Plan B

You know how I said in the previous post that my oven was fixed? Well, it seems it wasn’t, the same §¥@% fault has recurred. Damn thing. Another phone call to Coastal Motorhomes and Plan B is now in place as the supplier will be visiting in a weeks time and he is bringing a new part to fix it himself although I really think that we should call it quits and just get a replacement oven. So back to Whakatāne we have to go. But first, we do get to spend the week at Pyes Pa and the surrounding Tauranga district so we can take the opportunity to meet up with a few friends and family.

And true to our usual style, even those plans evolved and changed daily, it’s just as well we are reasonably flexible and not on a tight schedule. Keith was celebrating a significant birthday so I offered to cook dinner for all the family, we planned a bit of a surprise as well but those plans went completely out the window when Isla (6yo), our great niece and Keith’s granddaughter was taken into hospital with high temperatures and breathing difficulties. Hmmmm, Covid? No. RSV? No.

Poor wee thing, she was really very unwell, so much so she was quickly moved to ICU where she remained for the next few days.

Top: not well at all in ICU, bottom: feeling a bit better, then yahoo one very excited Isla on dads shoulders going home

Both mum & dad were shattered after the experience, taking turns to be with her at the hospital with Covid restrictions making things even more difficult plus taking care of sister Ashlyn aged 3. But in true childlike fashion, Isla was soon on the mend and back to her usual jovial self after a few days in hospital.

Meanwhile, we met up with friend Judy for lunch at a local cafe and caught up with all her news since we were last together up at Whakapirau…no photos of course! But it’s always lovely to reconnect and share tales.

We also went out to Papamoa and caught up with Doreen. We met Doreen last year when we were holed up at Rona’s for something like 11 weeks waiting for Aucklands border to open, and we hit it off. We’ve since kept in touch and it was lovely to visit her in her new tiny home.

Doreen and Roy

From there we didn’t have to travel too far to visit and have lunch with long standing friend Estelle (I refuse to use the term “old friend”). We had a lovely lunch and get together …and also ‘helped’ Estelle with a jigsaw she was doing!! Again, I forgot to take pictures!

After a week in Tauranga we returned to Whakatāne to get the oven fixed…and guess what? It couldn’t be fixed so to cut a long story short, a new oven will be installed later in the year. Why later in the year? The reasoning for that decision will be revealed all in good time.

Parked at Matatā DOC camp

After all details were sorted we headed off to Matatā DOC camp where spent two glorious nights and we were pretty much all on our own. We have never seen the camp with so few people in it, it was very quiet with only two or three other vehicles in over the two nights we stayed here. Of course with no oven working we just had to have fish & chips for dinner from Aunties chip shop across the road. They did not disappoint either, beautiful fresh fish in crispy batter and the best chips we’ve had in a while, with not a skerrick of grease left on the paper. Truly delicious.

It was lovely going to sleep listening to the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach each evening but there was not too much relaxing being done during the day. Over our two days at Matatā we were kept very busy with cleaning, tidying and sorting out lots as it’s time to move on – the next adventure beckons!

Matatā

Another relatively short hippity hop from Ngongataha to Matatā where we will be staying for a week, well, that’s the initial plan.

Today’s trip

The drive is a very pleasant one, meandering through native forest…

On past Lakes…

Until we arrive in Matatā.

Parked in the sunshine

There were a few familiar faces parked in the camp and we said a few quick hellos. The following day was a busy day with visitors coming for morning tea and after lunch we were heading out and about to visit family.

First was a visit from Keith & Deb, fabulous to catch up with them before they were heading off to Rotorua for the day.

Excellent selfie skills there!!!

After lunch Roy and I drove up to Waiotahe to visit John & Jude and to hear about their trip to the Chatham Islands the previous week.

John was in charge of selfie’s this time…they said I’m a bit rubbish at them! can’t think why.

Another great catchup, as well, a bit of a tiki tour around Opotiki and the river mouth to see all the new dredging and building going on. There are big mussel farms off the coast and a new harbour entrance and marina is being built to bring the mussels in to the already built factory in town. Back along to the beach before returning to John and Jude’s for a cuppa then it was time for us to head back to Matata. We will be meeting up again soon.

The beach at Matatā is looking it’s fabulous self as usual, with hardly anyone in sight along its length.

Matata beach with Whale island on the horizon

Over the next week we visited Julie (John’s daughter) in Whakatane, and Keith came visiting again with two of his daughters and a granddaughter for dinner. Jobs were done, tales were told, much laughter was had.

