Te wai o panuku

Today is Sunday and I'm standing just across Great North Road from The Silver Bell, one of the Asian markets in the area.  Poor Jeanne is still suffering with a sore foot. We're unsure what caused it, and it is very slowly getting better, but she couldn't walk along with me.

I decided to walk down and buy a couple jars of fermented glutinous rice. I'm comparing brands. I just discovered it the other day and found that I like it. It's one of those odd and wonderful foods, that I am delighted to have discovered. (the subject of a future post) 

Instead of returning home the usual way, that is, along Great North Road, then Swanson and finally Sturges Road, I decided to cut under the railroad trestles next to GNR, skirt the back edge of the Corbin Estate, and walk through the Opanuku Stream Park.  

This route is actually a little longer and it has a very steep hill at the end of it, but I wanted to get some exercise today and I don't mind going a slightly longer way around.  

So come with me on my walk home.  Here we are looking at some murals painted on the concrete supports beneath the railroad tracks.  

Here is an eel on the Corbin Estate grounds. Corbin's is a winery.

This is a bridge from the Corbin Estate to the Opanuku Park.

The sky is a brilliant blue today and it's about 75 to 80 degrees. We're looking down into the Opanuku from the bridge. The stream is very low right now since we haven't had much rain this summer.  

Here we are about 1/4 mile farther along towards home. There are really large beautiful trees along here.  

I was surprised to find out that some of the largest are Monterey Cypress. The little one directly behind the light is a 'cabbage palm.'

There are also quite a few of what are called white pines, but are not pines at all. The Maori name for them is kahikatea.

We're leaving the Park and walkway area now and moving up into the residential area. Here comes the big hill. We live on the far side of it.  

We're almost to the top now. These palms in the sunlight needed to be photographed. (and I needed a breather) Sturges Road is at the top of the hill.  

We've now crossed Sturges and are walking downhill on Harvest Drive. In the distance, you can see the blue sides and red roof of a building on Summerland Primary's campus. Our house is on the right, about where the white car is.  

George Ward Park is a good place to fly kites when the wind is right. The boys seem to feel that no visit to the park is complete unless they climb all over the sign. 

Our house is just beyond the 2nd hedge; the one that sticks out a little more than the first hedge.

Ahh, here we are. I see that clouds are moving in, it's not as bright as it was, but there is no rain in the forecast. 

Home sweet home.

I had a good walk, about an hour and twenty minutes. 

Thanks for coming along.                                                            -djf 

The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea. Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Today we are going to Anawhata Beach. That's pronounced Ah-nah-fah-tah. (In Maori, the

 -wh- is pronounced as an -f-.)  All of the beaches I've seen on the western side of NZ have been awe-inspiring, but Anawhata commands a special sort of respect because it is not a beach you can drive to with your car. You really have to pay a price to get there. But it's worth it.   

The following descriptions, just below, are taken directly from the regional park website, 

http://regionalparks.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/anawhataregionalpark.

"Anawhata is a spectacular beach that can only be reached by foot. Because it is less accessible, it is much quieter than other beaches in the Waitakere Ranges."

"Follow Piha Road until Anawhata Road (first road on right hand side). Follow Anawhata Rd for approximately 7.2 km; Craw Homestead is on the left. Anawhata Road is gravel and very narrow and winding – please take care."

Remember the post I did about the winding road to Piha?  Well, that was a road of two paved lanes, albeit shoulder-free and twisting.  Imagine a gravel road, 7.2 kilometres long, of about a lane and a half wide, with a steep slope above you on one side, and an unguarded drop of a couple of hundred feet on the other side. That's Anawhata road; the good parts anyway...

The day we went, Allison did a magnificent job of driving us to the car park above the beach. Her concentration along Anawhata Road had been total of course, as had ours. After we pried our fingers out of our arm rests, and the boy's fingers out of our upper arms,  Jeanne and I were able to start the process of releasing Allie's fingers from the steering wheel.  

Fortunately, Allie's hands recovered quickly. 

After kissing the ground, and unloading our day's provisions from the car's boot, we started to make our way down the trail to the beach.

The going was easy at first. The path downward was straight and wide for the first couple of hundred meters. Gravity was happy to exert it's pull and accelerate us toward the beach. The only tricky part was to keep our speed of descent controlled. I was thankful that I saw a right-hand turn at the bottom of this first section of the trail. In case of an emergency, I figured we could always throw ourselves into the brush on the corner to stop.  

The view of Anawhata Beach from the car park.

