A PLEASANT CAMP

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 December 1939, Page 17 (Supplement)

A PLEASANT CAMP

My knee was not so painful and we got a good night’s sleep. The murmuring of the river, the sighing of Ihe beeches, the call of the weka and the hoot of the morepork all helped to make a pleasant night in the bush. This was the first camp at which we heard the tui’s call at daylight and as we were in no hurry we went to sleep again. Mundy was first up. He went, in search of a frying pan, a flat stone on which he was going to cook Hie eels for breakfast. He soon found one but it was too large for him to carry so he came to get Jackie to help him. They managed to get it to the fire. It was a beauty, about 18 inches across with a flat surface and a dent in the middle to catch the fat. When it was placed in position he put a lot of embers on top, then, heaped on dry firewood. Mundy took the backbone out of the cels and cut them into pieces. When he found the stone hot enough he swept the embers and ashes away with a beech broom, laid the slices of eel on top of the stone, and then sprinkled them with salt and pepper. In a few moments they were frizzling and the fat was running into the hollow away from the fish which was browning nicely. We made a good breakfast of eel. which was followed with a cup of tea. I decided to stay in camp for the day and rest my leg. Mundy was given orders to procure food and Jackie was going upstream in search of a reef. Both were to report before dinner. They set off in different directions. My leg was not so painful, but very stiff. What it wanted was a good massaging with a liniment. Later an idea struck me—the eel fat on the stone. As it was cooling I made a wooden spoon, and getting some out. I set to work, rubbing it well in and kept going at it for half an hour. It felt much better after this treatment. I took a stroll and found everything in good order. When I returned I found the flies buzzing around the other eel. So taking it down to the river I gave it a good wash, sprinkled it with salt and put it into a hole in the sand. After that 1 covered it over and went back. Jackie was first back. He had found a reef not far away, one that somebody had been working (probably Mr D. Donald’s reef) and in his bag. with the samples, lie had a number of fresh water crayfish. He had discovered a stream full of them. He soon had the largest billy boiling. Into this he put some salt and crayfish. It was almost full.