Beach, Bach, BBQs - Jun/Jul 2020

 

The bach by night light

Upon our return to Whakatane it had become very apparent that we would not be taking our May flights back to the UK.  Certainly not this year anyway.  So our fabulous friends suggested we may like to hunker down in their bach (holiday home) at Whanarua Bay.  One of our favourite places on earth!  It was a no brainer really. 

Moving in

What's not to LOVE about this view from

the front door

We packed up the car with all our worldly goods, a bunch of supplies (the nearest supermarket being over an hour away), threw the kayak on the roof and off we trotted.

Look who came to stay!

We fished to our hearts content catching tonnes of mackeral, a couple of kahawai, quite a few blue maumau,  piper, snapper, trevally, terakihi and even [drum roll] James's favourite, a John Dory!

We broke out the smoker for a session.  Really just an excuse to sit around the fire, beer in hand.

Not to mention the crayfish and packhorse crays we enjoyed from both the cray pots and James going for a dive in the cool winter waters.

We never get sick of eating fish and love the fact that there are hardly any food miles on our meals.

The crayfish, avocado and sea spinach all 

grown/gathered from the bay

Crayfish, spinach pasta with beurre noisette

We made some really great friends from up in the village who took us on a few adventures including a trekking up the mountain behind the bay.

Ina (dog) & Moe

The views from up the mountain are somethings else!

Whakaari-White Is from a new perspective

We also got to housesit for Stanley for a few days while his Mum & Dad took a few days break away.

Although we usually do our level best to not experience a winter season, this one was not negotiable due to the travel restrictions in the wake of Covid 19.  Our wardrobes needed a bit of beefing up so Clare got busy knitting  possum/merino jumper for James.

This was before we realised what a tropical winter paradise we had landed in.  There seems to be a real micro climate going on at Whanarua Bay.  They grow bananas, avocado, cherimoya and lots and lots of citrus of all varieties.  Oh, and macadamias of course.

The thing is, we never tire of the daily changing colours of the bay.

And when the sea isn't condusive to kayaking, there is always time to sit and watch a couple of rod tips on the beach.  Someone's happy place!  A wholly more relaxing style of fishing for sure.

The cool thing is that we have booked a few housesits for some of the people we have met since our arrival here.  We are more than happy to oblige.

Gone bush - May 2020

White Island/Moutothora

On the very day that the country stepped down to Level 3, we packed the car and headed to our friends' place in Whakatane.  This would allow the painter to start work at Bev's. So we were now in a new 'bubble' with Ollie, Snow their daughter, Katelyn.  Oh, and our favourite springer spaniel Max!

We spent some time at the beach collecting pipis

Climbing mountains

And, of course, fishing

A friend who lives in the middle of nowhere, quite literally, contacted us to check if we would be available to look after his place for a week or so.  Ummm, yeah, we seemed to be at a bit of a loose end, so off went on our next adventure.  This one was going to be an example of 'social distancing' in its purest form.  Pohokura is not a particularly easy place to get to so we were pleasantly surprised that the road was in fairly good condition compared to the last time we journeyed in.

Rainbow connection

We spent our days walking the hills and forest, checking and re-setting traps and recording the rats and stoats we managed to slaughter.

This was a fairly typical day for us

And these were our typical views

Every day we took our rifle for a walk and never managed any meat for the table.  We only saw three deer.  To be fair, it was totally the wrong time of year for hunting.  We did see a bit of pig sign too.

We weren't too disappointed as we were just enjoying the freedom of the bush after being so cooped up during Level 4

This beautiful moss looks like snow!

And no matter where we are in the big wide world, James always manages to hit his head on something ....

For James's birthday, he got an all expenses paid visit to the local spa.  He was happy!

The view from the 'bath house'

Wild horses on the road out

LOCKDOWN!!!! - Mar/Apr 2020

 

Nekminit .... the Government announces Level 4 LockdownBefore heading north, we took the opportunity to call in and stay a couple of nights with Clare's aunty in Whangaparaoa.  It was whilst here that the strange and unsettling news of the Coronavirus rared its ugly head.  Before we knew it, all our future NZ sits were cancelled and we truly were of no fixed abode.  We made the collective position to stay put.  It was a good one for all of us.  It meant that Bev would have some comany during a time she would not be able to meet with her friends for coffee or exercise classes etc.  And, hey, we were truly homeless for the first time since starting our petsitting lifestyle.  A strange feeling indeed.Before the government announced the total lockdown of the country, we had been helping Bev with her plans to repaint and refurbish her home.

During the following 5 weeks we repainted the deck, sold off some of the furniture pieces she no longer required, replaced the seals around the bi-folding doors and engaged a painter to paint the whole inside of the house once Level 4 was over.

Before

   After

Then it was time to relax into the whole Level 4 experience.  Learning Majong, doing jigsaw puzzles, walks around the neighbourhood, lots of knitting and proof-reading, re-formatting Bev's Memoirs .... and trying desparately to not drive each other round the twist ;-)

We took only one drive out together as the rules started to relax a little.  We went down to Gulf Harbour for a 'socially distanced' walk around and to feed the fish in the canal.  James wishes he had his rod with him!!!

  Snapper and Kingfish

Fortunately were had the added distraction of Lexus, the big old gorgeous boy.  One can always take a leaf out of a cat's book when it comes to chilling.And we ate a lot ......

  Lexus wondering what Bev has to offer

Fortunately were had the added distraction of Lexus, the big old gorgeous boy.  One can always take a leaf out of a cat's book when it comes to chilling.