After getting up and brushing the leaves out of each others hair, and diminishing our supply of plasters, (band-aids) we then started down the steep portion of the trail. This part was clearly designed for single-file passage. A bit hard to manage when you have another, younger member of the family who wants to hold hands during the descent. Allie and the boys bounded downward while Jeanne clamped on to me. I wasn't sure if she was holding on so tightly to prevent herself from falling over the edge or because she wanted to make sure she'd take me with her if she did. This is the view we had.  As you can see, the beach is almost straight down from here.

We did notice, when we stopped at one point to wipe the sweat out of our eyes, and to change sides, so that the hands that had been clasping one another could enjoy normal blood flow again, that we had managed to make it about half-way down.  This is looking out across the chasm at the next hill.

Allie and the boys had long since arrived at the beach and had been enjoying themselves when Jeanne and I stepped down from the final slope.  

Our hearts were touched when we saw how happy the boys were to see that we had made it down safely. They came running toward us from quite a distance down the beach and shouted, and waved, and smiled happily.  My eyes misted up from the emotion of the moment. They surged joyfully around us, helping me to ease the backpack from my shoulders, before digging into it for the picnic lunch Allie had packed. "Gee, Grandpa," they said, "we thought we'd starve before you and Grammy got here. Maybe Mama ought to carry the food next time." 

To get a feel for the scale of this beach, notice that the boys and Jeanne have climbed up the sand dune to the base of the cliff in the lower, center of the picture.

After our lunch, while they went back to frolicking, I stood on the beach, took pictures, and quietly enjoyed the day. At one point I looked over and noticed that the last wave had rewarded me with an 11 footed-starfish practically at my feet. The 'header image' at the top of this post is another photo I took of my gift from the sea.

Just in case people are too traumatised from the trip down from the parking lot to remember how to return to their vehicles at the end of the day, the authorities in charge of the beach erected a sign to show us how to get back. It really ought to be pointing up though, at an angle of about 75 degrees.

Notice that the boys have each selected a stout walking stick to speed their ascent. 

Grammy and I actually started the return trek a little earlier than Allie and the boys (needed a head start) and set our gearshifts to 'low range, 4 wheel drive.' There was no hand-holding this time since we needed them free to winch ourselves up the trail from tree to tree. Here is a typical view of the trail. The gap under the fallen tree is about 3 feet. 

The pace of our climb got me to thinking about the giant carnivorous kauri snail, one of the biggest in the world, that inhabits these forests. Oxygen deprivation set me to daydreaming....

I knew of course that this snail, while a voracious predator, is also nocturnal. I just wondered if snails were ever prone to insomnia, and if so, if one, suffering from this malady in my vicinity, might be up and taking a walk, looking for a late-night snack.

I snapped out of my haze when Jeanne poked me in the back and asked what I was muttering about.  She suggested I save my breath and pick up my pace a little. "You've creeping along like a snail," she complained. If she only knew...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/blogs/in-our-nature/7153489/The-awesome-truth-about-snails  (watch the video..that snail can really eat)

Soon after, we heard sounds from below and behind as the boys and Allie began making their ascent. We felt a cooling breeze as they billowed past and then were lost again to sight in the greenery above us on the trail. In due course, moving about as quickly as New Zealand must have pulled away from Gondwana eons ago, Jeanne, and then I too, arrived at the car. 

We had had a truly wonderful day. We had the beach completely to ourselves, although we did see another family arriving as we left. To top it all off, the generous Tasman Sea rewarded me with a starfish for coming to visit. 

And we all managed the physical aspects of the adventure. Actually, I thought I climbed pretty well for an old guy. And I would have beat Jeanne too, those last few meters to the car, if my tongue hadn't wrapped around my legs again.                -djf

More NZ fish and seafood

I had to do some research to find the name of this fish. (it wasn't labeled at the market) My ears aren't what they once were I guess and I misunderstood what a worker at the fish market told me was the name of this fish. I thought he said it was a mau mau.  

I know now that it is a blue maomao. I would love to see one just caught because it is apparently very blue. The colors, as with other fish, fade with time after they're caught.  

The guy at the market I spoke to also said that it was an even more delicious fish than the red snapper that was next to it in the ice tub. I disagree.  While it was good, it's flesh was not as firm as the snapper.  

Listen to this excerpt from Cannery Row, by J. Steinbeck, and tell me if it doesn't make you want to know more about these creatures...

