The Rock Day II

Rise and shine at 8am for breakfast, which was cereal, fruit and lovely oats. Lots of tea and coffee as well. It was another gorgeous day in the Bay of Islands as we set off cruising around a bit. First stop on today's agenda was mussel diving. We headed to a rock in the middle of the water while we were all kitted out in wetsuits. Once we'd arrived the boat slowed down, Yvonne took the little dingy boat out with the mussel nets and then we were given the nod to jump in. We only had a short while to get everyone in the water so as soon as Peter said go, queue 30 odd people jumping into sea. It was good fun, the water was really cold, much colder than last night so if anyone felt a bit groggy after a few too many beers last night it soon sorted that out. Once I was in the water I sorted out my snorkel and mask and then went for a bit of a snorkel to see if I could see any mussels. The only trouble was that with so many people entering the water the visability was terrible, everything was churned up so it took a while to spot anything, plus it was high tide and the waves were quite boyant. I couldn't keep my head in the water for long because it was so cold but you kind of get used to it after a while. Lee had got some mussels from Yvonne that has been crushed open to feed the fish with. It was unbelievable, the fish were such greedy things. They swam up then kept coming up to the mussel and swiping a quick bite, the funny thing was that when they got close the just swiped a bite towards the mussel because they can't quite see it properly which meant that an odd few times they would bite Lee's fingers. It was so cool, really awesome to watch. Neither of us had fed fish before, not like this anyway, so I also swam over to get a mussel and fed the fish myself. They greedy fish tried to gobble my fingers as well, it didn't hurt though, just felt like a fish bumping into your hand or finger. Bless em. It was a bit scary at times though because so many fish came over to grab a bite, Lee must have had about 20 around him at one point, greeny fish probably a bit bigger than the size of a mans hand. It was incredible to watch. Both Lee and I were feeding the green fish at one point when this big brown fish came along, much much bigger than the rest and with a bigger mouth that the others and that's when I decided to give them the mussel, I didn't want him trying to gobble my fingers off! I managed to get the grand total of zero mussels, partly because I was having way too much fun feeding the fish and also because they were just a bit too deep for me to get. I'm not the best swimmer in the world and didn't feel comfortable diving down that far. Some of the others succeeded though.

Brave hull and the mussel

I came back to the boat a bit earlier than Lee as I was a bit cold, Peter was a star and had got the kettle on already so that when we came out the cold water we could all warm up with a cuppa. Once we were all back on the boat, mussel catch safely secured on board we headed to an little island with a gorgeous beach to have lunch on. Peter took us on a walk up to the top of the island, it was quite a steep climb but it was all on a grassy hill so we were able to do it barefoot, which just felt brilliant, climbing up barefoot in the sun to be rewarded with an absolutely stunning view of all the islands, the blue sky and the gorgeous golden beach below us. It literally took your breath away and won the place my award for the best place in the North Island. Once we'd come back down to the beach we sat having our lunch. The Kayaks were already on the beach so once we'd eaten Lee, Tom and I kayaked over to the beach on the other side of the island. It wasn't a lovely sandy beach though, it was more like Brighton beach. I didn't stay over there too long because I needed the loo (typical!).

Brave me and the beer

We stayed on the beach for a while but had to head off about 1pm I think. Once we were all back on board it was basically a sail back to Paihia for the rest of the afternoon, but not before Peter and JJ demonstrated how to eat mussels and sea urchins raw, straight from the sea. It was disgusting! Lee tried the sea urchin eggs and said they weren't too bad but didn't like the raw mussel, top marks to him though because I just took pictures. The mussels that were caught were huge, neither of us have seen such big mussels, they were literally a few inches in length, big and juicy, green lipped mussels. Peter cooked some of them for everyone to eat and they really were delicious. Once all the seafood had been cooked and eaten, it really was sail back time. I was really sad, it was such a good trip but the hour or so it took to get back allowed me to finish my book (which was also good - thanks Natasha!)

Lee eating raw mussel straight out the sea

We departed the boat about 4pm, headed back to Mousetrap and checked back in. It was such a lovely day that we had a quick shower then headed straight back to the waterfront for a few beers in the sun. We met up with Tom again as he was on his own and spent the afternoon in a waterfront bar. Once we'd all got a bit hungry we headed back to the Beach House for a beer and a burger. My sis had recommended that we try the burger and the garlic chips because they were so good and she wasn't wrong. It was delicious. Once all burgers and chips were scoffed, we headed next door to the Salty, a lively bar on a Thursday night it would seem. They were holding the quarter final for Salty Idol, so we were in for a real treat, there were four contestants left, of which only three would go through tonight. Each contestant had to sing two songs and the panel of judges decided who would go through. It was hilarious. The quality of contestants, to be fare, was quite good. They may not have made it onto television but they all had pretty good voices. After several beers the three of us became judges ourselves, obviously not in earshot of the contestants supporters! The show was hosted by a Jerry St Clair look-a-like (one for the Phoenix Nights fans there!). In between performances we had karaoke going on plus a spin the wheel competition, in which Tom won 2-4-1 fish and chips and a limbo contest, which I entered in honour of my good friend Annice. Anyone who has ever been to a party organized by Annice will know that you never, ever escape without doing the limbo. Well, all my training paid off and I was controversially knocked out in 5th place. Controversial because I didn't knock the pole off but no one said I'd stayed in so when I asked Jerry, he said he didn't know if I was still in so I just went back to my beer. Lee was outraged, he said that I should have just stayed in till they kicked me out, but never mind, I'm satisfied that I could have won had I just stayed in. Anyway, I think the limbo contest must've been a sign or something because I texted Annice to tell her about my limbo escapades and she texted back to say her waters had just broken!

Lee eating sea urchin roe

Back to Salty Idol where all contestants had sung there two songs, there was an English girl who did really well, plus three locals. One of the contestants was quite a big girl but my god did she have a powerful voice, she was amazing, but for some unknown reason they voted her off, Cindy I think her name was. I was gobsmacked. The English girl was good and deserved to stay in but the other two, one well old lady and another one who was about the same age as Cher and was trying to look like her (only ten times the size) both of whom had ok voices but nothing special. I think there was a bit of insider dealing going on somewhere because it just didn't make sense. The winner gets a recording contract and if the English girl doesn't win, lets hope it's for radio only!

Pahia walk into town