Chilling out in Ross

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Well its been almost two weeks now since our last tramp, and we are still kicking about in Ross. We are staying at Ben's sister's house, earning our keep by painting the roof, chopping firewood, clearing scrub, foraging for blackberries and looking after our neice and nephew.

We've done a couple of walks as well.

It is official. Ben and I are appalling at fishing. We spent an entire afternoon on Lake Mahinapua fishing for evil perch and didn't get a single bite. This is despite John assuring us that the last time he came out with the kids they hauled in something like 27. (I secretly believe that is why there are none there anymore!)

We also tried our hand at surf casting. Between us, we must have caught about 15 sharks but they were all very small. Only one was big enough to eat.

I would like to think we were better at painting the roof. John reckoned the roof had had about 36 metres of rain since it was last painted. The stuff had basically washed off. We almost got it done, but ran out of paint at an inopportune moment. Ben also had a disaster with the dew which washed off his careful touch ups from yesterday. Looks like we will have to drop by again.

Hoping to head into the hills for a few days tomorrow.

Will upload some more pics once we find a speedier internet connection.

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