ZM's Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley - Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley's Lil Bitta Pod - 17th July 2023

Episode Date: July 16, 2023

On Today's Lil Bitta Pod; After suffering through years of Producer Jared's begging - Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley FINALLY chat to a (former) Deep Sea Fisherwoman! Molly gave us some insight into her own experience working at sea, and answered many of our nautical questions!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ZM Podcast Network. Fleshwood and Hayley's Little Bit of Pod. Download the MyMaccas app and use your points towards a coffee. Welcome to A Little Bit of Pod. Now, for those that haven't heard the big pod today, at the end of the pod... I would listen to the big pod first today, because at the end of the big pod

will be the explanation as to why we've now got Molly on today's Little Bit of Pod. Because we ran out of time. We talked about today the Korea 180s and Molly called up. She went from deep sea fishing to an accountant.

And Molly joins us on the Little Pod. Good morning, Molly. Hello, how are we? Thank you for joining us for an extended chat. Good afternoon, good evening. Whenever people are listening to this,

you fucking idiot. You can't put a timestamp. This isn't morning radio. You can't timestamp a podcast. I'm sorry, good day. whenever people are listening to this. You fucking idiot. You can't put a timestamp. This isn't morning radio. You can't timestamp a podcast. I'm sorry, good day to you, Molly. Molly, now you're on the podcast, you're allowed to swear. Happy Matariki. Happy Matariki.

Now, so many... Haven't seen a star, but a bit cloudy. Been very cloudy. So many questions read deep sea fishing. How old were you when you first went deep sea fishing? And how did you get into it? How did you get into it? That's the most amazing part. Well, I worked at a place on land that has the vessels as well. And I worked in the factory. Sea Lord.

And then something like that. Lords of the sea. Ladies and lords of the sea. Ocean Dame. There's a few. There's like tallies. Because I lived in Nelson. You always knew of guys that would go out for like weeks on end. Yeah, right.

So I live in Nelson. Oh. So it's a big few companies here to choose from. Right. Yeah. And so how did you get into it? Did you see an ad and you were like, that's me? What lured you to the sea? Well, I worked on land. Yeah. In the factory. Yeah. And so how did you get into it? Did you see an ad and you were like, that's me? What lured you to the sea? Well, I worked on land.

Yeah. In the factory. Yeah. And then, so everyone knows about the fishing boats at that place. Yeah. And I wanted to buy a house and I thought, well, it's going to take me forever to do it if I, you know, carry on here. It's a big money. So the money's better on the boats.

Oh, yeah. How much money? And you can't spend it. That's the best part, is you're forced to save it because you can't spend it and you're not buying food every week and all these things. But do you like tanking? I put all my stuff into storage before I left.

I was very committed to this. So you didn't even live anywhere? No, I didn't live anywhere. So I paid $20 a week for a storage unit and that was my expenses. So I saved everything. So how much would you clear for six weeks at sea, if you don't mind us asking? Well, it

depends what vessel you're on and what you're fishing for and all that sort of stuff. Dolphins. My first year, okay, yeah, if you're whaling, I'm able to stop. There's a lot of blubber on a whale. That's big money. My first year, okay, yeah, if you're whaling. There's a lot of love around a whale. That's big money.

Big money. If you're whaling. Did you hear about, just to just, Maud, did you hear about this cruise liner that pulled into a Norwegian port and they pulled up alongside the whale slaughter ship and these people were like, oh yeah, we're coming into port. I look over and just see all these whales being decimated. It looked like the scenes from The Cove. It was horrible. Oh, my God, no.

Molly's not a whaler. Molly's not a whaler. She's a fisher. No, we don't do that in New Zealand. It's okay. Yep. Until you're in international waters, and that's... Anything goes.

