January 1st – 7th
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!
Mon 1st – We awoke to more rain, so we decided to use this as a travelling day. We drove all morning, and some of the afternoon until we got to Te Kuiti, which is close to the Waitomo Caves. School lessons were re-started for the children, and Alistair and Rowena had lessons for a good 2 ½ hours. I went for a run, and managed a fairly slow 5200 meters!
As they worked so hard we had movie night, so we all enjoyed ‘Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith’. Then Bed.
Tues 2nd – Found ourselves in the Warehouse, again, and spent more money on a bargain??!! We managed to get the first Star Wars on DVD for $16, as it didn’t have a cover (normal price $25)…that’s $9 for some paper with some pictures on!
After this we drove to Waitomo Glow worm caves. In the caves you can see stalagmites (growing from the ground), and stalactites (from the ceiling), and also the famous glow worm cave. I have to be honest and say that this is supposed to be on of NZ best attractions, but really there are better caves in France for a lot less money too! It could be that the use of light was more effective in France, but I know that my impression is that they are better and more impressive. The glow worm cave was lovely, and I would have been happy to have stayed in there for longer and not do the other bits.(We sat on a boat in silence and floated along the underground river for about 10 mins looking at the ceiling. There were millions of lights, everywhere you looked, and it looked like stars-L)
Afterwards we paid a visit to the Angora Rabbit shearing shed, where they shear the Angora from the rabbits. It is used to make spools of wool for knitting, and can be mixed with Moreno. The children enjoyed this as you could stroke the rabbits. It did make us think of our two, Blackberry and Apple! (The rabbits are huge with all their fur on but very skinny once sheared- they have to be done every 3mnths-L)
The rest of the afternoon was spent travelling to the next campsite, and at about 5 pm we arrived at the Beachside Motor Camping Mokau, about 50km’s from New Plymouth.( It’s funny saying New Plymouth’ as it makes you think of Plymouth in England!).
The site is right on the beach, and Alistair decided he wanted to try surf casting. So we went out on the Black Sandy Beach, and had a go. It takes a few throws to get it right, and we looked a bit silly a few times when the weight on hook landed only a few feet in front of us! Anyway, though, we used up the last of the bait that we had bought about a month before, which was beginning to become very smelly, so it was a successful evening. We didn’t catch anything, but we all enjoyed it.
Wed 3rd – Alistair and Lucy got up early today to watch the Torpedo being launched.
The Torpedo is a fishing aid. It is shaped like a torpedo and has a propeller on one end. It also has a timing switch which is used to limit the distance it travels out to sea. It is attached to a line with about 25 hooks on it. After about an hour a winch pulls it back in, and the fish are taken off. The guy, Mike, caught 9 fish today – 1 Snapper, 1 Yellow Spotted Dog Fish, 6 Gurnard, and 1 Kahawai. He also got a Skate, but they don’t normally keep those, so put it back. Oh well no Skate wings for tea! (Didn’t have any capers anyway-L)
That afternoon Mike took Alistair, Rowena and Lucy on his quad bike to go surfcasting. I had to cycle there! It was very windy, but still quite warm. Mike ad his son, Buster, cast for Alistair. I got there an hour after them and the other guys there had each caught a Kowhai. Alistair was still waiting. Anyway he did catch a fish soon afterwards, but it was a little herring! Not sure how it ate the bait, as it was a piece of pilchard 2 inches square!
After a bit more time, we had success and Alistair caught a Kahawai….Hooray!! He is doing well now, having caught a number of different fish!
The haul finished at 8, and we were given 4 Kahawai fillets, and another 2 smoked! Not bad eh! These kiwi’s are really nice, and all fishermen we have met so far are so generous with their catches.
Lucy was given a recipe to cook it and we had it that night. It was lovely, it’s a bit like meat, but even nicer. The texture melts in your mouth as you eat it….mmmm!
(We can see Mount Taranaki from here in the distance, well you can when the cloud lifts It is 2518m and just rises up from the coast, at the moment it is snow topped, apparently it looks rather like Mt Fuji. We have a lovely pitch here with the back of the van overlooking the sea. The sand here has a very high iron content and is trawled out to sea and exported to Japan, melted down and made into iron, Rowena is going to send some to school, hope the postage is not too much-L)
Thurs 4th…. We decided to stay for another day at the beachside. Mike put his torpedo out later today at about 8am. Lucky really because we didn’t wake up that early! This time he caught 3 Snapper (they were too small really, as they should be 27cm to be legal), 5 gurnard, and1 Kahawai. Alistair watched Mike as he cleaned and gutted the fish, I’m not sure he is that keen about doing the cleaning part of the fishing yet?
Lessons were done on the beach today as it was another beautiful sunny day, although the wind was still up. After lessons I reminded myself why I’m not working at the moment by having a game of Rugby with Alistair and Rowena, much better fun!
