Plenty of fish with crystal clear water.

Looking towards the Boat Ramp and Island.

Looking towards the surf beach with Black Rock in the background.

Our shack from the beach.

The shack with the brown long drop !

Tauranga Power Boat Racing

New Zealand Power Boat Racing competition held its last round in the Tauranga Harbour on the 14th of May 2005, this competition involves boats of all sizes racing together in separate classes. Graeme and Pam both know the brothers that drive "Jessie James" a 31ft twin V8 boat that puts out 1300HP, and because of this we were invited to be a marshall for the day which involved sitting in Graeme's boat on the racing line. After the brief of the events to come, we were sent out on the water to marshall between two points, which included stopping boats from crossing the racing line, helping boats in distress and general lookout. As the race started, we were more concerned about stopping boats crossing the racing line as we had the Harbour entrance, little did we know that in the second lap a boat called "Broomstick" a sleek black 6m outboard powered boat proved us wrong by getting some air right in front of us, clipping the next chop and nose diving into the third piece of chop. So here we were keeping an eye on it as it started to fill up with water in great volumes, a quick distress wave from the crew and we were next to the sinking boat and the two occupants in no time. I was stationed at the back of the boat, after making the initial call to race control, trying to help the driver out of the water, who happened to be female. After giving the rope she had to Kevin, who was looking after the sinking boat, I realized the rope was still tangled around her arm and neck, after quickly releasing the rope from around her neck, I helped the driver into the boat. The driver had a bleeding nose from head butting the dashboard and the passenger was okay. Meanwhile, Pam and Robin were hiding in the front of the boat out of the way. Within seconds of getting the crew into the boat we had a two helicopters, the coast guard and a 10m launch surrounding us. We then gave the semi sunken boat to the launch who towed it in and we took the crew back to shore, before returning to our marshalling area. After the rescue, the race finished about an hour later with no other real incidents, except for a boat nearly hitting us. About three other boats sank in the race from similar events but not within our area. The winner of the top class was "Jessie James" but missed out by a few points to take the championship from the "Placemakers" boat. A bbq and plenty of drinks finished the eventful day off. I was a little busy to take photos of the sinking "Broomstick" but got a few snaps of the other racing boats.

Jessie James, the winner of the Tauranga Power Boat Race 2005 cruises past the harbour entrance.

The smaller category boats go just as hard as the bigger ones. Check out the air under the boat on the right.

One of the many Helicopters on the day.

Placemakers trying to catch Jessie James out in front.

Jessie James racing in front of the Mount.

TNT, an inboard V8 boat.

Jessie James' mini-me boat used for cruising around the Harbour.

Black Water Rafting

On the weekend of the 7th and 8th of May I traveled from Tauranga to Waitomo to do Black Water Rafting (BWR) with six YP's from Auckland (www.blackwaterrafting.co.nz). Now BWR contains a variety of adventures, we completed the Black Abyss adventure, this starts with getting suited up with wetsuit, booties, harness, and a helmet(light attached). We then jumped into a van for a 5 min car journey to the entrance, once there we practiced abseiling down a bank to get the feel of it before jumping into the hole. The Abseil is about a 40m drop with the first part of the abseil seated until you get inside the cave entrance (which is fairly small and squishy), once inside the cave it is completely dark except for the light on your helmet, after spinning around so that I could face the wall I proceeded to jump down the face. Not knowing where the bottom was a really adrenaline pumping experience. So once down we walked for a bit along a grate like walkway which was located over a deep hole in the cave. At the end of the walkway was a Flying Fox, which we were sent down with no lights on at all, not knowing where you were going or what you were going to hit was really cool feeling which got the adrenaline pumping again. After a small break with hot coffee we jumped off a ledge with our tyre tubes into icy cold water and paddled up stream. After a while we turned around, turned the lights off and followed the millions of glow worms on the cave roof. Really beautiful, completely dark except for the electric blue glow worms and perfect silence. Once we got back to the ledge we lost the tubes and proceeded by foot which entailed a water slide, a rock climbing challenge and numerous small caves which were small and cozy to say the least. Towards the end we got a choice to walk out or climb out, so the climb out involved us climbing up two small water falls, unharnessed. Really good feeling of adventure and as we finished early we got to go for another small caving adventure which was really tight... After the BWR caving adventure we headed for our accommodation and proceeded to get pissed until the early hours of the morning. Really great weekend with plenty of action in and out of the caves...Highly recommended.