Amy Keith and Isla

Jenna Amy Keith

I even managed to get my second Covid jab whilst in Whakatane, on a day when level changes were to be announced as further cases were located in and around Kaiaua. Guess a visit to Kaiaua will not be high on our to do list just now. As Auckland is in level 3 for at least another two weeks, it means that we can still not visit or travel through Auckland as yet, so plans B, C and D are formulated.

However, another plan developed as our van needs a COF, and the place we usually take it to in Whakatane is booked up until November! One of the other motorhomers told us about a place in Te Puke so we rang and yes, they could take us the next day. However, the next day dawned a rotter, high winds, rain, rain and more rain so we postponed the COF until the following week.

As our time at Matatā came to an end, we reluctantly set off heading to….? Well, those plans were to change fairly quickly as plans B and C were formulated.

Matata and R&M

Our final few days at Matata and the weather has not been great but what can you expect? it is winter after all. There was plenty to keep us busy though as the job list seemed to be getting longer as well as the usual daily bits and pieces to be done however I have managed to get lots of knitting done.

But before I get onto that, some of you may recall that last year I started the task of unpicking a quilt that is very dear to us which you can read about here. Well, I finished the unpicking and duly sent it off to my sister Sue who had kindly offered to fix it for me which she did. It has new batting, backing and edging and sympathetically quilted. It looks fabulous.

The quilt restored, we remember our lovely sister-in-law Ann who made it for us many years ago.

And the reverse side showing the quilting.

And it has come in very handy on these very chilly nights keeping us warm and toasty in bed.

Now back to the latest R&M.

Keith came over to give us a hand with some of the chores, some were easily ticked off the list and quickly done, others took a bit of time and sleuthing. Roy was despatched into town to get a bit of shopping done plus he had an issue with one of his hearing aids so he needed to get that sorted. Meanwhile back at the van…….one of the silly little jobs was to decipher the fuse board. I know, you are probably wondering why we haven’t done this before today, I mean it’s only been 9 years! but other things get in the way and then it’s forgotten, besides, it’s not often we go into the fuse box.

Can you make out what it says?

We can make out a couple of the words….but Number 2 in particular had us completely stumped!!

The mornings mission was to figure out what was what, so Keith lay on the floor and removed each fuse one by one whilst I ran around switching things on and off, and plugging things in so we could figure out what controlled what. Oops, and a couple of the fuses did not look healthy so they were quickly changed.

After much to-ing and fro-ing (some things were tricky to figure out), we finally had a deciphered list. I got out my trusty labeller and the fuse board is now nicely labelled, but you can guarantee that we won’t have to look at that fuse board again for another few years!!

The labelled fuses….note that there isn’t a label on the one that is RAC. We figured that this controlled the Rear Air Conditioning which we have removed therefore it is redundant.

After most of the easy, little jobs were done, next came the sort out the warning light that indicates that the stabiliser jacks are down….we thought it was a simple bulb change but oh no, it was much more than that. I hasten to add that the light only worked for a short time after we got the van, it was deemed non essential or urgent as we have a pretty good routine of checking everything before we drive off and then it became something that we had completely forgotten about but thought we would get around to it one of these days!!

The light is not on, but we are home!

One of those days has arrived. Did we know there was also an alarm that works with the lights? No, that has never worked! And yes it does actually sound an alarm, I’d wondered what that strange little knob was under the dash, it’s not a knob at all! Next came the removal of parts of the dash, follow the wires through to the engine bay, then crawl under the van, and after some time……rain starting to fall, it was decided to put the alarm and light fixing on hold until another day.

The following day was glorious weather, time for a lunch out in the sun.

Lunch in the sun. Carol, Glen, Jo, Deb, Roy, Keith and Greg

Lunch is over but we all shuffle around following the sunshine and spend the afternoon putting the world to rights

As it started to cool and get on in the day we all dispersed to our homes on wheels, but not before I gave the van a wash. I had been given a bit of a ribbing over the past few days over the buckets of rain water I’d collected. I decided to put them to good use. The van was soon washed and rinsed and sparkling clean.

The next day and we realised parts would be required to finish the jacks light and alarm and as we were leaving, it was decided to put that job on hold until another day. We had a few other things that needed to be done as we were off to get a Certificate of Fitness for the van. So let’s do a quick check of lights, indicators,wipers etc to make sure all is going as it should. Oh no, what’s this? The windscreen washer on the drivers side isn’t spraying water….grrrrr, best we sort it out as it’s guaranteed to be checked.

