A little while ago my wife was saying I was unhealthy and I needed to do more exercise. I decided to go walking around the farm. My first walk was along the drive of our property, which was a bit too boring. The next day I decided to take a more cross country route and check out some old twisted Puriri roots and trunks which I knew were lying at the bottom of a gully.

I don't now if it was while looking at the Puriri or while crossing a swamp, or the fact that I had just recently been listening to a radio programme about eels and how they are now under huge threat and could disappear completely, that I came up with the idea of the eel sculpture.

I am one of those fortunate people who can visualise what I want to make in three-dimensional pictures so then it is only a matter of setting to and doing the work to carrying out my ideas.

When Tutukaka Marina underwent a major extension 1996-97 much of the old foreshore was transformed into boat berths. I was one of some few fortunates who managed to rescue the timbers from The Old Fisherman's Wharf.

The sculpture is entitled Tuna whakaheke, the name given to eels when they migrate out to sea to breed, which is the last thing they ever do in their lives.

This has inspired me to do more sculptures and I find I now have to be constantly creating something.
I must go for my third walk one day.