Black Water Rafting Team from left to right: Mark, Me, Gavin, David, Bryan, Suzanne and Dean all suited up ready for action.

Bryan and me getting suited ready for the adventure!

Fishing in Tauranga

Over the past couple of weekends I have been getting up early....for a Saturday and heading off fishing with Graeme and his boat Angelique. Both weekends we have come back with 15 to 18 snapper, at least a couple of trevally and a couple of New Zealand's own brand of fish a kahawai and a John Dory. Now I was told that when you catch a John Dory, there is always a dory-story that goes with it...
My particular dory-story goes like this : I pulled up a small cod about 100mm and Graeme told me to throw it over with the hooks through it back and fish for a John Dory. Now never having seen or heard of a dory before i thought why not and fished for a dory for about half an hour or so, whilst continuing to fish for snapper on my other rod....no dory so graeme told me to pack that rod and continue fishing. Whilst pulling up my um-teenth small snapper i thought geez this one small...or so i thought as the rod just got heavy from that point on. Thinking I had a occy or maybe an old boot and as i pulled it to the surface i discovered i had a snapper about 100mm long inside this mouth, which was actually attached to a fish...A John Dory...
And thats my John Dory Story . . . So whilst the weather has been great, Graeme and I have been enjoying it in the boat.

The John Dory I caught on Angelique.

HOLIDAYS IN GERO . . .

Well I have just returned from a hectic week and a half in Geraldton. It all started on Sat the 26th of March, with the Buccs party and lasted through til April the 2nd - The Wedding of Marc and Amanda O'Brien. The week was filled with plenty of drinking, golfing, crayfishing, jet skiing, swimming and more drinking and basically it was great just to get back and spend time with my family and friends.
The buccs party was great, best of all the groom came out unharmed.
The wedding even better, the Bride looked absolutely Gorgeous.
Best wishes go out to Marc and Amanda on their honeymoon and for their future life together.
Anyway I am back in Tauranga, working again. Will keep you all updated to where I am located next, probably back in Auckland next week for a week, before returning here again.
Later.

Marc and Amanda's Wedding on the 2nd of April 2005, Geraldton.
The boys waiting......Marc, Will, Me, Matt and Carl.

View of the northern end of Tauranga Harbour near Waihi Beach

View overlooking a small town with Waihi Beach in the background

The Mount from near Waihi Beach

Mt Maunganui from Graeme and Pamela's house in Welcome Bay, where I am staying

A view from Mt Maunganui

Tauranga City with the Ocean on the left and the Harbour on the right

The Mount Beach from halfway up Mt Maunganui

The view from the GHD office in Tauranga

Coromandel Townsite (on the bottom right) from another Lookout location

The Western Coast of the Peninsula

One side of the Cove

First week in Tauranga

I started work in the GHD Tauranga office on Monday the 14th of March and the week and a half I have had, has been full on the say the least. It started with my virgin run at hash house harriers, a drinking club that runs. The couple I am staying with (Dicky liquor and Fartoo - Hash Names) are awesome people and they dragged me along last Monday night and it was a great start to the week which included a run, followed my drinking, singing and eating. Great fun. Anyway Tuesday night we climbed Mt Maunganui, which overlooks Tauranga, a really great walk with spectacular views from anywhere on the trail. Well worth the pain in my calf muscles, which were soothed in the hot water pools located at the base of the Mount. The rest of the week has included a variety of different things to do and basically coming down to eating, drinking, kareoke, swimming, and more than I can remember. But it has been enjoyable. Please view the photos from in and around Tauranga.

