509a Beach Road Whangamata

04/03/2023

Now I dunno what this looks like to you, but to me it looks like one of those semi-impromptu raft-races where everyone competes like hell to be the worst-behaved raft on the harbour; where rules are ignored by everyone; where the idea of being first doesn’t exist except when it comes to having the most flour-bombs; where all the ducks and sea-gulls have flown to Australia to get out of the way, and the Harbour-Master has got his t**s in a terrible tangle because there’s no Health and Safety and someone stole his megaphone.

I’m upstairs on the deck, and while I’m only seventy metres from the ramp, I’m a couple hundred from the action - but I can still hear the fun!

There’s always something going on around here, and my summer memories are filled with suddenly-empty paddle-boards and big splashes; with Trevor and the other red-billed gulls flocking by the dozens to finish the last of the fish ’n’ chips; with family groups gathering under the pohutukawa across the road or holding naked toddlers by the hand and leading them into the warm harbour waters for their first paddle.

These things are iconic Kiwi summer experiences, and I love seeing all these strangers park outside my house to enjoy the same things I get to see all year ‘round!

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26/02/2023

Between those two boats on the right you can just see a distant bay, and when you get around that corner you’ll find a big rock named ‘Snapper Rock’. Probably be more accurate to call it ‘No Snapper Rock’. When it’s too rough to venture from the harbour Dads take their disappointed kids up there and fish till they lose a bit of gear on the snags. If they went a little further they’d have a chance of something a bit decent…

In the calm of an early autumn evening I sometimes took the trailer-yacht up there. In the olden days freight ships made their way to the top of the harbour to unload and there’s still some deep water in places. Trouble is - there’s a whole shipload of trees and rocks in there too. I’d anchor in a likely spot and toss a big ol’ bait on a stray-line into the eddy, sit dead-still and watch while I fed-out line. When it got somewhere near-enough I’d set the ratchet and wait… Only a fisherman knows how it feels when the line tightens and the reel begins clicking. You hardly dare breathe and in such shallow water you don’t dare move either. You slowly gather the rod into a position you can strike from and when the ratchet stops you silently curse and hope and keep waiting, 'cause you know if it’s a big snapper it just mouthed the bait and took it somewhere to turn it around to swallow it. If you haven’t scared it off it’ll gulp it down and then - you’re on!

There are some bloody big snapper up there because I saw the evidence when my mate caught a couple 14-pounders in his set-net. As for me - I’ve been busted-off every time, and all my fish may still be up there laughing while they count the trophies they keep hanging on them big old snags!

https://www.realestate.co.nz/42227511/residential/sale/509a-beach-road-whangamata

18/02/2023

Summer’s gone and autumn’s passing-by, and the sun’s going down earlier each day. Evening mist has gathered out on the Onemana Road, and the breeze has great big holes in it, making calm spots on the water. Pale pastels of purple and pink dominate the clouds and reflections, and I remember the wisdom of an old artist friend, ‘Detail and moodiness are often incompatible, and to have both in a painting is usually unsatisfying.’ At sunset and twilight, I’ll take the mood option every time.

The white-face heron’s slow, swooping flight has dropped him nearby and I’m watching him from the deck upstairs. My ol’ mate Trevor the red-bill gull, who’s always up for an extra few calories, spots him and comes along just in case some food gets scared into the shallows, but the heron’s ignoring him.

One of the reasons I love these slow-moving birds is their focus on the job. Each small area is examined for telltale motion; each foot lifted and gently placed, before the body balances forward like some strange mechanical being and freezes again. Even from this distance of sixty metres you can tell when he’s spotted something - that instant of absolute stillness followed by poised, collected tension as if a spring is being coiled; he leans forward to get within range - and then, like an archer taking a shot, the sudden dart of the sword-beak so often followed by an almost haughty toss of the head as the trophy is flipped, caught and swallowed.

I sit up there and watch until he reaches the number he first thought of and leaps into flight again to slow-beat his way back home.