After a good couple of hours of trying out various things, with a bit of kiwi ingenuity it was sorted and we could head off.

We headed into Whakatane to dump, fill with LPG and head off to Coastal Motorhomes which offers overnight parking and as it is located just a few hundred metres away from the testing station it was perfect for an early morning start.

COF done and dusted, it sailed through without any issues so it was time to head off. We are off to Waiotahe/Waiotahi (not sure which spelling is correct) to stay with my brother John & Jude for a few days.

Moving on to Matata

The weather forecast wasn’t exactly brilliant so we thought we would get away and complete our journey before the wind and rain started. But which way should we go? Over the Kaimai Range or via Rotorua?

The route options

Over the Kaimais via the toll road was the chosen option so off we headed. The weather started off just a bit overcast but it was pleasant however as soon as we got to the top of the Kaimai Hills we hit the wind and rain. It wasn’t too bad but we knew that worse was on its way. We arrived at the DoC campground at Matata and took up our usual parking spot waiting for the terrible weather to arrive. You know that they say be careful what you wish for??

The wind and rain arrived, we were rockin’ and rollin’ for a while but on the positive side this is a good watertight test for the roof and yes, it passed with flying colours. As did our solar array putting in all the power we needed to refill the batteries by lunchtime each day, yes, even on the dullest of days.

After the rain and wind came the sunshine

As the weather cleared, we went off to Waiotahe to visit John & Jude and spent a lovely day with them. Waiotahe is along the coast from Whakatane where they used to live and is a lovely spot on the coast. We even managed to have a game of 5 crowns with them whilst we were there before we headed back to the van at Matata. And I forgot to take any pictures didn’t I?

We arrived back to find that we had new neighbours.

New neighbours

It was Keith & Deb, great to see them again and have them parked up alongside us. So you know what that means don’t you? Yes, a spot of fishing will be done.

Reeling in the line as the sun sets

A beautiful late afternoon fish on the beach after a glorious day of clear skies and a fantastic sunset as well. And yes, fish was going to be on the menu for dinner.

It’s serious stuff this fishing!!!

We had fresh snapper for dinner, I did it as crispy skin fillets on a cauliflower mash and green bean, broccoli, edamame bean side with a chilli citrus dressing. It was delicious too.

The following day we had lots of visitors. Keith’s three daughters (my nieces), husband, and children came for lunch, brother John also surprised us with a visit so it was a very pleasant day spent with them all and catching up on all their news.

Fish and chips for lunch, and delicious they were too.

L-R: Roy, John, Amy (obscured), Isla, Keith, Jenna, Ashlyn, Chris and Rebekka.

We also got a few pictures of our roof and solar panels, taken from the roof of Keith’s van.

View of the roof and new solar panels. That’s Rebekka and Amy in the forefront, Rebekka is due to have a baby any time soon.

More friends are arriving today so I expect a bit more fishing to be done plus I have a list of jobs that need to be completed so it will be a busy week or two ahead. Let’s hope the fine, but cool, weather continues.

Matata

We left Taupo initially planning to go to Rotorua, once there we first headed to the dump station before we decided that we would continue on through to Matata as there was nothing in Rotorua that necessitated us staying on.

Now we have been to Matata a number of times so we know the place quite well. On reflection it seems we have been coming here at about this time of the year, every year since 2013 – apart from last year as let’s face it, last year was a s@#* year for us both health wise.

It is usually relatively quiet at this time of the year at the DoC camp, however there are still quite a number of people passing through, both locals and tourists. But can anyone explain to me (yes, even after 8 years on the road I cannot fathom this out), why do people insist on parking right next to you when there is a whole camp to choose from? Beats me. It seems as though this occurs more often at the weekends. Again I cannot fathom why. Must be our magnetic personalities.

We try and park away from others which we have managed quite nicely, for the moment.

with a bit of space around us after the “weekend warriors” had left.

The beach is beautiful although not a safe swimming beach but is usually good for fishing.

Looking south along the beach toward Whakatane

Looking north towards Tauranga

We can attest that it is much warmer here on the coast from what we experienced in Taupo before we left. The winter clothes and duvet have been put away again, in the interim!

Hakuna Matata

The past week at Matata has flown by with very little achieved but we have been busy with people.

