Fattie goes fishing

Ha!! I look like a bean bag with a hat on!! This was taken on Labour Weekend when I went out to the Barrier to see my Tommy. I dare say it's the last time I attempt kayak fishing until after baby arrives now! Still it was a lovely afternoon to be out on the water and the fact that none of my catch were keepers (by our measure) didn't matter at all... especially when Tom had a couple of snapper on board by the time we finished up so there was plenty for dinner... mmmm!

Tom had already been away for a couple of weeks at this point and I was missing him a lot. Work had been really hectic so it was an instant salve to arrive on the island! It really is a magical place!

Saturday morning we went down to the local market day for a look around and catch up with anyone we knew. Then back to the bach for a nap before heading off for the aforementioned fishing trip.

I slept like the dead that night ... a welcome change from the wakeful nights I'd been having! And Tommy got his first few kicks from wee fatty dancing about in my belly while I was asleep!

Sunday is golf day... given how much Tom enjoys his golf and the fact he only plays on the Barrier these days I could hardly tell him he couldn't go... I walked around the first nine holes with them. The course has some stunning outlooks so it wasn't really a hardship and the boys were a laugh ... despite my ignorance of the finer points ... or really of anything to do with... the game. I left them to it for their second nine holes and hung out at the club house. I had a book with me but hardly needed it as people are always so friendly and inclusive. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting a few new people until Tom got back.

Monday saw me wake up with the blues. I felt really quite unenthused about the idea of heading home again and ended up getting a bit teary about ... sheesh! Harden up girl!

Tom dropped me at the airport just after 2pm and had to race off to meet someone arriving on the ferry in Tryphena. A short while before we were due to head off we were told that take off would be delayed as the weather at the other end was abysmal and there wasn't enough visibility to land the wee planes. I caught myself hoping it would stay that way and give me one more night before having to go home. It started looking more and more likely ... but then just after 5pm there was a gap in the weather so we all piled into the plane and were whisked away. We flew really low all the way back to dodge the cloud which was ... er... different.

We got back to the mainland before the weather turned again which was both a relief and a disappointment. What a sook!!

Mind you as it transpired over the next day or so I was coming down with a cold/flu bug so perhaps I should lighten up on myself a bit!

Cry me a river...

... I've had a fabulous weekend. Really, I have.
So why is it... that peering out the corner of the window from the back seat of the plane as we were pulling up into the air... and seeing my man, little more than a speck on the ground, waving his arm in the air... has me bawling my eyes out?
Gah!! I'm glad we didn't stop at the bottle store for a couple of ice cold G&T premixes... something w do occasionally on hot days, waiting at the airport... I'm weepy enough without it.... Sheeesh... tears rolling down my face as I type!! Overly emotional no??
I guess that despite being over on the island for the weekend, I miss him madly. Tom's kayaking mates were there so whilst there was lots of fun to be had, we didn't really get any "us" time.
I've already booked myself flights over for next weekend... to hell with the housework!!

Too much fishing...

... is there such a thing? I'll admit for a few moments last weekend I felt as though it was most certainly possible.

It had been a very busy week. Not only did I have the shock of being back on the mainland and back to work but I had been running about in the evenings trying to assemble a load of stuff for Tom's kayak trip... all the things he wasn't able to source of organise from over there.
I arrived at Claris airport feeling shattered! Tom arrived to pick me up and asked, "Wanna go fishing?"

To be honest it was the last thing I really wanted to do right then, I was feeling tired and harrassed from my week back in the city... I just wanted to relax. We decided to go to the sports club for a cold beer. A couple of jugs later we went home and Tom cooked up the steak I'd taken over with me... after a week of sandwiches on the run for dinner it was lovely to put my feet up and enjoy the meal. Once I'd eaten I could barely keep my eyes open... Tom said I was snoring before my head hit the pillow.

