I'd left the Nokia I was using as an alarm charging in the hall, but fortunately woke at 0830: in time to move the car.
I quickly showered & dressed, & left with the luggage for the car. Starbucks was heaving - office peeps having breakfast perhaps?
Luckily, there was a free 60 min space fairly nearby, so I dumped the car there & went back to Ariki for breakfast. I had quite a a bit of milk left & 3 eggs, so with the coffee provided by Ariki, I went out on the veranda for my last NZ breakfast.
 |
| The mug went with the chairs ;-) |
 |
| Chaddy's Charters reception/gift shop. That's Dave in the blue |
Sat on the veranda, I had a view of the Wind Wand & the trees on the prom.
Ariki let me leave the milk in the fridge until I'd been out for my sail.Back in the car, I drove south a short way to the other side of the beach where I'd sunbathed a few days before, & checked in at Chaddy's Charters.
 |
| Chaddy's Charters from sea side |
It wasn't long before we were all loaded aboard the Rescue III, & we slid off the slipway & out beyond the breakwater to the sound of sea shanties.
I think Drunken Sailor was in there somewhere!
Dave Chadfield was the Captain, & he was ably helped by his mate, Chook.
My notes say Dave had been a boxer, & Chook was also a local bloke.
 |
| This was the 1st island I photographed up close. I think it's Moturoa? |
From memory, there is are 2 Moturoas in the Bay of Islands, & I wondered what it meant in Maori.
 |
| Volcanic rocks with seabird blobs on top |
 |
| Chook ready with his pot grabbing hook |
There aren't many notes for this bit, other than we saw NZ fur seals & I thought they were cute, caught some fish, & that we went round picking up crayfish pots so see if there were any big enough to keep. The crayfish that is, not the pots!
 |
| Pot aboard |
 |
| Chook avoiding the pincers when taking a crayfish out of a pot |
Crayfish, also known as crawfish, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, mudbugs or yabbies, are freshwatercrustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related; taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some species are found in brooks and streams where there is running fresh water, while others thrive in swamps, ditches, and rice paddies. Most crayfish cannot tolerate polluted water, although some species such as Procambarus clarkii are hardier. Crayfish feed on living and dead animals and plants.[
Wiki also said:
In Australia (on the eastern seaboard), New Zealand and South Africa, the term crayfish or cray generally refers to a saltwater spiny lobster, of the genus Jasus that is indigenous to much of southern Oceania,[7] while the freshwater species are usually called yabby or kōura, from the indigenous Australian and Māori names for the animal respectively.
So they were lobsters! Yummy :-q
 |
| Dave measuring a crayfish |
There were regulations governing how big they had to be, & Dave or Chook measured each one they'd caught in their pots.
 |
| Dave with 2 crayfish |
 |
| Me with a crayfish & wearing Dave's hat ;-) You can see I'm still wearing those shorts ~ See the Penang blog fr 2009! |
 |
| To quote Summertime, 'Fish are jumpin' & the cotton is high'. Not sure about the cotton ;-p |
 |
| Seabirds breakfast on fish |
 |
| You can't see Taranaki for cloud, but he's there |
 |
| The white streaky bits are guano |
 |
| We got pretty close to some of the rocks, but Dave obviously knows what he's doing |
 |
| Having spent about 1/2 an hour on Google Images, I'm still no closer to knowing which one this is! |
 |
| Chook with a fish. Don't ask me what sort, but I've got kahawai (Arripis trutta?) in the hieroglyphics |
| Name | Coordinates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Māori | English | ||
| Inner islands | Mataora | Round Rock | 39.059683°S 174.020326°E |
| Motuotamatea | Snapper Rock | 39.061316°S 174.017193°E | |
| Pararaki | Seagull Rock | 39.059400°S 174.019425°E | |
| Outer islands | Motumahanga | Saddleback Island | 39.045403°S 174.014688°E |
| Moturoa Island | 39.049115°S 174.027461°E | ||
| Stacks | Tokomapuna | Barrett Reef | 39.050115°S 174.021066°E |
| Tokatapu | 39.056801°S 174.000306°E | ||
| Waikaranga | Seal Rocks | 39.056367°S 174.003149°E | |
| Whareumu | Lion Rock | 39.050785°S 174.026763°E | |
The Sugar Loaf Islands (often Sugarloaf Islands) (Māori: Ngā Motu, "the islands") are a collection of five small uninhabited islands and several sea stacks near Port Taranaki, Taranaki, New Zealand. The largest island, Moturoa Island, covers approximately 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres). Motumahanga is the island furthest from shore, at approximately 1,500 metres (1,600 yards) or 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles). The Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area (SLIMPA) was established in 1991 to protect the area from oil exploration. This strengthened the protection that had been in place since the formation of a marine park in 1986. The island group was named in 1770 by James Cook.The Sugar Loaf Islands can be divided into inner and outer island groups. The inner islands comprise Mataora (Round Rock), Pararaki (Seagull Rock) and Motuotamatea (Snapper Rock). Mataora connects to the mainland at low tides, as does Motuotamatea on very low spring tides. Pararaki is separated from Mataora by a 20 meter wide channel. The outer islands comprise Motumahanga (Saddleback Island) and Moturoa. Several small rock outcrops are included in the island group. Waikaranga (Seal Rocks), and Tokatapu are several hundred meters offshore. Close to Moturoa lie Whareumu (Lion Rock),a vegetated stack and two barren rocks, and Tokomapuna (Barrett Reef). So now you know!
