Praying Mantis

This is my new little friend. It is a Praying Mantis. It is called a Praying Mantis because of the way its front lets are positioned and it makes it look like it is praying. People thought that it would be funny to put it on my face. I thought that it would be great for a photo opportunity. I think it is a cool photo.

Luck of the Irish

Once again I was back up to Coromandel for another weekend of fishing. Someone asked me the other day if I get bored doing it. And the answer to that is NO. I love it. It is so relaxing. We eat tones, sleep, chat and catch loads of fish.

Both days I was reasonably lucky when it came to fishing. In fact I got the biggest fish both days that we were out.

The first day (Saturday) fishing was going reasonably slow. We had tried a new way of doing it after getting some advice from the guy who runs the shop near us. You are only allowed to keep a certain size of Snapper (which is what you usually catch) and the days end was approaching rapidly and I had yet to put something of value into the keep bucket. Then the luck comes in. The line jerks and bang I got him. I reeled him in and the boys were standing ready with a net. In comes the big one for the day. The Trevally. Nice one.

Sunday was pretty much a repeat of Saturday with the exception that we changed location and went to the edge of a beautiful island. Same again with the catching crap fish. They were even so crap that I went and sat at the front of the boat and fished as I didn’t want to take up the room for the proper fishermen. After a while I came back and started casting out further. A couple of times I got my line snagged on the bottom and it took a while to get it off. The third time that this happened I thought that it was the same old deal but I was surprised as to how quickly I got it off. I started to wind in the line to make sure I had bait on it and just before it reached the surface I noticed I had a beauty. Net out and in the boat she came. We didn’t know what it was so I took it to the shop back at the site and he said that it was a Silver Drummer. Very rare and hard to catch and reel in. There you go. That was the story of the fishing weekend.

18, 19th Feb Pics

This fish is called a Silver Drummer. Apparantly they are very rare to catch and they put up a fight. To be honest i didn't even realise that i had hooked him until i could see him in the water. I mean i fought for at least 25 mins to reel him up.

Trevally

this one was fun to catch. He put up a little fight but not enough win.

Trevally

Toughing moment before we wrenched his guts out

Caught me a Beauty ! !

What fun we had catching and eating him

The two biggest fish of the day. What a beauty!!

Caught me a Beauty ! !

From the majority of my pics it does look like all i have been doing is fishing. This isn't the case. But i thought that i would put up some more pics from my last fishing trip.

Jeremey and I headed back up the coast for some amazing fishing. Throughout the day we probably caught over 30 fish but most of them were really small and had to be thrown back. In the distance we could see gannets flying round in circles. That is a good sign because it means that it is dinner time and that is where you want to be to catch fish. We zip over in the boat and i witnessed one of the most incredible sights i have seen. There must have been 0ver 500 of these birds flying around. What they do is they dive bomb from about 20 - 30 feet into the water when they see fish. I wanted to get the camera out but i had Jeremy shouting at me to get my line in the water for some fish, and i was in awe at the number of birds hitting the water all around the boat.

While we were there even there were so many dophins swimming around us. I do have some videos of it if anyone would like to see it. We saw two whales swimming around us. I was excited and wanted Jeremy to take the boat closer to see them. He is the smart one and kindly reminded me of the dangers of being near whales in the water. He was in charge so we didn't go.

I put my line in the water again pretty soon i started to feel a bite (no it wasn't Jeremy) I waited patiently for him to bite again and he did. Snap the rod went back and i started to reel in my fish. (Tangent) I have fished the odd time but i wouldn't call myself a fisherman at any rate. I have never caught a big fish of any value or one that gave me a fight. This one did, but guess who won. Please enjoy the pics below. I enjoyed eating him.

Jeremey also caught a big one, but i won. Sorry Jeremy must be luck of the Irish.

Crash Bang

Last night i headed to the local Speedway track for some Stock Car Racing. This was a lot of fun. I have watched some of these races on tv before but never appreciated until last night as to how fast they go. I thought that the stupid looking wings on top of the car were just for advertising. Oh wasn't i wrong. If they don't have these wings the cars literally take off. There were so many different type of races and it finished off with a 70 car demolition derby.

I have only ever been to one demolition derby before and that was in ass freezing weather in Canada. The cars they drive have to be super modified. NOT HERE, these were just regular cars that people didn't mind beating the crap out of. I think all you had to have to race was a car with no window in it and a helmet to wear. Crazy.

i don't have any of my own pics as of yet. i will get them soon. these are some pics off the website

Fishing Pics

Jeremy got his tackle caught in some coral... ha ha that is funny..

