NOT ON THE MAP.

Tucked up in our pleasant little spot we settled in to quietly watch some TV - Yeah Right.


The NZ Fire Service arrived , it was a training exercise.


The only building here was the football club and they were hell bent on saving it from burning down.

No hydrants here , so out with the portable pump, mind the hose.



The tide was out so there was some 50m of sand and stone to stumble over.
And stumble they did.

Sections of floating hose were connected together.


They were attached to a floating filtration device and carefully positioned in the deepest part of the estuary.





Then it was all hands to the pump , as the saying goes.


With a "cough , cough , go" the pump roared into life and the red "roll up" hose snaked its way towards the Fire Engine.

Then there was water everywhere , the hose had come off the storage tank.


Quickly reattached, the tank was filling fast.



The Fire Engine has a high pressure pump on board which boosts the pressure so the hoses become effective.




All this action does not happen by its self.


For every one actually doing something there was 2 or 3 "observers".


But it was a training exercise.

There had to be "the trainers" and guys with clip boards who seemed to "marking" the trainee's.


Then there was the Traffic Control guys.


After all there was 4 motorhomes in the action zone (all parked).


Then there was the Crowd Control guys who had to keep the onlookers (me) clear of the danger zone.

We had a good chat which lulled him into a false sense of security , so every time he looked away I would duck around the other side of the rig to take some more photos.


Kept him on his toes.

Finally it all kicked in and 2 hoses were operating.


The first hose had a nozzle which produced a fine conical shaped spray which was adjustable.
 The photo shows it at its maximum reach.
It could be wound back to make a circle of spray just in front of the firefighters.

Necessary if they have to enter burning buildings.

The other hose had a long reach flow of water.


Both hoses needed 2 people to control them , such was the force of the high pressure water.

Extra "assisted breathing" devices were on hand.


Happily they were not needed this time.

Apparently a third unit was supposed to be at this practice.


The clubrooms was a full two storey structure.


In a actual fire an "aerial unit" would be deployed.


That is one of those rigs with a long extendable ladder that takes a hose and a fireman up high enough to fight a fire in the roof.


Despite all the cellphone calls and conversations
the "aerial unit" that is based in New Plymouth was on duty at an actual fire.



Damn it - its attendance would have sparkled things up a bit.

Practice is over , everything is packed away.

A debriefing was held .
All the guys standing around the back of our ute.
Two of the big, burly ones relaxed a bit by resting onto the ute.
Bingo - the alarm was triggered.

Red faces and lots of laughter.

Where would we be without them?

A HAPPY FIND.

 It was a "Bingo" moment. We were south of New Plymouth and needed somewhere to park up for a few nights before the Easter Rally started.
We noticed on our map a little unnamed road which lead to the coastline.
Being us , we had to have a look , and "Bingo".

The road went to a sports ground.

A club house , grass to park on and a freshwater tap alongside the mouth of a little river.


There was Alec fishing for herrings and small kawhia for bait for his longline.


He has lived here for 60 odd years and very ernestly asked me "not to tell everybody about this place".


His dog brought a stick for me to throw.


Thats two "Yeah Rights" in a row.


The river met the tide with a never ending surge of current and foam.

This tide had washed in a new driftwood log to add to the 100's already ashore.


The foreshore had an amazing collection of small driftwood.


Literally 1000's of pieces sized from 200mm to 1200mm.


Then there were the large stumps and logs or "feature" pieces as we call them.


They would look great in the courtyard of one of the Mansions.


The beach is quite a few km's long.

In the south is the flat topped headland where the wreck of the 'Garlock" lies.

At our feet is a more modern wreck of a good size Crayfish.


Who or what ate the rest of it we will never know.


To the north can be seen "Nga Motu"or the Sugar Loaf Islands , a Sanctuary and Conservation Park.

These islands lead into New Plymouth harbour.


The day ended in a golden glow thanks to mother Nature.


We were very happy chappies and settled down for a quiet evening.


Look at the next blog to see that episode.





The next morning the tide was out.


The eastury  was now a rocky river with long deep pools , ideal for a quiet swim out of the surf.


A lady "rock hound" went by looking for a local rarity , pink pebbles and the semi precious quartz and agate.


The river mouth now cut through a sandbank on its way to the sea.


The photo is a bit dark but the bank on the right is thick with the little driftwood I spoke about earlier.



The tide seems to go out a long way compared to up north.


With still 2hours of outgoing tide to go, rocky banks were appearing , with the some large boulders and the odd enormous one appearing.



The stump in the fore ground was the hightide line.


Shoals of rock can be seen about halfway out.


The first of the big rocks surprised us with the large black patches we could see.


On closer inspection we found they were black mussells.

Thousands of them , 10 to 15mm long and they seemed to be healthy.


Further out the rocks were totally covered in them and low down they were 60 to 70mm long.
They were served for dinner that night along with the mushrooms picked fresh from the playing fields that morning.

 Cheers.