Fishing with Telecom and Cisco - 18th March
4.30
am the iPhone beeps it’s extremely early morning
call – are you kidding… I haven’t seen 4.30 am since
the summer of 69! “Cab time to get up mate” as the
poor boy rubs his eyes. Putting the fishing rod and
coat in the car along with the boy’s breakfast and
off to Lisa’s to drop Cab off. Meeting Steve V
outside his new work place First Security for the
shared ride to Pine Harbour, Beachlands. After
wasting 10 minutes getting lost around Beachlands I
finally called Paul to find out where this Pine
Harbour marina is located – oh 5 minutes back the
way we came – Typical! We finally find the marina
and pier C and meet Paul loading up the boat with
food, booze and bait. A quick introduction to
Captain Steve (yes now we have three Steve’s and one
Paul). Captain Steve is Paul’s mate and the owner
of the charter, ‘Free 2 Dream’, Paul works for
Gen-I, our hosts for the day, Steve Vaughan is the
turn coat who once was loyal to Signature Security
but has since followed his new best Scottish mate to
First Security. And me, well I’m the fisherman of
men lol. Oh and I catch the odd woman occasionally
too. Now the three boys were all members of Her
Majesty’s armed forces too. Captain Steve and Paul
are ex-Army boys with fond memories of their time in
Singapore, getting haircuts and massages (not sure
what that had to do with Army life), Steve V was 20+
years in the Navy polishing his big gun, also with
fond memories of overseas excursions. Consequently
I have never heard the F word used so many times in
my life, well since I was a teenager in Invercargill
anyway.
We
arrive at the boat to see that Captain Steve has the
floor boards removed from the back of the boat and
has his head stuck in around the motor and arse in
the air. I see a strip of duct tape in his hand and
notice a few inches of water sloshing around in the
bottom of the boat. We are told there seems to be a
leak with a hose. Ex-navy boy Steve V seizes the
moment to shine, removing his Samoan safety jandals
he climbs on board and into the bows of the boat to
assist. We discover that the engine’s fan had cut
through the radiator hose and the water was from
this leak. There was so much water that the boat was
sitting low in the water and the fly wheel was
throwing water everywhere when the motor was
running. Eventually the boys come to their senses
to not press forward and tear out into the Gulf, but
to wait until a service centre opens at 9.30.
Whilst waiting we have a nice coffee and chat, only
to find that this Volvo pipe has to come from Sweden
and should take a few weeks, if we are lucky. Navy
Steve recalls these similar situations were a
regular part of Navy life on the high seas and most
events were solved with some amalgamated tape. You
know the song ‘Six months on a leaky NZ Navy boat’
so we buy this so called magic tape and strap up the
radiator hose. The four of us look proudly at the
repaired pipe holding water as Captain Steve revs up
the engine, sweet. Finally 10 am we are on our way.
A tank of gas (thanks Cisco) and we’re of out of
the harbour heading towards Waikiki. (Well that’s
what I called it anyway). Why did we have to get up
so early only to leave at 10 arrrr, all good though
as the ocean’s fish are waiting to be caught? Navy
Steve, true to form, opens the first beers and
doesn’t stop for the next 10 hours, boy these Army
and Navy boys can drink. We even had a box of the
Indian Kingfisher; well we can’t catch King Fish,
but we can certainly drink the beer.
Captain Steve continually checks the fish finder and
finally spots a bunch of dots. Baiting up the hooks
and we are into it…FISHING. Of course, as normally
happens, I catch the first Snapper. It’s a monster
and requires the boat’s massive net to haul it in.
At one point I thought my arms were going to be
pulled off, but luckily I’ve been working out lately
lol. Throughout the day I also assist the guys with
their smaller catches and give them a break when
they get tired. Steve V in particular was showing
signs of fatigue pulling in his three small fish for
the day. We change locations several times and
finally started to hook up the Kawais. These fish
are awesome to catch as they run. It’s a thrill
when the line is being dragged out and a real fight
ensues. Unlike Snapper that just tug a bit and give
up, Kawais really complain. Steve V hooked his
first Kawai and uses his typical Navy force to
muscle the fish out of the ocean, breaking his rod
clean in half in the process. “There is none of
this playing with the bloody fish” he exclaims with
a hint of regret as he’s holding two separated
pieces of his daughter’s beloved fishing rod.
|
Captain Steve keeps bitching at Paul for throwing
out 80 metres of line when we are only sitting in 8
metres of water, causing tangles all over the place.
