Riptide - fishing

We were asked by Kathy & Neville to help get their boat, Riptide, onto dry dock for maintenence.  We thought this would be interesting as we had not experienced seeing a boat lifted onto dry dock.  After arriving at their Marina berth I became a deck hand, and after releasing from the dock we motored around to the cradle lift. 

Over the next few days we popped down and helped out where we could - sanding down, priming and painting. Did have a habit of turning up around coffee time, only to make sure they stopped for a break! 

The boat looked great going back into the water - Neville & Kathy had worked constantly for 5 days doing maintenance and giving her a fresh coat of paint.  During this time the weather stayed fine and warm which they had not experienced when doing previous dry docking, so were really happy they were able to get the work done with no rain interruption. 

We were fortunate to be invited out on the first outing after the maintenance was completed.

Releasing the moorings

Boat being lifted out of the water 

High pressure cleaning to get scale off hull

Riptide being positioned on the dry dock cradle where maintennce work can be done

Before I knew it I was working on the hull

With a fresh coat of paint and maintenance completed  it was time to go back in the water

Went out for an afternoon fishing trip in Tauranga Harbour and experienced nice weather and successful fishing - even pulling in a double header!

Enjoying the ride and harbour view on way to a fishing spot 

Helen supervised the fishing!

Successful afternoon fishing 

Check out these little babies - Kahawai which were smoked and enjoyed for dinner! 

Taupo

From Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland we continued along SH5 to Taupo. The town is situated on the northern side of Lake Taupo. As we needed to be back in Tauranga that evening we decided to have lunch overlooking the lake and a quick look around before heading back along SH 1 through Tokoroa and Putaruru then turning of the highway to cross the Kaimai Range back to Tauranga. Lake Taupo is a major tourist destination offering many activities including parasailing, jet boat rides, trout fishing.

Taupo and Lake Taupo (Taupomoana)

Very pleasant down by the lake

One of the attractions was this golf hole in one. If you got a hole in one on the pontoon you would win $10,000. This chap gave it a good go and was landing on the pontoon on many occasions,  but walked away empty handed.

Other activities on the lake included parasailing

After lunch we headed out from Taupo onto SH1. This was a bit of a change in pace as had to contend with a lot more traffic and some B-doubles as this is the main highway to travel connecting the north and south. We hadn't traveled this way before so was nice to take in the scenery and travel through some different towns. All was going nicely until we passed through Tokora and about 5km north of town we encountered a traffic hold up. As it turned out there had been a serious accident on the highway and traffic was being diverted through a side road. Even though the delay made it a little later getting back we did get to see some more country side and made it to the Kaimai lookout just before sunset.

View from lookout as we crossed Kaimai Range