Work

The following posts show some of the fun things that we have been up to this holiday. We have also had lots of jobs to do so the boys have been lending a hand. One big job was cutting the firewood into stove sized lengths. We used a circular saw to do this with appropraite safety gear. Some of the fish was filleted and smoked in our homemade smoker. We salt it first and then coat in a brown sugar glaze. Smoking is done with ti tree wood from the firewood. It takes about 4 hours but the result is delicious. We have also been planting trees in the fields. Boys have been digging holes and then I pop a tree in. So far we have planted 6 olives, 2 cherimoyas, 2 karos, a persimmon and 2 cranberries. There are plenty more trees that need planting and so we still need plenty more holes.

More fishing

Walter has been with us this holiday. He arrived in Auckland a week ago and has been getting used to New Zealand. One day last week we went out fishing with Merv on his big boat. The forecast was not too bright - a 20 knot South easter. That is supposed to be the worst direction for fishing and I was tempted to postpone the trip. It was our last chance of the holiday so we went for it. Sadly Chantelle had to work that day and we left her in town. Paddy was not interested and went off with Rissy and Reuben. The forecast was very wrong. It was calm as a mill pond for most of the day. We had a great day fishing, birdwatching and generally chatting as we went up the harbour asthe tide went out and then came back down the harbour as it came back in again. Merv favours longlining and uses what seems like ridiculously long traces with 2 hooks baited with a small mount of mullet. A weight is put on after about 15 metres of line has gone out with the trace. The system worked and we caught a mixed bag of mostly kahawai with some snapper. Nothing very huge but a serious amount of fish to keep us and some friends fed for quite a few meals. I also like spinning off the boat. There were little schools of kahawai drifting past the boat at regular intervals slurping small fish and flies off the surface. As each school passed we cast the lure over the top of them and then pulled it through the school. It was not easy but that made the occasional successful hook-up and even rarer landing a real thrill.

Fishing

We went collecting firewood at Ruth and Stephan's place one day. Chantelle and I escaped way up north to Paua for a night in a tent. The wind was freshwhen we arrived but we caught a good haul of kahawai. The next morning, the wind dropped to othing and we had a good paddle about the harbour. A good paddle but only one fish that time. Paddy is holding the first decent watermelon that we have managed to grow here. They do not seem to like the wet soil, but this one survived and fruited and even ripened. It was eaten in a matter of hours by the watermelon addict.

Easter holiday

Uploading some pictures from the last couple of weeks. We have been on Easter holidays and have been blessed by some very fine weather. The first Saturday I went exploring a huge waterfall with a teacher from school. Easter Sunday saw us up at Puwheke beach camping long-lining and having a paddle. Stuart let off a rocket in memeory of his Grand dad who dies last year. It went about 1000 feet into the sky with a great whoosh and landed far out to sea.