Next Excitements….

Well things have moved on a bit and it has been a while since I posted but I thought I should let you all know what was happening in my rather interesting life.

I moved from Fantail Bay on Tuesday after ANZAC weekend and travelled the ginormous distance of 7 kilometres up the road to Port Jackson where I am taking over and becoming the winter camp manager here.

This is my temporary spot until the current managers Jennifer and Len head out (Friday if things go according to plan). The weather here has been interesting for the last few days, with huge winds and rain at Fantail Bay to see me off. I actually waited until Tuesday to move as Monday was just atrocious weather with high winds (50 knots) so I did not want to be on the road in that! The wind is coming from a north-westerly direction at the moment and it is making for some interesting times.

I have spent the day in a learning situation back on the computer and getting the grey matter churning and learning the computer booking system!  Whew, I am exhausted, but Jenny is a great teacher so I am getting things down well.

The sunset this afternoon was quite interesting, it looks like I may be getting some great ones here as well but not quite the same of course.

The Fredrock Cafe is rocking and rolling tonight as I write this!

Well I am going to be settling in here for the next 5 months until the end of September. I have no cell phone coverage here on the Spark network but there is Vodafone coverage, so when I get my new phone……

Oh must tell you about my incident…. about a week ago I was down on the rocks at Fantail Bay fishing for piper (live bait) for a pair of young Welshmen Toby and Matt and my iPhone slipped out of my pocket. I didn’t realise this until some time later and went hunting but couldn’t find it. The two places I was crouched led to deep water and so I believe that it now lies deep in the water at Fantail Bay! So insurance claim put in and the whole rigmarole over proof of purchase etc, etc, etc. Luckily I was able to supple serial number form my Apple account so that has helped. So when I get a replacement I will get two sim cards, a Spark and a 2Degrees I think. Will help up here being on 2Degrees as they hang off the Vodafone network.

So that was the little excitement for that week.

I do really enjoy my job as Camp Manager, you get to meet some amazing people, I spent a very wet afternoon playing a weird version of Gin with two Frenchmen and a German. Lovely people and had some wonderful tales to tell of their New Zealand travels. It has been great to be a part of their NZ experience and hopefully help them to have a great time while in my camp.

Currently in Port Jackson we have 2 motorhomers, one young German couple and a single German woman. That is all in a camp that has 113 sites. So rather quiet at the moment!  Not surprised with the weather we have currently.

Anyway must get this posted and get my dinner together, fresh mushrooms and bacon and some rice and veges.

Safe travels everyone!

Baking and the Weather

Well the weather has turned a little and the campsite is almost empty, so it has become a bit of a baking/cooking couple of days.

Bread rolls…

Fejoa crumble made with fejoas from John and Joy the normal camp managers here, who dropped in on their way to Fletcher Bay to relieve Tim and Miriam who are about to go on leave for 6 weeks….

and four quiches of bacon, cheese, beetroot, carrot and other bits and pieces

Yes I know that there are only three there but I had one for lunch today and some date and cranberry biscuits that I didn’t get any pics of…

		Weather for Friday VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The wind is currently coming from the north and west and the sea is pretty rough and we are getting the occasional shower but Thursday’s sunset was interesting…

 

So more weeding has been done, I have almost completed the third tier garden and have created a couple of walkways through the middle of the tiers.

Lawn mowing is up to date and apart from the weather all is well with the world.

I am currently listening to “A Traders Tale From the Golden Age of The Solar Clipper”. A series of 6 books written and read by Nathan Lowell. A really great space opera series that I started reading in kindle form but couldn’t wait for the final three books to be published so I downloaded the podcasts. He reads them incredibly well and they are an absolute joy to listen to. This is about the forth time over the years that I have re-listened to them. If you are into science fiction novels they really are a must read (or listen). 

Today (Saturday) there will be no fishing as the prevailing wind is from the south west….

The left hand picture is where the boat ramp is….it is

The rain has passed over and it is a beautiful fine day apart from the wind and I have managed to complete the major weeding of the three terraces and have started on the front bank outside the camp.

Still cannot manage to get a night by myself in camp, just had a campervan pull in from Oamaru. Their first time up this way. They did call in earlier on the way up to Port Jackson and Fletcher Bay but decided to return here.

I am looking forward to another “day release” on Monday when I head back to Auckland for the night and a visit to my ear specialist for a check up and a bit of a grocery shop. Good timing as I have just run out of manuka chips for the smoker!

Safe travels everyone!

and Back to Empty (for a while)

Easter is now over….

and only one issue with a firearm (air rifle) to contend with. I believe that I managed it OK considering the person and the situation.

ON Sunday we had a rather interesting visitor to the camp….

Almost everyone partook of the treat on a lovely warm autumnal day.

While I was doing the washing the other day I managed to lose a button off one of my lovely hand towels that my sister Lorna had made for me.

After searching high and low and not managing to find said button I decided to make one from a bit of driftwood to replace it.

