Breakdowns and duckshooting.

Jocelyn and I had a good time at Fantail Bay again, meeting up with 2 groups of campers we had met there before.  Bike riding, snorkelling and Kayak fishing taking up most of our time.
  Remember to click on the photos to enlarge.

Beautiful Fantail Bay.

But it was on our way back down the coast the dramas started.  Coming into Colville there was a scraping noise then a solid lurch from the rig and I eased the truck onto the road verge.  Getting out and having a look I could see broken axle springs and the axle it self had moved out of alignment, which was what had caused the rig to lurch sideways.

One tyre was damaged and a rocker arm on the opposite side was broken as well.  So we were immobile until we could get help.  That help came in the form of Mike McCall who runs a small engineering garage at Papa Aroha.  What a life saver he turned out to be.  He put a chain block around the axle and hauled it into line and we had a slow trip to his workshop where we parked up on the lawn.  He and his wife Ngaire live on the property and Mike said his family have been there for 5 generations.  Mike and I dismantled everything and then Jocelyn and I ended up in Rotorua getting new springs made at Archers and profile cutting new rocker arms. Trying to get new parts from the United States just wasn't happening.

All this took a week or so while we stayed at John and Margots.  It was great to spend time with them especially as they are retiring soon and have put a deposit on their own 5th wheeler, so we were able to plan future travels with them.  Getting back to Papa Aroha with all the new parts we were invited over to Mike and Ngaire's for drinks.  What a very hospitable couple they are.  They made us feel so welcome and treated us like old friends.  And after all the dramas were eventually sorted we were told we would be welcome to park on their lawn anytime we came to the area for as long as we liked.

Broken rocker arm.

Sitting on blocks

Solid plate steel.  These ones won't break.

  Anyway Mike and I spent the next morning drilling holes in the new rocker arms and getting everything bolted back on to the rig and fitting the new tyre back on.  Then we said our goodbyes and took the road to Coromandel.  We needed to empty the tanks at the dump station so called in there and then as we took off I looked in the mirror and couldn't believe it when I saw a wheel fall off the rig and tip onto the road.  Getting out and having a look I could see the stub axle had broken and when the wheel fell off the brake shoes had fallen out and gone through the side wall of the brand new tyre we had fitted less than an hour before. " Damn it."  It was a bit of a head in the hands moment.  I got on the phone to Mike and he came in and we decided to limp around to the NZMCA camp on three wheels, which was  just around the corner and we  got underneath and dropped out the axle.  Mike was feeling pretty bad for us too but obviously when the spring had broken previously and the axle had gone out of alignment that is when the stub axle had cracked.  And as it turned out we were quite lucky it had happened when we were so close to the camp where we could park up and get it fixed.


  So after loading the axle onto the back of the ute by this time it was late afternoon on Friday so I had to wait until Monday morning to drive to Thames and find an engineer to help us out.  On the third try I found JCD Engineering who turned out to be another company who really try to look after their customers.  As it turned out we couldn't get everything completed before we had to leave for the south island for duck shooting.  So we left the rig in Coromandel and took off for Wellington.
  We were going to stay overnight in Wellington as our ferry was the next morning at 9am.  Our nephew Lance had recently purchased a house in Owhiro bay around the coast a bit. So he was happy to put us up for the night. It was great to catch up with Lance again who was a bit envious of me going shooting.  Lance used to shoot with us down there a number of years ago but with his busy lifestyle he finds it very hard to get the time now.  Lances girlfriend Colleen came around as well and we spent a very pleasant evening having dinner and yakking. Thanks Lance, and we loved your house.

The crossing was smooth and we landed in Picton and headed straight off to Kaikoura.  It really seems easy now using state highway one again rather than taking that long Lewis Pass road.  Rodney was on his new deck having a beer or three with his neighbour Nigel when we pulled up so it didn't take too much persuasion to crack the lid off a bottle myself and for Jocelyn to find a bottle of wine.
   Since last there the house had a makeover.  Not only a lovely large deck out front but new double glazed aluminium joinery and a new kitchen with all new carpet and Lino as well.  Rodney doing most of the work himself.  Looks awesome.

Friday arrived and Jocelyn and I were to pick Dane up at Christchurch airport on the way to Geraldine.  Was good to see Dane again and he was looking as keen as I to get into the shooting.  Things were to be a bit different this year as grand daughter Monique was working on the farm we were shooting on so we were going to stay with her rather than at Brian and Ingrids. And Moniques friend Crystal was going to shoot with us. Just before dark we went down to the maimai and set out all the decoys.  There had been a flood through there early in the week and the water had been right up through the middle of the maimai. So we had a bit of mud to contend with.

That night it was around to Brian and Ingrids for the traditional night before shooting dinner and socialise.  Its always good to see them all again and feel so welcomed.  Jocelyn was with us this year but she was off to Invercargill the next morning to stay with Joel and Julie for a few days.

The female crew.

The outlook from the maimai.