That evening the Torpedo went out at 7pm, so an hour or so later we went to watch them pull it in. They only got two fish tonight.
It’s funny because when you paddle in the sea here as the sun goes down, as when the waves come in over the black sand, it looks like a sea of Guinness coming in! I thought for a minute that I was in paradise!
The sky was clear tonight, and gave us a stunning red sunset.
Fri 5th- Unfortunately we had to leave today if we were to do the things that we wanted to do. So we reluctantly left our lovely camping spot that looked out directly onto the ocean, and drove to New Plymouth. On the way we stumbled on an organic brewery! The whole place was for sale….what a lovely thought! Anyway Lucy got me out of there after only a couple of tasters.
There wasn’t much here for us in New Plymouth as it’s a big city, so we found ourselves parking at the campsite, and then walking to the shopping centre, where we had a few things to do. On the way back we managed to find an Irish Pub, so we couldn’t walk past we had to stop and be sociable!
Also, today, Lucy managed to get us booked in to do some voluntary work, in return for somewhere to stay, at an organic farm. She agreed for us to stay there for 4 days from Monday……first time I have worked in ages!
Sat 6th – We left the New Plymouth campsite, and went in search of another in a more rural setting. We found one about 20 minutes out of New Plymouth and closer to Mount Egmont(Taranaki). It was called the Havenview Campsite, and we were nearly the only people on this beautiful unspoilt site. It’s a POP(Park Over Property) for NZ Camping Association members out in the countryside, and is also ECO friendly. They re-cycle everything, have a wind generator for electricity, and are self sufficient! You can do this more easier here because land costs are not so high, and it seems that you can build near enough anything you want I suppose because there is so much space! It’s definitely a concept that Lucy and I are interested in, but it’s whether we can afford to do and make it work. Still don’t want to worry about that now, as I’m in a pretty relaxed mood at the moment!
Sun 7th – We decided to do some more walking, so chose a 3 hour tramp up from the Mount Egmont visitor centre, on the Maketawa Track. This track is the beginning of the summit track to the top, so gave us a good idea of what to expect if we decide to do that. It was quite hard going, mainly upwards for the first hour, but we stopped and had lunch at the Maketawa Hut. It’s a lovely hut with a great view, so could be a stop for us in the future.
That evening was Movie Night so we went back to the same campsite, and watched Star Wars – A new hope (The first one made, but 4th in chronological order!). Blimey it takes me back to when I was a lad!
Tomorrow it’s WWOOFing!!
Mon 1st – We awoke to more rain, so we decided to use this as a travelling day. We drove all morning, and some of the afternoon until we got to Te Kuiti, which is close to the Waitomo Caves. School lessons were re-started for the children, and Alistair and Rowena had lessons for a good 2 ½ hours. I went for a run, and managed a fairly slow 5200 meters!
As they worked so hard we had movie night, so we all enjoyed ‘Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith’. Then Bed.
Tues 2nd – Found ourselves in the Warehouse, again, and spent more money on a bargain??!! We managed to get the first Star Wars on DVD for $16, as it didn’t have a cover (normal price $25)…that’s $9 for some paper with some pictures on!
After this we drove to Waitomo Glow worm caves. In the caves you can see stalagmites (growing from the ground), and stalactites (from the ceiling), and also the famous glow worm cave. I have to be honest and say that this is supposed to be on of NZ best attractions, but really there are better caves in France for a lot less money too! It could be that the use of light was more effective in France, but I know that my impression is that they are better and more impressive. The glow worm cave was lovely, and I would have been happy to have stayed in there for longer and not do the other bits.(We sat on a boat in silence and floated along the underground river for about 10 mins looking at the ceiling. There were millions of lights, everywhere you looked, and it looked like stars-L)
Afterwards we paid a visit to the Angora Rabbit shearing shed, where they shear the Angora from the rabbits. It is used to make spools of wool for knitting, and can be mixed with Moreno. The children enjoyed this as you could stroke the rabbits. It did make us think of our two, Blackberry and Apple! (The rabbits are huge with all their fur on but very skinny once sheared- they have to be done every 3mnths-L)
The rest of the afternoon was spent travelling to the next campsite, and at about 5 pm we arrived at the Beachside Motor Camping Mokau, about 50km’s from New Plymouth.( It’s funny saying New Plymouth’ as it makes you think of Plymouth in England!).
The site is right on the beach, and Alistair decided he wanted to try surf casting. So we went out on the Black Sandy Beach, and had a go. It takes a few throws to get it right, and we looked a bit silly a few times when the weight on hook landed only a few feet in front of us! Anyway, though, we used up the last of the bait that we had bought about a month before, which was beginning to become very smelly, so it was a successful evening. We didn’t catch anything, but we all enjoyed it.
Wed 3rd – Alistair and Lucy got up early today to watch the Torpedo being launched.
