A bit belated but thanks to everyone who sent Buster a card, birthday wishes or a pressie for his 4th birthday.
Being mildly obsessed with bikes we thought it was good time to upgrade him from his red mini bike to a new 16" wheeled BMX. Its a tad too big for him but he still rides it every day and has had some fun down at the BMX track on it. It goes without saying that he loves it.
The other main pressie was a new fishing rod - Buster sized. I took him down to the port to try it out and he caught two baby Snapper on his first two goes. After that he lost all interest (apart from watching one of them floating around on top of the water after we threw it back, before a seagull grabbed it for tea). I cant say he is a fishing enthusiast but he loves his new rod and takes it whenever we go out on the boat.
Our frinds the Faldgates came over for a party (following the ones he had at his mate Elliots house, Kindy and day care) so by the end of the weekend finished he was totally fuelled up on chcoolate cake and sweeties. Ah, what fun we had trying to get him to sleep.
I'm not a big fan but it needed doing. Thoughts?
He looks too much like a poodle now for my liking - but he is a damn sight easier to brush and keep clean (especially after our bike rides, which he loves coming out on now. 1hr of mud and running sure takes its toll on a fur ball).
Well, I can't really believe that I haven't done an update to this website since Christmas. Time sure does fly, especially during the summer months.
So - here is the plan. More updates of a shorter nature and if any of you want an further info you can fire me a message or e-mail and we can get busy on the detail.
Things here are good - the clocks changed recently, which hasn't affected the weather much but has definitely got everyone thinking about keeping warm and cosy when the snow gets here. Wood chopping is the new black for everyone (including me) and we now have a log pile that would make any pyromaniacs eyes gleam. Most of it has been scrounged, nicked or otherwise procured so I am hoping to get through this winter without spending a penny on fire wood. We will see.
Fishing is still flavour of the month - I'll write about that some other time but we are eating Snapper steaks like they are going out of fashion (or should that be going into extinction).
Buster is good and now 4yrs old. We recently gave him a Mohawk hairdoo which has only served to make him even more agro than normal.
Lisa is going for a promotion at work (that appears to be a bit of a shoe in - though she wont appreciate me saying that) and has started to cook evening meals like a good wife should. I cant get enough of macaroni cheese or lasagna - hmmmmm.
Finally - this news will only get traction with a few of you but they are building a council sanctioned and payed for Pump Track in the woods 1min away from our house. Oh the joy. Virtually in our back garden now we have 4 XC trails with quality DH sections, 2 DH tracks, a pump track and some pretty damn big dirt jumps. The words Pig and Mud spring to mind.
Thats it - stay in touch.
The Jennings 3
Well Christmas has come and gone in a blur so I figured, now things have settled down a bit, I’d run you through what was a pretty manic, but enjoyable, 2 weeks.
It all started on the 22 December when Steve and Jemma arrived and we all headed off to the Abel Tasman (the full story is below). After this little camping adventure we got home on the 24 December and settled in for a couple of days. Christmas morning started at Buster O’clock, as you would imagine, with him not even bothering with his usual snuggle. Instead he headed straight to see what Santa had brought. I won’t list things out but thanks to everyone who sent him something, he really does appreciate it and plays with everything.
Once Steve and Jemma had risen we had a fruit and chocolate fuelled breakfast before heading down to the beach for a walk. The weather wasn’t being too kind so we played around with rocks and sand for a couple of hours then headed home. After lunch Steve and I went out on the MTB’s for a couple of hours, which was fun, and that was about it.
A few days after Christmas, after Steve and Jemma had gone down the East coast to swim with dolphins and visit friends in Christchurch, we made our way over to the West coast and down through Graymouth to Hokitika – a really nice place on the sea with a campsite that accepted dogs. The waves on this coast are far better than back home so I got the bodyboard out and the wetsuit and went off to frolic in the waves for a bit whilst Lisa kept the coastguard on call in case of any emergencies. Luckily I wasn’t eaten by any sharks and had a laugh getting thrown about in the sea. Bodyboarding is undoubtedly the poorer cousin of surfing, but until I can get my mitts on a second hand surf board it’s a good filler that also lets you learn how to get out and get back in on the waves in the first place.
Hokitika is a big center for Jade (greenstone) which is a Maori treasure, so there were loads of shops selling stuff but whilst we were there the main draw for people was the Kayaking. On our campsite alone there must have been 50 kayakers all with these tiny little boats that you basically go and blast down white water rivers and waterfalls in. As Hokitika isn’t far from the Frans Joseph and Fox Glaciers the rivers around here are really raging in spring (real summer starts in mid January) so people come from all over the world for a week or so of rough river madness.
Moving on from Hokitika we headed down past the glaciers (we didn’t stop but Steve and Jemma came over to them for a helicopter ride to the top and a guided glacier walk – pretty magic they reckoned) and through the natural rain forests that form a big part of this coast. It was about 6hrs to Queenstown but we got there OK and passed some lovely looking places on the way.
