Monday, July 02, 2007

rehab in the hills

Lovely little fishing trip. Am wonderfully rejuved.

Two very different road trips were had on the way down. In two very different cars. The Big T mobile - my vessel of transportation – and its other passengers and I played drinking games for the four hour trip-duration.
The other car, clearly didn't.

We arrived at the impressively twee Duck & Trout restaurant in Dullstroom for dinner, where such drunken behaviour and my swigging merrily from my squeezie bottle wasn't encouraged. “What is this?” (A pizza.) “Why is it here?” (You ordered it.) “But what is it? (A pizza). “Why is it here?” (You ordered it.)
The other passengers had already passed out in their respective meals.

I tried my hand at fishing. Peas-style.
Fishing takes patience and perseverance. Since I have none of either, fishing in it's traditional form isn't for me.

But my mouth was still watering every time I saw the fin of a fat, would-be-so-great-griddled-and-drizzled-in-garlic-butter-and-a-twist-of-lemon trout, I just had to catch me a big guy for dinner. I put waders on, drew Big T's net and stalked them from the side of the river bank. The water was gin clear and the little fuckers were skittish.
I'd stalk, charge and pounce on a flock (? herd? school? shoal) of them with the net. Hurling myself with reckless abandon into the icy cold water, waders not even working anymore.

A true fisherman doesn't mind getting wet for her dinner.

Eventually picked a spot where they were spawning– feeling like a Survivor contestant - getting quite feverish about that smoked trout I was infatuated with. Stood in the water for an hour in one position - not moving, catatonic, net in position.
Nothing.

I did better than the dude who caught his hook in the bushes and still thought the fish were biting, though.

My poen was starting to ache from the freezing water on my jeans, and I gave up. By Sunday, I was craving trout so bad, I didn't know what to do with myself. I ate some on the way home eventually.

People got goofed, one person rugby tackled the fridge. We ate so much I wonder whether I'll fit into my Durban July outfit next weekend.

Fantastic weekend, so very chilled and beautiful. We were on the foothills of the Drakensberg – in the middle of nowhere – no Internet connection, no cell phone reception – just peace and quiet. And it was so darn pretty. Perfect. A fire roaring in the fireplace all hours of the day, and creaming my opponents at 30 Seconds.

And now to ease into the craziest week of my life.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

We won the party, but lost the fishing!

Cool weekend

Peas on Toast said...

Hmmph - you guys kept on throwing my dinner back into the stream!!

Anonymous said...

"ease into"? That doesn't sound like you.

Peas on Toast said...

Kyk - I know. I've been told the importance of the 'Vaseline Effect'.

But am already tearing my hair out this Monday morning....sigh

Anonymous said...

I love the image of you running around after fish. So where's MY trout?
Mmmm...trout...

Peas on Toast said...

Jam - I was so positive to start with, thinking, "I'll just scoop up five at once! These guys are being dumb with their stupid rods..."

And found out why Fish Pouncing isn't all that popular :(

ChewTheCud said...

You're supposed to tickle the trout Peas.

Although there's no way I would stand around waving a fly rod at the water either. The lure spends half its life in the air, no wonder they call it a fly ;)

Mommy said...

There was a scene in "Whitnil and I" that I will always remember, where they take a gun fishing and shoot at the fish in the water. Mad. And funny.

Peas on Toast said...

Chew - yip[, there was a whole lot of shit flying about, and it wasn't fish :)

Jam - HILARIOUS. We were talking about that this weekend, was in hysterics. Now that's shooting!

Betenoir said...

ungh. Fishing. Cold water. Rather you than me, my friend.

Peas on Toast said...

Bete - that's what I thought too, but man, I was hungry for those fish! :)

SheBee said...

dude, I am hooked on your blog as of ten posts ago. ten'ish. gimme another day and i'll read the rest of it.

Peas on Toast said...

Sheena - thanks my sweetheart! I have some archives (various - not all) on the sidebar - however, the blog is under cosmetic construction at the moment, so perhaps try a little later.
My mate is prettying it up for me :)

Cam said...

Trout and a cold Poen...now thats fishing!

Izz said...

Sounds like you had damned good fun. Kiev!

Peas on Toast said...

Ches - tell em about it :)
PS: Apparently we were in leopard territory, but didn't get to see one :(

Izz - kiff, or kiev indeed!

Leigh Anne said...

Sounds like you had an awesome weekend!

One question: Who looked after Chad while you were gone?

I don't like the thought of him being left all alone to fend for himself, at the mercy of every crazed, doondies throwing fan out there... :'(

Peas on Toast said...

Leigh-Anne - lol. Don't worry about Chad, he was safe and sound, although I'd like to think he missed me like crazy :)

zuzula said...

sounds very peaceful! I did an hour of yoga for the first time ever... and today I can hardly move. so much for gentle exercise. Pah. What's happening this week?

Cam said...

I've only ever seen leopard tracks at our farm in Dullies, they're there, but very rarely seen..Has Chad been banned from facebook?

Peas on Toast said...

Zu - you poor thing! Get someone to give you a massage babe. :)
This week we're launching our company - it's all a bit carayzeee.....

Ches - nope he's still there...the last time I checked anyway!

Revolving Credit said...

Next time, just throw some prozac in the water. It'll help calm the fish down abit and make the netting exercise much easier.

Not sure about the 'Vaseline Effect' though, sounds a bit anal to me???

Peas on Toast said...

Rev - I should've just thrown bread int he water. Apparently it's a serious faux pas to do this - but really, people can be so anal. Vaseline anyone? ;)

Revolving Credit said...

Peas, when you were wading in amongst the trout, to the point where the waders didn't work anymore, were you poen deep in water???

Kinda makes you think, hang with fish, rub sides with fish, smell like fish!! :)

Peas on Toast said...

Rev - yip, was poen-deep. But luckily becaue I smell like a bunch of roses, no fish was gonna touch sides with that!

Revolving Credit said...

If anyone out there gets some trout that tastes like roses, you know where it comes from!

Peas on Toast said...

Cheeky ;)

Anonymous said...

Yo ho..

At the risk of making Peas pout
I have a theory on the scarcity of trout
Methinks Peas poen in the dam
Made the male trout scram
Of this I have little doubt

You see since the day they were born
Their instincts have been screaming "go spawn"
So a poen getting some ac
Put the girl trouts on their backs
And they all probably shagged till the morn

Leigh Anne said...

I can't stop giggling at 8ball!

Peas on Toast said...

8Ball - classic! I'd love to know how long it took you?

Anonymous said...

Honestly?

I write them within 5 mins of reading your posts Peasy....told you, I missed my calling...

Have just read some of your earlier posts, man you are too funny darlin' -- I am now officially a convert..

Peas on Toast said...

8Ball - wow, seriously? Tisint too late you know - you could start a blog on your poetry, you know :)

So glad you're a convert...and still have no idea who you are! :)

Anonymous said...

Aw shucks Peasy, you're too sweet..

Enjoying my job too much to venture into the murky world of world wide web journalism...so will carry on hijacking yours to publish my wares if that's okay...

You will surely meet me soon enough, still deciding if I'm going to tell you who I am yet though...this is kinda fun
:)

Peas on Toast said...

8Ball - I can't wait! I have a feeling I'll be very surprised! And yes, publish away! :)