The deckhand of the Kingfisher 5 made a late-life career change from postie to crayfisherman, while the skipper was born into crayfishing — but is allergic to seafood.

Paul Jordan and Russel Quigley make up something of an odd couple in the King Island commercial crayfishing fraternity.

Map King Island is located in the middle of the Bass Strait between Victoria and Tasmania's North West coast

Mr Quigley came to the profession late and after a career that included being a postmaster, a chef and managing a Queensland holiday resort with 120 staff, alongside his wife Alexandra.

The unlikely deckhand

Mr Quigley said he has never been happier than as a 'deckie', but it is fair to say that he does not fit the mould of a crayfishing deckhand.

"For a start, he doesn't have a head like a busted crab," a fellow fisherman yelled out as he walked past the boat.

And when Mr Quigley spoke, it was with the sophistication and politeness of a postmaster, a chef or corporate hotel manager — all previous careers on his diverse resumé.

Crayboats moored in Currie Harbour, King Island, in the middle of Bass Strait ( ABC Northern Tasmania: Rick Eaves )

"A few years ago I just approached these guys to take me out fishing one day," Mr Quigley said.

"I'd been the postmaster on the island for nine years and they looked me up and down and thought, 'geee, I don't know about this'.

Crayfisherman Paul Jordan and his dog, Bonnie, in Currie Harbour, King Island. ( ABC Northern Tasmania: Rick Eaves )

"I think they thought 'what's a postmaster going to do out here?' But I'm still here!'

"Normally I only get seasick for a couple of days, then my balance kicks in."

The chef's hat came first in Mr Quigley's unorthodox career path — now it is thick beanies and French Foreign Legion hats, both essential to protect against the extreme elements experienced plying the Southern Ocean for weeks at a time.

Mr and Ms Quigley made the move to King Island 13 years ago.

After the corporate management work in big hotels, they created one of the earlier eco-lodges in the country, the Mouse's House in the Gold Coast hinterland.

It was the dream but life threw up a new challenge in the form of the onset of Multiple Sclerosis for Ms Quigley.

She even lost her vision for six months.

A Crayboat heads into the Southern Ocean from Currie Harbour, King Island. ( ABC Northern Tasmania: Rick Eaves )

The couple was told that a cooler climate would help and soon after saw an advertisement in the Financial Review for the King Island Post Office.

The sea change was on and only seems to get better with time.

Craypots drying on the wharf in Currie Harbour, King Island. ( ABC Northern Tasmania: Rick Eaves )

The skipper allergic to seafood

Mr Jordan has been a cray boat skipper for 12 years — since he was 20.

His first King Island crayfishing trip was with his parents when he was just two years old.

"I was on this boat's first trip out — it was built by my family," Mr Jordan said.

"I used to have my mobile and my crib set up below deck.

"There has always been the smell of crayfish — I like it, it's the smell of money."

A post up on a wharf storage shed, Currie Harbour. ( ABC Northern Tasmania: Rick Eaves )

While Mr Jordan loves the smell, he is — somewhat incredibly — allergic to most seafood, including crayfish.

"It's ok though because I drive the boat and Russel handles the fish," he said.

Mr Jordan also got violently seasick all through his young life but said that as soon as he got home, he just wanted to go fishing again.

His own children are aged three and six — like their father, they have already done a good deal of seafaring.

Ducks on the beach in Currie Harbour, King Island. ( ABC Northern Tasmania: Rick Eaves )

"They've been on commercial cray trips but no overnight trips yet. But they did spend two weeks on Flinders Island [at the opposite, eastern side of Bass Strait] on a commercial abalone fishing trip," Mr Jordan said.

"My daughter was younger than me when she first went to sea — about 16 months.

"My father Robert was a TV technician in Victoria but his grandfather was the lighthouse keeper here and that's how he came to love it and to love fishing."

Paul Jordan's dog, Bonnie, with Currie lighthouse behind. ( ABC Northern Tasmania: Rick Eaves )

A spectacular workplace

The day before they headed out to sea, Mr Quigley and Mr Jordan tied bait-savers into craypots with lengths of monofilament, on the sun-bathed deck of the Kingfisher 5.

The sun also sparkled across semi-wild Currie Harbour, home to just over 20 cray boats in the King Island fleet.

The single long wharf of the harbour fit between ragged rock formations, all backdropped by the strikingly old-world aesthetic of the Currie Lighthouse.

"Some mornings the sunrises from a cray boat out at sea are just incredible, looking back over the island," Mr Jordan said.

"You often see whales.

"You get to see a lot that other people just don't see."