Queenstown is a real alpine place, slap bang on the shore of lake Wakatipu, and is 100% geared up to take your money wherever possible. Jet boats’, skiing, skydives, bungee jumps, lugging, downhill MTB, waterskiing, climbing – etc etc – the list of activities you can do here to a real high level is never ending. Unfortunately for us we had chosen not to book ahead, or check if anywhere even accepted dogs, so with half of NZ seemingly arriving when we did we found Q Town to be FULL. Never mind (or words to that effect) – one of the great things about NZ is that there are literally hundreds of dept. of conservation (DOC) owned campsites that you can stay in anytime. There are few amenities but they are generally located in the most beautiful places imaginable.
So – we camped up at this DOC site for a couple of days and spent NY eve with S&J bombing down luge tracks and trying to stay out of the torrential rain that had decided to fall. NY eve was welcomed with fireworks over the lake and NY day dawned nice and early and clear. This last point was important as Steve had decided to throw himself off some very high bridge.
Once Steve had done his bungee (bravo – very good form throughout the fall and a good dunking in the river below) we all said a fond farewell – S&J heading to the airport to fly back to Kuwait, and us back in the car for the trip back up North.
So that’s it in a nut shell. We got back to Nelson and it felt like coming home – which was nice. Since then we haven’t left Nelson at all – the sun is here (25 degrees seems the norm) and we are spending most free days down at the beach, outdoor swimming pool, biking or generally lounging around. Summer should be here till the end of March at least so we will be making the most of that and soaking up the rays.
Pictures of all this lot can be found HERE
Normallyour good friends Steve and Jemma, who are currently residing in Kuwait (!), came over to NZ for a nosey around in December and graced us with their presence from the 22 December for a week or so before heading down to Queenstown. It was great to see them again so, to celebrate, we headed off with the boat to the Abel Tasman national park for an overnight camping trip. The gateway to the park (since there are no roads) is the beach town of Kaitiritiri about 45 mins from Nelson. We got there around 11am, loaded up the boat with Buster, Lisa, Jemma, Steve and I and set off round the coast. The Abel Park is pretty huge and covers most of the top North East of the South Island. It has a 3 day walk running through it that gets about 200 people a day starting out in high season, with government owned camp sites every 10 miles or so. The main draw is the crystal waters, golden sands, lack of any commercialization and its wildlife. The best bet if you want more info is to Google ‘Abel Tasman’.
The place we were heading was called Mosquito Bay – a small sandy bay about half way up the coast that can only be accessed by boat. There are loads of Kayakers around these parts, and plenty of places to hire them, so we definitely weren’t alone on the sea.
After pitching up we headed out to the marine reserve around Tonga Island, which is renowned for seals (and swimming with them). We saw some seals kicking around so Stevo jumped in with his flippers and mask and swam over to their spot. The next 20mins was like something out of a pantomime as the seals swam up behind Steve, within arm’s reach, only to disappear when he turned around. “It’s behind you”!
That evening Steve and I went out to catch some supper and, after a few hours happy fishing, came home with 3 decent sized fish. We actually caught a fair few fishes but put the majority back because they were either too small or too ugly. The ones we did catch though got trimmed up quick sharp and stuck on the BBQ – yum.
As the tide came in we were pretty much alone on this beach apart from a few other overnight Kayakers. At about 4 quid each to camp it was definitely a good cheap place to spend the night.
We only stopped the one night and came home on Christmas Eve – we had fun though, saw some of the national park and caught some sun. Not a bad way to kick off the Christmas week.
Check out Flickr for the pictures
These were Busters final words with hair. As you can see he is now the proud owner of a real boys hairdoo. The main reason for clipperising Buster was that, now that Summer is warming things up, he was just getting too hot with that big mop of his. Lisa wasn't sure for a while but its definitly grown on her, even though Buster now looks about 10yrs old!
If anyone wants a loc then check out E-Bay.
Last weekend we (The Jennings 4 and the Fladgate's) left work early on Friday, packed up the car and boat, headed over to Haveloc and set off into the Marlborough Sounds, and more specifically a private island we had rented out called Pohuenui.
