Kiera’s blog
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HE following are abridged extracts from Kiera Sleeman’s blog. Kiera was brought up in Probus and has been working on Kawau Island in New Zealand for the past three years. It’s winter down south, and Kiera has a few months to spare...
Mid-June 2020 We have been anchored in Kawau Island for a week now waiting for strong winds to pass. My mates Santi (chef/South African), Mikey and I went fishing. We did very well catching five kahawais in our secret spot. Then we went hunting for oysters in south cove and then to north cove for some huge mussels. So that night the crew had a massive treat with fresh fish and shellfish, as fresh as can be, all caught and cooked within a few hours. I gutted and filleted all the fish and shucked all the oysters for everyone, so we had raw oysters and steamed mussels and fish and chips with the kahawai. I also made some sashimi with the kahawai, fine slices with wasabi and soy dip - yummy. It’s 27th June and our moving day has arrived. We are currently in Bostaquet 34 | Probus News Magazine | Issue 250
Bay, south side of Kawau. I get woken up at 2 am to do anchor watch. It wasn’t too bad just a little chilly out, I could hear a nearby dolphin swimming along through the night sea, the stars were shining so bright, and you could see the milky way right above the masts, dark patches with bright silver shining all over it. My favourite part of anchor watch is when I’m able to look up at the stars beaming through the night sky, it’s not always the same, but it’s always spectacular. After 45 minutes, it was time to get the coffee going, and then I had to wake up each crew member. It is always funny watching how each person wakes up from their deep sleep and dreams; each different expression makes me chuckle a little. Once everyone was up and ready, we went straight to the windlass to haul up the anchor, it was only the small anchor, so it wasn’t too hard to pull up, not like the big anchor. We set off towards Auckland. It was pitch black, and all you could see were the outlines of the oncoming islands. We left early in the morning as we prefer to arrive in a place we’ve never been before whilst it is light. Unfortunately, I felt a bit seasick. It started to happen on my watch, but I just ignored it and
