Eeling down the stream

Day 196 – Matamata, New Zealand

We started the day by going to a blueberry farm. Our visit wasn’t exactly planned, by which I mean that the person in the farm who extended the invitation told our guide roughly 5 min before we arrived.

That translated by telling us a lot of history about the farm, before walking in the rows and learning more about the culture. We were with a group of senior ladies, and have standing around wasn’t the best move. (He was interesting, though.)

We ended up by buying fresh berries for less than a quarter of the supermarket price. Yum.

That afternoon, I cooked some quiche for diner after lunch (yes, logical me) before going eeling.

Eeling is the activity of playing with eels, catching them, rolling -I mean, wrestling- in the mud with them, before letting them go back in the water with a full belly as a reward. For that you need bait, which we brought in the form of lamb’s heart. Yes I know it’s not a vegan-friendly activity.

We had two “fishers”, my host and her grandson, an expert at the age of 6, and he was the one usually rolling around with the eels.

As we didn’t have this time the right net, it was difficult to catch them to get them out of the water, but the fishers landed a few on the banks. Alas, eels are said to be slippery for a reason, and we didn’t catch them for long. Eels are strong, slippery, and have an unerring sense of in which direction lay the stream. It was fun.

As for me, I was the chicken staying out of the mud and the path of the eels trying to get pictures on top of the bank!

Eeling down by the stream

The eels are used to it and start coming even before the bait reaches the water. They know the grandson’s voice and what it means. At times we had 5 at the same time, some big, some smaller. I’m told that some are recognizable and have name, Blind Pete and Grandpa, for example.

That was a memorable afternoon!

(No eel has been hurt by this activity.)