Someone with a sense of humour adjusted the sign on the approach to Matata

Brian & Marj headed off early in the week , we miss their company and in particular their cheerful disposition and positive attitude to life but we look forward to meeting up with them again in Northland later in the year.   My big sister Sue & her hubby Jeff arrived on Friday morning to spend the weekend with us.  They have recently bought a small campervan and are still coming to terms with all the intricacies of their van, we were able to help them sort out a couple of things.   Not long after Sue & Jeff arrived, we also had a visit from my niece Jenna to introduce  her new baby daughter Isla to her Great Uncle and Aunty.  Another niece Amy came along as well, as well as their father Keith so it was a great day of catching up for all of us with lots and lots of chatter and laughter.   Of course I forgot to take a single photo as I was too busy playing with Isla and catching up on everyone’s news but here is a picture of Isla wearing one of the cardigans I have knitted recently.


We spent a lovely weekend with Sue & Jeff,  we all went into Whakatane over the weekend and caught up with brother John as well as getting a bit of shopping done.  Unfortunately the weather was not cooperative over the weekend for us to be able to get the kite out to do any fishing but we hope it will change later this week.

Sue & Jeff in front of their van

Although we are booked in for another week here at Matata we may head off in the next day or so as we are due at Kopu near Thames next Monday for the repairs to the van to be done, and we wouldn’t want to rush getting there would we? 

Bay of Plenty

The trip through the Waioeka Gorge was pleasant with some lovely scenery and interesting lay-bys.  They are well set up and very tidy 

Rest area

We didn’t travel too far, just into Opotiki where the NZMCA have a new park. Our first port of call in Opotiki was to the Two a Fish Cafe, which has delicious food and even better coffee. As this is a newly opened park, we were unsure of how long we could stay, on looking it up on their web site it said “temporary overnight parking”. Well, that’s helpful – not! What is that supposed to mean? After looking through the register, we decided that a couple of nights should be ok and that I would email the NZMCA for clarification.

We indeed received a response a few days later… For “temporary overnight” parking it comes down to a judgement call depending on the size of the site and current capacity at the time; however generally it means you are welcome to stay on a temporary basis, i.e. 2 or 3 nights per stay. At some parks, like Taupo Airport, it may be ok to stay for up to one week at a time. However if, for example, members were staying at a “temporary overnight” park for a month or more that would be in breach of the term “temporary” and then length of stay restrictions on that park may be introduced.  

We often define the length of stay provisions in the travel directory due to resource consent conditions, or Board policies due to on-going issues with park users. Where possible, we try to keep site restrictions as liberal as necessary to ensure members can enjoy parks without too many rules. Temporary overnight parking offers that flexibility.

I hope that has clarified it!!!

Whilst in Opotiki we heard that my nephew Stuart and family were in Whakatane at brother John’s place for the night, so we decided that an early start (eek!)the following morning meant we could head down to catch up with them and to meet the latest addition to their family, our great nephew Mack.

Emma, Stuart with Mack, Maggie & Toby in front
It was great to catch up with them and all their news.  After the visit, we were back in Opotiki for the afternoon

Parked up in Opotiki
After our two nights, we headed off to travel the huge distance of 10kms, to a reserve at Waiotahi, where we heard that there were pipi’s (shellfish) aplenty. We gathered a bucket of them and one of the touring party threw a line in the water to wet his bait!!

Early morning view from the bedroom window of Roy fishing
From here our next port of call was a further 30kms at Ohope at a reserve near a boat ramp.  We spent a couple of nights here relaxing and even tried another go at fishing

The fishing was not terribly successful, however, we did put out the net a couple of times and managed to get fish for dinner.

And the other view taken from the same spot looking back at the van

Time to leave here and head for Matata, just 40kms away.  We have been here many times, looking back through the diary it seems we have been here at about this time of the year every year since 2013.   You can read about those visits here, here, and here.   Uh oh, does this mean we are becoming creatures of habit?!

We are now at Matata where we shall stay for the next two weeks.  Brian & Marj leave us here as they continue on to Auckland, it’s been lovely having their company on our travels.  We shall no doubt meet up with them again in the north.  

Two weeks at Matata

Anyone would think that with all this so called free time on our hands that we would be flat out writing blog posts, but no, we just don’t seem to have had the time.  We have been keeping ourselves well and truly occupied I can assure you.   In between fishing and sightseeing, the odd bit of work has been done and much socialising has been achieved.  But first let’s recap the highlights of our stay at the Matata DoC camp.  Well, one of the first things we must acknowledge are the lovely hot showers that are provided at the camp, all operated by coin, just pop in a 50c piece and a hot 4 minute shower follows.  Now I know that 4 minutes does not sound like a very long time for those of you who languish under the never ending supply of hot water with no concerns of where that water will go to once you have finished, but I challenge you all to time just how long it takes for you to shower.  For those of us used to conserving water, power and waste water, 4 minutes is plenty of time to have a good shower. And for a real bit of luxury all we needed to do was add another coin to the box and enjoy an 8 minute shower!!  Sheer bliss.  