Actually Paul manages to hook both the burly bag
and the underwater sail anchor. I get two (yes two)
hooks in me from Paul, the dodgiest fisherman I have
ever known, on one side of me and Captain Steve on
the other side. One hit me on the ear and the other
hooking the front of my shorts just millimetres away
from my family jewels. Gees mate it’s not enough
that I have to repair the boat… I also have to bait
their lines, teach them how to fish, make the lunch
and get the beers. So much for an easy day with the
Army and Navy boys fishing … sheesh!
The
sun shone for most of the day with the typical
Auckland short bursts of rain which didn’t stop the
boys from pursuing their prey anyway. Finally at 7
pm we called it quits and headed back in, a chilly
bin full of fish, a belly full of beer and grins
from ear to ear. The worst day of fishing, beats the
best day at work. What a nice way to spend a Friday,
cheers Gen-I and Cisco for the invite. Cheers
Captain Steve and his leaky ‘Free 2 Dream’ boat.
Cheers Paul for bringing the credit card. Dividing
up the catch, handshakes all around and heading home
at 8pm, what a long day for the boys … we are tired
and smelly but feeling like pigs in poo. Ah,
nothing a hot shower and bed won’t fix –
PRICELESS!!! |
The two Steve’s awesome bike
ride.
Sunday the 6th 8am
Steve K calls Steve V as we both look out our windows
wishing the rain gods away and deciding to give them
another hour to clear the weather. 9am the second call comes
‘Mate, let’s just do it’ we decide “Cab grab your shoes
mate. I’m dropping you of at Lisa’s” Filling up the
tank on the way with $2.22/litre premium high octane
fuel and zooming down the North Western to Steve's
place in Westie, West
Harbour. No rain so far, and welcomed in with a nice
fluffy coffee. Right! enough teasing the
girls about the breakfast croissants and eating a
weeks’ worth of grapes, ‘let’s go’. The Steve’s
squeeze into their wet weather gears, and were off
heading towards Helensville. Turning right onto Old
North Road and through the Riverhead forest. Once or
twice having to pull back on the reins of the 140
horses wanted to let go coming out of some beautiful
corners. Hooking up with highway 16 the ‘Kaipara
Coast Highway’ all the way to Wellsford. At one
point Steve V lay down on his tank and toped 140km/h,
naughty Steve; while I’m putting behind still not
out of 3rd gear ha-ha.
 |
A nice stop for a
Steak and Cheese pie and Cappuccino, and by now its
blue skies, dry roads and not to forget to mention
the view of some lovely, friendly, gorgeous locals.
Steve!!! (Ah which Steve hummm!!!) Steve V gets a call
to collect some icing sugar on the way home for
Mel’s baking lol. A good chance for me to feed the
horses again with another tank of juice. Heading
south down highway one through the tunnel at Puhoi
and back to Steve V's house. I was greeted with a huge
hug and kiss from Steve’s wife Melissa only to hear
Steve mutter “unhand my wife you scrotum” I quickly
departed with no less than 4 litres of baking under
my jacket, heading back to Lisa’s to pick up my
beautiful boy and home to see my beautiful girl.
What a day, what a ride, 5 hours, absolutely
priceless.
Cheers Stevie boy, Awesome
mate. |
Cape Reinga - Auckland Anniversary Weekend
An awesome Auckland
anniversary weekend with our friends Cath and her two
kids Seth and Makila. Cab and I loaded up the boogie
board and hoped into the mini
and drove 930kms to Cape Reinga and back over the two
days. We went to the giant sand dunes in
the far north at Te Paki. We all camped in a
beautiful DOC camping ground beside Rarawa Beach
Cath, Seth, Makila, Cab and I at Cape Reinga
 
Our drive up north, through some of the
Cyclone Wilma
affected areas.
 
Kaitaia plus a long bush walk to see the Kauri trees, equals a
very tired Cab zzzzz |
I was a little naughty driving down the walking path to get a
few photos of the mini at the famous light house and sign at
Cape Reinga. Got lots of photos taken of us by
other site seekers too. I told them it was a photo
opportunity for the 'good bye pork pie' rally I am
thinking of going on in March.
The poor Mini got a hammering on all the gravel
roads, we got a flat tyre on the last day and discovered
that the spare was in pretty poor condition too. So
on the drive home we stopped at most service
stations and top the spare up with air. The next day
the rear muffler fell off as I was dropping Cab at
school. Had a nice man stop and help me wire the
exhaust up temporally. So new tyre and exhaust on
the 'I didn't plan to have to buy these items'
list. |