I was deep asleep.... Tom was stirring.... I peeked through one eyelid to see it was still dark but I knew it was getting closer to morning. I knew what was coming... Tom gave me a nudge, "oi... you awake?".
I played dead... it wasn't hard to do. Then there was a bigger nudge... "Mmmmmmmphrrrm? Whaaaat?"
"Wanna go fishing? The wind has dropped, it'll be pretty flat out there. If we go now we can be on the water by 6."
"Errrphmmmmm...."
"Well? You in?"
"No babe... can't move... tooooo tired.... you go on ahead...."
"You sure?"
"Mmmmmmhm... have fun"

With that he was off.... I lay there in my doped state listening to him get his gear together and thinking. Why? Why do we have to be fishing every spare moment? It was too much... sucking the joy out of it for me... aarrggh..... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzzzzz

I woke up a couple of hours later in a better frame of mind and pulled out my book. After an hour or so of reading I was starting to feel more human... I had needed that extra sleep and after a couple of cups of coffe I was feeling human again. It was okay, we could go out together for a fish again in the evening.
I pottered about the place until Tom arrived home at about 10:30.
"You didn't miss much babe... it was pretty hard going and not much happening"
I went out to the van to get my camera out. That's when I saw it... a large tail poking out of the fish bin... I laughed... "Sure it was a slow morning!"
"It was! I didn't get that until I was about to head home... and it was on my last scrungy bait!"
Still... it'd be fair to say he was pretty pleased with himself....

This one weighed in at a bit over 12 pound... a bit big for just the two of us so the decision was made to smoke him and share it around with our neighbours.

Too much fishing indeed!! What was I thinking?.... Sheeesh!

We set out again in the late afternoon for an evening fish. Tom had decided to drop the collapsable cray-pot he'd been given by a friend but once we got to the wharf we realised we'd left the fish frames we would use to bait it at home. He decided to drive back up to the house and get it so I started paddling out ... he would catch up later.

I'd made for "my spot" where I've had the most luck this summer and set myself up. Just as I saw Tom paddling out of the bay towards me I hooked up. By the time Tom had reached me I'd landed a reasonable snapper... that would do us for dinner with a bit of bread and butter.

Tom carried on past me to set the cray-pot and then headed out into deeper water to try his luck out there.

It was a lovely evening so I opened a beer to celebrate it and kicked back. I hooked up another 3 fish... all well over the legal minimum but only kept one... no need to get too carried away! It was pretty slow going though all in all. The fish seemed to be in mid water which meant they weren't on the bite... just cruising. It looked like Tom was paddling back towards me... then I took a hard strike as I was winding my line in. For a while I thought maybe I'd hooked a kahawai but it didn't seem quite right... not running anywhere as much as a kahawai would although I had spooled my rod with a heavier braid that afternoon so maybe that was making the difference? We played tug of war for a while before I could see colour... I reach around for the net... I was going to play this one safe. Tom arrived just as I was landing it. I think he was secretly pleased to see it was not in contention with his fish from the morning.

We pottered about a little more enjoying the sunset before we decided to call it a day. It's always pretty special to be out on the water at this time of night... some of the sunsets are so stunning! This wasn't a particularly spectactular one ... no clouds for the colurs to bounce about with. It was more like a dye leak, the colour slowly moving across the sky getting deeper as time went on.

Then ... the natural wonders never cease... as we got closer into the wharf the water started lighting up. The were some good strong spots of phospherence and the kayaks glowed blue along the water looking for all the world like we had the naff blue lights all the boy-racers install under their cars... except much cooler! We were like a couple of 6 years olds with cap guns... only a lot damper! Splashing about to make the water glow. This bit of video gives you some idea... the white light is my headlight and it's reflection but the flashes of blue are from me splashing with my paddle... awesome!!

Eventually we decided to give up playing and head home for a fish dinner... some for us and some for the neighbours... it doesn't get much fresher than that.

Is there such a thing as too much fishing? Myth and fairytales... don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Foiled!!

Well ... yesterday we went for a drive over the hill and the view looked like this...

Today when we went for a drive it looked like this...

Yes! The weather gods had conspired in my favour... I was due to fly out in the afternoon... the holiday would be over but with so much low cloud it was likely that the flights would be cancelled. The flights from the island navigate by sight only, they are after all only tiny planes! If the visibility was crap there would be no flight home... deep down I was ecstatic... the inevitable wold be delayed , if only for another day....

Tom said to me "You are a witch!"...

I cackled... Mwaahahaaa!

It was not to be... within a few hours this weather had blown over and my flight would be running as scheduled... dagnamit!

And so... here I am... back on the mainland... counting sleeps until I fly back out again (only 5)... and trying not to think about going back to work in the morning!

Sigh!

It's not all sweetness and light...

Just so you know, we still get wind and rain even though we are on holiday.

We watched this spectacular example of weather closing in from our possie on the beach... we were doomed from the start... all our gear, including kayak and a beach shelter... We just had to accept there was no escape! But man was it spectaular! Thunder, lightning, rain and wind!! It's never dull around here!

