"Our air intakes are a little blocked, I have to see why, the environment in the cabin of the cruise ship is terrible, the water is actually a foot deep, is the current crew not working?" Soon, a head in a white captain's hat emerged from a cabin between the two seats, followed by an old face covered with weather, each wrinkle as three-dimensional as a knife and axe.

"Babu, this is Hong Tao, our new member, this is Babu, the captain of the Manhattan." Paul pulled the old man, and then beckoned Hong Tao to the stern of the boat, which was a formal introduction to the two of them.

"Hello, Colonel Babu!" As soon as Hong Tao looked at this Babu, his mind immediately appeared with the same virtue that old Gale had on the ship, and he thought that this should also be a retired naval officer, so he did not call him captain.

The word captain is used for merchant ships, while navy captain and captain are both one word, and colonels in the army and air force are not denoted by this word. Generally in the navy, the highest rank of captain is colonel, and as for the rank of brigadier general and general, you cannot command a single warship, but the commander of a formation.

A retired naval officer like Old Gail, even if he is the president of a large company, still likes you to call him his rank in private, because in Western countries, an officer is a very respectable status, whether you are rich or poor, your status will not be reduced.

"Hello, young man from the East, I have seen the video of you fishing, it is great! Welcome to the second team of Hatres! Hong Tao was blindfolded again this time, and when Babu heard the title of colonel, the dead man's face finally had some expression, and he took off his gloves and shook hands with Hong Tao.

At this time, two more people came out of the cabin, both in their 40s, both white. The one with a big waist and a round waist who looks like a boxer is Cavill, and the one with a big belly is also surnamed Philip, but it has nothing to do with the Philip half a dime just now.

The dock was not a place to chat, and these people had just arrived by boat, so everyone got to know each other briefly, and then each took their luggage and got into the off-road vehicle and returned to the lavender manor. It was already noon, and Captain Babu had already eaten lunch on board, and they all went back to their rooms to rest, but Hong Tao could not rest. He drove Katie to Hobart again, because Paul had given him the task of cooking dinner, and he had to go to the city to buy some ingredients in order to make a decent meal.

This was Hong Tao's first time in the city, but it was easy to find his way as there was only one road leading from the east bank of the River Derwent to the west bank, and after crossing the Tasman Bridge, it would lead into the city of Hobart.

The city is 100% built on the edge of the mountains and rivers, on a plain just a few kilometres wide between the west bank of the River Derwent and the Wellington Hills. Scattered throughout the city of Hobart, the River Derwent in front of it can no longer be called a river, this is its estuary, it should be called a bay.

So it's the capital of a state. But Hobart isn't big or bustling, and only the area near Port Franklin is considered the city centre, with a few high-rise buildings. There are a lot of very old buildings in other blocks, and I don't know what style Hong Tao is, anyway, it's the kind of small buildings built of rock. I guess it's colonial.

There are many sailboats docked in the Franklin Harbor area, and the masts are like woods, even more than Hong Tao has seen in Sydney Harbour, so Hong Tao also specially asked a local policeman he met on the streets of the Harbor District, and the policeman looked at him like a fool and said very pitifully: Haven't you heard of the sailing competition in Hobart, Sydney?

Hong Tao really hadn't heard of it, and he didn't like water sports like Australians. I don't know if it's okay, we can learn it, the tourist map that I got for free at the airport is in the car, turn to the back few pages and there is a Hobart regatta, look at the introduction is considered world-class, the date of the race is the second day of Christmas, Hong Tao estimates that he should be able to catch up, although he can't drive a sailboat, and he has not sat down, but it is still okay to see the excitement.

But Hong Tao didn't spare the policeman who despised him, didn't you look down on me? Lao Tzu is tired of you! So the hapless policeman, tormented by Hong Tao's pretended stumbling and misguided English, had to drive him to a market south of the docks.

This is a comprehensive market, there are fruits and vegetables and meat and seafood, here Hong Tao saw a familiar thing, oysters!

The oysters here were huge, bigger than the ones he had detained on the reef below the cliff, and in order to avoid being pitted again, Hong Tao spent a long time trying to make the oyster seller understand what he meant: these oysters were not farmed!

Hong Tao's efforts were not in vain, he was deeply despised by the seafood vendor again, and not only this vendor, but also several stall owners next to him came over, planning to ask Hong Tao about the technology of oyster farming.