		Button Making VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Using some sanding bits I have for the drill and a small nail to drill the holes I managed to produce a sort of button. Unfortunately the wood had a bit of a crack which is why the button is a bit lopsided. I am pleased with the rustic look and whats more it works!

Yesterday (Monday) the camp emptied out completely and for a couple of hours I was totally alone here. Was so peaceful and quiet apart from the constant traffic leaving points north of here and heading southwards.

During the afternoon the sea settled a bit and I went out late in the afternoon for a bit of a fish, caught some small non-legal snapper that went back, had a number of interesting tussles with some larger fish that refused to hook up  and had a lovely relaxing time out there. So sunset for Monday April 6th is from the water.

		Sunset On The Water VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Today I am sitting waiting for Tim from Fletcher Bay to come and pick me up for a ride into Coromandel Town to do some shopping, there are a couple of things I am getting low on and as I am not heading out until the 13th for my doctors appointment I will grab a couple of things to tide me over. It will be interesting to get out of camp for the day.

Currently I have a father and two children and a couple in camp. The children are very loud and tend to fight with each other (boy 9ish and girl 7ish). May end up having to talk to them about creating ‘camp voices’ while they are here, to respect other campers.

Yet another beautiful day here today, not a cloud in the sky and just a zephyr of a breeze to stop it becoming too hot.

Will attempt to get this posted before Tim gets here.

Safe travels everyone.

From Whoa to Go

So on Wednesday there were two of us in the campsite and yesterday I was wondering if we would were going to have to get the camp full sign out!

We have a lovely bunch of people, some families, a group of 10, most related, who have been coming here for Easter for 20 years, and a few couples. When I saw the booking for 10 males I thought that we could be in for a bit of fun, but they are a great bunch, out fishing in their boats all day.

It has been hard work for everyone fishing at the moment but there are some good sized fish coming in. I have come back empty handed two days in a row, but I haven’t been too serious about it, just enjoying the relaxing out on the waves. It’s been very therapeutic and a change from weeding the gardens, just to relax and sit quietly in the lovely weather and be rocked by the waves.

Last night was a lovely sunset again….

		Good Friday Sunset VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The moon is starting to fill out and cast it’s lovely light across the campsite overnight.

Tonight I believe is full moon so I will try to get some pictures. 

There has been a distinct lack of campervans and NZMCA people this weekend and I am not surprised due to the National Rally at Pukekohe this weekend. So that is probably why things are not quite full. Port Jackson has two spare sites and Fletcher Bay has a few but things are pretty busy this weekend. At least the weather is holding out.

So far this weekend I have had a half a kawhai, in return for smoking the whole fish, 4 lovely large snapper fillets in return for some cooking oil (two of which will be my dinner tonight), done with a teriyaki sauce and pasta.

Tonight’s sunset was quite magnificent…

and the aftermath was even better…

		Sunset Easter Saturday VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

As the fishermen came in today they were all commenting that it was hard work out there and although there were some rather good looking fish caught, there were not large numbers brought in. One of the campers that arrived this afternoon went diving and came back with two crayfish!  So fish are being caught but it seems that they are not in the numbers that people are expecting.

Before I lock this off, I looked up and saw an amazing thing in the sky…

The moon is rising behind the hill and reflecting onto the clouds. I have no idea what the yellow blur is, possibly a bird flying through the scene.

It is going to be a lovely evening and I had better get this loaded up for you all to read.

Safe travels everyone.

Finally a Fantail at Fantail Bay

It is not that good but I caught it as I was walking back from getting the nightly sunset shots on the beach. 

Quite a good sunset tonight!

Today was a full on day with my boss Karl arriving along with Tim from Fletcher Bay and 150 metres of pipe in two coils. So we re-ran a major length of pipe and removed some older pipe with a few joins in and so now hopefully we have a good constant supply of water for the camp. The irony is that it will all be replaced within a year with much larger pipe to run a hydroelectric plant down in the campsite. This should happen with the next year.

So after spending a rather strenuous few hours hauling pipe through the bush I then managed to get half my lawns mown as I have not had my lawn mower for the past few days as it has been off at Port Jackson and Fletcher Bay.

It has been a very exercise full day so I will sleep well tonight!

I have managed to do some weeding while the mower has been away…

I have managed 1 1/2 of the 3 little separator gardens between the terraces so plenty of work to do on quiet days.

Now one little thing that I forgot to mention earlier that I came across on my quick trip up to Kaitaia the other day. One the way back through the Maungamuka Gorge we came across this…..

 

yup a truck on it’s side off the road. He had taken the corner too fast and toppled over, There was a crane there as we went past about to try and right it.

So life here goes on, the weather has calmed down from a blustery south-westerly which created some quite choppy conditions

to a perfect day today

and the sunset…..

		April 1st VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Easter i looking like it might be a bit busier that I am experiencing at the moment but we shall see. Have a couple of large bookings.

Fishing is a bit sparse at the moment but I hope to get out tomorrow morning before tackling the last of the lawns before Easter.

Have a very empty camp tonight with only 2 young German boys, one young French couple and a single NZ guy who is here to fish for a week.

Not much to report so safe travels everyone.