Here we go again!

 A Couple of new young wokkers joined the crew for our April 2023 French Pass/D'Urville Island trip. They brought with them a boat (The Phantom) - not the Ghost who Walks but a fine fishing / diving vessel. Chris was a fine diver (as was Johnny) who loved to catch crays but Chris was allergic to crustaceans and couldn't eat them. Fortunately the rest of the crew did not suffer from this disorder. 

Phantom

In the Fridge

On arrival we got a feed of fish from Current Basin  (after a 10am start from Nelson and a stop at The Brick Oven at Rai Valley in the rain.) Fortunately the rain stopped before we arrived at Webber's house in French Pass. 

On Sunday we went to the East Coast of D'Urville Island. The fishing was pretty poor but the divers collected lots of crayfish plus speared Moki and Greenbone.

Did someone say Crayfish?

On Monday we travelled to Bottle Point on the West Coast; The lads had fancy fishing gear and showed us how to catch kingfish on lures with no bait follower by large snapper. A decent sized mortgage would be required to obtain the fancy fishing gear needed to catch these brutes. The lads were very accommodating to the older blokes, and handed over their (expensive) rods to the older folk when they had hooked a fish so that the older brigade would have something to skite about - like Nick's 30Kg kingfish. 

Nick's Kingfish

On Tuesday we headed East across Admiralty Bay - past the Oil Rig and it's support vessels for a quick fish in bright, calm conditions to see if we could catch more snapper on lures. Johnny caught one, but released it again as it was deemed too large to keep. 

Home for a bite of lunch and to clean up, then back to Nelson again.

Oil Rig

The Secret Seven have a new adventure!

November 2022 A group of 7 Wokkers departed Nelson on 14 November 2022 for Torrent Bay.

Torrent Bay was chosen as the road to French Pass was compromised with major works being carried out on the road from Nelson to French Pass. Wokkers would have had to trailer boats via St Arnaud. So we were able to use the Easton Family accommodation at Torrent Bay. In order to get the tide at Kaiteriteri we left Nelson at 0900 hrs. Upon arrival one boat had a flat battery. The other was being parked on private land but the trailer had been removed. This caused much confusion as the trailer keys were in the boat which had been launched. However eventually we got under way 2 boats + 7 wokkers and all the gear (wok etc). Upon arrival Richard got his Quad bike and transported all to the house.

One wokkers had a first of the season swim (in front of tourists) trying to unload the boat. The usual happened when the boat and the jetty parted company. A great afternoon fishing just off shore with abundant snapper and cod. Next day turned out the same fine and clear. A lunch stop at the Falls River Inlet at high tide.

Lunch at Falls River

Next day was an early start 0530am to get the tide. (Boats were anchored around in the lagoon) Most were able to get up early and we expected great things with the early start.

Torrent Bay Jetty

One Wokker did catch a big John Dory

John Dory!

Fishing again was excellent with plenty of snapper. Some wokkers were able to see the recovered Kaka (a NZ large native bird) in the trees after we returned for brunch. The day saw another good haul of fish.

The catch.

George was able to dive on the Bark Bay reef over several days. And as requested was able to get enough Crays for us all to take one home. Plus, entrée before dinner. Our Chef and his assistant did a great job.

Cookie

Many thanks to the Easton family who made this very successful trip possible.