"You're so ashamed, you've heard that oysters can be farmed?" After Katie and Hong Tao returned to the car, they were still complaining about Hong Tao's performance just now, not only was Hong Tao despised just now, but even she didn't run away, far away from the stall, and there was laughter behind her.

"You are really ignorant and fearless, you dare to say that oysters cannot be raised artificially because you have never seen them in captivity? When I return to China, I will take you to the beach to see what wisdom is! Do you dare to bet with me! Hong Tao was convinced that he was right, in his previous life, he had seen rows of wooden shelves in the Zhuhai area, and strings of oysters hung like curtains underneath, and he had also gone to see them with the locals, and those things were oysters.

"I don't bet with you, Erin told me you're cunning and can't bet with you." Katie pursed her lips, looking still unconvinced, but she didn't bet with Hong Tao either.

"This ruined girl has leaked all the bottom of Lao Tzu!"

Dinner was sumptuous, it should be said that it was a Chinese seafood feast, oyster omelette, steamed mussels with garlic, spicy crab, salmon fillet, truffle beef stew, anyway, Hong Tao bought all the ingredients that he could buy in the market and how to make them. And he also found several local specialties in the market south of Franklin Wharf, one was black truffles, and another was leatherwood honey.

Black truffle is commonly used in Western cuisine, it is an edible fungus that grows underground, shaped like a black lychee ball, the most famous is the French Périgord black truffle. The output of this thing is not high, and it has high requirements for the environment, so the price is very high, and it is called the top ingredient in Western food along with caviar and foie gras.

Leatherwood honey is a Tasmanian specialty, the only one in the world, because only a woody plant called leatherwood grows in the rainforest here, and the honey made from this leatherwood pollen has a unique woody aroma, and the water content is very low, and the whole is very pure.

Hong Tao didn't know much about these two ingredients, and he couldn't tell whether they were authentic or not, so he could only buy some with his feelings, ready to take them back to China as gifts.

Regarding Hong Tao's cooking skills, including the Captain Babu with a serious expression, they all said that they were all on the ground, and none of these people were ordinary people, all of them were masters who had eaten and seen. But for Hong Tao's pure Chinese cuisine, and it is also a northern style dish, it is estimated that they have not tried it. Eating is like this, and most people will feel good when they encounter new cooking techniques and seasoning methods, as long as they don't taste too strange.

The five new teammates all belong to the middle-aged and elderly group, the tallest Philip, the youngest, who is 40 years old this year, and like Paul, he is a lawyer, but he is not a lawyer, but a lawyer's nemesis, the district attorney. Captain Barbu, the oldest, is a round older than Philip this year, at 52 years old, and is himself a shareholder of the Hartres Company and is said to serve on the board of directors. Of the remaining three, the most powerful is the bespectacled balding Yarbler, who manages the family's private bank; Cavill, a strong man, was a professional rugby player in his youth and now runs a sporting goods company; Philip and Paul are peers and professional lawyers.

Don't look at these people who are all American upper-class people with heads and faces, but when it comes to fishing, the highest level of them here is Paul and Babu, so Babu became the captain of the boat, and Paul became the captain of the fishing team. The other three are all money to burn tickets, but the fun is great, no matter what the ranking, as long as there is a competition, they try to participate, although they can rarely get the ranking, but they are still happy.

"I want to tell you the good news that Hong Tao joined our fishing team this time, not only bringing his fishing skills, but also providing us with a very effective fishing tool, which is this sponge ball. I've experimented in Sydney Harbour, and it works very well, and it's very easy to use, just tie these balls to the bait, Hong Tao has prepared a total of 300 of them, which should be enough for us to consume in these 4 days of competition, and now the question is whether we can find a school of fish, which depends on Babu. After dinner, all the members of the team sat in the living room for the first meeting, with Paul, as the captain, speaking first. I participated in a trolling competition in Australia 7 or 8 years ago, but it was in Sydney at that time, and after signing up, I also collected a lot of information about this area, and asked a lot of people who have been fishing here, which is probably a preliminary understanding of this area. But when fishing in the sea, the weather, the direction of the wind, and the tide change all the time, and who can say exactly where the fish are, it ultimately depends on our luck. Babu held his long face and spoke coldly, without any confidence. (To be continued......)