Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Saturday 18th May
I woke up with my alarm after some good sleep. I dozed for a while after my alarm, as I wasn't showering. I got up, dressed and washed. I then packed my bags and went through to have my breakfast. I had a bowl of cereal and two bits of toast with jam, it was nice to have a change in routine.
After getting the bags on the bus and pilling on we hit the road just after 7.30am. It was dark outside and I soon feel asleep on the bs during our drive. We stopped around 8.30am, earlier than expected as a few people were not feeling very feel (I believe that being hung over and drinking milk might have played a factor). We stopped off at a quaint little ski town, we jumped off for toilet and coffee. I grabbed a tea and got ready to get back on the bus. The town was dead that early but we did pass a couple of pubs, the brown pub, the blue pub (and I believe there were others following a certain pattern of the colour of the building). Back on the road I watched the scenery go past as I drank my tea. There was still a large area of farmland with houses scattered on.
I think I dozed again as we drive to Christchurch. I was sad we didn't actually go through the city and that I didn't have time to get off and see it properly. 16 people jumped off the bus when we stopped at Christchurch airport. William and Helda said goodbye as they got off the bus and I jumped off to say good bye. We had a handful of newbies jump on board and then we were off again heading to Kaikoura. Rob introduced the newbies to Stray, as some were new onto the route. He also gave an outline of the history of New Zealand and how things worked. He also gave the options for this afternoons activities. He weather was turning and there was blue sky ahead. The options were whale and dolphin watching (which I was tempted at), dolphin swim or fishing (there were some other options but these were the main 3. As much as I wanted to do the swim, my pennies would now stretch that far, so I opted for the swim. We drove on onto Kaikoura and after Rob's introduction I dozed off again. 45min away from our destination we stopped off at a bakery for lunch. I didn't got anything we I had my lunch, although it was midday and I had eaten most things.
Back on the bus I slept until we were 10mins out of Kaikoura. I'm not sure why I am sleeping so much, maybe the late nights and early starts were catching up. When I woke up I could see he sunning coastal view as we wound our way to the town. We were a little behind schedule, so the bus dropped those whale watching and dolphin swim before we headed for the hostel 'Lazy Shag'. We checked in and I was allocated my room. I dumped my bags, got changed into old cloths and had some chocolate and a fruit bar, so I was set for fishing. I also realised I was a little short on pennies, so I would have to be careful from now on until I got to Auckland. Just before 1.30pm, we climbed back onto the bus and headed for the finishing. We were dropped off at a house looking out onto the sea. We were spilt knot 2 groups, I was in the first. We soon were taken to the boat ready to go off fishing. We were lowered into the water by an old vintage tractor and off we went to sea. We speed through the water jumping up and down on the waves. There was 6 of us fishing, the captain (with a false leg) and a helper. We must have drive 30mins out to sea. I was feeling ok was we jumped the waves. Some of them made the boat jolt badly, so we all held on. Once deep enough we started to fish. The 2 boat men hocked up some bait and lines onto 4 rods and away we went. We took it in turns as there was 4 rods as 6 people. I waited my turn and watched as the others soon started catching fish. We were fishing on the ocean floor, about 75m deep. As we were stationary the boat started to rock and I began to feel a little sick. My first 2 attempts led me winding up my line with nothing attached to it, yet everyone else was easily catching fish. On my third time I let out my line (which was weighted), wound it in a bit once the line was at the bottom and waited for the fish. It wasn't long before I felt a tug, although I had some nibbles on the previous two lines. I tried pulling the line up to ensure the hock was stuck in the fishes mouth and then they boat man tired to help. Once he was sure I had a fish on I began to wind in the line. 75m is a long way down. When I brought my line up I had 2 sea perch, one on each of the bait. I was so happy, after the custom photo I gave them to the skipper who cut the fillets out of them and then kept the rest of the fish for future bait. I handed the rod over to someone else. I didn't have another go at fishing as I felt a little sea sick so kept sat down, another girl also felt a bit off. But it wasn't long before we had finished off be finishing. Mid way through the fishing we were joined by some albatross (even a golden one) who joined the seagulls in hope to catch some of the fish that were thrown away. By the time we had finished the sea was getting very choppy. We left the fishing and went to pick up a crayfish creat and see what was inside. The box was winched up onto the boat and there was plenty of crayfish in there, some massive guys. After this we headed back to shore. Traveling made me feel better opposed to just sitting still in the boat whilst it rocked. The other group were waiting for us on the shore. We jumped off and they jumped on. Jerry, the man who ran the show took us to see a seal loin colony just a few mins from the shore. I couldn't believe how close we could get to them (although we were meant to leave 10m). After seeing these guys we went to watch the local rugby team play. Jerry's son-in-law played for Blenheim and and they were the visiting team. On the way he got a phone call, be sea was to rough for the other group to fish so they were on their way back already. Once at the rugby, Jerry took us to the side where his daughter was and be only stayed 10mins before having to pick the other group up early. The rugby match was good, even it a little one sided in favour of Kaikoura. It made me laugh how cars were allowed to drive and park around be pitch, so people could catch from inside their cars. Some even had sofas on the back of pickup trucks. We stayed and watched most of the match before heading back to the house for som fish. The walk took about 15mins. Once there the wine was open (which I declined) and we ate some of the sea perch raw, like sushi. It was nice, not chewy and a soft flavour. After a while we were taken to put the crayfish on to cook at the back of the garden. They would be steamed on a small open fire for 20mins. They looked almost dead when they were put in. Back to the house and people drank more wine. After they were cooked we took them out and hung them on the washing line to dry out, it was a funny sight to see. We took two back to the garden and ate them. They were delicious to eat, so fresh and perfect just by itself. It didn't take long before they vanished. Wine kept flowing and the other boat man came with his guitar and played some music. It was a great atmosphere in the garden as Jerry had other friends around 2. We got through another 4 fish and numerous bottles of wine before Rob called a taxi (he had appeared throughout the evening). Most of us got the taxi and after a cashpoint stop in the centre we were back at the hostel. We waited a while before cutting open 3 Crayfish (leaving 2, due to the number of people we had). I also cooked the perch fillets we were given, as they needed to be cooked or they would go to waste.
We sat down and ate some fish and I also cooked some noodles for dinner (I needed something over than fish). A group of us sat in the kitchen and chatted. After a while Rob and the 2 girls came back from the fishing (they walked), and Rob and a handful of people headed to town for some drinks. I would have been tempted if it was earlier, especially to catch the RFL game, but it was 9.30pm already and I felt shattered. Some of the girls who remained sat and chatted over a cup of tea before heading to bed around 10.30pm. I got ready for bed and was soon asleep on my too bunk.
- comments