By the time we carted everything back up to the van the worst was over and the rain was easing... just our luck!!

How blessed are we?

Oh my goodness... how will I ever be able to explain what an amazing couple of days we have had?

We had a relatively uneventful crossing on the ferry an didn't arrive on the island until close to midnight.

The first day on the island we woke up and after a Tommy special breakfast, we got busy with unpacking and trying to find spots for everything in our wee bach. Libby was frothing to get to the beach so the afternoon was beach time. Libby was like a whirling dervish - swimming, snorkling, kayaking, playing in the sand, climbing trees and then doing it all over again. She was so excited to finally be here that I think she was determined to do everything all at once - amazing energy levels!! Just when you expected her to curl up exhausted she would be away again!

New Years Eve was a quiet affair for us. A bit of bellydance and drumming on the deck at Libby's request and then an early night.

Tom was up and away early for a paddle and a fish. Libby woke up shouting "Happy New Year" and came down for breakfast. We pottered about re-arranging the bach trying to find the best place for everything to go... always a bit of an evolving process.

Tom arrived home with a 9 pound snapper - dinner was taken care of! It was a stinking hot day so we waited until about 3:00 before we went down to the beach. When we got there we were treated to this....

Words won't do this justice... and really to be honest neither does the video! What and amazing few hours we had watching this performance!

It seems criminal to be blogging when there is so much to be doing outdoors... I had to share this though and skite... if I'm not around it's because I'm busy with life on the island!

Island hangover...

Waaaah!!
I'm back on the mainland... not quite kicking and screaming but I was a long way from being the most enthusiastic passenger on the 6 seater plane back.
It seems to get harder and harder to tear myself away from that place. I worked remotely today and even curled up in the wee shack that is our island home it seems a treat. It's so quiet that I get loads done. I had to chuckle when I read the weekly "what's happening" email from our directors that included... "Janene is working from home today".... it is more and more like home... more so than our home here on the mainland even.
Being back is tough ... my feet felt like they were in concrete boots as I trudged my way back to where the car was parked at the airport... my head felt full of cotton wool and when I got back to the house it was hard work just getting up the steps and letting myself in... there has been no sense of relief to be back... just a quiet sadness that I am... it's like a hangover without the alcohol.

Dooo-dooo-doo…looking out my back door…

Or rather looking out my toilet door… sorry for those of you with more delicate sensibilities…. but really… if your toilet had no door… and this was your view from the bog… tell me... how could you go wrong?

Another day on the water

Damn... it's tough but someone's gotta do it!! Not too much explanation except to say that we had a great day out when I arrived on the island last Friday. I outdid the boys fishing but they went for a dive and I think the haul of crayfish the ended up with winning the day.... see for yourself...

Girls' Day Out

The Girls' Day Out event is on this weekend. I've never been to one of these and to be honest I have no real desire to... The type of girl's day out I enjoy is the one we had over our New Year holiday...

We had a great time over on the Barrier at the beginning of the year. At one point Tom was Over at our part ime neighbours - the family that own/have shares in a couple of sections next to us. Louise mentioned to Tom that she's always wanted to go out on a fishing charter but never had because it was difficult to get onto on as a single person. We decided to organise a trip out for Louise, Andrea an myself and leave the boys at home one day. I rang Craig of Tryphena Charters to set something up.

We've been out with Craig quite a few times now and knew he'd be the man for the job. He's keen on his fishing and always so enthusiastic when he takes you out. He's also very generous with advice and tips on technique and tackle... top man! We always had a good time out with Craig and never fail to come home with some good stories and a fair whack of fish.

We arranged to meet him at Tryphena wharf at 2pm in a couple of days... we were all set!

On the day we were going to go Tom, Libby & I went down to the cafe to treat ourselves to breakfast. When we got back there was a text message waiting for us from Craig... "I have a plan - can you come earlier?" ... this was intriguing! When I called him to see what was up he said he wanted to take us out for kingfish! OH.MY.GOD!!! I'd never caught a kingfish before! I ran through the bush to see if Andrea and Louise were home and check if they were cool with leaving earlier. Louise have her foot in a cast after slipping down the hill and injuring her archilles but said she was still up for it. I think Tom was a smidgin (only a little smidgin) envious at the prospect of us catching kingys... he had never caught one at that point either!