  The maimai was going to be a bit crowded this year. We had the usual shooters Rod, Dane, James, and myself, then Crystal was shooting and for support staff we had Monique and Gracie supplying coffees and loading cartridge belts.  Initially the ducks were a bit slow arriving but we ended up getting a steady stream of them coming in during the day.  We ended up with 70 for the day which is reasonably good.  Our last years tally of 140 was one out of the box and we weren't really expecting that again.  We got another 20 or so the following morning then it was around to the offal hole to pluck and breast the harvest.  All up with all  the maimais there was over 200 ducks off the farm for the weekend.
  The following day it was goodbye to everyone for another year then back up to Kaikoura.  We had an excellent meal of roast wild duck cooked in the webber with all the roast veggies and gravy to go with it.  Yum.  Meals like that take a bit of beating.
  Rod and Dane did a bit of hunting at the neighbours. I was still stuggling a bit with arthritis so was finding the walking a bit tough at the moment.  They both got a deer each.  We also had a night up in a hut on the neighbours station and a few goats got bowled and a bit of meat harvested.

Nigels back country hut.

Rod and Dane back from a hunt.

  In no time it seemed Dane was back to the airport and we had to get up early to catch the ferry in Picton.  Unfortunately sometime between when we left Rod's and we got to the northern side of Kaikoura they closed the road to Picton because of rockfalls.  Which meant we had to book on an afternoon ferry and wait for the road to open.  We eventually got through and made the ferry for a 2.15pm sailing which meant we got in to Wellington around 6pm.  And we arrived in Rotorua at John and Margots around 11.45pm.  A very long day after getting up at 5.30am.

The following day we were on our way back to Thames to pick up the repaired axle.  They had found the stubb axle on the other end was also cracked so had replaced that as well.  So in theory we were back in business.  Then it was back to Coromandel where we were met by Mike who put it all back together.  Unfortunately we also found that while we were away the freezer hadn't been working and there was a very unpleasant soup floating in the bottom of it.  Fortunately I had to help Mike with fitting the axle while Jocelyn cleaned out the horrid mess in the freezer.  There were a few gagging noises emanating from up above us as we worked but we both tried to look very busy.  It sounds like insurance will cover a fair bit of the cost of the axle repairs and as yet we may have to do a claim to replace the fridge and freezer as after about three weeks it's still pretty unpleasant when you open that freezer door.

After many thanks to Mike for all his help we hitched up and pointed the rig towards Thames.  We called in at JCD engineering again and got them to test the other axle for cracks.  They found no problem with it so with a sense of relief we headed for the far north.  The first night we stopped at Uretiti Beach just south of Whangarei and ended up staying 3 nights.  It was like winding down.  When we were in business you had to deal with problems all the time but now when problems occur it seems like a real inconvenience and you struggle to cope with it.  You almost feel like you are waiting for something else to break or go wrong.   I think the only cure is probably to go fishing so with that in mind we headed to another of our favourite camps. Otemure Bay.

We parked up on our usual spot where we can look out over the sea.  After getting settled in I had a bit of a wander down the beach and the water looked so clear, so I thought I would go for a snorkel and take the speargun for a swim.  The 5mm Wettie suit was doing the job and keeping me warm and I even managed to sneak up on a couple of snapper and head shoot them for dinner.  There were a few small crays around, both reds and packhorse but nothing of any size. With snapper for tea things felt like they were back to normal.

A couple of nice pannies with the spear.

  The next morning I was keen to get out in the kayak for a fish so I was up fairly early and out to a reef where I had caught large snapper before.  I hooked up almost immediately and the line was getting stripped off my reel at a great rate.  It was definitely a good fish. I was in shallow water with kelp and rock all around and this fish played dirty trying to get into the reef. At one point I thought I was going to end up on the rocks as the swell was lifting the kayak up and into the foaming white water.  Eventually I started to get the upper hand but was applying a lot of pressure to the line.  Then looking down I could see colour then this very large snapper rose up through the clear water and after it tipped on it's side I eased it into my landing net.  This fish was definitely 20lbs plus. Not a bad start for the morning.  After slipping him into the back I spent the next hour or so landing a few more keepers and also losing 2 other large snapper when the hook pulled.  But I  was pretty content with my morning fish.

The big fellow.

He was in such good condition.  The fish I mean.

  We met up with Roger and Lorraine who we had first met in this camp.  They had a dairy farm about 10kms up the road and had just employed a 50/50 share milker.  Once they have tidied everything up with the sale of cows and the transition of the new share milker they plan to travel around in their caravan like we do in our rig.  We also got to know Morris and Anna from Kerikeri who also came over for drinks and it turned into quite an evening.  Lorraine loves crayfish so her and Roger came down to collect one I had caught and a few too many drinks were consumed that night.  Poor Jocelyn was not feeling well the next morning.  It turns out Lorraine said she wasn't that well either the next day.

I ended up supplying most of the camp with fresh snapper and the camp hosts received a fillet of kingfish for their large family while we were at Otemure. I smoked the other fillet of kingfish in the webber, and that came out a real taste treat. That large snapper fed 4 different campers and they all said how lovely it was to eat. People say those large fish are no good to eat but I disagree as I have found those large well conditioned fish are excellent to eat. Just as well, as I really like to target those big ones.

Those kingis can really pull on light gear.

Early morning excursion.

  From Otemure we have moved on to Puriri bay again for a few days.  The weather was great when we arrived but has now turned to wind and rain. The last couple of days Jocelyn and I have been helping with tree planting in the DOC reserve over the hill from camp which was quite rewarding.  We have met a few of the locals who seem very keen about the resurgence of the kiwi population that these new plantings encourage. We are going to be moving further north shortly so will keep you informed of our future travels.

Yum. Puriri Bay John dory.

Stunning Puriri Bay on a fine day.