From north to south.

The move to Otemure Bay from Puriri Bay was uneventful, and we found ourselves parked at our usual spot overlooking the bay.  It was the lull before the storm, as the weather forecast was terrible for the next 5 or 6 days.   Still, there are worse places to be when it's raining.  There were still a few campers around with some of them in tents, but unfortunately when the weather did arrive they found it all a bit much and had to pack up.
 Even a small pop top caravan parked just along from us copped it on the last night of wind and rain and had everything turned inside out.  I poked my nose out of the rig to see if they were alright and saw they were struggling to pull it all down.  Nick from the caravan next door had been helping them to try and get the awning down in the wind as it had been blown apart. By the time I arrived they pretty much had it under control but what a mess they were in.  Everything was soaked even in the caravan and I think there was a bit of repair work to be done.
  Even in our rig there were a couple of nights when the whole thing was just shaking in the wind all night long.  The rain was coming in sideways straight off the sea but we endured it and were pretty happy to be tucked up warm and dry inside.
  As always eventually the sun came out and we had a good forecast for the next few days.  This came  about the same time Jenny and Stan arrived for their holiday in New Zealand.  They were coming up to stay with us for about 3 nights. It was great to spend some time with our "Aussie" relatives as we don't get to see them as much as we would like.  But the weather came right at the right time and we got to spend some time on the beach and going for walks and also introducing them to happy hour.  Our fellow campers were again a friendly bunch and liked to get together in the evenings for drinks and nibbles.

Stan, Jenny and myself on the Whananaki Harbour walkway.

 Stan found found himself in danger of cardiac arrest one night when taking a moonlit walk to the loo. A couple of young german female tourists were staying in the tent next door and he happened to meet one of them walking back from the loo.  She obviously thought clothes were optional as she was stark naked.  Apparently he was a bit shy to stop her for a chat. Well thats what he told us anyway.
 We got to know Nick and Janine who were also from Tauranga.  They spend a lot of time touring the country in their caravan.  Nick and I spent a bit of time in the kayaks looking for snapper.  Did ok too with a couple of really nice ones one morning.  I think I'm starting to convert a few bait fisherman to the idea of using softbaits out of the kayaks as I find you can catch a number of the larger fish. I find these large snapper really good to eat. Nick took the heads and wings to smoke  and Stan took a heap of fillets with them when they left.

A couple of good snapper from Otemure.

 The time came and Jenny and Stan were off to Tauranga and we followed shortly after.  We ended up staying up at Lincolns place on Pyes Pa rd where Jenny and Stan were.  We had a couple of very social evenings and were made to feel very welcome by Lincoln and Pam.
We had a couple of jobs to do at the house in Omokoroa while we were up here so we got that done and caught up with our friends and neighbours again as well.
 Next we moved down to Heidi's and Pauls as we wanted to see them before we started our road trip to the south island.  We also caught up with Ken and Vicki before we left.  It's always a bit tough when you know you are leaving for a year or so and probably won't get to see these close family members for a while.
  It was time to go and we waved bye to Heidi and lovely wee Luca and we were on the road to Wellington.  It was pretty poor timing into Wellington motorway as we struck the 5 o'clock rush.  So after a bit of stop start stuff we pulled into the Petone Working Mens Club and parked up in their back car park.  There is a small fee to stay here but you can also use their toilets and showers if you wish and the club is open for meals and drinks.  It's quite a pleasant place to stay.  After our long drive we were both a bit knackered so rather than cook we wandered in and had a good meal for about twenty bucks each.  Much easier.
  We had a full day in wellington the next day as our ferry crossing wasn't until 3.30am the following morning.  Nick and Janine from Otemure Bay and a couple of other people had told us about the Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa so we were keen to go along and view it.  It was extremely popular and a bit of a struggle to get around some of it but it is a really emotional experience to stand there and think about what all these young men had to endure.  When stepping back out into the foyer afterwards the hollow feeling in your stomach has nothing to do with where the cafe is located.
We had a good walk around the waterfront, which is a tourist destination in itself.  Lots of cafes, eateries, bars, walkers, runners, pop up shops and lovely landscaped scenes right on the water.  A real asset to Wellington.
  We had a bit of a drive around the bays but this was marred by a lot of resealing gangs slowing down the traffic so it was back to the rig and an early night as we had to get up about 2am to drive to the ferry.  We got to the ferry in plenty of time and after boarding found a bench seat and tried to get a bit more sleep. We were fortunate enough to have a smooth crossing but sleep didn't come easy. Before we disembarked we had a meal and a coffee.
   From memory we left Picton around 7am and travelled to Blenheim where we filled the truck with diesel then it was onto the diversion road towards Lewis Pass and the long way to Kaikoura.  It turned out to be a bit of an epic journey as the roads still had a lot of earthquake damage as well as councils trying to improve the roads for the extra traffic they were having to take.  So road works were continuous all through the trip.  So it ended up being 8 1/2 hours after leaving Picton we arrived at Rod and Catherines on the inland Kaikoura road. It was good to see them again after so long away.
  Next morning after Rod milked and a bit of stock work was done we were off for a hunt. It was late march so the stags should be starting to roar.  Rod had permission to hunt on a farm off the inland road so we drove through the block and pulled up on the boundary.  Next door was a pay to hunt farm where often overseas hunters pay large sums of money to hunt mostly tame deer with lots of points on their antlers.  There was a lot of roaring coming from the stags on this block and you could see some of them up on the fence line with their huge racks of antlers just lazing around showing no fear of humans at all.  Not our style of hunting.
  We started climbing into our block and it wasn't long and we spotted a hind and yearling dropping down into a gully.  We carried on and Rod spotted a stag sitting down by a rocky outcrop.  We snuck up for a look and saw through the binos he was just a six pointer.  We watched for a while then moved on and almost immediately came across another stag, but he had a very poor head of antlers so he was left in peace as well.  A few days previous Rod had seen a good twelve pointer in this area so we weren't in a hurry to pull the trigger on a small stag.
  Around a bit further we decided to sit and wait while overlooking a good gully.  It wasn't long and a hind appeared down low and then the stag came out chasing her.  She was obviously in season as he chased her around until she stopped playing hard to get.  After that he needed a bit of a lie down. By then I had moved into position for a shot.  He was roaring while sitting down and roaring back at him still didn't get him on his feet.  So I took the shot and that did the job. He was around 150 metres away and when we got down there we found a very good even twelve pointer.  So this was the stag we had been after.  Rod and I were stoked and we spent a bit of time getting photos then the meat and head were harvested.  We weren't too far from the truck so hind quarters, front shoulders, and back steaks were all taken. Along with those 12 point antlers.  Not bad for day one hunting down south.