"Western Biological deals in strange and beautiful wares. It sells the lovely animals of the sea, the sponges, tunicates, anemones, the stars and buttlestars, and sun stars, the bivalves, barnacles, the worms and shells, the fabulous and multiform little brothers, the living moving flowers of the sea, nudibranchs and tectibranchs, the spiked and nobbed and needly urchins, the crabs and demi-crabs, the little dragons, the snapping shrimps, and ghost shrimps so transparent that they hardly throw a shadow." 

When I first read that, I had no idea that i'd ever have the chance to wade around in tidal pools and see some of these creatures myself. Or to buy one of them at a local market.

The one critter that represented all the rest in my imagination was the sea urchin. The seafood market offers tubs of them every now and then and I usually buy a few, just because I can.  Here are some shots of how the edible bits are located and what they look like. 

The first time I tried them, I carefully washed the roe in fresh water, twice, and sprinkled a little lemon juice and salt on them. They tasted like salty, lemony nothings.  

Then, sometime later, when we were at the beach, some teen-aged Maori boys walked by me carrying a large bag of kina (sea urchins). They had harvested them from the rocks just offshore. I noticed that behind them in the sand were kina shells, emptied of their contents by the hungry boys having a quick snack before heading home with their treasure. 

I decided then and there that when I got more kina, I too would eat them right from the shell. I discovered when I did, that they have a very delicate, kind of salty, kind of sweet taste, that lingers.  

Maybe you can tell that this little guy, alphonsino, lives deep down. His habitat is 200 to 800 meters. I noticed that there is a fish and chips take-away place in Glen Eden, not far from our church, that uses an alphonsino on their sign. I'm sure that they, like every other fish and chip place in the area, actually serve red cod or rig shark (lemonfish), but the sign sure looks nice.

He was tasty.

Once a upon a time, there were two college kids who found some freshwater clams in Harlow Lake near Marquette Michigan. They took a few of them back to their dormitory and boiled them in salted water, for a good long time, just to make sure they were done. Then they rather gingerly nibbled them, unsure if clams were supposed to be as leathery as these were. Nothing serious happened within either of their digestive systems during the next 24 hours, so the pair called their foraging excursion a success and listed clams as one of their favorites from then on.  

Forty plus years later, that pair is still foraging, in a different way of course, for interesting edibles. These green-lipped mussels, or Kiwi-candy as they're sometimes called, are about four times the size of those original 'Harlow' clams the pair brought home, and they're a salt-water species. These also started out live, but were steamed only as long as it took to fully open the shells. They are chewy, but not tough. When slathered in garlic butter, they are both a new treat and already a 'comfort food.'

Compared to many fish, this ocean mullet tastes a bit blah. Well, sort of fishy blah, and his flesh is what I call grainy.  He's low on my list of yummy, but was at least easy to fillet

'Salmon nibbles' are a bit of belly meat with a finny handle attached. They look fun to eat, but I found them much too fatty for my taste. Still, they are always available at the market and sell like hotcakes. It appears to me that the Maoris and other islanders buy them more often than the Asians do, but that's just my impression.  

Loligo squid are the smallest species I've seen for sale at the fish market and not always available. To tell the truth, I can't tell any difference between their taste, or texture, and other squid species. Or even the processed and frozen squid tubes we buy now and then to make into deep-fried rings. 

Just one more.  Today started Lent and what better way than to try a new fish?  This one is a hapuka, also called hapuku. This species can also be found as deep as 800 meters, like the alphonsino, but this particular one was photographed at Kelly Tarlton's underground aquarium in Auckland. (Do you remember him, Dianne?)

This one was very good, but a layer of fatty stuff between muscle layers disappointed me a little.  For my money, the red snapper still reigns supreme as 'best fish in the water.' 

In the next post, we're headed for the beach; and not just any beach. It's a special one. Stay tuned. -djf

“Alive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, All in mail never clinking.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

I have tried my best today, to find just the right "Fish of New Zealand" poster. I found several that I attempted to copy into this post, but none of them came out as large or as clear as I wanted. After trying for a while, I remembered W. C. Field's good advice, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it."

Therefore, I'm not going to bring the poster to you, I'm going to bring you to the poster. Please, if you're interested, click on the link below and look at some New Zealand fish.

http://www.seafood.co.nz/types-of-fish/

If you weren't interested and didn't click, reconsider now, before you go on any further because the photos on the link are by far the best pictures you'll see on today's post. You can even touch each fish on the link with your pointer and it will appear that there is water rippling around it. A pretty cool little plus in my opinion. Go ahead. I won't go any farther with this post until you're ready...

