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Not that I am fanatic or so.....
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Fun afternoon though.
Another great fishing day, but without a boat, what do you do.......? A walk and talk on a busy local beach, as a good married couple.
We discovered that on the north side of our property trees were dying because they did not get enough water. Even after repairing a few leaks the flow was still minimal. Luckily there was a spare outlet so I could put an extra pipe in. Unfortunately we ran out of connecting wires. I could use the negative, but I needed one more colour wire to be able to program it.
Unfortunately the multi core cable they had used was one wire short. So we had to dig a 50 meter trench for just one tiny 12v cable. But, in the end it worked.
I was in Tauranga for my second week of radiation on my left hand. I stayed the week with Wouter and Bianca this time.
Willem and Carla were so kind to ask us all over for dinner. A fun night with good friends. Too bad my lovely wife could not be there.
On the way back I picked up a friend of my nephew in Rotorua, Wouter. He would stay with us for a few days, regaining strength after a few days suffering the hard life of a backpacker. On our way home I showed him a few features of this beautiful country, one of which is the impressive Huka falls.
The passengers window of my car did not react anymore to the main window switch. So I took it out, determined which part malfunctioned and opened it. Should not have done that, tiny springs and bearings flew through the air. Found all of them again, except for one, making the whole unit useless. And the window was rolled down, so, even though it is summer, still a bit of an issue.
Dinner with Wouter and Wouter Jan (the photographer). Wouter Jan was here to pick up his new boat. It was parked in our shed for one night, making the shed look like it was build for it. A few days later, my boat looked quite pathetic in it. Needless to say that Nienke was not impressed. Wouter was kind enough to help us dig the trench for the 12v cable.
I headed north again along the west coast. I would pick Nienke up from Auckland airport in a few days, to go to a party in Tinopai, given by our friends Sue and Louis. I spent the night at the Three sisters and the Elephant. So nice there.
I guess this is supposed to be the back side of the elephant?
Stayed another night at the Hamilton gap, a nice beach just south of the Manakau harbour. Amazing rock formations.
And on the other side of the beach you could see the live version of erosion.
We visited a nice nursery with an attached art park on our way north. Bumped into an art installation of Birgit, a friend of ours. The bandages around the trees are a reminder of how fragile and special our nature is.
As you can see we were lucky we had our motorhome with us. The neighbours got smashed in the face a few times during the night. 'Windy at times' the weather forecast said......
We had a great couple of nights at their new bach in Tinopai, a small village on the Kaipara harbour (on of the largest harbours in the world).
To prevent our food from getting airborne we had to withdraw inside for dinner. With a few borrowed tables from the local community hall, that was not an issue. Delicious food and great company by the way.
Nice to see the whole family together. His daughters had come all the way over from the Netherlands for the party. They were clearly the life and soul of the party. Louis boasted that he already knew most of the people in Tinopai (about 350 inhabitants). Well, after this party, at least they will all know him. Fellow campers told us a day later they had 'enjoyed' the singing until very late that night.
After the party and the cleaning up session, Nienke and I went to Sandspit for a few days together. We booked a table at the Sculptureum near Matakane and thoroughly enjoyed the enormous amount of art and a very nice meal.
The museum and restaurant were set up by two clever lawyers from Auckland.
They already owned quite some art, but now it was all tax deductible and with the staggering entrée fee, it is not surprising they kept on buying art. Not only the gardens were stocked with art, but there was hardly an empty space inside.
As a board member of our local 'Waste water treatment plant' (the old shed in the picture) we at times have to do something more than meet over a beer. I sprayed the weeds around the installations and painted the shed (yes, I ran out of paint) so it looks better. On Sunday we will have a work bee with the neighbourhood, after which it will all look very professional again.
The boat is back in the shed again. Last Thursday James and I were all ready to go fishing. The boat was geared up, loaded with an extra fuel tank, rods, food, etc. And the motor kept dying on us. We had to peddle back about half a mile. Brought the boat back to the hospital. Diagnosis: 'We did not tighten the needle in the carburetor well enough, so it got sucked into the fuel line, cutting of the fuel. Sorry for the inconvenience'. Inconvenience? The boating forecast was 4 nines. The best fishing day of the year so far, smiling albacore tuna waving at us from the sea. Didn't even know what a carburetor was, let alone these physiological details. Now the boat is back, ready to go, but the wind has picked up. So it is nicely parked in the garage with the other men toys. Have I forgotten anything? Ah, the window of the car. Fixed. Ordered a replacement main window switch from a scrap yard, and the windows work again. A few more year in that old barrel I think. What's next? Womad, an implant and a trip to the Netherlands. Looking forward to 2 out of 3.
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And on the other side of the beach you could see the live version of erosion.
By the way, Abel Tasman, after missing the Straight, Kawhia harbour, Aotea harbour, Raglan harbour and Manukau harbour, conveniently missed this one too! A few miles north he would miss Hokianga harbour as well, anything to get home quickly......... "The hero".
Nice to see the whole family together. His daughters had come all the way over from the Netherlands for the party. They were clearly the life and soul of the party. Louis boasted that he already knew most of the people in Tinopai (about 350 inhabitants). Well, after this party, at least they will all know him. Fellow campers told us a day later they had 'enjoyed' the singing until very late that night.
