Life in the real world

Well the last time I posted anything here was when we were all still on Raoul and life was simple! Now I am back to work, back to actually paying for things and back to the craziness of cycling in a city! But that is jumping ahead a little...

So changeover, the new team and a few extras arrived on the Braveheart all fresh faced and excited (just like us not so long ago!) The week past in a blur of volleyball games, tug of war contests, swimming and teaching them the ways of island life. Before we knew it we were back on the Braveheart heading for the mainland watching the island disappear with eight very white bums waving us off!



The trip was pretty good, well after the first day when it was a little rough and a few people were a little unwell...the next two were sunny and calm, perfect! Back in Tauranga we started saying our goodbyes and heading off in different directions.





After a brief stop in Auckland where Lachlan and I overdosed on fresh fruit (strawberries, mango, banana, nectarines for dinner and breakfast - sooo good!) I went to Taupo and visited Ellie, who used to live in Christchurch but upped sticks and moved as soon as I turned my back to go to Raoul! Damn her! But she does live in a nice spot, and had we had a fantastic time following her plan for integrating me back into the mainland way of life - fishing for prawns, a crazy yoga session, watching stunning sunsets and tramping! My time there past all to quickly!



And now I'm back in the garden city. I have started a new job (park ranger for the regional council) and so far so good, not quite the same as working on Raoul but I think I'm going to like it.

And I guess that's it from me, at least till next time....

The end is near

We have spent most of the week (well, in between boating, snorkeling trips, days on the beach...) cleaning the place up so I thought I better take some photos while it is still looking very smart (not that it doesn't always look like this!)

Hostel and front garden

Hostel and surrounds from the back

All important volleyball court, big game next week!

Under da sea

We had a great start to the week! We spent Monday ticki touring around in the boats, I think we pretty much saw a little of everything the sea has to offer!

Hutchies Bluff

Dolphins

Two loons

Me and big boy our resident grouper

Mike and his boat coming off the water

The turtles, whales and sharks weren't too interested in stopping for the camera, but I did get some great shots of the sea whilst trying!

Legs Eleven

For the past week we have been studying the weather waiting for the wind to drop so we can get stuck into the whale survey. To do the survey we must have a sea state of 3 or less (smooth sea with scattered whitecaps) and the forecast for the weekend looked like we might just be in luck! The survey needs to be conducted between 0800 - 1200 from seven different points around the island, the majority of us had a bit of a walk to get into position so we all set off on Saturday afternoon to get to our sites and enjoy a night under the stars with everyone tuning in at 1900 for a few games of radio bingo!

The view from the hammock

(my bed for the night)

The next morning we all held our breath as we waited for Nichy to make the big decision based on all our reports of the sea state at their sites, it was a goer! Though at some sites only just! All morning I had whales popping up all over the show in my sector, the idea was to follow each group and hand it over when they entered a neighbours field of vision, it worked well but got really confusing when you were following four or five groups at once!

My field of vision for the survey,

well most of it!

The whales were on top form with breaching and tail slapping galore, the preliminary count is around 114 whales and Nichy spotted a turtle and Mike saw some dolphins!

Mission Accomplished!

Thursday 07 October saw the weed team enter the last plot, and we decided getting through them all needed to be marked by some sort of celebration! The plot was lovely, under nikaus, pretty flat and we even found some buttercups! It was a very quick plot and we were done way too early (we had arranged to meet Ash and Ian who were back at base with our lunch once met duties had been seen to). So we headed over to Fishing Rock to kill time watching whales and playing I Spy, it's a hard life...

Lunch was a feast! Pizza, sausage rolls, ginger crunch and of course a cake! A passion fruit, peach butter cake no less (all the common weeds on the island). Very obviously in the shape of a champagne bottle, well at least the creators thought so but apparently it looked more like a light bulb!

We had speeches, banners and prizes and a nice cup of tea before heading home for a swim in the sea!

Hutchies Bluff

Another of my favourite spots (I have a few) on the island is Hutchies Bluff, especially on clear starry nights!

Nichy, Ash, Lach and I headed for Hutchies Bluff on Saturday afternoon, all travelling separately! Within about 10minutes of arriving I had seen 12 whales and they just kept on coming! We made the big mistake of leaving Ash with the key dinner ingredient (all the meat!) to carry up and so Nichy, Lachlan and I had to get started on the chocolate for fear of starvation while we waited for him! The meatlovers stew was definitely worth the wait, the slugs I found cleaning my bowl out the next morning obviously thought so too.

There is a small fairly flat area for sleeping which being the first down Lachlan had grabbed, I found a relatively flat piece of grass and Nichy and Ash opted to sleep a little further back on the track where the chances of rolling off the bluff and waking up 200m below when you hit the water are a bit smaller!

A short Stephen King bedtime story set us all up for a good nights sleep!! The whales were still wide awake though and we could hear the splashing of tail slapping and honking of their blow holes all night long!

D'Arcy Point

One of my favourite spots on the island would have to be D'Arcy Point, it is a bit of a mission to get there but well worth the effort!

Lachlan and I left the hostel Friday afternoon and rockhopped along the coast as far as Sunshine Valley where we camped for the night, it is a super wee spot, full of gifts left to appease the sunshine gods! Certainly worked for us!

Saturday morning we continued on around the coast eventually making it to D'Arcy. There are huge rockpools to swim in (as long as you don't mind sharing with the crabs, fish and urchins!) and huge rocks to climb!

After lunch we set of back to sunshine where we picked up our gear and headed up the valley to Mahoe Hut, after a very good nights sleep (I had rather tired legs by then!) I went for a quick trip out to Smiths Bluff which is the furthers point south on the island, super views into Denham Bay and towards Hutchies Bluff. Then set off back to the hostel for lunch and a much needed swim, it was hot!