Snapper!

Weekend last, Rich headed out on a fishing charter with a couple of colleagues (and about 15 other people!). An early start as we had to be at the docks by 6.45 and so up around 5.50-on a Sunday!

Quite a cold day, especially out of the sun. Good job we had many layers on and thankfully it remained dry all day.

Was told to expect to come home stinking of fish and to wear some old clothes - since we ditched all the old clothes before heading to NZ I had to go out and buy some old clothes.

First time I've been fishing as I recall. We headed out about one and half hours, erm, sail and dropped anchor.

Had a quick lesson on how cut up the bait (Pilchard) and how to bait hooks so that it does not fall off (hook around the backbone) and then we were off.

In no time somebody had landed a small Trevailly, not good eating apparently, but unfortunately for the fish, legal size and promptly cut up for bait.

First fish landed that was legal size was a Red Snapper. Unfortunately our skipper had not told us how to take the fish off the hooks, or, how to kill them. Pretty important stuff really.

The hooks are pushed out and can be tricky to do. The fish are killed, not by whacking the heads on the deck as some of us thought, but by inserting a knife into their brains.

Unfortunately, one clueless group of four where not even aware they had to kill the fish and were ready to chuck them straight in the cooler. And despite further instruction, they never got the hang of it and many fish suffered an agonising death at their hands.

One of the four, early on, was trying to kill the fish by "suffocating" it with a rag; before thinking about stomping on it's head.

Was very disappointed with the skipper by this point, who turned out to a bit of an arse, more interested in making sure he got his fair share than making sure everybody knew what they were doing and indeed, the welfare of the fish.

Don't want to sound like a bleeding heart, but in my opinion, if you are are going to hunt, or fish you should respect the life of the animal you are taking and give it as quick and humane a death as possible.

What made it worse was that it turned out that many of those on board had no intention of taking the fish home with them, they were just landing them for sport and then butchering them. It was pretty grim, seeing how many fish were being chucked into the cooler still alive.

I could see little point in this and once I had a couple I threw the rest back. Two was easily enough for me considering Amanda does not eat fish and at that point I had no idea how to gut and fillet them.

In all I landed 3 Snapper and 3 Kahawai. Learnt how to gut and fillet the two Snapper I took home via youtube and had sautéed snapper as a starter that night. Yum! The larger one is in the freezer ready to baked.

We moved around a few times, changing location when the fish stopped biting and ened up about 2 and half hours from home.

One of the highlights was cathcing glimpses of dolphins by the boat; and fishing near a huge flock of gannets or the like and watching them dive into the water for fish.

Great to eat fish you have caught yourself - I'd do it again - just not with that skipper and ideally a smaller crew, who had a little more respect for the fish...

Home on the Overlander

OK, a very quick post here, as this was a long time ago. Easter weekend in fact when we headed down to Wellington. We were chauffeured there by JetStar Airlines, and a fine hassle free service it was, with livery reminiscent of that well known European budget airline.

For the trip back we decided on something a little more scenic and booked ourselves on the Overlander train. A 12 hour journey that winds it's way though past some stunning scenery, through 14 tunnels and across over 350 bridges.

We left Wellington promptly at 7.25am and George kindly got up earlier than us in order to drive over and pick us up and deliver us to the station.

The journey, really was picturesque, some amazing views of the heartland of the North Island, lots of rolling pasture, some forest and bush and some jaw dropping views as we crossed some very wide and deep valleys.

Can't say we would rush to do the journey again however. Already long at 12 hours, our actual journey took almost 14 due to a broken down train on the (single) line. The rolling stock also dates from the 1960s and despite some ongoing refurbishment is pretty dated, while the food available was very poor - and only instant coffee!

Our day did no end with our arrival at Auckland station either as we still had to find our way home. So a long old day. Glad we did it as some awesome scenery, but will not be doing it again in a hurry.

Unfortunately our photos do not do the views justice as it was often hard to get a good one due to reflections or other people in the way; however a few are below, including some for all you train buffs...

Wellington: Lake Ferry, The Pinnacles & Cape Palliser

Another blue dome day, another day exploring. This time we travelled a bit further afield - about an hours drive south west of Wellington. We packed quite a bit into the day and so have lots of pics for you and even some videos...

We started the day with a walk along the shore at Lake Ferry. Rather a bleak shore which could probably be mistaken for the moon, if not for the water, but picturesque nonetheless with the misty outline of north of the South island just visible in the distance..

Spent some time watching the locals surf-casting (fishing in the surf) and they were have quite a bit of luck. With one guy in particular continually landing snapper and even a Barracuda. Lake Ferry enters the sea here by a channel and it was quite visible on the surface where the currents mixed. In fact all along the shore you could see how powerful they were and you would not want to wander too far out.

