Another French Pass Fishing Trip
11-29-2011
So you already know how I felt about the driving part of my trip…
Now to tell you about the fishing which was actually quite fun. :)
We didn’t catch many fish but does that ever really matter when you’re fishing? Well, sure it does but we tell ourselves that it doesn’t even though we always want to catch something don’t we? We caught 3 fish (I caught 1 and my father in law caught 2) but only 1 was a keeper.
Pete’s was the keeper. Thankfully he had caught one earlier in the day before we got there so we had enough for dinner.
We did have a really nice time, though. My favourite part was actually when we saw a little penguin swim by. I was so busy shouting “OMG LOOK A PENGUIN” that unfortunately there is not a photo to accompany my claims. I promise there was a penguin, though. Later in the night when we were up in the bus we saw dolphins too but they swam by so fast that I only saw them out of the corner of my eye and by the time we ran out to the shore they were gone already. :(
The other quite amazing thing that I saw while we were out fishing were these whirlpools. Yes, they are really little whirlpools. They started when the tides were changing and when our little boat got caught in them we just would spin around in circles. Thankfully Pete actually knows how to drive the boat so we didn’t really get caught in any of them (just one or two really tiny ones while we were drifting) but I saw a couple really massive ones. It was really strange to see that right in front of me. That craziness is only supposed to be conjured up by the magic of Mickey in Fantasia… or it belongs in the Bermuda Triangle… or something equally bizarre…
The rest of our trip was spent watching the Wekas. The wekas are these amazing little birds that apparently a lot of tourists mistake for kiwis because they’re cute little flightless birds with long beaks.
They are SO FUNNY and I just love to watch them run around and interact with each other and just… be wekas. I saw one weka fight with another one and it was the craziest thing I ever saw. We were laughing so hard and I really wished I had my video camera.
We smoked the fish and ate it and it was amazing.
I love French Pass. It’s so beautiful.
:)
Conquering fears in third gear.
11-28-2011
Josh and I went back to French Pass to go fishing again this weekend. We also went to help Josh’s dad transport his other vehicle and his boat back out here to “civilization.” He has been staying out at French Pass in between his jobs to do a bit of fishing and relaxing and so we went out there for a bit of that too.
But first… the drive…
That’s not relaxing.
Well, okay, so it’s relaxing when you’re not driving. Hell, it’s gorgeous. However, when you have never driven on anything like this before then AHH it’s DAMN SCARY. I am not used to changing my cars into different gears to go up winding hills on the side of a mountain and driving on those same kinds of rods except they are made of scary gravel. Oh, and now they are on the side of a mountain. Don’t look down because OH HI THERE IS THE OCEAN.
OMG AND THERE IS A TRUCK COMING AROUND THE CORNER AND ONLY ONE AND A HALF CARS FIT ON THIS ROAD!
Yeah. Can we say panic attack?
Well, once we got in the boat and started fishing I felt better but looking back up at the mountain seeing the road I just drove on and knowing I’d have to do it again on the way back made me nearly have a panic attack again. I knew I would be alright, though. I had a really good teacher. I was glad that Josh had me drive out there with him in the car so he could give me tips and talk me through everything so that on the way back when he had to drive his dad’s truck and I was on my own, I’d feel a lot better.
Boy, I couldn’t have been more right.
Lets skip the entire day of fishing and save that nice story for another time. Perhaps tomorrow I will be in a better mood. Here is a brief preview for you of when I was fishing and happy to tide you over.
Now picture the exact opposite when I woke up the next morning and looked up at that mountain and saw the weather. Dark clouds coming out of the mountains. I couldn’t even see the top of the mountain. Well, we had to drive back so we started back and hoped for the best. I started driving and not even 5 minutes in, I couldn’t even see a few feet in front of me. Half my tricks were gone right there of predicting my turns by looking a few turns ahead of me and being prepared for what was coming, seeing which corners I could turn wider because I knew if nobody was coming. Oh, and not only that but there is that fear of… well… driving off a cliff?
Lets not even talk about it.
My parents are probably having a thousand heart attacks right now. Oops.
Well, the main thing is that I conquered my fear. If I can do that scary drive IN SCARY CLOUDS and rain and when my windshield gets covered in mud and evil bits then I can do it when it’s normal, too. I am proud of myself and so was Josh and Pete (my father in law).
6 CommentsHanging My Words With Friends
11-27-2011
I have had my android phone for quite some time now but recently I have become quite addicted to some of its features. By features, I’m obviously not going to talk about anything useful or helpful or even something that is probably interesting to you. I’m going to talk about ridiculous little games that I play on my phone. That’s right… I’m that pathetic.
It’s not like I’m just sitting in a corner with my phone playing all alone, though. I’m playing games with other people. Some might even say I’m playing with friends. Do you know what I’m getting at yet?
Oh yes, I’ve been playing Words With Friends and Hanging With Friends – two of Zynga’s super fun and addicting games wrapped up in a pretty bow for the phone. Basically, they’re a glorified Scrabble and Hangman but I’m addicted to them nonetheless. It’s super fun to play them all day when I’ve got a spare second to check my phone.
The funny thing is, it has made me want to break out a real scrabble board and play it the old fashioned way but I don’t have anyone to play it with nor do I have an actual scrabble board. I will have to make a point to do this sometime in the future but for now I will continue to practice on my phone with my friends in far away lands.
Do you play games on your phone?
My username is caitysparkles if you’d like to play with me. :)
