was Bushywood at Woodfordskilake. Not only were the reviews excellent, the location was perfect in that (as the names suggests) the campsite is on a lake (with fish in it!), it had a toilet/shower block, was just outside Woodford (so perfect for supplies) and as an added bonus, the owner could supply firewood! It sounded amazing.

My extensive research had resulted in me forking out for some excellent Kriega OS-18 Adventure Pack bags complete with the Kriega OS Base Pannier Bag Mounting System to fit them to the bike and a Nelson-Rigg RG-HS Exhaust Shield to stop everything melting the plastics on the bike. I figured two of these bags plus the ROK-Straps already on the bike would give me enough storage space with the tent strapped in place on top. Complete the set up with a Denali Kakadu II Hike Tent, a Mountain Designs Airlite 5.5 sleeping mat​, an old zone 1 sleeping bag I still had kicking around from when we travelled around Australia in 2005 and a 360 Degrees Furno Stove & Pot Set and I had everything for a quick overnight camping trip off the bike.

Now for my first mistake: for some crazy reason I decided that leaving after work on Thursday afternoon was a good idea... And instead of opting for the cruisy ride to Dayboro and over Mount Mee I thought I'd just blast up the highway...

I was rolling by 4pm and of course instantly got stuck in traffic. The highway was solid and it took me ages to get into Woodford and pick up supplies, I was literally racing the sunset to the campground. Not ideal as I didn't really know where I was going and dusk is a terrible time to be hacking around tiny Australian roads as that's when the kangaroos love to hop out of the undergrowth and argue with vehicles.

But by some miracle I managed to get there unscathed just as the last rays of the sunset were leaving the sky! After a quick chat with the host, I picked up my bag of firewood, got down to my spot by the lake and set up camp in a cloud of mosquitoes (luckily I had Aeroguard otherwise I think I'dve been eaten alive...).

It was a beautiful spot, I wished I'd got there earlier to check it out in the daylight. But after wrestling with the tent for a bit (note to self: always set up new kit at home first. It's a lot easier to figure out when it's not dark!) I got all the kit off the bike and stowed away before getting the campfire going. Dinner on this occasion was going to be simple: noodles and beer! Nothing gourmet, just simple and filling.

By this time it was pushing 10ish and I was knackered... The heat, the rushed drive up and setting up in the dark had taken its toll and I was ready to crash out. The night was really quiet and I actually slept pretty well and awoke to an amazing sunrise over the water.

According to the host, the two lakes do have fish in them but I couldn't get them to bite! I got the distinct impression there are a lot of Tilapia present and I didn't have the right bait (well, that's my excuse!) but I'll defo be having another go at them on a return trip.

The day warmed up really quickly and after a quick shower I packed up the bike and got back on the road, this time taking the more scenic route up over the hills and home via Mount Mee and Dayboro.

The good news is that I loved the Motocamping experience and all my gear performed perfectly. Luckily I chose a great camping spot as Bushywood at Woodfordskilake really is a fantastic place - incredibly friendly hosts, amazing location (especially by the water), basic but good facilities and all at a reasonable price ($23.36 for the night and $20 for a big bag of firewood.

I'll definitely be back, next time with some worms to chase those Tilapia down!