Week 10

Sunday 22nd January. A very lazy day! There had been some heavy rain overnight so hopefully it has topped up the tank. It rained more during the day as well. We stayed home all day. Read, did jigsaws, played Scrabble! Decadent but enjoyable. Rob cooked Sunday roast. We managed to go for a walk on the beach in the early evening. Not very warm but still a fair few people around. Monday 23rd January. Went in to Warkworth. Had lunch at the Riverside Cafe then shopped at New World. I went to play bridge at The Club at 6.30. Liz, who I had met at cards, last Wednesday had told me about it and encouraged me to give it a try Fishing Fishing Story and comments! . It's a long time since I have played with people! I have been playing online for several years since I found the club in Mont de Marsan too unfriendly. I was quite nervous but I was made welcome and assured that they didn't take it too seriously. The club is a wonderful facility for the area. A bar a large seating area and a small area where they had set up the card tables. Judy signed me in and said she would like to,play with me using 5 card majors as opposed to acol. There were only three tables and we played four hands at each table. After the first couple of games I began to enjoy playing again and don't think that I disgraced myself! It finished, all too early, at 8.30. I look,forward to playing again but not for another three weeks as the next two weekends are holiday weekends. Tuesday 24th January. Nigel checked the water tank and it seems that we have less than a third of a tank. John, our landlord, had asked us to let him know when it got to that level. I messaged him so we await a delivery. It could be a while as there is a great shortage of rain and many people are having to have deliveries by tanker. Went into Mangawhai to the library to get another jigsaw! Went to the beach in the afternoon. Warm and sunny and quite a lot of people about in the sea and out. We sat for quite a while watching the world go by. Wednesday 25th January Nosy cattle Nosy cattle Story! . Cards at the senior citizens club 1-5pm. Social highlight of the week! Nigel and I were at the same table but playing on opposing sides. I was partnered with Margaret who lives just down the road from me. N was partnered with Tricia who was very helpful and chatty. We all got on well and had lots of laughs! Message from John, landlord, to say 10,000l water being delivered tomorrow pm. Thursday 26th January Stayed home as water delivery expected. It arrived early pm but not able to unload it. Driver did, understandably, not want to drive his very large tanker down our narrow, gravel driveway. I asked if he could access the tank via the rear by crossing the neighbours garden. He spoke to his boss who said not without permission. Nobody at the house. So off he went again. I rang John and he is going to order a smaller, 6000l, load. Now we wait to find out when that will be delivered. Went down to the beach in the early evening To the estuary To the estuary . Not too many people about. Remembered to take our chairs this time. I had a walk and paddle along the beach. Beautiful evening. Some wonderful skies here. There are no commercial jet flights over here so we see no jet trails. All the air traffic is helicopters and small, private planes. Friday 27th January. John rang just after lunch to say that the water would be delivered tomorrow morning. Tide was low so we decided to have another look at the estuary walk from Black Swamp Road. I was suitably shod this time with trainers and also took a walking stick. The place where I fell was ok this time as the water in the tractor tyre marks had dried out. Once safely past there we were soon at the edge of the estuary. As the tide was out it was not very pleasant. Lots of mangroves obscuring the view and rather smelly. We did walk a short way but decided it wasn't worth it so returned to the car. It was pretty hot so quite a relief. We drove a bit further on Black Swamp Road but as it was a gravel road and very dusty we soon decided to turn back and return home. Saturday 28th January. Rob rang to say I can go out fishing with him and Jim later today. Really looking forward to it, first time this trip. We are waiting for water delivery this morning so I went into market in Mangawhai on my own Mangroves in the estuary, low tide Mangroves in the estuary, low tide . Very busy as this is a public holiday weekend celebrating the anniversary of the arrival of William Hobson, later the first governor of NZ and co- author of the treaty of Waitangi, on the 29th January 1840. Back home to find the water tanker here and filling up the tank, whew, what a relief! Rob back about 3pm and said we were leaving to go fishing at 4.45pm. A shame we can't all go but only room for three on the boat when fishing. Nigel can go next time. So off we went down to Jim's where he was ready to leave. Only a short drive down to the boat ramp where Jim backed the boat down into the water. Once Jim had parked the trailer and we were all on board we were ready to set off. There's a jetty at the boat ramp so it's easy for me to get on board not as nimble as I used to be! A calm ride down the estuary, 5 mph speed limit, and then Jim opened the throttle to get us out over the bar into deep water. Apparently that can be tricky and one has to know what one is doing! Jim notified the coastguard that we were leaving. His boat is rather more up to date than Rob's boat which we went out in a lot when we were here last time. There is an electric winch for the anchor, Rob used to have to pull his up manually, not an easy job. Fm radio tuned nto the local station, 2 way radio, depth and speed counters and even a chemical toilet. What luxury! As we got past the bar there were guys surfing quite close to the boat Low tide, estuary. Low tide, estuary. . There was quite a swell out at sea and I felt a bit queasy at first but thankfully soon began to feel better. We motored out for about half an hour, at times the front of the boat crashing into the waves. We anchored up then and got our rods out. Jim and Rob had 2 rods each and I had just the one. Absolutely nothing, no bites for any of us. At one point a bird came to rest close to the boat. I asked Jim what it was and he wasn't sure but hazarded a guess at a shearwater. ( I looked it up when we got back and it was indeed a shearwater and they nest on the nearby Hen and Chicken Islands) We upped anchor and went further out towards Whangerei Heads. Marsden point is a deep water harbour and a busy shipping lane. We saw a couple of oil tankers making there way there. We also saw a dolphin leap out of the water. There must have been others there but we didn't see any more. We anchored up near Hen Island part of the Hen and Chicken Islands group. Once again not a lot happening. Well not in the catching fish line. The waters were calmer here and the view back towards the coast was beautiful . Much to my delight there was a long white cloud, Aoterao,NZ, land of the long white cloud, stretching all the way above the coastline. After half an hour we were off again back towards the Heads and we anchored above McGregors Rock not too far out from the mainland. On the way there we had passed many shearwaters and when we anchored up several of them settled close to the boat Water delivery Water delivery . They were after any spare bits of bait and were even cheeky enough to try and get bait off our books as we dropped them into the water. At one point a mako shark was cruising round the boat. Not a huge shark but impressive nevertheless. Finally a bite and Jim reeled in one of his lines, a small snapper that he returned to the sea. Then, at last Rob had a big snapper. I caught a small one that went back and finally Rob caught a weird fish that they didn't know what it was, very strange looking with a huge mouth. That too went back. It was a beautiful evening and we watched the sun set behind the hills. The fm radio was playing sixties music and at one point, as we sat there gently rocking on the Pacific Ocean we were treated to Paul McCartney singing Mull of Kintyre! Bizarre! It was now almost dark and I was a little concerned about getting back over the bar and into the estuary. Jim knows the area well and the buoys have lights on so we managed to get back to the jetty with no problems. Boat loaded on trailer and back to Jims. Home by 10pm to a slightly concerned Nigel who thought we would have been back earlier. week 10