Tidal Waters
TIDAL WATERS
'A Treasure of Pleasures'
TIDAL WATERS LOGLODGE GISBORNE NEWSLETTER
What's it like Staying at Tidal Waters Loglodge?
Snippets of news from Anna to give you a feel for Tidal Waters Loglodge
"Did you know one of the guests at the Loghouse took this photo"
Men (and some women) this one is for you! Tidal Waters Loglodge Guest Stay 6th & 7th September 2008
One of those spur of the moment bookings. Ben and Bill on the mobile 'do you have a bed for two for a couple of nights?' We were here, and they were here too - very quickly. Both were keen hunters from 'way back' - bit of a dag really. Nothing too strenuous was the order. Brent took them out for a turkey shoot. An hour and a half of peace for me and back they came with 16 turkeys. Brent has a 'waste not want not' philosophy. Much as he groans he needs these dead things need to end up in the freezer. Ben and Bill came inside and opened a can (well, it was after lunch) and Brent sharpened his knife to deal to them turkeys. A great night for dinner outside - roast turkey of course! - and a few fireworks to let off from the supply surrepticiously kept from last Guy Fawkes. These guys could have talked all night - not a turkey got away - yea right!
Early rise in the morning to catch the low tide and fetch the net and henake. (After finishing the turkeys the day before, Brent did a quick trip with Ben and Bill down the river to put out the mullet net and henake). He left with little optimism of catching anything and came back with 4 mullet, 2 kawahai and lots of eels. Great! That night we had warm smoked fish and eel with fried kawahai in a cheesy sauce - yum yum yum - fresh fresh fish is damn hard to beat.
Ladies - this one is for you! Tidal Waters Loglodge Guest Stay 28,29 and 30th August 2008
Last weekend we had just one guest - a woman in her early 40's, Donna Llewell. Donna lives in an apartment in Wellington and has a high stress legal position involving principally Court work.
I really enjoy these one on one stays. It is a chance to just go with the flow and do whatever the guest chooses in the hope they will go back to reality feeling refreshed and energised. We started the days about 9ish with a cup of Kawakawa and ginger tea to cleanse the blood and the senses. Donna is a competitive long distance swimmer who had been to see the Doc before she arrived with hip problems. The weather and her body were not up to beach or Cooks Cove walks yet she still wanted to do something. What about yoga? I said. We both stretched and lunged to an acceptable level of yoga video by Mande White. I love doing this and seeing how good people feel afterwards. Brekky followed with a variety of homemade muesli and yoghurt one day and Bacon and our real farm poached eggs with avocado and tomato another - finishing with espresso coffee.
During the days we did a variety of things - one day it was off to Tolaga Bay to see the Cashmere Factory and a cafe stop for a latte. Another day was spent with a wee beach visit (weather not great) and a visit to our Palm Nursery and Eel Farm. We have palms in varying stages and ages - many taken from cuttings for eventually growing on another block we have further down our road (the 'dream').
We baked the herb bread on the last day for Donna to take back to Wellington with some kawakawa tea leaves, turkey and goat meat (caught for her by Brent). Donna even managed to get in some work on her laptop and feel 'good' about doing it!
Her stay in her own words - "Kia ora korua Anna and BJ, Thank you so much for your pleasant company and hospitality at the loghouse - Tidal Waters Loglodge this weekend. It was just what I needed to rest and recuperate with the expanse of the Pacific Ocean to calm the senses. The guest room and facilities were fabulous. Thanks also for the efforts in hunting some wild turkey and goat for me - I am sure my future dinner guests in Wellington will also be impressed. I highly recommend Tidal Waters Loglodge and cooking and I look forward to visiting you again some time soon. Regards Donna Llewell".
CALLING ALL WONDER WALKERS : RETREATS : WALKS
Friends of mine, Susan Devoy and Paula Thompson have put together a website - www.wonderwalkers.co.nz - it is much more 'active' than this website with bouncy jumpy things to catch attention. I have added our two main walks from Tidal Waters Loglodge. One is an easy walk along our 5.6kms of beach and the other a good day walk starting along the beach over farmland with the destination of Cook's Cove and the attraction of a Latte at Tolaga Bay to end the day. The Lodge is ideal for men and women wanting to 'retreat' away from it all and have a good 'clean out'. I do yoga daily as part of my health and fitness regime. Depending on the level of fitness, I will do this or the more gentle pilates. We do this upstairs in the games room - away from vision, open the doors, overlook the sea and listen to the surf while stretching. Foodwise, I listen to the level of clean out or detox the guest is aiming for and tailor the menu - anything from carrot juice, fruit and veges only to chicken and fish meals, gourmet delights - even the traditional Kiwi roast..
Update 6 October 2008 - Quite a lot has happened since my last snippet. We've had the ANZ Conference - a great success as the very nice dittos in References reveal. What we have tried to establish is a warm friendly atmosphere where people will feel relaxed and able to disclose their ideas while still having the usual facilties and a nice quiet conference room with a view of the beach - not bad eh!
Weekend 3-5 October 2008 - Four guests to stay Friday and Saturday nights. Men up at 6am going deer hunting. Shot a deer (in the neck - very good no damage to meat for freezer!) and at only 6.50am! Had a look for a pig - only two found but both with wee ones and left to grow! Back by lunchtime to hang and start skinnning. Off in the afternoon to check crayfish pots put out night before. Five legal crayfish. Back to drown and steam them. We sat down to Crayfish entree followed by barbecued venison backstraps with crockpot turkey and mixture of vegetables for main and sticky date pudding for dessert - all fesh and homemade. Quiet day Sunday - too windy to go fishing!
CATCH UP 3 September 2009 - Time has a habit of flitting away and before we know it, it will be Xmas. We have had a pot pourri of guests since last writing. Had a 'girl's' 40th birthday party and I mean all the girls, no husbands, no kids. They danced all night and I did wonder if that would have been the case had hubbies been there!
We had the girlfriend wanting to take her boyfriend away for his 21st birthday present and a couple wanting 'peace and quiet' , both in the same weekend. The couple hibernated in the self contained unit and the 21 year olds were out on the beach, goat and rabbit shooting and putting the henake into the river for eels. They had roast rabbit for dinner and went home with two goats for the freezer and all guests had smoked eel to take home. Next time they might come and do what they had intended to do - take our blokart out blokarting and do some claybird shooting.
Now we are into Staff Xmas Parties every weekend. These are always interesting as there is usually quite a mix of people of different ages and with different tastes of music, food and ideas on socialising. Its great when they're all relaxed and laughing.
We have had a good response to the three packages emailed or faxed to various businesses in Gisborne and intend to keep this up during the year with mid-winter Xmas and mystery packages such as murder mystery weekends - more on this later.
