Raetea Forest in the Maungataniwha Ranges Far North of New Z

[Sam Newman]

Hi everybody. I have been offline for a while. I have moved out of my old place and onto a new block of land. I am staying in a tent under a canvas truck cover up in the hills of the beautiful Raetea Forest. Above me are massive cliffs with rare short tailed bats. Behind me are huge native trees wider than a car. Below me is a beautiful waterfall with the most purest water pooring down the valley. There are plenty of freshwater crayfish (koura), native trout (kokopu) and eel (tuna) living in the stream. I have got a nice garden with veges just about ready. I have tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, rocket, lettuce, silverbeet, potatoes, pumpkin, corn, pineapples, parsley, strawberries and some fruit trees. Pawpaw, peaches, plums, bananas, tamarillos, avacados, mangos, african guavas and passionfruit. There are wild pigs and possums to hunt for sausage meat and an amazing variety of bird life. There are kiwi breeding close to my camp. Plenty of native owls (ruru), grey warbler (riroriro), wood pigeons (kereru), robins, bellbirds, tui, yellowheads and many more. I wake up to a beautiful bird song every day. I have been trapping and shooting the pests that cause a lot of damage to the native bush and wildlife. Rats, stoats, mice, wild cats, and possums. I am still making possages (possum sausages) and go on regular fishing adventures. I was in the Hokianga Harbour yesterday catching snapper, mullet and kahawai and gathering big fat oysters. I had smoked mullet for dinner tonight and the row is huge at the moment. Yum!!! Anyway, I just thought I'd better let everyone know I'm still out there doing it. Sam.

[jenny_haddow]

Good to hear from you again Sam. Sounds like you've found a little corner of Paradise.

Cheers

Jen

[Sam Newman]

Thanks Jenny. Absolutely!!! Just got to sell my old block of land now so I can set myself up. I am working on making a generator powered by the water at the moment.

[yotmon]

Hi Sam - sounds great. Any chance of some pics ?

I think you have a long way to go to reduce the Possum population, gonna take a hell of a lot of sausage !

[GUS]

Sam, with regards to your Hydro & any sutainable living / solar power puzzles etc I heartily recommend the "professors" @ http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/ very precise, they'll be asking for pictures of your site & drop calculations in relation to potential power output along with many other factors, give them a go, incredibly helpful.

Just say Gus sent you over, ask awy & they'll save many a potential headache as well as being able to cite similar scenarios amongst experienced hydro users & off gridders, pretty much the "cogniscenti" of the renewables world as well as bodgineers.

[vagreys]

Always good to hear from you, Sam. I figured you were off wandering. Glad you've found such a nice spot. Post pics when you can.

[wheels]

Hi Sam. It sounds wonderful.

+1 for pictures.

Phil

[Sam Newman]

Yes Yotmon. I have a big task ahead of me. I can already see the difference in the trees coming back to life with the hundreds of possums that I have already killed. Thanks for the link Gus. I will see what my volume / fall is and check them out. Good to hear from you Vaygreys and Wheels. I will post some pics sometime soon for you all. I am really happy up here. Wahoo!

[kimgary]

Good to see you back Sam hope all is well,still waiting for lottery numbers to come up Ha,Ha

+1 for pictures also.

Regards Gary.

[Sam Newman]

Hi Gary. My lotto numbers will come up when my property sells. Check out the trademe listing number #605488753 I havnt Sussed out how to post pictures on my new phone yet, but I will get there. I'm going fishing now. Heading to Motiti Island. I will stay on the Island overnight. I am on Ambulance duty on Monday and Tuesday nights. I will try to put some pictures up if there is a break between call outs.

[Sam Newman]

As promised, here are some photos of where I live.
My front door

My bedroom

My kitchen

My garden

[Sam Newman]

this is the island that I catch all those fish from.

[NCPaul]

Thanks for the photos Sam!

[Sam Newman]

I have been making more possages (possum sausages). Bought some pig intestines this time. Possum intestines are so small and take a lot of work to scrape and brine. As I have got no mincer, I have been making the mince the old fashion way (finely chopping the meat and fat with a sharp butcher knife). Mixed in some onion, garlic and rosemary from the garden and a little salt and flour. Stuffed it all into the intestine casings and that's it ready to fry. Have also been making lots of stews with the back legs. I get money for the fur and my dogs are happy and shiny. I am looking into skinning the plucked possums and curing the skins into leather. So many uses for a pest in many numbers. I just ate the possum that got into my garden and munched my lettuces, Silverbeet and pumpkin seedlings. Mmm, veggie flavored possum. I made about 10 massive sausages out of that one possum. Can't wait to hook up a power system to the waterfall so I can run a freezer!!! I have coverd a huge area with black plastic for next year's garden. Wahoo!!!

[Coldcure]

Wow I really like where you live that's awesome.

Any room for me?