Fantail Bay Update

So here I am as Camp Host at Fantail Bay on the beautiful Coromandel Peninsular. It is a popular spot with motorhomers and campers and is beautiful, quiet and a great fishing spot.

So far I have managed to catch a lovely kawhai which we smoked and had in a lovely white sauce with fresh parsley.

We being my sister Brenda and husband Roger who have been here for over a week. They leave on Tuesday after their two weeks is up.

There have been the most amazing sunsets here as well.

and

and

		Sunset Tuesday VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

So today is Wednesday Feb 25th! Where has the year gone already. Today is washing day and so the bed linen and washing has been done and is hanging up…

There is not a cloud in the sky and already the temperature is soaring!

So a bit of lawn mowing again today and then swimming and fishing on the menu!

It has quietened down with only 5 other camp groups in on more than an overnight basis. So it has been a very easy job and I have managed to get a great deal of the campsite mown as people leave and I can mow their patch!

Before I close off, a little tip for those of you with side lockers with catches that jam if the contents shift and block the movemet. Glue a little rubber buffer onto the inside to protect the catch and you will not have issues. (Tip from a camper)

Safe travels everyone.

What A Difference A Day Makes….

How quickly one can go from….

to this….

and be over 200km from where you started the day…..

So let me back the bus up a bit and explain.

On Sunday I had word from someone that the Dept. of Conservation were looking for Camp Manager at Fantail Bay at the top of the Coromandel Peninsular. Now this is a position that I have been after for some time as it is a beautiful little site.  So after a couple of days playing phone tag I finally connected with Karl from DoC and he asked when I could start! So after talking to Sue and Bruce from Shakespear Regional Park and getting their OK to leave them in the lurch, I quickly packed up and headed south, stopping to dump my waste tanks, fill my fresh water tanks, diesel tank and pantry and headed off to Coromandel Town where I stayed the night at a lovely parking spot opposite the Police Station and  caught up with two lovely ladies that I had met at Mangakino last year. This morning I had a meeting with Karl from DoC and we went through the formalities and sorted out what he was going to pay me and then I headed north to Fantail Bay.

So here I am, having been instructed in my duties, which this time include mowing duties, met with the locals for happy hour and caught up with my sister Brenda and her husband Roger as they were here as well.

Fantail Bay is a lovely spot with a smallish camp ground with around 24 sites and can carry around 100 people or so. There are the normal toilets and showers to clean and keep tidy but not that onerous.

If this goes well it is possible that I could be moving from here up to Port Jackson to winter over there for DoC as well but ore to come on that later.

It really is quite amazing how quickly things can change and I will do a wrap up of Shakespear Park and the volunteer work that took place there next update.

So safe travels everyone!

Next Excitement!

It was pointed out to me by Bernice today that I had not posted for a while and so after checking I  must say that she was right and time does get away from you when you put things off ‘til tomorrow’.

So it is now been all officially sorted and I have taken over from Bernice and Roy Vannini as Camp Hosts at the Auckland Council Shakespear Regional Park. It is a lovely campsite nestled in a valley at the very end of the Whangaparoa Peninsular. Roy and Bernice have been here since the beginning of November and are looking to move on. Ranger Bruce asked if I would stay on til April 5th so it looks like I will be settling in for a while.

		The Beach VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

There is not a great deal to the job, I essentially am the eyes and ears for the rangers and greet the campers, tick them off the list, mark them onto the map and tell them about the park and the facilities. If anything goes not according to plan I ring the duty ranger who comes down and sorts it out! Easy peasy.

Have been kayak fishing and caught almost my limit of fish but due to the fact that they were all too short and wouldn’t stretch far enough, they had to go back!

Also I’ve had the MiniCat out and had a bit of a sail around the bay and back a few times yesterday and it was great! Just on the tail end of the windy weather, not in the midst of it all! The waves were interesting as there were some rather large ones out there but we managed well and had a load of fun.

This morning Summer Ranger Michael and I went for a walk together. It was meant to be the Sunday morning guided ranger walk but I was the only one to turn up so it became an adventure! We went over to Pink Beach and had a nosey down there. The tide was a bit far in so we couldn’t get too far around the beach at all, but he pointed out the degaussing cables from the old naval station.

From there we walked to the top via a trapping/tracking track, a bit of a bushwack but a great little trip.

		Ranger Walk VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

At the top Michael was teaching me how to create a whistle from a waxy leaf

It was a great 2 1/2 hour wander around the regional park with some great information from Mike about birds, plants and we had a great morning tea eating the new tips of the supplejack vine. Was delicious!

We ended up down at the waterfall (not a great deal of water but did spot a long finned eel and then wandered our way back to the campsite.

So after a full night last night of 160 we are down to about 10 tonight!

A bit of an overcast but still warm day today with little breeze. Ranger Bruce has just dropped of a couple of snapper to Bernice and Roy and they have brought over a fillet for me, so will do something with it for dinner tonight!

Now that was written a few days ago and I have been here for two weeks, had a side trip to Wellington for a day and now I have been evicted to the self-contained area as there is a huge school group in and they don’t need or want a camp host there. So I am out in the wilderness with nothing to do for a week, so I will go pester Bruce for some jobs to do around the park. I have joined 5 other vehicles in the SC area so it is very quiet.

The main carpark and picnic area if full today (Sunday) and it is a lovely day and loads of families and groups playing, swimming and having bbq’s all over the area.

This morning there was a volunteer day and we removed an old 7 strand wire fence and weeded out some Mexican Devil Weed from the same area.

		Working Bee VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

At the end of the morning we were all covered in biddybids and I am not sure that my socks will ever be the same again….

 

We all had a bit of a laugh at Michael’s shirt…

The other day there was an interesting breeze blowing and I watched a paraglider who just hung off the end of the hill for hours….

		Paragliding VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

So I am sitting here contemplating the rest of the year and wondering what it will bring and whether I turn left or right but certainly enjoying the moment.

Safe travels everyone.