Coromandel Townsite from the lookout of the ranges

Lookout near Catherdral Cove

Catherdral Cove

Me in the Catherdral Cove

Port Jackson with Great Barrier Island in the Background

Small bays like this, are a common site on the Coromandel Peninsula.

The west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula

Coromandel Peninsula

On the weekend, Toby and I decided to tame the mighty Coromandel Peninsula, this was only really decided as we were driving south towards Hamilton (www..thepeninsula.co.nz). The trip started in Thames for breakfast, and as we ventured further down the track, we came across numerous small settlements built between the base of the Coromandel Ranges and the road which hugged the coastal rocks. Once we reached the town of Coromandel, lunch and mini golf were on the cards, before setting off towards Port Jackson, the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula. What we didn't know was there was a mountain bike race on and we had to share the gravel road with hundreds of mountain bikers cycling towards us, watching every bend and hill, with the odd ambulance racing towards us. AND I can guarantee that the slow painful trip out there was worth every bit of it. The coastal scenery was absolutely beautiful. So peaceful and tranquil with a smooth ocean and rugged coastal cliffs. So after an hour or so we reached Port Jackson to find out that it was a camping spot and there is nothing there, and turned around and headed to Whitianga for the night (www.whitianga.co.nz). To get from the Coromandel side (West Side) of the Peninsula to the Whitianga side of the Peninsula (East Side) we had to drive over the ranges which provides great views of both coasts. Once in Whitianga we looked for accommodation only to find NIL. Yes there was seven weddings on that night and all accommodation was gone, so the night had to be spent in a beach side car park in the car. So like the troopers we are, had a few beers in the car before getting dressed in the car park and a pommie shower and headed to the pub for a nights session. So once again meeting some nice backpackers, and walking home, only to be disturbed by one annoying local. It just wouldn't have worked anyway in the car. After a late night and an early morning swim, we headed off (not feeling the best from sleeping in the back of the car) to a couple of tourist spots, like the Hot Water Beach and Catherdral Cove. Catherdral Cove is basically a hole in a rock with a beach either side, a 45 min walk will get you to it but it well worth the walk with the great scenery you get once down there and a great beach to have a swim in as well. After the Cove we drove to the Hot Water Beach, which is a normal surf beach with two natural hot water geyers underneath the sand, which get to approximately 65 degrees. The place is only really worth visiting at low tide as that is when you can dig a hole in the sand and appreciate the hot water, by creating your own natural spa on the beach. It was really funny to see a load of people with shovels digging small spas in the sand. I experienced the hot water beach by digging my feet into the sand and having the hot water soak my feet and the cold ocean splash my legs, a really bizarre feeling. After the hot water beach experience it was time to leave and head for home. The traveling for the weekend may have finished but I had to get back to Auckland so that I could pack for Tauranga and head off monday morning to start in the GHD Tauranga Office. Tauranga is located approximately 200km South East of Auckland on the coast and contains about 100,000 people.

The Wairoa River is usually dry and rocky until its released 26 times a year.

This is where the rafting starts. The Water is released beyond that yellow warning sign.

And Another.

A typical scenic river shot.

A small waterfall.

A few general photos of the Wairoa River.

The crew we tamed the mighty Wairoa River with.

The "wet"stage of the "washing machine"

Half way to getting wet from this rapid.

The start of the "washing machine" rapid.

The "wave" from Mark ! Hilarious !

The start of the "water fall"

The finale of the first rapid with the tough man look from Mark !

The sign of relief on most of our faces.

The first major rapid . . . look at the concentration.

White Water Rafting - Take 2

Well after a few weeks the photos have finally arrived from the White Water Rafting trip. The person to note will be Mark (sitting to the left of me), firstly with a clenched fist looking tough, then backed it up with a miserable poofy wave, really funny stuff. So please refer following photos of the Wairoa river adventure. . . . . . .

The look of Auckland City as we arrived Sunday evening