I loved the umbrella man. How clever.
And what about this nice parade of birds, made of tools.
Nienke wanted one of these rabbits for in our garden. Would be difficult to miss with a shotgun!
And the next day we went to Brick winery to visit their art park. We loved this huge art installation, the Chrysalid by Phil Price. Everything was for sale, but we decided not to ask for the price of this thing. It was not available in orange anyway ......
Some lovely walks on the beaches there, oysters everywhere.
And on the hill above our motorhome stood this enormous chair and table. Made out of downpipes and fence rails.
And the next day we went to Brick winery to visit their art park. We loved this huge art installation, the Chrysalid by Phil Price. Everything was for sale, but we decided not to ask for the price of this thing. It was not available in orange anyway ......
'Should have gone to Specsavers', a famous advertisement here on the radio and TV. Well, I just broke my indestructible Specsavers titanium frame, for the second time. Great timing for metal fatigue.
Then it was time to say goodbye to each other. I dropped Nienke of at Auckland airport and headed up north for my annual fishing trip in the Far north. Nienke made a nice batch of her own 'atjar tjampoer' again.
Yes, we're on the water again! Leaving the Mill bay boat ramp in Mangonui behind us we headed for the waves and hopefully gamefish! Nice to be on a boat that actually keeps going....
We met a few old friends. The albatros,
a couple of dolphins,
and a sperm whale.
Clearly they were not afraid of our houthi's outfit. By the way, it's protection against the UV radiation, not to scare people or animals of.
We headed for a few places famous for catching good snapper. Went around the north cape, and decided in the end to go to calmer waters just before Spirits bay, near Cape Reinga. There we finally caught one after the other; trevally, snapper and even a kingfish. The last one was 1 cm too short.....
An enormous amount of birds swaying on the waves. They did not have their dance act together this year. Last year they were dancing on the water around the boat.
Vincent is such a nice guy and very fast with filleting fish. As we had a very good catch today, he was quite busy. Good to have so many snapper frames, they are great for the cray pots. Too bad the crays did not agree with us, we only caught one when I was there. We were also quite unsuccessful catching bluenose this year.
And then it was Saturday the 10th of February. It turned out to be a very good day indeed.
I caught my very first gamefish, a marlin. Team effort of course, but still something to be proud of. A tick in the box. Now on to Africa...
On the way back we passed this nice blowhole on Keratautuhaka island near Haurora, where we had launched the boat that day.
Don't worry, that's just a lame joke.
Here is a video of that memorable afternoon.
Meanwhile Nienke had done a course on making art with things found on the beach. The course was given by Birgit. She clearly got inspiration from the art parks we visited. I painted a pinboard for in her study and hung it today, so she can start her 'beach collage' on it.
We had one last day of fishing, catching a few nice snapper. Then the weather was against us. Way too much wind.
An alternative to fishing; walking the Wairakau stream track, towards the Dukes nose peak. Indeed, you have read that word before. Wairakau was the name of our property on Sims road. It means 'Trees near the water'.
In the background you can see Dukes nose peak (his nose on the left side). If you zoom in you can see the classic nose of nobility, I guess...
The really nice bushwalk goes over in a undulating path between the beautiful mangroves. Even nicer now it was high tide.
Closer to the beach we could see the several bays of the Whangaroa harbour with the boaties sheltering there.
What a view. Whangaroa harbour from the peak.
Have to say, the last part of the track was quite a challenge. Not for the fainthearted. We were standing at the foot of this thing and I was sure Wouter Jan would say 'maybe not today'. But we climbed up (on the picture he is coming down), an effort not without danger. When Wouter Jan was here the last time, there was a family standing at the bottom of the cliff and when the father turned around to say to his kids that it was too dangerous and they should not do this, the kids were already half way up.
The Lane Cove hut was close by and we had a well deserved swim and rest there. We did the hard yards, but many youngsters let them selves be taxied in (by boat), stay the night and then only do the 1 hour climb. Not something for 'real men'.
The 'real man' ended up at the Whangaroa boating club, quite dehydrated, as we clearly had not taken enough water with us. It was 27 degrees during the walk. Luckily that was quickly resolved. Here we watched the boats come in that had participated in the local game fishing contest. Have to admit, their marlins were slightly bigger than ours.
Had to leave my friends behind to drive home. A trip not without problems. I have never seen so many orange cones in my life. There were roadworks everywhere. That is to say, the roads were blocked of, but I have not seen many active roadworkers. You know those people who pretend to be a statue in many city centres? I think those are retired roadworkers. When I finally made it home I had to prepare an Indonesian rice table for the Dutch borrel club.
Traditionally I made a bit too much, so after a successful and animated afternoon, there was a bit of food left. About a weeks worth for us two. What a shame....... Good for those days when there is not much time for cooking.
Here is a video of that memorable afternoon.
Like the tennis days. Still playing in two competitions. We won every game so far in the regional second division and are third in our local business house competition.
Or the days working in the garden (weeds grow fast when the sun shines and they are watered everyday. Our native trees and shrubs are growing well, but we're in round three getting rid of the weeds on our steep slopes.
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