As soon as we to wind the reel in music started playing. DaDum, DaDum we couldn't work out why. Then it came to the surface. It was a shark. Jeremy wouldn't let me try and lift it into the boat

Shark Splash

A close up of the coral that Jeremy got is tackle caught in

Fishing Pics

Thought it would be cool to try and cross breed fish

We both caught the same fish

The first catch of the day

Fishing Pics

Action shot! !






















Not sure what it is but I think he was in Finding Nemo






















This island is called Goat's island. We think it looks more like a rabbit.

We threw Nemo's friend back and all he did was float. Good one Brenda, way to kill a fish.















Turns out this hat wasn't a lucky hat

Enjoying the Sunset

Enjoying the sunset

Making the most of the sunset

Kristen & Brenda

Coromandel Peninsula

Brenda & Kristen, friend from Muskoka Woods who were working at Totara Springs when I arrrived. Including Jeremy the four of us headed up to Coromandel to do a spot of fishing.

Gotta do a spot of swimming

Coromandel Peninsula

Coromandel Peninsula
Coromandel Peninsula
Coromandel Peninsula

We went up to Jeremy's caravan to go fishing but one of the afternoons it was too windy so we went for a drive. Some pic from the drive.

Flying here

SO flying here was super fun… NOT! I guess the problem with booking a flight to New Zealand less than 24 hours before you fly out means you can’t be picky with what seat you get or what stop overs you DON’T get.


My flights were as follows

Belfast – London = 1 hr 10 mins
Stopover = 6 hours
London – Dubai – 6 hrs 45 mins
Stopover = 1 hour
Dubai – Singapore – 7 hrs 30 mins
Stopover = 45 mins
Singapore – Brisbane – 7 hours
Stopover = 50 mins
Brisbane – Auckland – 3 hrs 30 mins

Big props for Jeremy picking me up at the airport. He did fail to remind me that the temperature was going to be 27 degrees. So when i stepped out of the airport still wearing
my -4 degree Belfast clothes. Oh that was a fun car ride. I suppose i could have changed into shorts but it is a bit late thinking of that now.

One Month in Review

One Month in Review

I have now been in New Zealand for one month and what a month it has been. It was quite the rushed last minute decision to come away and one that I would prefer not to do again. Not being able to settle myself and saying all the goodbyes that I needed to was tough.

But I am here now and this month has definitely had its ups and down. Settling into the camp and meeting new people was tough. With being at Muskoka Woods for the last 7 years I knew the way things were run inside out. But coming here and not fully knowing what I was about to undertake was defiantly hard.

The job that I am doing here is working in a 4 man Ministry Team. There is Jamie, who oversees all of the aspects of the ministry, Rachel, who is in charge of all the follow-up of the guests that come and stay here. She runs bible studies with them where she posts them out, the kids fill them in and send them back to be marked. Quite incredible how many kids sign up for this? Then there is Jeremy who is a kind of AV geek. He is sorts out all the promotional stuff whether it is leaflets, flyers, posters, promo videos and website stuff. Then there is little old me and my job is to do the programming side of the camp. Working to organize, plan and prepare future camps that are coming in. Planning themes, brainstorming ideas, research, and whatever random things that needed done.

I am finding it hard not to compare Totara Springs to Muskoka Woods but I think it is a natural thing to do. There are areas of the Woods that I prefer and there are areas of the Springs that I prefer. One big difference that I see is that in New Zealand people don’t sue. The camp itself can’t be sued for any injury or stupidity. Regulations and the ways things are done are completely different. For the woods you have to have a certificate to climb a ladder higher than say 8 rungs. The other day I was on the top of the roof of the auditorium taking off the plastic roofing to allow some air flow. The auditorium is an arch shaped building that is easily 100 ft up. The other day they needed someone to go down to the high ropes course and belay (not sure of the correct spelling) for someone. They sent me down even though I have no training. All I had to do was take 2 mins to learn how to do it. You learn pretty quickly when someone is climbing up.

Being here has definitely taken some getting used to. Every day I am thinking about the woods and how much it is a part of my life. I can get down very quickly if I think about it too long. The fact that I won’t be able to be there this summer and this will be the first summer in seven years. I miss the community that I had around me and the friends that supported me. The families that loved me and those that were committed to seeing me become my best potential. I don’t feel that I have that here. The age group of folks at the Springs are quite varied. I hang out with Jeremy Bennit the most and he has been incredible. I don’t think I would still be here if it wasn’t for him. I am writing this update in a place called Coromandel. We are at his caravan where we are spending the next couple of days fishing. (I will do another update with pics and stories about my trips). I have never met a more generous, humble and self sacrificing guy. It is incredible.

I will update in the next day or so with Pics for you to have a look at.

Have a great day