Yeah, anything goes. 12 miles off coast. Anything goes. No man's land. Okay, he's making good money. And the fish prices change all the time. Yep. And you're better to look at it as, like, a year, because you have your, like, hokey season. You're going to make heaps good money. And the fish prices change all the time. Yeah. But you're better to look at it as like a year

because you have your hokey season. You're going to make heaps of money. And then on the off season, you're not going to make so much. So your payment was dependent on what you got, how much you caught and what you caught. Wow. Holy. So it's how much money the boat makes.

So we'd be out for six weeks and the boat would make X amount of money, a certain percentage of that, I can't remember the percentages, but a certain percentage of that would go to the crew and that would pay for our food, our fuel, everything to keep us going. And then you get a percentage of that. So you get, it's on a grading system. So when you start, when you first go, you're a C grader and you can work your way up the grade. So that's an incentive to work harder. Yeah. Get more money, get a grading system. So when you start, when you first go, you're a C grader, and you can work your way up the grade.

So that's an incentive to work harder. Yeah. Get more money, get a bigger percentage. Yeah. And then you get a percentage of the catch. So every week you get a retainer. Yeah. And then at the end of it all, once it's all worked out,

you get your bonus, which isn't really a bonus. It's just what you're owed. Yeah. So they'll work out how much you made for that trip, and they'll take out your retainers you've been paid, and the rest of it is paid out as a lump sum. So how much could you make in a year? Well, my first year, so some of it was as a mini-grader, a couple trips. Yeah.

I made, I think I made like a hundred grand. Jesus! Zero expenses. Zero expenses. Yeah. But then, so when you got back. That's like a starting rate. When you got back to land after six weeks, how long would you have to get a hotel or just stay with mum and dad

or friends or something? Well, when I came back, I stayed with friends and then I found somewhere to live. But then would you go back out again in like a week or so? Or two? So the boat that I worked on, the trips are six weeks long. And if you're crew, you do two on, one off.

So you're out for 12 weeks and then you're home for six weeks. I did more trips to make more money. Molly's making cash. Wow. I'm making bank, baby. You're making money and you've got no expenses, but you're stuck on a ship. There's got to be a cabin fever element.

There's got to be a fuck these people element. There's got to be I'm sick of this shit. 50-year-old Kevin is starting to look

pretty hot right now. He keeps looking at your balls. That's a sad state because Kevin is not hot. He's disgusting. Sea delirium.

He's got an old weathered sea dick. It's wrinkly like it's spent too much time in the water. But what is it like on board? What's on board life? Where do you sleep? Do you have your own little privacy? And is there a canteen? There's cabins that you sleep in.

And the boat that I was on was quite large. So you have a cabin mate, but they would be on the other shift. So when I was sleeping, they'd be working. So you can have a wink. Yeah, you can have a sneaky mezzie, you know. I would never be sneaky about it. My loudest wank wouldn't be louder than a diesel engine. No, in the rough sun.

You're not doing it right. All the other boats that are a bit smaller, people share. So when they're sleeping, there'll be someone else in the room too. But I was lucky I was on a big boat. That's a real danger wing. You know me, that's exciting stuff. Now, okay, so then what about like recreation space? Like is there a room where you can watch TV?

And what TV can you watch? Does it have to be DVDs you brought with you or downloaded shows or what's the story? So when I was there, I downloaded shows and I took my laptop and took a hard drive. There's a small TV in the rooms. Sometimes, depending on where you are, you might have a bit of coverage

and you might get some channels. Like a 7 o'clock, 7 sharp. When I knocked off one of my shifts, I used to watch Tipping Point. That was pretty good. Oh, yeah. Shit, you're always putting the coin down the wrong hole, though, aren't you? I know.

