We left the developed vacation communities of Waiheke Island and sailed a dozen or so miles across the Firth of Thames.

We were heading to the deserted anchorages and grassy stocklands of the Coromandel.

On the way across we trolled up a beautiful Kahawai …

who went into Zak’s sushi rolls for lunch.

We anchored in Te Kouma harbor with only the cows for company.

And there were a great many cows in this perfect pastoral setting.

We hiked among the bovines on the small headland and found hidden pocket beaches where Oystercatchers stalked their wily prey.

Fired up by the success of the trolling and the resulting delicious sushi, the girls hopped in the dinghy with a couple of poles and many and various lures to try their luck among the kelpy rocks.

Unfortunately they only caught the weeds.  But the Baja pole spear also came out after a long sabbatical, and K shot a couple of snapper. It was great to be back in the fish.

The offshore birds were in the same frame of mind. Gannets were plunging into schools of bait.

It was a perfect place to unwind, but we had to move on to make our flights to Christchurch for a week of hippy road tripping in two rented camper vans.