The boss said I could go fishing!

Last night my boss (XiaolI) agreed I could go fishing today with my mate. I had not told her conditions may not be favourable but I was missing feeling that bite on my line, then hauling it back through the surf and up on to the rocks.

The day started with a beautiful sunrise which inferred good weather was in store for us. 6am up to the roosters crowing ell before my alarm was set to go. But so be it. Have a coffee then I hear the boss has also arisen. Apparently chickens hatching in the incubator. So make her a coffee as well before I load the fishing gear in the 4wd. Didn’t grab my favourite reel as tat was still rigged for boat fishing and was to lazy to strip it down. After all, it would have taken all of 2 minutes. But grabbed my new Penn which I had only tried once prior. Time to christen it properly.

Couldn’t drive the 50 kilometres up the beach as it was just gone high tide, so head up the road and through the forest road to the bluff. The winter had taken its toll on the forestry road but the 4wd was fine. Not sure the 2 dogs I bought with us thought it was that great.

We exit the forest through the sand dunes to beautiful calm at the bluff. (The rock outcrop 50km up Ninety Mile Beach). Park the 4wd and let the dogs out for a run while I put on track shoes comfortable walking over the rocks. Assemble the fishing gear then we are ready to go. Two heads poke up behind the rocks we are about to clamber. 2 seals that had obviously come in over night to rest up. Now disturbed by us the rush off back to the safety of the sea. Not the only seals we were to sight today.

Get to what we term the high rock ready to cast and over comes a wave and I am saturated. The only wave to catch me out the whole 4 hours we were there. Damn. Wet and cold. What a great start.

Within 2 minutes of my first cast I had our first fish. An ocean running kahawai. Often we throw them back as they are not what we were targeting but this one I had a specific point for keeping. Food for my carnivorous turtles I had back at the farm. My turtles for a number of years now have lived on fish we catch. They like a meat with blood and the Kahawai meets that bill. Now their winter semi hibernation is over, they are hungry.

The morning proceeded well with 20 plus good size fish caught. Our freezer was bare, but no longer. Sashimi eaten for a late lunch with soy plus wasabi. To lazy to make a dip or was it the craving meant we couldn’t wait.

Its great the fish are returning after their wintering away in warmer waters. If this is the sign of what the fishing is going to be like this summer, then it’s a sign we are very happy with.

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

Ninety Mile Beach New Zealand – Beautiful

That video I took on the cell a short time ago as I sat on Ninety Mile Beach while my boss Xiaoli plus two of our customers were picking shell fish ready for tonights dinner. They ideally need be picked 4 to 5 hours prior eating and left to soak in sea water. This allows them time to spit out sand they may have in the shell. Nothing worse then when you are eating them and you can feel the gritty sand on your teeth.

I know the video shows it as a very misty day which it is. But swells are down. All factors are looking great for fishing but my boss says outright, ‘NO’. And people wonder why I refer to my beautiful wife Xiaoli as ‘BOSS’. What she says goes unless you go behind her back or better still just don’t tell her your intent. But this morning that was hard as I picked her and 2 of our customers up at the beach accommodation we own and my fishing gear was obvious to everybody with my rod between seats and the stink of bait in the rear.

My boss two nights ago shows she must still love me. She saw a 4.2 metre boat for sale on the Chinese SkyKiwi internet sight based Auckland. Thought it was a perfect boat for us and wanted to make a call about it. I was somewhat taken back with surprise and it was late evening so I said lets in the morning talk about it and let me see the photographs when properly awake. I slept with a grin on my face Thursday night. That had caught me totally surprised and even more so because I have my 5 metre boat I only bought 18 months ago sitting right outside my window.

Friday morning comes and I stay quiet and low and behold she raises it again so I said send me the link from her computer so I can translate the text etc. Her computer I had bought last trip to China so software and everything is in Chinese. In the past she complained about software being in English.