Fast and loose, the Tipping Point. And then, so how did you meet your husband? Like, how did that, did you do little flirties on the ship, or? Yeah, so when I first went to the boat, it was in dry dock, so it was tied up in little tin and they do every like five years, they do a survey on it and fix it all up and all that, pull it out of the water

and do all that sort of stuff. I've been pulled out of the water and tied up in a dry dock, it's pretty good, it's hot stuff. I can only afford to do it in dry. Yeah, I can only do it in South East Asia though, it's too expensive to get done here. Yeah, yeah. So you're on this dry dock. Yeah, so I met him then and, yeah, had a bit of a flirt. And then at one stage they were painting the water tank,

so there was no water on the boat, so we all got put up in hotels and, you know, went out to the casino and then back to his room. Oh, and then... So you were based out of Nelson. There's some based out of Dunedin, or do you call into Dunedin on the way down? Yeah, so depends what trip you're doing, because the boat I was on would mainly fish out of the Southern Ocean.

So if you're on the coast doing hokey or something, we'd just come back to Nelson. But usually there's one or two trips a year that we'd dock in Dunedin. How far south would you go when you say the Southern Ocean? We'd go to like the Auckland Islands. Holy fuck, that's miles down. Yeah, it's crazy.

What's the biggest... Not all of them, but not all the boats make lots of money, so I can't speak for everything. Of course, of course. Your experience alone. What was the biggest, scariest waves you've ever had? There was some scary times. There were some times where you're sitting down at the trawl deck,

so the lower deck, and the boat's rolling side to side. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And a wave came, so there's like another couple decks above you and a wave came way over there and like crashed into us. Oh, I'd be turning to Jesus. Yeah. Absolutely not.

That's too scary. Sometimes it would be calm and it wouldn't be too scary, but it was a good time. Do you go for a swim? Just jump off for a little dip? Yeah, just a little wee swim with the dolphins. Yeah, get your bikini on, jump off board. A little swim. I'm a bit cold for that. Did you ever go into, like, when you said you're down by the Auckland Islands?

I've just showed these guys how far down it is. So far. Literally so far. Is it like a third of the way to Antarctica? I'd say half. Almost half, right? It looks like half. So would you ever, like, go into islands like that for a bit of shelter in the storm and see these places where literally no humans are?

I don't know if they'd be sheltering from a storm there. I'm not quite sure. That's so wild. We'd like fish close to there when we'd be fishing for squid. But it was annoying because I wouldn't know where we're going or what we're doing every day. And sometimes you wake up and you've just steamed somewhere different and you don't even know it. And yeah,

a few times I've woken up and I've gone to get my breakfast before shift and the staff will go, oh look Molly, there's Nelson. And I look out and I'm like, oh my gosh, land, yay, like we're going home. No, it's just Auckland. I was like, we're far, far, yay! We're going home! No, it's just Auckland Island. We're far far far away from any land that we would go

on. What do you eat on the boat? Other than your husband? Yeah, well... Jesus. What, you've got to pass the time. You've got to eat food and eat him. So there's a cook on the boat that Sorry, a what? Sorry. It's your Kiwi X-E that's really thrown me. You're not even isolated on the boat that... Sorry, a what? A cook. Sorry.

Hayley. It's your Kiwi X-E. You're not even isolated on a boat and you're horny for it. I'm so horny for this chat. I want to go on a boat. You're not even being... It's a 14-year itch. Yeah, it's the itch and I'm in my sexy era.

Anyway. What are you eating? Just like normal food. Just normal food. Do you take like a suitcase of snacks? Do you take a suitcase of like chocolates and biscuits and lollies? Oh yeah, definitely. Yeah, you'd have to.

That's so fascinating. I'd have dessert and stuff. There'd be ice cream and... How many women do the deep sea fishing? Is it predominantly, it'd be men, right? Yeah, mostly. Okay. But there are, the boat that I was on, there are

a few women Wow, so fascinating And now you're an accountant Yeah, I know And you said before, we briefly touched on the fact that the skipper and the first mate were also medics but then very brief medical training, was there ever any

need for them? Did anything ever happen on the boat? Like a medical incident or an accident and it was a bit panicky? Definitely a lot of accidents. There wasn't many major ones when I was there, but I know that obviously my partner still works on the boat, so there's been some bigger accidents. And if it's a big, if someone's very unwell or there's an accident, like a broken limb or something, then a helicopter will come out and pick them up.

