Boxing Day - Blogabond

BOXING DAY / GISBORNE DAY II - I woke up well rested this morning and dug out some leftovers from last night's feast for my breakfast. Shad and I have decided to hang out for a day in Gisborne and Carol has agreed to put us up for another night. This will mean changes in our plans, cutting either the East Coast or New Year's in Maunganui, but the last two days have been horrible and we could use a break. Carol lives with her son Nick (20 years old), her partner Greg, and Greg's daughter Sam (19 years old). They told us so much about the property, I decided to have a look for myself.

The first thing I found was the plum tree. Did I mention plums are one of my favorite fruits ever? The plums on this tree are so so tasty. I ate at least 10 of them. Then I walked down to see the birds. There was a turkey, chickens, rooster, ducks, geese, and even a peacock. From there I wandered into the pig pen where the orange trees were. I asked the orange tree for an orange 3 times, shaking its branches each time. On the third attempt an orange dropped down. It was the most delicious orange I have ever eaten. I then wandered over to have a look at the pigs. The two of them were sleeping under the shade of a metal shelter. As I got closer they woke up and immediately noticed me standing there eating an orange. With grunts and squeals the two huge pigs got to their feet and charged me. It was terrifying, but I held my ground, remembering Carol telling me they were very friendly pigs. When they got to me they started nosing me, grunting. They had bristly multicolored hair and upturned snouts with mouths that were faintly human. They wouldn't settle for a couple of plums. They wanted my orange. "Orange! Orange! Orange! Orange!" I made my way past them to a nearby mandarin tree, which I shook, causing an avalanche of mandarin oranges to fall to the ground. The pigs gobbled them up as fast as they possibly could, sometimes stuffing as many as 3 in their mouth at once. I shook the tree again and made my escape.

In the afternoon Carol and Greg took us for a drive around Gisborne. We stopped at some great lookouts over the town, bay, and countryside. We even stopped at a store in town so I could buy a new front tire. We headed back tot eh house just long enough to pick up Sam and get the boat ready, then were out to the bay to catch our dinner.

Fishing was perfect.

I had a hard time believing my life as we sped across the crystal blue ocean under a bright clear sky. I love couchsurfing! I love New Zealand! Greg spotted a flock of fishing birds and pulled up just short so we could ready our poles for kahawai fishing.

Kahawai fishing is a pretty easy affair: find some birds, attach a medium sized shiny lure with plenty of hooks, troll through the birds.

Within seconds we al had kahawai on the line. They put up a good fight and are pretty fun to catch.

Within minutes we had enough for three dinners and had to leave before we caught too many. Before we did though, Greg taught Shad and I how to bleed and gut a fish. There's a great video of it.

The best part is when you rip out the still beating heart. Thank you fish for your lives so that we might eat.

After that we sped out past Young Nick's Head to try some bottom fishing for snapper. Nobody was catching anything though, and we couldn't figure out why. We couldn't figure it out, that is, until we saw the dolphins. While fish might not like dolphins, humans sure do.

Dolphins!

Our boat was surrounded by them and they leapt in the waves beside us. There was even a baby dolphin! It was absolutely magical. Eventually we just gave up fishing and headed home. On the way back in though, there was still a bit of magic waiting for us. We came across Moko, Gisborne's friendliest dolphin. He was huge and old and beautiful to behold.

Back home Greg smoke the kahawai and we rounded out our meal with oysters, pipis (a small New Zealand shellfish), and leftovers from last night. Then after dinner Carol and Nick initiated Shad to New Zealand by teaching him the meaning of a Tim Tam Slam. (I already knew.) All five of us did them while Carol videotaped. There's a video of it out there somewhere. It's so delicious. We have to find a way to recreate this in the states. It has been such an absolutely fantastic day. Thank you Star Mart. Thank you Matt. Thanks Carol and Greg and Sam and Nick. Wonderful.

written by

aeonhunterinnz on December 26, 2009 from Gisborne, New Zealand

from the travel blog: AeonHunter in New Zealand

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