Craig and Tanya

Craig is a chap who we met at a boat ramp in Pahi, an hour or so up route one from Auckland. We later found out that he was a landscaper by trade who moved out of Auckland, up to a farm just north of the local town, about 7 years ago. What led us to hang out a little with Craig was his V8, home built, jet boat.

Since his missus, Tanya, wasn't going to get in it, he invited Doug out for a ten minute ride. So while I sedately munched on my sandwiches, Doug roared up and down the upper reaches of Kaipara Harbour at 50 knots. You could hear the 350 chevvy engine from about 2 miles away, despite Craig assuring me (or rather Doug) that he was holding back from the top speed of 70 knots. He built the jet boat because the two successive top of the line, 850cc jet skis that he'd bought and sold previously just didn't quite cut it. Right.

Having blasted his jet boat back onto his trailer (no winch required), we drove back up to his house, on a dirt road near the local town, and I stuggled to keep up with his old jeep and trailer without slightly terrifying myself. It's a definite trend in NZ, that even if the vehicle in front of you has successfully negotiated a bend at speed, be it a 50 tonne logging truck limited to 90 but actually doing 110 or a souped up ute, it's no guarantee that you can do the same.

Once Craig had cracked us a couple of beers 'Sorry about the Ozzy beer mate, but it doesn't taste too bad really', he rolled what we assumed to be a cigarette (it wasn't) and poured his first rum and coke of many. He then proceeded to talk excitedly about his house (which had arrived on the back of a truck), his land, his fruit trees, his van, his sheep, his cattle, and eventually, his guns. All 5 of them. It was rapidly turning into the manliest day of Doug's life.

The 12 gauge Remington Gold Trigger made a hell of a bang, but Doug managed to miss Craig's peach trees. They were worth more than his life. You may also notice in the video that Craig was at this point sporting a little metallic purple pipe. Not Tobacco.

We sat and chatted in the afternoon breeze, before we made our excuses and left, rolling back down the narrow dirt track with a fresh horde of a dozen eggs, 8 lemons and a sprig of fresh parsley that Tanya insisted we take. 

NZ hospitality at it's finest.

Catch you all soon.

Sam and Doug.