...OK, well, I hope you all have been to the link and learned a little about the fish that swim in our waters. You might have read that the fish shown there are by no means all the fish that are eaten here. I am going to show you some pictures I took of some of the fish I've tried. I regret now that I have documented so few compared to all of them we've tried.  

The first two I'll show you are red snappers and are the number one game fish here. 

You're going to need to look closely to see the next fish. Taken together, they are known as Whitebait. This term is used to describe fish in several parts of the world, but in New Zealand, it describes the juvenile form (about 2" long) of five species of fish of the family Galaxiidae.

These run up rivers from the ocean in spring and are harvested by netting.  I have seen fresh whitebait for sale in fancy fish markets for as much as $119.00/kilo. I buy frozen packages of them for $7.99/200 grams.  The most common use for these fish is in fritters. That's just beaten eggs and flour, whitebait and salt/pepper. Fry them into little patties. Very good. And yes, you use the entire fish; head, bones, fins, scales and guts. (and tiny eyes)

Can you see their little eyes looking up at you?

Here's one that I got excited about when I saw them for sale at Henderson Seafood. I first heard about flying fish when I read Kon-Tiki, by Thor Heyerdahl, as a kid. In fact, I just started re-reading it today and found that the author mentions flying fish on the very first page of the book. His 6 man crew sailed a raft from South America to the Polynesian Islands. (they landed on an uninhabited atoll) 

In his account, flying fish would often land on the deck of the raft which was only inches above the water line. One of the duties of the cook first thing in the morning was to gather all the flying fish that had come aboard during the night.  **

I thought that it tasted very mild. Thor and the boys enjoyed them too. Of course, they used them as bait as often as they ate them.

Here's one that I thought tasted just a little more 'fishy.'  Not bad fishy, but somewhat noticeable. They tended to break up too with only the lightest cooking so I'd had to give the interesting looking piper fish a B- on his report card. These little guys have a long list of alias. They're also called garfish, ihe by the Maori, or 'halfbeaks.' They're about the size of smelt.

This one has a rather interesting bit of history behind it. In 1769 Maoris living on the east coast of the North Island gave several casks of pickled John Dori to Captain Cook, who was on his first voyage to New Zealand at the time. The Maoris, then and now, know it as kuparu.

John Dori are very widespread across the globe and all have a large 'eye spot' on their sides that supposedly confuses their enemies.  

These fillets, which are usually sold here with the skin on for some unknown reason, cooked up very nicely. Good flavor and texture.  

I think I'll expand this post to include all sea food. There are so many interesting things to show you. Here are some tuatua and prawns. 

I boiled the prawns in sea-salted water and cooked the tuatua in the steamer above the prawns. They were both delicious with garlic butter.

Henderson Fish Market had both of them in big tanks. I rushed them home and we enjoyed them as a treat for lunch on Valentine's Day, the day Jeanne and I met 44 years ago. 

I enjoyed putting this post together.  I think that I'll continue showing you some fish and seafood you may not have heard about before. 

** I learned something recently about the Kon-Tiki voyage that I didn't realize. Two of the crewmen aboard the raft signed an agreement with the U. S. Army Quartermaster to eat no fresh food at all during the voyage. They lived entirely on field rations, tins of food and emergency rations that the U.S. wanted tested. (well, they claimed they did)

Can you imagine how dreary that diet must have been, especially when you had to smell things like flying fish frying in the morning?

My suggestion is that you find the book at the library and read it. It's the perfect escapism literature for snowbound folks.                                -djf

"Life was a lot simpler when what we honored was father and mother rather than all major credit cards." Robert Orben

Today's offering will be a bit of a hodgepodge.  A bit of this and a bit of that, with an odd thought thrown in for good measure.

• 'A bit of this' is about cards
• 'A bit of that' are some quotes from Robert Orben
• 'An odd thought' relates to trying to find a cool glass of water.

'This' ...

A day or two before I left for New Zealand the first time, I went through my wallet and cleaned out everything that I didn't think I would need here. I kept one credit card, my driver's license and another ID card, but everything else got piled together. A big rubber band then condensed what I had obviously thought were the most important parts of my life into a tight little bundle. Which I stuck into a bottom drawer and haven't missed yet.  

I was surprised at the thickness of the stack of stuff I was leaving behind. (I also understood why my wallet had become uncomfortable to carry.) 

Now, after living here for better than 2 years, I have started to re-accumulate some cards. Here is the range of plastic that serves my needs now.  