Had fish and chips (pronounced "Fush and chups" in this part of the world) at Lake Ferry Hotel. They are apparently world famous but while they were a welcome feed, we were not blown away and the coffee was not great either-must do better!

After brunch we headed further along the coast to the Putangirua Pinnacles - one of the best examples of badlands erosion and earth pillar formation in the world. It also happens to be the location for "Dimholt Road" in LOTR. Scattered amongst all the scree you can also find rocks, covered in fossils. Below is one we prepared earlier...

With the sun high in the sky, we set off along the wide, rocky streambed and headed North. We stream snaked up the bed towards he higher ground and we had to cross it several times before we reached the foot of the valley in which the Pinnacles were.

As we moved further into the valley the ground, wall to wall scree started to get a little steeper. The reward was the sight of the pinnacles, or "hoodoos" themselves. Great examples of what the elements can do over time and quite an eerie landscape. Also plenty of opportunities to act the fool, not that any of us would... The valley narrowed as we proceeded further in and turned into a steep and narrow crevasse with towering walls of (rather fragile and loose) scree and shingle. Had a little explore, but could not find a way out so headed back for camp.

The sun was pretty strong today and (foolishly) not packing hats meant Rich had to resort to more creative methods of shading his bonce. Meanwhile, his feet gave him no complaints despite being shod in his five fingers whilst covering some pretty rough terrain - must have adapted quite well...

Could have stayed and explored here a little longer but sunset was approaching and we wanted to make a seal colony further along the coast. A first for both Amanda and Rich, we were able to approach to within a few meters several large fur seals that were sunning themselves on the rocks. An awesome site but the smell of these creatures was, rather less so and quite unique.

One last stop. We headed a little further along the coast to Cape Palliser names by Captain James Cook in honour of 'his worthy friend' Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser and is the site of a lighthouse originally built in 1897 and fully automated in 1986 -with some of the work completed by none other than our tour guide George!

The were great views to be had from the rock on which it was perched, but the slight obstacle of 250 steps to reach it. Missing his CrossFit Rich decided to set himself the challenge of running all the way to the top..he made it, just! Got about halfway quite easily but as the steps got narrower and steeper his legs were starting to get a bit heavy and the last few were completed at a pace not much more than a walk.

Amanda, Liz and George took the more sensible option of walking up...

But all were rewarded with some awesome views....

Videos!

Views near Lake Ferry

Pinnacles

Rich running up the steps

View from the top

Wellington: Rimutaka Rail Trail

Decided we had spent a bit too much time being chauffered around and that we needed to get some proper exercise in. Therefore we headed to the nearby Rimutaka Rail Trail. A disused railway line that used to run through the Rimutaka mountain range and now used a as a walking/cycling track.

Quite an impressive feat of engineering as it happens - laying the track itself was no mean feat and the trains themselves were pretty nifty - capable of scaling gradients that would leave most modern trains gasping and wheezing.

We were again blessed with superb weather, brilliant sunshine with not a cloud in sight -as George calls it, "another beautiful blue dome day".

With George and Liz as our companions again, we borrowed a couple of bikes and headed for the summit, approximately 5k away.

The ride was quite a bit tamer to what Rich is used to, uphill, but fairly steady and not at all technical. But that was probably for the best as it has been a while since he has ridden and the bike was a little too big.

We reached the summit in good time and took a quick snack while taking in the views and the rusting engines that had been abandoned at the summit. Took a quick nose at some information about the railway and some old sepia photos that showed what it was like in the good ole' days.

Set off again and were soon plunged into darkness...the trail passes through several of the old tunnels, some of them quite long. The longest one was 1km and our feeble headlights made for interesting riding as the trail in the tunnels was potholed, some filled with water.

Three tunnels later and with no mishaps we arrived at a Gorge that was once spanned by a huge embankment that had since washed away. This meant dismounting and walking the bikes down a steep bank, across the rocky stream and up the other side.

We had been descending for a while now and with some members not as fit as others and everyone suffering with sore derrieres we decided to stop for lunch. Still eschewing bread where possible Rich had a salmon and avocado salad. Unfortunately the bumpy ride and heat had melted the Avocado and turned it to a paste which covered everything.

Refreshed, we saddled up and headed back up to the summit where we had a quick pit stop, before zooming all the way back to the start...

On the drive home we got to see what we had been riding across...

Later that night we dined on wild pig meatballs; prepared and cooked by Amanda & Rich with wild pig caught and butchered by Liz's son Nick. Yummm!