Category Archive: Fishing and the harbour

Jul 28

Satisfying time amid the mud

Each morning I’m a picture of sartorial style in muddy overalls, beanie and gumboots as the farmer and I move cattle. Up until the big wet we moved young bulls in the intensive grazing system every two days, but now they’re in smaller paddocks. In larger areas they stomp the lot to muck by the end …

Continue reading »

Nov 05

Mysteries of firewood and breeding

“Ahhh, so that’s how it works,” said two people after I’d helped one grasp the principles surrounding wet and dry firewood and the other to understand duck reproduction. Here’s the lesson about firewood: “Wet firewood can be dry yet can still be wet, while dry firewood can be wet yet can still be dry.” This …

Continue reading »

Aug 20

Activity vs achievement

Looking up the Otamatea River on a gorgeous morning

“Don’t confuse activity with achievement.” Last week a newspaper editor spoke these wise words while I was chatting with him on the subject of being busy. But how does one define which is which? I’m obsessed (mildly) with photographing the Otamatea River, usually in the morning. It occurred to me today, months after taking this …

Continue reading »

Aug 13

Cut! It’s Country Calendar

REx and Rae taking scallops from a dredge

The Country Calendar camera was rolling when the farmer flung himself off the couch and started crawling towards the kitchen. He’d been quietly reading the newspaper while producer/director Kerryanne Evans interviewed me. Before filming started, we’d gone all out to ensure silence because the smallest sound gets picked up by the high-tech equipment. The fridge …

Continue reading »

Jul 25

Midnight search and no rescue

Large Friesian bull in a paddock

As we are a fully trained search and rescue team thanks to a late night request to help find a fisherman missing on the Kaipara Harbour, here are some handy hints, with the tips following the lessons and the most important tip last because that was our learning process. The farmer and I were asleep …

Continue reading »

Jul 15

Dogs and fishing don’t mix

Floss, b/w border collie, at the shelly point at Batley

It’s commonly thought dogs are banned from beaches because they frighten some people, fight amongst themselves and leave smelly poos. But that’s not true – it’s because dogs are incompatible with fishing. They’re such greedy gutses they will nick your bait, hook, line but probably not your sinker and gobble down entire fish – including …

Continue reading »