Right. Because didn't that happen? Wasn't there quite a high-profile thing of someone who was just like, something's wrong with me, but then they were just homesick and they didn't like the job. Oh, yeah. 25,000. It's called depression.

Years ago, and then they had to pay for that. They were close enough to land that they just turned around and brought the boat back in and then found out that it was all... Homesickness. A lot of shit. Are you allowed to drink on the boat? No. None.

So you'd drive for 6 to 12. That could be a good detox for you, actually. Well, a lot of people, it is their detox. And not just off of alcohol. I reckon I could make booze out of fish same I'm going to ferment some fish

some people probably do sneak some on like but when you're rolling around like that in the deep sea like oh I feel like one

sip of alcohol you just feel what is it like because I'm horrendous with seasickness and motion sickness like have a choppy day

on the ferry to Waiheke darling darling darling struggle darling it. Struggle darling. It's a real. Chuck up your pen or grigio and fall over the side darling. Do you ever get used to it or? Yeah definitely. I think everyone's different. I think some people

maybe it's just not for them. But for me I'd feel queasy for sure. I don't really throw up but I feel queasy for the first two days and then you're used to it. And then when you get back on land, is the land wobbling? Yeah.

You feel a bit weird, but when you're coming in, the sea's a lot calmer and you slowly sort of steam into the bay, so you sort of ease into it. You keep saying steam like it's the 1800s. Like it's a steamship.

Not a big chugging diesel. Like if you're fishing then you're trawling, you're out fishing and if you're steaming to a new location or if you've just left then we'd call it steaming. Right. Have you ever pulled the nets in and there's been something like weird as fuck in there? Like an alien.

Have you seen aliens Molly? That would be cool, but no. Was it nets? Because they do long line deep sea fishing as well. What does that mean?

So the long line that is, I don't know heaps about it because I didn't work on a long lining boat. So you were just drift netting. We were just trawling, mate.

No dolphins to see here. No. We did pull up a barco shark once. Oh, exciting. I've got gnarly teeth. I need to go to Lumino. Yeah. So Longline's one long line with heaps of hooks on it, and it gets a bit deeper, perhaps.

Oh, okay. And it's a bit different how they pull them in and everything. So that's the boat that goes to Antarctica, and they fish for toothfish. Huh. So fascinating. Molly, thank you so much. Genuinely, how long did you do it? You said you did a few stints and stuff, but how long did you do it,

and did you buy a house at the end of it? Well, I didn't actually do it for that long. Sorry to disappoint. It was just over a year. That's a long time. That's a long time. Yeah, it's a real long time. That's a long time in my mind.

In that time, I only had one trip off, so I was doing it for quite a while. And, yeah, I bought a house. Yay! Yay! Good on you. She worked hard. Good on you. I thought the New Zealand Herald would love to talk to you.

Oh, yeah. How a young woman bought a house all by herself. Write that story and make everybody else in your generation feel fucking useless. Just don't have a house and go on a big fishing boat. Chuck it all in. Molly, what an absolute delight. Thank you so much for answering all of our questions.

Do you ever get the call of the sea? Like when you're sitting at the office desk doing somebody's spreadsheet. Is your life, your love and your lady the sea? Yeah. Sometimes I miss it, but I miss the money for sure. How is it? Yeah.

Because I'm still studying at the moment. Like I'm not, I'm like working as an accountant and studying online as well. I'm halfway through my degree now. Well, the good thing about it, you don't need to miss that money.

When you finish your degree, you'll know exactly how to embezzle a lot of money. Yes. Because you'll be an accountant yes don't pay tax yeah dodge tax

dodge tax thank you Molly thanks Molly thank you so much guys