I sit up here taking my time and thinking about my day in small detail. Like the heron, I love my harbourside life…

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House for sale in Whangamata, Thames-Coromandel, with 4 beds, 2 baths, 444m² land area. Location, Location, Location! - view all 40 photos.

11/02/2023

Six o’clock in the morning in November and I’m in my downstairs lounge looking at these lucky bastids goin’ fishin’. The tide’s just turned to incoming and they’ve resisted the idea of going out early. By the time they get out to the best soft-bait spots the fish will be biting hard and they’ll have a beautiful day to enjoy the fun.

Just lookit the colours on the distant hills - the pastels muted around the iconic mako-fin of Rangipo beyond the upper end of the harbour. There’s hardly a wind at all and once that early overcast burns off it’ll be one helluva day, and I’m stuck in here as envious as I can get.

Right now the ramp is wide and almost empty, room for fifteen boats or more, but in six hours or so their day will be done - and high tide will mean they’re fighting for room on a thirty-metre strip, and I’ll be looking at people being tested for skill and temperament. No-one wants to waste time when space is at a premium, so everyone tries hard to get trailered-up and gone, but there’s always one idiot in the mix whose dual purpose in life is to bully his way in while keeping me entertained.

Once saw a stranger with a big flash ute pushing a 22 foot boat back at great speed and with awesome panache - missed the brake and buried the tray underwater because some other idiot had driven his boat up on the trailer with his motor and chewed out a bloody great hole in the sand!

Getting too old to go fishin’ is sometimes a trial, but the compensation of watching the fun will do me just fine.

05/02/2023

This lazy old mist descended mid-morning, so when the tide was halfway-in I wandered upstairs and took this pic from the deck, but stayed there and took a few more. It seemed the sun was burning it off, but at times the mist came down low across the water obscuring most of the harbour. There’s three minutes between these two shots. Ten minutes later the sun had won for the day.
If you look close you’ll see something wedged in the split trunks of the pohutukawa tree across the road from my home, and there’s a story wedged in there as well…
I’d noticed this frail, elderly man walking past almost every day through most weathers. He used to perch his bum on a bench-seat up by the boat-ramp and sit for a half-hour or so just looking, before levering himself up and wandering off past my house. One day I noticed him sitting in the crack of the tree. He’d brought a piece of driftwood with him and perched on that, enjoying the view from there, and that wobbly seat became his place until he became too frail to wander so far from home. When he left each day he’d hide his chair up high among the branches so no-one else would pinch it.
Occasionally I’d stroll out to the letterbox and pretend not to notice him, and he’d sit there just a few metres away pretending not to notice me either. It’s as if we were the sole members of a silent men’s tree-house club and while we were happy not talking to each other - we couldn't tell anyone else either! I been silently missing him for a few years now...
https://www.realestate.co.nz/42227511/residential/sale/509a-beach-road-whangamata?utm_source=webshare

04/02/2023

We’ve lived in this house since we built it twenty-odd years ago, and before we sell it I’ve got a few stories to tell. It’s tempting to start talking about the big picture, the panorama of this beautiful spot, but instead I wanna talk about how it feels to live here, and let you check out the pictures by yourself.
Since I retired the course of my days has slowed, and I’ve got time to notice things more; to be more aware of the gentle passage of time. It’s as if my life has become tidal, and I can step aside from the rush to get somewhere and just pick my feet up - drift a little. I notice a stingray glide past fifty metres from my front door so I reach for my binoculars and stop whatever I’m doing until it’s ghosted past and gone, because if you don’t stop and stare you’re missing something which adds richness and texture to your day.
One of my daughters began the practice during dinner at her house, of asking one of her kids, “What’s your favourite part of the day?” and each pauses, then answers and selects the next victim until the whole family has thought about and given voice to some positivity.
At my bedtime I sit on the side of my bed and look at the four pictures of our kids on the wall, and I play the game in my mind. There’s always a moment or two - or more.

https://www.realestate.co.nz/42227511/residential/sale/509a-beach-road-whangamata?utm_source=webshare