The Kiwibank Visa card is what I use almost exclusively for every sort of shopping.  It draws each payment instantly from our savings account at the bank. It's fast, and I don't have to sign anything. At a store, I push a button for the type of card it is, put in my 4 digit pin and I'm out of there. 

The AThop card is what we use to ride the buses, trains and ferries.  You pass it over the reader at the beginning of you trip and at the end, and are charged accordingly.

The driver's license was surprisingly easy to get. A very simple eye chart test, a short form and about $80 is all it took. There is no Triple A here, it is AA and is a bargain at about $70 for a year's protection on the road. 

I'm proud of having a blood donor card again. I had asked a number of people how to go about finding a site to give blood and I couldn't get any clear answers. Finally, Allie heard about an opportunity to give at a local sports arena.  It turns out that the blood collection team sets up there 4 times a year.  Allie, Jeanne and I are all now in their system and will be regulars.  We took the boys with us this last time and I think they were very favorably impressed (albeit slightly squeamish about the needles) with the whole process. (free orange drink and cookies) 

The museum card gets me into the museum for free since I'm a resident.

Allie gave me a gift card for the shoe store and I still have a few bucks on it. 

Jeanne's cards are below. 

 

Jeanne says:   When my sister Dianne was visiting, I used my "I AM" card, as always at the War Memorial/Auckland Museum, while she had to pay $25.  The Museum has a natural history section, including dinosaur skeletons, and what I like best: the skeletons of the huge, wingless and now extinct moa. I think the most interesting part is on the geology of the islands, including volcanoes.  There is even a little trailer house you can enter and experience what it would feel like if you were inside your home and a volcano erupted in the harbor. Rangitoto Island is in the harbor, and it is NOT an extinct volcano.....good information to tuck in the back of my mind.

I got a library card almost as soon as I arrived, and Doug and I use it practically every week.  We can go online and order books, which arrive at the Henderson branch in a few days.  An e-mail lets us know when they are ready for pick up, and e-mails also remind us when our books are due.  The Farmers and Millers cards are for some very nice clothing and department stores.  They are not charge cards, but they accumulate points that can be redeemed at future purchases and also qualify the buyer for instant discounts.  The One Card works the same for the grocery store Countdown.

Finally, I am a "Loyal Nandos" customer.  "Nandos" means delicious barbecue chicken basted in hot peri-peri sauce.  Dianne and I enjoyed a lunch of chicken with medium and mild peri-peri, coleslaw and light fluffy dinner rolls after spending a morning at Kelly Tarlton's Undersea World.  You get a free meal when you've gotten 10 stamps. This is my second card. Practically every shop offers them, for services (roller skating, hair cuts), food, clothing, shoes, and every other imaginable product.  (Buy ten, get one free.)  I didn't get out all the cards I have.  My purse is about maxed out on places to put them.  Allie says I am a true Kiwi now because of all the cards I have collected. The Nandos card is shown because I thought Dianne would like to remember that windy, rainy day in November.  -jmf

'That'...

I don't know if any of you know the work of Robert Orben.  He was a comedy writer for many years, most of his career actually, but finally became Vice-President Gerald Ford's speech writer and continued after G. F. became President. I like many of his quotes and comments and thought that you might enjoy a few of them too. (You may have noticed that I often like to include a quote, at least marginally associated with the subject, at the beginning of my blog posts)

"Older people shouldn't eat health food, they need all the preservatives they can get."

"There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all."

"Never raise your hand to your children - it leaves your midsection unprotected."

"Sometimes I get the feeling the whole world is against me, but deep down I know that's not true. Some of the smaller countries are neutral."

Maybe some of you will want to research him a little more.  I like his tone...

'Odd thought'

What you are looking at here, is my shadow falling across the cover over our water supply line in the front yard. The handle of the on/off valve is a little hard to see because of the grass stems, but it lies at most, 8 inches or so below the surface of the ground.  

Because we had a water leak happen not long ago and had to have the line dug up and a fitting replaced, I discovered that the rest of the water line lies only about 18 inches below the surface.  

There is no need of course for the water lines to be buried deeper since we never have any frosts that could freeze the lines.  In the summer then, when the temperatures climb and the ground warms up, so does our water supply and it is impossible to get a cold, refreshing glass of water from the tap. We need to keep a carafe of it in the fridge. (We don't have a fancy fridge with built-in water) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amDo-KqUjpA

You've heard of perma-frost that affects the far north of course?  Well, we have perma-warm.  It's rather nice in some ways.  When we fill up the boys' splashing pool, they find it comfortable to jump in immediately.                                                         -djf