Anyway, back to the boat. I get the link, not the photos as you need be a member on SkyKiwi but the text I could translate. Then looked at pictures on her computer. They don’t need translation. And I agreed it appeared a great boat but said its too expensive for us and you would need offer a lower price for us to justify buying. She said you cant do that as that’s the price the man wants and comments from watchers say the price is right. Well I said maybe it is right but we wouldn’t buy at that price.

I still have this grin on my face I am trying hard not to show. Haha. So I said if you wont ask about the money then give me the cell number and I will text him with I think a good buy price is. Reluctantly she gave me the number but saying he will never sell that low. 10 minutes later I had a text back saying yes. Bugger! The boss was taken back. I have let the seller know it would be subject to my mate sighting and saying okay because its 5 hours away but now subject to my mate we now own 2 boats.

My boss I have under rated. I never had plans to buy a second boat but it would appear we now have one. And the boats compliment each other as my original boat is a good deep V which is great further out to sea.

Still hacked off I cannot fish Ninety Mile Beach today so have come back to the farm sulking to myself. The boss can clean the units and get them ready for tonights incoming customers. I will keep my dogs company and wait on my mates call to confirm whether I have or not bought a boat sight unseen

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

A few words can mean so much

A Korean friend of mine left me a comment on a blog I wrote re mental health. 3 simple words, ‘I love you’. I have been on a buzz ever since I got up this morning and read those 3 words.

Julie and I go back 11 months to when I escorted her and 20 others on a tour through New Zealand. From day one we hit it off. All in innocence and still is. But sometimes on tours I meet special people. Julie is in that category. We have kept in regular contact ever since.

The ‘I love you’ words were Julie expressing her feelings of warmth as I have been mentoring her ever since we met on some personal issues she had and I guess still does. But until she read that blog she was unaware I had suffered chronic bipolar and I guess the penny dropped. It made her realise where some of mentoring was coming from.

I never judge people. We are all different in every which way. I never give recommendations. Only listen to issues and try help people to express them. I know Julie has conquered issues she had and I know those 3 words last night were her acknowledging what we have together.

For me right now, my dilemma is we have not gained the tour enquiries this summer I thought we would given the extensive marketing I did through winter. A new far superior website. A business trip abroad following 3 months of targeting the right people for appointments. But alas, the emails are silent. The phones are silent. On a positive note we have great tour bookings in place November to February but they came through untargeted sources that head hunted us. But very disappointing for me all my work is yet to see rewards.

Xiaoli tells me we only have the odd booking for our beach front accommodation Ninety Mile Beach for the key summer holiday period when we are normally booked out by now. I wonder whether that is to do with the fact New Zealand is in limbo right now since the government elections and no actual party yet able to form a government?

The accommodation doesn’t worry me as the closer it gets to Christmas and traditionally we are turning people away. The bookings will come. Our spring weather yet still has reminders of winter in it so that is another factor that doesn’t help.

I am craving to go fishing. Withdrawal symptoms are really kicking in. Tried to get out on my mates boat 2 days ago. Made it to the fishing spot and I dropped the anchor in 30 metres of water only for him to become really ill. Seasick. And he like me never gets seasick. So no electric anchor winch on his boat so slowly I retrieve the anchor by hand from the 30 metres it sat in. What a long haul that was. Arms still suffering. And no fish as we headed back.

Yesterday I said to the boss (Xiaoli) lets go put the kontiki out. The kontiki for my readers is shaped like a torpedo and tows up to 25 hooks up to 2 kilometers out to sea. Being an Island nation we obviously have a lot of sea and reasonably abundant in fish. But no, the boss did not want to, nor my mate, so still no fishing.

Tomorrow is Friday the 13^th so I do not take risks or I would head 50km up the beach to the rocks to fish. Had a bad experience years ago on a Friday that fell on the 13^th so now I play it careful.

I guess fishing will wait to maybe Saturday.

Back to some marketing today. Our tour books are relatively full but I want the satisfaction of knowing my own marketing to new avenues has worked so I need keep targeting the people already contacted. If a booking comes I will always find the way to do the tour. Every problem has a solution. You just need find the solution

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com