The Torpedo is a fishing aid. It is shaped like a torpedo and has a propeller on one end. It also has a timing switch which is used to limit the distance it travels out to sea. It is attached to a line with about 25 hooks on it. After about an hour a winch pulls it back in, and the fish are taken off. The guy, Mike, caught 9 fish today – 1 Snapper, 1 Yellow Spotted Dog Fish, 6 Gurnard, and 1 Kahawai. He also got a Skate, but they don’t normally keep those, so put it back. Oh well no Skate wings for tea! (Didn’t have any capers anyway-L)
That afternoon Mike took Alistair, Rowena and Lucy on his quad bike to go surfcasting. I had to cycle there! It was very windy, but still quite warm. Mike ad his son, Buster, cast for Alistair. I got there an hour after them and the other guys there had each caught a Kowhai. Alistair was still waiting. Anyway he did catch a fish soon afterwards, but it was a little herring! Not sure how it ate the bait, as it was a piece of pilchard 2 inches square!
After a bit more time, we had success and Alistair caught a Kahawai….Hooray!! He is doing well now, having caught a number of different fish!
The haul finished at 8, and we were given 4 Kahawai fillets, and another 2 smoked! Not bad eh! These kiwi’s are really nice, and all fishermen we have met so far are so generous with their catches.
Lucy was given a recipe to cook it and we had it that night. It was lovely, it’s a bit like meat, but even nicer. The texture melts in your mouth as you eat it….mmmm!
(We can see Mount Taranaki from here in the distance, well you can when the cloud lifts It is 2518m and just rises up from the coast, at the moment it is snow topped, apparently it looks rather like Mt Fuji. We have a lovely pitch here with the back of the van overlooking the sea. The sand here has a very high iron content and is trawled out to sea and exported to Japan, melted down and made into iron, Rowena is going to send some to school, hope the postage is not too much-L)
Thurs 4th…. We decided to stay for another day at the beachside. Mike put his torpedo out later today at about 8am. Lucky really because we didn’t wake up that early! This time he caught 3 Snapper (they were too small really, as they should be 27cm to be legal), 5 gurnard, and1 Kahawai. Alistair watched Mike as he cleaned and gutted the fish, I’m not sure he is that keen about doing the cleaning part of the fishing yet?
Lessons were done on the beach today as it was another beautiful sunny day, although the wind was still up. After lessons I reminded myself why I’m not working at the moment by having a game of Rugby with Alistair and Rowena, much better fun!
That evening the Torpedo went out at 7pm, so an hour or so later we went to watch them pull it in. They only got two fish tonight.
It’s funny because when you paddle in the sea here as the sun goes down, as when the waves come in over the black sand, it looks like a sea of Guinness coming in! I thought for a minute that I was in paradise!
The sky was clear tonight, and gave us a stunning red sunset.
Fri 5th- Unfortunately we had to leave today if we were to do the things that we wanted to do. So we reluctantly left our lovely camping spot that looked out directly onto the ocean, and drove to New Plymouth. On the way we stumbled on an organic brewery! The whole place was for sale….what a lovely thought! Anyway Lucy got me out of there after only a couple of tasters.
There wasn’t much here for us in New Plymouth as it’s a big city, so we found ourselves parking at the campsite, and then walking to the shopping centre, where we had a few things to do. On the way back we managed to find an Irish Pub, so we couldn’t walk past we had to stop and be sociable!
Also, today, Lucy managed to get us booked in to do some voluntary work, in return for somewhere to stay, at an organic farm. She agreed for us to stay there for 4 days from Monday……first time I have worked in ages!
Sat 6th – We left the New Plymouth campsite, and went in search of another in a more rural setting. We found one about 20 minutes out of New Plymouth and closer to Mount Egmont(Taranaki). It was called the Havenview Campsite, and we were nearly the only people on this beautiful unspoilt site. It’s a POP(Park Over Property) for NZ Camping Association members out in the countryside, and is also ECO friendly. They re-cycle everything, have a wind generator for electricity, and are self sufficient! You can do this more easier here because land costs are not so high, and it seems that you can build near enough anything you want I suppose because there is so much space! It’s definitely a concept that Lucy and I are interested in, but it’s whether we can afford to do and make it work. Still don’t want to worry about that now, as I’m in a pretty relaxed mood at the moment!
Sun 7th – We decided to do some more walking, so chose a 3 hour tramp up from the Mount Egmont visitor centre, on the Maketawa Track. This track is the beginning of the summit track to the top, so gave us a good idea of what to expect if we decide to do that. It was quite hard going, mainly upwards for the first hour, but we stopped and had lunch at the Maketawa Hut. It’s a lovely hut with a great view, so could be a stop for us in the future.
That evening was Movie Night so we went back to the same campsite, and watched Star Wars – A new hope (The first one made, but 4th in chronological order!). Blimey it takes me back to when I was a lad!
Tomorrow it’s WWOOFing!!
posted by greg and lucy | 12:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home