Whilst other parts of the country have been plagued with either severe flooding, snow, freezing temperatures or a combination of all the above, we too have had the odd bit of rain, as well as some mightily chilly nights. Of course it’s all relative to how cold it is, but we have become true wimps about the cold since hitting the warmer Northern climes.  Any time the temperature gauge gets into single digits has us rushing for the thermals, scarves and wooly hats! 

The wind has only occasionally played our game to blow from the correct quarter at the right strength so that we can again have a go at kite fishing.  It really had been a team effort with Pat & Sue helping us get our rig sorted and working efficiently.  Not that it has been all plain sailing mind you, this is what happens to a kite when you forget to put on the buoyancy balls which assist in keeping the kite afloat should it land in the water, especially when the seas are running with a heavy swell!

Our kite rig is a little different to those we have usually seen, in that ours is what is called a dropper rig set up, so it has taken us a few goes with it to establish what to do and when to do it and who does what job.  After initial misgivings, I have come to realise that it is actually a very good system and before long we had success.
  

  
These two beauties were caught one lovely sunny afternoon, in fact just as we were hailing them in, John and his daughter Jenny just happened to call by so we have witnesses to attest to the fact that fish were caught and they were of a reasonable size as well.

Another day and I tagged along with Pat & Sue for a trip out the Lake Tarawera which is accessed through a forestry road at the back of Kawerau.  Roy had a bit of work to do so he stayed behind to get what he needed done as he was off to Taupo the following morning to see a client.  The three of us went into Kawerau to first get a permit  which is required to access the forestry road.  There is also a waterfall within a short walk off another road but by the time we had finished at Lake Tarawera it was far too late (and cold) to take the walk.  However we did have a good look a round the DoC camp at the Lake and whilst looking into the river that feeds the Lake we could see scores of trout.  Pat just so happened to have his fly rod with him (and he has a licence) so he spent a wee while trying to tempt a trout onto the end of his line.  Unfortunately he didn’t have any luck but we did see a nice one landed by a local who told us that he thought the fishing was very tough and he was sure the only reason he caught one was by sheer accident! 

  
I tried to take some photos of all the trout in the stream but not with great success, this was the best I could do.

Then on our last day at Matata the winds were finally settled into a good pattern and strength so it was a day spent on the beach with the kite out and hooks in the water, one was caught on the first run out and then another two later on. 

 Sorry the picture quality is not the best but by the time we were back at the van it was dark as well as freezing cold and taking pictures with the iPad by torchlight is not the best quality.  I have to admit that I did not stay on the beach for the last set, as I had come down with a horrid head cold, so I was tucked up in a warm van when the others arrived back with the big fish.  Not that it got me out of filleting them all though, which is not an easy job when you are filleting  it by head torch with the temperature well down at around 4 degrees with a strong cold wind blowing lowering that temperature to somewhere where extremities were completely  numbed.  But it was soon all cleaned up, portioned out between us and fish definitely on the menu for the next night.

All in all a lovely stay at Matata where we could relax, enjoy the fine weather on the beach and snug as a bug I n the vans when the weather was inclement.  

 

House sitting in Whakatane

John and Jude left early Saturday morning for Tauranga airport for their flight to Auckland then onto  the Gold Coast, however, there was a major fatal crash on the road near Te Puke which closed the road for a few hours, and with no alternative route available to Tauranga they had to reschedule their trip for Sunday morning.  Which they duly did, and were safely on their way on Sunday morning, only a day later than expected.  However,  it seems that they took the reasonable weather with them as for the next week we had nothing but rain, rain, more rain and some wind. The following short video was taken from the front door.

  

After the weather cleared a little,  we did venture out for a a bit of a look around.  One day we went through to Ohope and had a look at potential parking places before continuing on to Opotiki which meant that we just had to have afternoon tea at the Two Fish Cafe which I still say has some of the best coffee around,  and the muffins are pretty damn good as well.

 Afternoon tea

Oh, and at the cafe, instead of giving you a table number for your order, you get a plastic toy animal like the shark and the kangaroo in the above picture.  Just a little fun thing they do which sets them apart from the masses.