We drove over the hill to meet Craig and he motored out towards our fishing spot for the day. He'd given us a rundown on the dos and don'ts and we fired our jigs over the side. Before long Andrea yelled out... she was into a kingy! I don't think the others really knew what they were in for so when Andrea's line started peeling out she hung onto the rod for dear life! Craig started coaching her on when to wind back line and when to let it run... after a while she reckoned it was too hard... Craig told her "You hooked it... you have to get it back to the boat before we can unhook it!" She clung to the rod, knuckles white from the effort. After a few more minutes she said she didn't think she could hold on much longer so I took over for her. Eventually we landed the fish - he was beautiful!! Not a monster but most certainly a good sized fish! Andrea looked stunned when she saw the size of it... it turned out to be the biggest fish of the day.

Craig manouvered back over the spot again and once more the jigs went over the side for the next drift. He threw a popper out the back to show us the kingys chasing it back to the boat. The rest of the afternoon was a bit of a blurr, I couldn't tell you who caught the next fish or how many fish we even caught. Not all of them were lagal size and of those that were, most went back for another day. Every drift over the pin, except one, we hooked up a fish and once or twice all 3 of us hooked up at once!

After her first fish Andrea had a better idea of what to expect and landed all the rest of her hookups herself. Louise had it sussed, she had her cast jammed into the side of the boat she was able to lean on it for extra leverage. We had a ball! There was only one rod end between the three of us so whoever hooked up used it... or whoever had the biggest fish on at the time. Craig later admitted that he did have a gimble on board but his attitude was "the fish feels pain, you feel pain, it's a fairer contest".

Our bodies ached from the effort and eventually, after about 6 or 7 shots at "one last drift", we decided enough was enough! We had 4 fish in the boat and it had been exciting day!

When we got back to the ridge everyone was waiting. I though Andrea's husband was going to faint when he saw the size of of them! The kids were buzzing with excitement and everyone traipsed over to ours where another neighbout (from below our section) did the honours and carved them up!

I went to bed exhausted and aching, and dreamt all night about jigs flashing through the water! The following morning the bruises on my legs, groin and stomach had started to show through and my arms still felt like they were going to fall off... but it didn't matter, I couldn't stop grinning every time I thought about our day on the water with the kings, our awesome girls'day out!

The end of the magic...

... for now....
So I'm back on the mainland and it doesn't quite feel right. I was really not looking forward to leaving our little corner of paradise... and was even less enthusiastic about arriving back in the city. I think that perhaps my brain is resisting reality because I feel very floaty and am operating almost "out of body". It's a bit bizarre really, it's a bit like I still have sea legs and I feel as though I'm hovering a few feet away from my body. My balance feels out of whack and everymove feels like going through treacle. It's almost as though I'm operating in a different gravity field when I get back and that my body is resisting becoming attached to this reality ... I'd much rather be back on the island.
I'm just going to kick back and try to fit back in... slowly... very slowly... and check my Lotto tickets!!

Having a grand time ... thanks for asking!

But have been far to busy to write so here's some teaser photos from our latest GBI trip... more later :)

Home alone... away from home

Yay! Back on the Barrier!!

I was a real sadsack most of the day… my own fault. I’d stayed on at the pub last night and was suffering for it this morning. I didn’t have any motivation and basically lay about feeling sorry for myself most of the day. Funnily enough, the closer I got to the Barrier the better I felt. The drive to the airport with the windows right down helped… as did the bottle of V I skulled on the way! By the time I got off the plane I was feeling a million times better! What a magical place this is!!
Steve picked me up and drove me up to the bach… the first time I’ve been traveled over here without Tommy also being here!

I opened up and walked in… Phoooaarr! What is the pong?? I looked around…

Can you see my welcoming committee?

On the bench to the left??

Take a closer look…

That’s the last time we’re leaving the trap set when we’re not here!! Just as well I got rat bait to lay this trip!

So, I got that cleaned up, hooked the fridge up to the gas bottle and set it running and have been kicking back enjoying the peace and quiet.
LOVELY!!

Now I’m off down to the Club for dinner and a movie… and given my improved state of health… probably a beer.

Not JUST another brick in the wall...

Wow! What a weekend... and another step in the process to our mudbrick house!

We travelled up to Dargaville on Saturday with the intention of getting more "hands on" and experience the mudbrick process first hand.