Haveloc is about 1hr from Nelson and has a really nice port/lunch ramp. There isn't a whole lot else there but its a gateway to the Sounds so gets a lot of holiday makers and locals passing through. Once we had got the boat launched we had the task of navigating our way through the maze like Sounds - and in typical Jennings fashion we had no map, no GPS, no idea really where we were going. Even our ever present saviors, the Fladgates (Campbell, Craig and families) weren't on hand to help as they had headed out earlier in the day. Anyway - how hard could it be? We found our way out of Haveloc OK and actually got 70% of the way there no problem - then the light began to fade, the water started to rough up, Buster got cold and we realised that we were actually in quite a lot of trouble. Just as the cold reality of the situation began to set in a boat came razzing out of the gloom but stopped about 200 meters away. I figured it was a fishing boat so continued to travel to our doom at full throttle in the hope that Jennings luck would prevail. The fishing boat then came after us and, when finally we paid it some real attention it turned out to be C&C coming to find us. I was so relieved its not true. Lisa nearly cried with joy. Anyway - with their GPS showing us the way we were soon mooring at Pohuenui island (in pitch black!) and getting ready for a fun weekend with no more getting lost! (And Mum - before you have a fit and write me the stock 'oh Paul' e-mail don't worry - a GPS is now top of our shopping list).
I wont go into too much detail on the Pohuenui - best just to check out their website (click here)
So - first impressions were 'idyllic'. They had Lamas, Ostriches, sheep, ducks, horses - which the kids loved. A stream ran past our house into the sea, we were surrounded by either crystal clear waters or green untouched mountains and the owner said we could use his Quad motorbikes whenever we wanted to burn around the island - music to my ears.
The first night C&C and I went off on the afore mentioned quads with their dogs running behind us to see if we could catch us a pig. The short version is that we didn't. We did however spend 5 hrs (got back about 2am) razzing around the countryside on the quads, climbing hills and watching loads of shooting stars whilst their dogs chased something round in circles. For C&C this left unfinished piggy business but for now bed was a nice place to be.
We all got up early and headed out on the boats to the edge of the open water (you could see the North Island just across the channel) for some fishing. To be honest it was pretty easy - we caught loads of undersized blue cod (so threw them back), 4 big barracuda (no good for anything but bait but fun to reel in), and some other random fish. Nothing huge but enough for evening tea. After lunch on a little beach Craig and I went out to grab some scallops. On the way there I saw a few fins in the distance coming our way. We thought they were dolphins (boring!) until we got close and saw 4 or 5 big Orcas cruising around. They were literally within touching distance and looking like they quite enjoyed the company. At that moment Campbell cruised up with the rest of the posse on his boat so we all got to hang out with the Orcas for a bit - which the kids loved. Campbell et al followed them back to right outside out house and stood on the jetty watching them chase stingrays around right under their feet before they cruised off on their way. Craig and I dredged for scallops and when we had our quota (100 - which took about 20 minutes) we cruised back to the house to get cleaned up. Dinner was nearly accounted for but with a muscle farm just around the corner Craig and I went and did a bit of poaching and grabbed a few bag fulls for our greedy bellies - I was looking forward to tea. When things finally got dished up we had also inherited some venison done in some kind of sweet Thai marinade that the island care taker had thrown our way. All in a very nice feed.
That night C&C went off again to get their pig. The story goes that they tracked one four legged oinker half way round the island (they are clever critters) before the dogs got onto it down by a beach on the far side of the island. They couldn't get own to it so returned home at 2am empty handed and a little tired.
Next day dawned a bit cloudier than the Saturday but still warm and dry - my red skin wasn't complaining. Campbell and me went out in their super boat early on the presence of seeing if we could find the pig on the beach. We cruised off (fishing rods primed) and, after sailing through a million jellyfish, couldn't find the pig so we went about grabbing a few fish. On the way back the water was like a pond so we gave their new 250bhp outboard some juice - Bluebird style. We got it up to about 60mph (which felt damn fast) before we throttled back. I think I need to work on Lisa to get our engine suped up a bit - you can never have too much power!
Once the kids were up and fed caretaker Paul took us out on some quads to show us round the island - it was pretty wild out of the bay and most of the ride we were scaling 30% slopes in one direction or another. Check out Flickr for a few pics (click here)
Once we had eaten down lunch we loaded up the boats and cruised back to Haveloc - no dramas to report I am glad to say. We got back to the port about 4pm, unloaded the kids and wives, put my boat on its trailer and the family in C&C's people carrier before heading back out to catch us a monster Snapper in the local hot spot - Kineperu sounds. The guy on the boat next to us when we were unloading had a MONSTER Snapper that weighed close to 20lbs so we had very high hopes indeed. Especially when he told me about Spot X where the big fish hung out. Well, as night drew in we had only caught about 4 spiny dog fish - about as desirable as a pike or old welly. We called it a day after 4hrs and no Snapper in sight. Ah well, its good fun trying.
So thats that - a pretty amazing weekend that felt more like a week. It took Buster about 10 minutes before he and the other kids went ferrell - they love the freedom of flying around and seeing nature close up, and it keeps them out of our hair for a bit as well, everyones a winner. I've put some of the pics on Flick if you fancy a gander.