While I was at it (that's why it takes me so long to blog - I'm always wandering around google looking things up!), I found this pic of Whareumu:
The very aptly named Lion Rock. Cool, or what :-)
The boat we'd been out in was the Rescue III, & back ashore I picked up a memento: a copy of the poem "The Saga of the "Old Rescue III" someone ~ possibly Dave? had written.
When I (eventually!) came to write this blog the copy was with my notes. As there are 16 verses, I got in touch with Chaddy's Charters, & Kathie kindly sent me a pdf version she'd scanned. Unfortunately, Blogger won't let me download it, so I've taken a photo of it instead.
Bugger.
If your screen's big enough, you'll see, she was built on the Isle of Wight, & spent some time at Bridlington as a lifeboat. I took my Shodan in Wado Ryu at Bridlington Sport Centre in August 1979 ~ I wonder if she was there then??
For those who don't know, Sumner is a little town on a promontory between Christchurch & Lyttelton, & Dave sailed her back to New Plymouth from there ~ it's about 350 miles. I wonder how long it took?
Not sure what the Wanganui bar is, but Whanganui's on the estuary of the Whanganui River, about 1/2 way between Wellington & New Plymouth.
Back ashore, I had a bite & a brew at the cafe next door.
The bite was a sundried tomato & feta scone. It was bloody awful, so I fed it to the seagulls who were hanging out hopefully & took the crumbs from the air, & the sparrows who ate it off the plate.
 |
| It was as dry as it looked :-( I think the seagulls & the sparrows liked it? |
 |
| A red-legged gull hangin' out next to my table |
At least the coffee was OK!
Back at Ariki, I picked up my milk, said Goodbye to Doug (who had apparently been up till 4am), & walked round the corner to the main street to ask about my Haast River rock.
A market trader selling pounamu trinkets said it was surpentine. Not what I wanted to hear, but at least it would polish up OK. Next up was a jewellers who had a carver in residence. He said he thought it was, but I should check the carver near the airport.
So I went back to the car, & headed north & stopped off at the Rock Shed , where they had a lot of lovely rocks, pounamu jewellery, & my favourite - Mere.
I so want one!
I explained to the lady serving about how my cat-sitter, Bat, was into bats, & she showed me a stained glass window ornament with a bat on. Perfect :-D
I also asked about my bit of Haast River 'pounamu'. She said she thought it may be pounamu, & we had a chat about how tradition said you should not buy it, but be given it or find it.
I can't tell you how much I wanted the bit I'd found to be the real McCoy!
She then went into the office & came back with a piece which she gave to me.
Wow! :-D
 |
| It wasn't usable for anything due to the marks, |
 |
| but it was awesome on the reverse :-D |
 |
| With a Stre - - - etch of imagination, this way up it looks like a very pregnant bear ;-p ~ albeit with a pointy bum ;-) |
 |
| The Bell Block Pohutukawa ~ the NZ Christmas tree |
 |
| The ground beneath was covered in red petals |
Leaving the Rock Shed for the Bell Block petrol station, I found I still had plenty of time to check-in & return the car, so I went out to the beach & found this awesome Pohutukawa.
I didn't get breathalysed this time ;-p
At the airport, I handed the car back to Graeme, & repaired to a corner of the Departures bit to do the usual repack & ensure the green wheelie was 7K or less according to the AirNZ scales. Into the wheelie went the striped shorts & T, & onto yours truly went the long black pants, 2 sweaters & the hoodie. The ruckie weighed in at 19.9K, probably due to the stones I'd picked up at Hokitika.
The weather had deteriorated since the morning's sail, & it was fairly misty over the runway. As a result, come 1520 - boarding time, there was no sign of an aircraft landing from Auckland, & the terminal was pretty packed with peeps awaiting friends & family to arrive, & peeps like me awaiting flights out.
After a while, a tannoy announcement told us the weather had prevented the aircraft from landing, & another 15min later said he was out to the west & could not land at the mo :-(
Yet!
Nevertheless, I called AGL & asked for a quote to get a one-way hire to Auckland. They said it would be about N$365. Eeek!