Saturday afternoon we went out to visit Craig and Kimberly (my cousin) at their new house site and spent a few hours out there chewing the fat and catching up. They took us to a neighbouring site to see the start of another mudbrick build.

I went over and picked up one of the bricks to get a feel for them.... phoarrr! Not at all lightweight!! Craig reckoned they were around 13kgs each when wet.... Lawsie mercy!

Tommy was very excited to see the site as a work in progress and buzzed about asking questions, poking & prodding and picking up bricks. As Tommy quizzed Craig and they chattered away like a couple of wee boys in the sandpit Kimberly said to me... "Pssst... Hey cuz... you can almost see Tommy drooling!" ... no almost about it... he was!! And the glorious sunset Kimberly had organised for us went (almost) unnoticed... All that night I dreamt about lugging bricks about in rather surreal circumstances.... not unlike what I imagine the building of the ancient egyptian pyramids to have been with labourers (including me!!) racing about carrying bricks into position like busy ants, whips cracking, the sun beating down, loinclothes ... I'm sure you get the picture... I woke up Sunday morning feeling quite spent already and with a smidgin of concern about what I was letting myself in for....

We had gone up north with the intention of working on one of Craig's projects... a mudbrick building for a local paper making business (incidentally owned by my Father's cousin) so we packed up on Sunday morning and set off. We stopped in town to get some stuff for lunch and some gloves then drove out through Te Kopuru to the building site.

The rest of the day was like making mud pies and thankfully not at all like my dream! The pace was very relaxed. Although there was heavy work involved it was at a sedate pace, there was no rushing about, no whips cracking and (praise be) no loinclothes!! Most of the time it was more like playing at mudpies than hard graft, much to my relief.

The building process was up to the 13th course. Craig and Boots set out the corners and ran their string lines, with Tommy hard on their heels watching and quizzing them... Then we started helping with laying the next course of bricks. In order to do this we clambered up on scaffolding laid out a bed of mud mortar and after placing the bricks mortar was slopped between them puushing it int the gaps with our fingers smoothing the excess off the face of the wall. Being the shortest I found it a bit awkward trying to place the bricks properly into the mortar bed so in the finish we settled into a routine with Tommy and Craig placing the bricks while Boots or I shovelled mortar up to them and brought more bricks. Boots was also buzzing about mixing more mortar and loading more bricks into the water drums. There were no set roles and really everyone worked together under Craigs direction.

It all just kind of happened with someone doing what needed doing as it needed doing... really quite an organic process!

We left at about 4 in the afternoon to make the trip back to Auckland with Craig telling us our apprenticeship was served...

"That's all there is to it!" he told us, grinning.

Tommy was buzzing with excitement about how easy all it was. It had been one thing to know, in theory, how it was all worked but having experienced part of the process first hand has made it so much more real and certainly more achievable. I had a bit of an afterglow, that lovely tired feeling you get after a day's physical work to achieve something. We contributed in a small way to something that will become a fantastic building but more importantly we have had an experience that really proves to us that our dream of building our own mudbrick house is not a dream at all, it's an entirely acheiveable goal.

As if that wasn't enough, on our trip back we had another experience that reminded us why we want to move off the mainland....

All is.... WET... in paradise

Having arrived on Thursday afternoon ready for the weekend plans were afoot for fishing. I’d be working from the bach on Friday and Tom had a few things to finish off, some quotes to do and a couple of errands to run but we’d be all go for Saturday… wouldn’t we?
Alas no… for anyone that was starting to get the impression our little piece of paradise was the perfect island retreat… a little shot of reality is in order…

Yep, it’s persisting down and has been ever since Friday evening.

There will be no fishing … aside from the couch fishing…

We may even not make it back to the mainland as scheduled tomorrow!! Tom is meant to be going back on the ferry and I have a flight booked in the afternoon… oh well, not much that can be done about that!!

Still… on a brighter note, this is the very first blog entry from the island!! Yay for the satellite dish… that is amazingly still attached to the roof!!

Just another weekend in paradise

It got off to a bit of a false start with my Thursday afternoon flight being cancelled because of the weather. I immediately re-booked for the following morning for the etra flight they put on at 8am. Tommy met me at the airport and we went up to the bach to get coffee.
We decided that it was too breezy to go out in the bay so we decided to pack all the kayaks up and head to Harataonga and then see what would happen. Once there we loaded our gear onto the yaks and paddled down the creek to the beach. The surf was quite big but we decided to head out and try and find a more sheltered spot to base ourselves. Getting through the surf was a bit of fun but we all got through without any spillages. Gina did well considering she wasn't too keen to begin with but she paddled through like a pro.