A good mate of mine, Scott, is a mad keen surfer. Every week he is off somewhere searching out one wave or another, so yesterday I thought I would invite myself along. Surfing - how hard could that be? I've even seen dogs doing it on TV so had high hopes of 'hanging 10', getting a tube and generally busting some phat surfing mooves.... As with most of my best plans it didn't quite work out like that!
Garry asked me a while back if Nelson had any surf and the answer is yes. There are a couple of spots right next to town that, I've been told, are well worth a visit if the swell/weather is right. Part of the reason for these spots being here is the 13 km long boulder bank that was formed naturally over a few millennia (click here for a bit more detail - its a pretty cool thing).
Anyway - the weather was right yesterday (off shore wind and a bit stormy) so Scott borrowed me a very nice board, a wetsuit and some booties and we were off. We had to do a bit of walking across a deserted beach, swim across a tidal inlet, walk round a really lovely bay, but when we got there there seemd to me to be some pretty big waves, and plenty of them. There were about 6 guys there already so it was fun to watch them doing their thing and getting all inspired. After 5 mins of that we were in and I was trying, rather spectacularly unsuccessfully, to remeber how to duck dive whilst these big frothing rollers gave me a pummelling. Luckily for me there was a bit of an outward tide at the far end so you could just paddel to that and get sucked out to sea before cutting back across and lining up a good looking wave to get on - COWABUNG DUDE!!
To be honest I can't recall much about the next 3hrs we spent in the water - here though are my blurry observations:
- It was fun but bloody hard work. Even sitting on the thing was like riding a mechanical bull with a belly full of larger. I can confirm I got smashed up a lot.
- I managed to get onto 2 or maybe 3 waves properly - by this I mean that a big wave came, I turned and paddled like hell, then just as I thought it was going to pass me by I got picked up a blasted forward. At no point was standing up an option! I barely managed to get on my knees and waved my arms like I was having some kind of attack. Having said that it was really fun - I got carried for maybe 5-7 seconds and felt maybe 20% of what it must feel like to be a bona-fide surfer.
- Most of the time I spent getting pummeled in the surfy/white water bit. And I mean getting pummeled. I was thrown around, bashed down, winded, dunked, rolled and generally beat upon by nature. I even got sea sick at one point. It was actually pretty good fun but I must have looked like a total tourist. Who cares - it was a good laugh.
The waves actually broke on a sand bank made up of tiny pebbles (not sand) so, even though a bashing was had, there was no coral or sharp stuff to cut you. I do have a bruised nose and tired arms this morning but other than that I am ready for another go.
The other guys that were there must have thought that Scott was taking part in a 'care in the community' challenge as they were all friendly, supportive and willing to shout tips to me when my head was momenterily above water. I had heard that surfing can be a bit agro, especially if your splashing around on the best waves of the day, but I didn't get any of that which was nice.
So thats it - despite by mental anticiptaion, I was not a Kelly Slater waiting to be discoverd. I wasn't as one with the water (though I did do a no.1 in the water which cheered me up for 5 seconds) and I wont be getting a call from Quicksilver any time soon (more like TV's funniest moments!) but I will definately be heading out again and, if nothing else, trying to get myself stood up for a few seconds. I'll let you know how I get on.
For those of you who are into surfing, and fancy coming over here and doing some, then check out this website - its goy some pics and info on the Nelson surfing scene (click here)
Sweet as brah
We have been up to Lake Rotoiti before, it's in the Nelson Lakes national park about 1hr 20mins from Nelson. We headed up there last Sunday to have a play on the boat in a stress free environment - no tides to worry about (and Nelson has some on the lowest/highest tides in NZ), no waiting for our turn on the slip road - no nothing really but us, some ducks, some very big eels and a very large lake. We had a fun day - the weather wasn't 100% but it was dry and sunny and the boat went well. We flew around a bit, had a play with the engine/trim/handling and stopped at the far end for a walk in the woods and a picnic. Check out the Pics on Flickr (go to Photos above) and if your ever over this way we'll probably take you up there - it will be great for waterskiing when the weather warms up a bit.
I'll keep this short but we took 'Eruption' out for her maiden voyage last weekend (don't worry, the name has been removed from it now - we were more than slightly embarrassed by the name they previous owner had chosen) in Nelson Bay and round to Mapua. Thing went relatively well - mostly thanks to our Yanky mates Barndon and Emily who have 100% more boating experinence than we do. I got told off for Miami Vicing it over a load of waves at 40mph and nearly concussion Lisa and Buster, and we hit some small rocks on teh way into the harbour, but other than that it was good fun.
We are of up to Nelson Lakes this weekend to have another play in an environment where we dont have to worry about high tides, hitting dolphins (which we were about 2ft away from doing in the sea), sand banks or waves. It should be good fun - the Twins are taking there boat up as well (with the other 6 members of their family) so I can always rely on their supreme knowledge of all things practical should we get into any trouble. I'll let you know how we get on.
Anchors away