I overheard a couple of blokes enquiring the same at Pegasus, & they were told it would be NZ$255 plus fuel. Clearly, we were all prepared to drive up if the plane did a no-show.
Fortunately, a car wasn't needed, & the plane got through a gap in the low cloud & landed at about 1605.
 |
| It finally arrived |
I was sat next to a guy from Auckland who worked on the rigs off New Plymouth. It turned out we had sailing & skiing in common.
I landed at the Domestic terminal & the skies were clear in Auckland with a nice sunset out west. The International terminal is about a 5 minute walk, not great carrying 20K, but there was no rush, despite the delayed arrival.
Upstairs in the Departures lounge I came across a Dwarf statue at the top of the escalator, & paused for a pic.
 |
| Not sure if it was a Hobbit dwarf or a LOTR dwarf, but he/she did a great job of guarding the escalator! |
I was pretty hungry by this time, although I'd drunk the remains of the milk waiting for the plane to arrive, & finished off most of everything else I had that was edible.
As usual, Departures food was overpriced, but I got 2 butties, & ate them with the final bit of Pinot Noir & the ginger beer. Hardly a gastronomic tea, but better than nothing.
They called us to the gate on schedule, but boarding was very late ~ 2340 instead of 2215, & I spent my last bits of change on a brew from a vending machine.
It could've been worse, but it could've been better, too.
It being a China Southern flight, there were a lot of Asian films, but I plumped for Expendables 3 to kick off the journey to Guangzhou.
A mistake. It was a crap film. Even the fights weren't that good.
Next up was The Prestige. That was a good film, & helped by the presence of some eye-candy in the form of Christian Bale & Hugh Jackman ;-p
The Bounty Hunter came next, which was also OK, & more eye-candy in Gerard Butler. I didn't see the end, though, as the headsets were collected with about 20 minutes to go.
By this time it was the 21st of December, & we landed at 0630, China time.
Day 32. Homeward bound
I managed to disembark smartish, but then stood nearly 30 minutes in the transfer queue. Not great when you've been up all night (OK. So it was my fault I'd had no sleep, but one of the things I like about about long haul flights, is the chance to see films & TV progs I'd missed 1st time round).
I spoke to some UK chaps near the cafe where they'd refused to take my Mastercard on the way out, & they said they'd just used theirs, so I gave it another go.
I wanted a coffee with milk - not hot milk, not frothy milk, just milk, but the waitress seemed unable to understand, so I gave her back the menu & left.
At another cafe further up the concourse, I asked the lady managing the door if they did coffee. She said no, just tea (how weird?!!), so I sat down, expecting Chinese tea. However, when another lady came with a menu, I found I could get Liptons tea, & coffee with milk ~ Hey !! :-), so I ordered both. The coffee was great, & there was free wifi, so I drank slowly & checked Es (there weren't any), & did sudoku until it was time to board the Heathrow flight.
This time there were no delays, & we were given a breakfast of dim sum ~ by which time I'd found The Bounty Hunter & finished it off.
3 episodes of The Science of Stupid came next, hosted by the Hamster (AKA Richard Hammond), then a film called The Four II. It was in Chinese but subtitled, & I recognised some of the actors from my years of watching martial arts movies. I followed this with the fourth & the last Four of the series, called The Final Battle. Both movies clearly made an enormous impression on me, as I can't recall a single thing about either plot ;-p
I could see the Clash of the Titans looked good by checking another passenger's screen over their shoulder, so that was next. There were loads of famous actors in it (& loads of scantily clad eye-candy ;-p )
Sam Worthington was Perseus, & he seems to be another Sean Bean* in that he was the only one with a noticeable accent.
* Have you ever noticed that, no matter the character Sean plays, they're invariably from Sheffield.
Lovely Sean, shame he can't do accents, bless him ;-)
It was a long flight, so 2 episodes of the 3rd series Downton Abbey came next. I'd never watched it at home, & it was great. I've since watched all the remaining episodes of the rest of the series, & hoping the Drama channel will do the whole thing from the beginning so I know the back-story.
With nearly 13 hours to fill, 2 episodes of Big Bang Theory was next as we circled over Suffolk for about 20 minutes awaiting our delayed turn to land.
We were down by about 1430, & I got through customs & on the tube to Euston by 1530.
My train out was the 1728 to Glasgow central so I had a brew, & did more sudoku while I waited.
It was a Virgin, so fast, & it only stopped twice on the way up, dropping me off at Preston at 20 to 8.
The Blackpool train was also delayed ~ it had been a journey of delays!
However, it got me in by 2030, & I was home shortly after to huge greetings from Kuni - "Where have you been Mummy. You've been gone ages. Meow"
Of course Opal pretended she couldn't give a toss. She's sitting behind me now ~ snoring quietly & keeping my bum cosy!
OAO
 |
| Opal on the shed roof |
No comments:
Post a Comment