We found a small beach around the corner and paddled over there to make it our base. Tom and I both had a fish while the others fished off the rocks for bait fish. Once they'd stocked up on bait we all went out for a bit more fishing. Tom and I cuaght enough snapper for everyone to have some for dinner so when we caught up with Tim and Angus to find that Angus had caught a good sized Porae we knew we definately had plenty for dinner. Gina had already gone back by this stage but we tried fishing a little longer before heading back. The swell seemed bigger on the way back in. Tim and Angus beached okay but Tom and I both canned out!
We called into the Club on the way home and ended up there until quite late with the guys getting a bit carried away playing table tennis.
Everyone woke up pretty late on Saturday morning so we mooched around the place until the afternoon when we decided to go to the hot pools. First though we went for a drive to Whangaparapara and had a couple of beers at the lodge. By the time we drove back to the track to the hot pools all the vehicles that had been there had gone so it looked like we would have the place to ourselves. I'm not entirely sure how long it takes us to walk the track to the pools - half an hour maybe - it's always quicker to get there though than coming back. Tom and I climbed into the main pool where the track meets the stream and proceeded to soak while the others explored a bit further up the stream. After a while we were starting to over cook and about then Angus came down the track to tell us they'd found a deeper pool further up. We bundled off up the track and climbed over the rocks to find a fabulous pool - deeper and more like a spa pool ... ahh... bliss!
The walk back to the car after our soak was a bit more sedate than the trip in as we were all so relaxed. Of course... we had to call into the club for the boys to get their ping-pong fix on the way home.

It was an early start on Sunday morning to get down to the wharf and try another spot of fishing. The conditions weren't fantastic but we'd been out in worse. We decided it was too breezy to venture out of the bay so we drift fished our way back along the coast and into the bay. The fish started coming onto the bite when we'd been out for half an hour or so. I kept two snapper for the bin. As we were driftining at different speeds and in different dirrections it was hard to say how the others were doing but once back at the wharf we had 6 snapper to take home for lunch. you don't get it much fresher than that!

The sun came out fierce after midday and having had an early and active morning, once we'd had our fill of fish we all found our own spots out of the sun for a bit of a kip. We roused ourselves about 4 o'clock, all a bit grumpy from sleeping in the heat, so the cure for that was to head to the bottom end of Kaitoke beach for a swim and snorkle around the rocks. Once in the water all the earlier grumpiness faded and we had a great time swimming. Tom came out of the water with his pockets stuffed with mussels so Tim and Angus took up the challenge to get us enough for dinner... hunter-gatherers!

Dinner was of course mussels - some steamed and eaten out of the shells and the rest I made into mussel fritters. It's a fantastic feeling to end the day knowing you've provided yourself with a couple of meals from catching to cooking. I had a fantastic sleep that night!

Sadly, Monday morning rolled around and it was time for me to head back down to the airport to catch the 7:30 flight back to the shore. Still, I can't complain... we seem to pack so much into our days that I felt as though I'd been away for a week!