Feeling stoked.

I reckon it warrants two photos.

  Mick was due to come down for a bit of hunting so I picked him up from ChCh airport and we were straight into it again.  Mick , James and I ended up back at the same block one morning and while in the same area we spotted a huge stag up on the boundary.  He must have been an escapee from the game farm as he had a huge rack of antlers.  I tried counting the tines and got to somewhere between 20 and 24 points.  He was definitely on our side of the fence but when he realised we were there instead of heading for cover he just ran the fence line.  We weren't interested in shooting a tame animal so he was left in peace.
  That evening we were on the other side of the block and Rod and James both shot fallow bucks. So we had some prime venison for the freezer.  Over the week Mick was there we had a great time seeing lots of different animals including deer pigs and goats. But it wasn't until the last couple of days we found a good stag, or as it turned out he found us. We didn't even know he was there until he alerted us answering a roar way down in the valley.  Brian and Eric from Geraldine had come for a hunt with us and Eric heard him first and called Mick over.  The stag was making his way up the ridge toward us. When we spotted him he was only 20 metres away and looking right at us. At the chest on shot two great puffs of steam came from his nostrils at the impact and down he went.  He didn't move.  Mick had a very nice ten point stag.

Awesome stag Mick in great country.

Micks toes after Gracie painted them. Very cool Mick.

  After Mick flew back north it was only a couple of days and John the bow hunter arrived.  We had been having a fair bit of rough weather with a cyclone passing through but we certainly hadn't had it as bad as the north.  The fine weather showed up with John so it was back into a bit of hunting.  We did a motorbike trip up through the neighbours station with John and Rod on 2 wheelers and me on the quad bike.  This in itself is a cool experience and then we get to go hunting as well.  John was keen to get a good set of goat horns so when we spotted a group of billy's the stalk was on.  After a good shot John secured a nice trophy.

Great set of horns.

John the bow hunter.

   While getting the photos John noticed a big pig rooting up a patch of the hillside over in the next gully.  I got set up for a shot with the 270. But after trying three times I couldn't get my rifle to go bang.  There was a problem with the bolt. We sent john away to try and stalk in for a bow shot while Rod and I tried to free up the rifle.  In hindsight I should have left John to it  as we ended up with the rifle firing only to miss on three shots.  It was a very large boar and he didn't hang around too long. It was probably just poor shooting as I had sighted the rifle in, but it's also a bit unsettling when you are lining up for a shot and the rifle won't cock. Well thats my excuse anyway.  Never mind we'll be back for another crack at him at a later date.
  While on the farm we had been doing a few jobs around the place.  Shifting stock, a bit of weed spraying and building a new wood shed close to the house.  John got stuck in and mowed the lawns on the ride on at the three different houses on the farm.
 Rod and John had also been trying to get a deer with the bow.  John brought two bows with him and Rod had a bit of practice out in the paddock.  It seems he's a natural as he was on target straight away.  But the challenge with the bow is getting close enough then asking the deer nicely to stand side on and keep still while they poke an arrow into it.  Haha. sorry John.
  But it can be done as after John left he went further south and managed to get a nice fallow buck with the bow.  We left the farm on Easter Monday and went to Hanmer. We stayed at the MCA park there, went for a mountain bike and a bit of a wander around.  John called in on his way back to Rods with his buck strapped to his roof rack. What a happy man.  He reckoned it caused a bit of a stir when he pulled into town to buy a few supplies. He took photos of asian tourists taking photos of his buck. He hopes to get a bit more hunting in with Rod before he heads back north to Tauranga.
  Jocelyn and I intend having a bit of a look around the Hurunui area, maybe check out lake Sumner and Lake Taylor, then I will spend a day with James fixing up the maimai at Hilton in preparation for duck shooting.  Next we will head towards Tekapo and Twizel and see if I can catch a salmon or trout   and maybe do a bit of walking and biking in this stunning area.