Visit with G'papa

No visit with G'papa would be complete without experiencing some fishing.  We hired a guide and headed out to fish the calm waters near Rangitoto Island on the East Coast of Auckland.

We were not terribly successful but did manage to catch a few red snapper and surprisingly also large scallops on our fishing hooks.  

Naysa became an expert at cutting up the bait and placing them on our hooks.  Jonah stayed clear of that job.

We were quite amused by the Cormorants who kept driving down into the water and eating the bait off our hooks. It became a game to see if we could get our fishing lines down fast enough to the bottom to escape their nibbles.  In the end they caught more fish than we did!

  

Another highlight of G'papa's visit was our trip to Tiritiri Matangi Island 30 km northeast of Auckland.  Through an impressive conservation effort the island has become home to numerous endangered reptiles and birds. 

Our guide, Helen, is a retired lawyer with a love of learning.  She spent 3 hours guiding us through the island forests and captivated all of us (especially Naysa) with her self taught expertise in botany and bird watching.  None of us were very successful at capturing the birds with our cameras but here is the New Zealand Pigeon which traditionally was used by the Maori to make pigeon pie.