Steep learning curve

It’s been a real process trying to figure out the whole internet thing for the island. You see, the plan is to start spending more time over there but to do that I would need to start working remotely. For this to happen we need a computer … and broadband internet access.
Over time we had started researching the options for getting broadband. There is no existing phone on the section although it looks as though there may be cables running close by to hook up to. Even if we did get a phone line in to the section we are still limited to dial-up internet as broadband is only available through Claris and more recently Tryphena, but not up our way. It seemed to us that our only option was going to be internet via satellite.
I did a little bit of research to find some providers in NZ and see what sort of reviews people gave them. In an effort to get more opinions I left a couple of messages on internet forums – the replies to the messages on both forums were not particularly useful on the satellite front although one response gave me information on booster aerials for cell-phones (we ended up getting one that has proved successful)
As much as I searched the internet for information it seemed that we were going to have to go one step further and contact a satellite internet provider. This was a bit of a leap as I really had no idea what to ask!! Well, first of all we needed to know if there was coverage for GBI… there’s the first question. Hmmm and given the limited power resources, did the satellite set-up require and if so how much? Also given that installation for the bach would only be until we have built so could a satellite be transferred to the main building at a later date? I sent off these initial questions to a company that I had seen good reports of and by the end of the day I had a response. This was promising and a flurry of emails ensued with more detailed info on the power setup and narrowing down what angle of view of the sky we needed to have to ensure connection.
It seemed that every time we had a response answering our questions it prompted even more questions…. The more we found out the more we realized we needed to find out!
Just as it seemed we were beginning to understand things I mentioned it to our IT man at work. He started talking about lag and latency and how this could potentially be a problem with working on the remote desktop…. Oh no!! More stuff to try and understand!
Back to the Satellite people I went asking about the lag issues, trying to seem as though I knew what I was talking about despite, at this stage, only having a very basic understanding… this however proved to be too difficult for them to answer simply for me. In fact I almost felt as if I was being fobbed off… certainly not comforting given the equipment alone was going to cost around $2,500…. It was a lot of money to be shelling out on a system that no-one could guarantee would work for me.
We came to a bit of a standstill until Tom spent some time on the island working (October 07) and got talking to some of the locals who gave him advice on what they were using and most importantly told us who on the island did installations! Tom came home and got in contact with Orcon, based on the info he’d gleaned and the recommendation of the chap who does the installations. We negotiated buying the equipment only from them on the understanding we would have the installation done and would be using their service once it was all up and running…. We placed the order!
The gear arrived and we had it freighted over to the island just before Christmas. By the time we arrived out on the island for a holiday on December 31st the dish was installed!! Wow!
All that remained before I could test it out was to install an inverter to convert power to 240V so that I could plug the laptop in. The boys spent a morning getting the 2 extra batteries hooked up to the solar panels and then it was all go… at least it was once I worked out how to install the wireless router that we’d taken over… Woohoo! We had internet! And now the moment of truth… could I connect to work via remote desktop? Oh yes I could!! Woohoo (again)!!! I was able to answer a few queries via email on jobs that I’d left with other people to do while I was on holiday… excellent!! Not only that but we were also now able to look up the latest tide and weather info when we wanted to go fishing!!
Later in January I went over for the long weekend (Auckland Anniversary) but went a day earlier with the intention of working on Friday to make sure that all the usage over the internet to work was functioning properly. This was crucial as if this worked it would mean that I can start spending more time over there and work remotely … and it doesn’t get much more remote the Great Barrier!! I had figured that if the experiment failed it would only be one day out of my holidays but, thankfully, everything went smoothly and I was able to work as if I was still in the office… Fantastic!

So now the transition to the island can truly begin!

Happy Birthday To Me!!

What a wonderful day!! And one of the best gifts I could ever have is waking up this morning with my Tommy.... aaaaaaw!! I love ya babe!!

I feel very blessed today.

I am still basking in the afterglow of a fabulous weekend on Great Barrier Island where we soaked up the magic of the place and had a wonderful time! Just being there is special enough but there were a number of events that made it an extra special weekend. Our flight over was in a wee 6 seater which was awesome! As we flew over the island we got our first glimpse of the new driveway below us!!
On Saturday morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast then went down to the Claris Club to see the local Market Day and Santa Parade.
!!
After a luxurious nap early afternoon we headed over to Pah Beach where we enjoyed a fantastic evening at The Currach where they were holding a local Singer/Songwriter Competition. An amazing evening with some great music, great company and special guest judge Dave Dobbyn (who also seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself and treated us to a few performances of his own)! Wow, words can't do the night justice!

And... my very early birthday present from Tom came into it's own... On Sunday I went on my first couple of dives since my course and thoroughly enjoyed myself!! Look for yourself!!

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Today has been very low key at work, not many people have realised it is my birthday so my feet are fairly well planted on the ground. I met with my very good friend Michelle at 2:00 and enjoyed a very nice lunch. This made me feel a wee bit sleepy for the rest of the afternoon... or maybe I'd become too accustomed to an afternoon nap on the Barrier!!

From here on in work became progressively worse... things I was looking into became increasingly problematic and I was pleased when it was time to leave for the day!!

Then it was home to field calls from my family wishing me a Happy Day before going to Quiz Night. This included talking to my wee 2 yr old niece on speaker phone... this was extremely confusing for her because although she could hear Aunty Neen, she couldn't see me.... it was all resolved once we were talking without speaker phone... a much easier concept to deal with!

then of course... QUIZ!! Happy happy... at the end of the evening and a very quick play off... (the answer being Dick Turpin) we ended up in 3rd place.... yeah baby!

How much better can a birthday get?