I’m in deepest, darkest New Zealand,
living in a tent
in the front garden of a hunter
gatherer family
who rely on their surrounding
wilderness for survival.
Born a boy,
I mean, lovely weather and a good sleep.
Yeah.
You really look like
you really are ready for the rain.
I’ve been waiting for you.
I might need a bit of a hand.
Yeah.
Um, you go and check the eel net.
Out of the 365 days of the year,
How many of them are dry here?
About 200.
Really?
Okay.
Then get a little bit of rain
every now and again.
Some people just happened
to pick the right weather.
Really? Yeah.
I’m overseeing the right weather.
Anyway,
eels like this sort of weather.
They like the rain.
I love this wet, drippy sort of weather.
So which job do you want?
Do you want to wait out there and
do the rope or do you want to do the thing?
No, really.
I saw how you were dressed like I did.
Ok.
Roberts net has been out overnight,
but you can never be sure
if he’s going to have a feast or famine.
Does it look like there is anything in it?
Yeah.
Look at that.
We got more than what we need.
Yeah.
So at least some will select a couple,
and then we’ll let the rest go.
The reason you’re letting them go
is because you don’t.
You don’t need that many.
I don’t need that many.
And the bigger ones are the breeders.
If you just want to
help him back into the water,
he’ll probably find his own way
because he’s such a liar.
Well, this one.
Look,
we’ll let this one go and
just give him a pet
and just give him a helping like that.
Yeah, like stroking a dog.
Come on eel.
That way.
Go on, this way.
There you go.
See,then he’s away.
This breed of New Zealand eel.
reproduces just once in their life,
living in freshwater
until they’re ready
to breed in the ocean.
So what you’re establishing here
is this careful
balance between you and nature.
And as long as you respect
the environment in the wilderness,
it’ll look after you.
Some people come here and feel
sort of intimidated.
It’s too primeval.
Whereas this is my home.
You know,
I feel at home here
That eel will die.
The plan is to do it as quickly as you can.
Okay.
You held it between those rocks.
You try to hold it behind the neck there
so you can cut his
About there.Yeah.
Sorry eel.
There you go.
Have you done this before?
When I was a child,
I used to go out fishing.
Fishing all the time. And my.
My grandfather
said that if I caught fish,
I had to keep them.
I had to eat them.
So he taught me how to gut fish.
I didn’t mind it.
But, you know, the funny thing
is, as the years have gone on,
I’ve kind of.
I’ve gone all soft. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. Well,
I’ve actually got harder as time goes on.
You’re still sensitive
and try to respect everything,
but it’s just the realities of surviving.
Yeah.
Actually toughens you right up.
Yeah.
You know,
even though your heart feels,
you know,
every time you kill an animal,
I feel for it. Yeah, but
it’s just the reality of what’s going on.