Whilst we were parked up at Johns, our van decided it was a little lonely and it needed a mate and just look what happened!

  Almost a matching pair

Pat & Sue are back in the North Island after their sojourn South.  It’s lovely to see them again, and have their company – even though they keep beating us at cards, or should I say that we let them win!!  Once the weather cleared a bit and the wind blew in the right direction, we all went to the beach to try our hand at kite fishing as Pat had a new kite which he had not tried out before now.  Although the wind was fickle and we did not manage to get any hooks out but we did get manage to get the kite up.

  Pat & Sue surf casting 

  Kite finally flying.

Another day and another attempt, this time getting the hooks out butte can report that no fish were harmed in this excercise although a lot of weed was caught.  But the weather was lovely, we had a nice picnic on the beach and we all agreed that we could not think of a better way to spend an afternoon.

John & Jude returned the following Sunday, we did not hear them return, we were all comfortably sitting in the lounge watching Tele when all of a sudden the door burst open with John charging through yelling YAAAAAHAAA!  We all got one helluva fright – lets just say that some laundry was required to be done after that surprise! But we have stored that fright away in the memory banks for future reference so just watch out Mr Coatham, have your heart pills at hand!

We stayed on for a couple more days before we headed off the  huge distance – to Matata just 17km away! Although we did detour a few kms through Edgecumbe to use the dump station there.  Now we are comfortably parked at the DoC camp at Matata where we await the favourable winds to allow us to go fishing off the beach.

Fishing

After our allowed two nights at Anzac Bay we headed to Tauranga for a couple of nights mainly to restock the larder, fill up with fuel and get a couple of chores done before heading down the coast to Matata and the lovely DoC camp there.  Whilst at Matata  we had a couple of goes of trying to get the kite up for some fishing off the beach, however, either the wind was too strong, in the wrong direction or not strong enough.  Talk about frustrating!   We tried!

From Matata it is just a short jaunt down the highway to John’s place, here we are for the next week or two whilst John & Jude are away.  Again, it is a good opportunity to get lots of chores done whilst we have access to everything we could possibly need.  

The weather forecast was for and calm conditions so John suggested we head off early (relatively speaking) on Thursday morning for a mornings fishing.  We were up in time to get the boat ready and on our way by 8am, and boy was it chilly with a good frost on the ground.  We were rugged up in our best warm gear; hats, gloves, scarves, possum/merino jackets, with a lot of it having not seen the light of day for a good couple of years. Oh and not forgetting Roy and his Waikato socks. These socks are renown amongst some of our friends as the indicator that it is becoming definitely chilly.   It’s a bit like that ad we used to get on TV many years ago for something that I cannot  now remember (I think it may have been an antiseptic or sticking plasters?) but the ad was of a small blond headed boy playing rugby with the catch line of “oh no, Snow cops it again”, when that ad appeared on our screens we knew that it was winter time.  Well, when Roy wears his Waikato socks, we know it’s winter! 

 Roy geared up with his Waikato socks on.

And not to be outdone, John was wearing his lucky bright orange fishing hat and Jude had kindly lent me her lucky bright yellow fluoro hat….hmmmm, not too sure about the look – or the luck in my case!

  John 

 I think we have become accustomed to the warmer climes especially during the winter months, I mean, these days if we have a temperature getting down into single figures we think we are frozen!  It was not so long ago that we used to get excited when the winter temperature got out of single figures! How quickly we adapt.  Anyway, back to the fishing.

We headed off over the Whakatane bar for a favourite fishing spot just down the coast.

  A lovely day for fishing

It wasn’t long before a few fish were being landed, however, many of them were sent back to go tell their granddad to jump on our lines.  But it wasn’t too long before we had enough for dinner so it was time to head back to land.  

We ended up with a reasonable mornings catch… 

 One Kahawai, two trevally, three snapper and seven gurnard.

Next came the filleting lessons. 

  Roy and John at the filleting table with the cat and dog waiting expectantly for some tasty morsels

Chum, the dog, just loves the snapper skins.  It’s no wonder he has such a lovely glossy coat and is full of energy.  Filleting lessons complete, it was time to clean up the boat before storing it away, tidy up around the filleting table before we could enjoy some of our catch.  The Kahawai was smoked and make into pâtè to have with drinks the next day, but tonight we were to have the trevally as sashimi  

 delicious!

For dinner we had snapper and gurnard fillets with enough gurnard left for dinner the next day.  Fresh fish is just the best and we throughly enjoyed every morsel. Now we just have to wait for the next expedition!