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This is re-posted from BushcraftUK, where I put it first, but I thought it would be nice to share it with folk here. I like sharing my holiday pictures, but thought it might also help someone thinking of taking a similar trip. Hope you enjoy!
Chris.
New Zealand South Island:- Two week fishing/camping road trip.
DSC03020 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
Visiting New Zealand was something I had dreamed of doing for many years, however it seemed such a long way off, literally and figuratively, that I stalled and never really put effort into planning such a trip. I told myself that I didn’t want to do the trip alone, that I wanted someone to travel with, and no such person ever materialised. This last year though, some friends said they would like to see New Zealand too, and suddenly the prospect of a trip seemed a lot closer and more real. After a bit of planning on my part, my friends realised they had insufficient time or funds and so pulled out. I nearly shelved the idea again at that point, but am glad that I did not, instead choosing to go ahead alone.
Travelling with friends has many advantages, sharing costs, sharing driving and cooking, having people to talk to and share the experience, and maybe most of all, not having to be the sole inspiration for activities every day. I realised though that travelling without companions still had one big advantage; no need to consider whether what you want to do suits others. Even though I hadn’t fly fished for over 15 years (closer to 20!) there was no way I was going to visit New Zealand without wetting a line, and with only myself to worry about there would be no one to complain if I felt like wetting a line in every ditch and puddle I passed!
The lack of planning that went into this trip ensured that it had to happen in the final quarter of the year, and my friends’ input before pulling out aimed me at November. The weather can be changeable at that time of year, most of the people I met told me that I should have visited in May when there are more sunny days, but on the other hand its close to the start of the fishing season, and the fish are not nearly so wary. Being out of practice for 15 years, I reckoned I wanted all the advantage I could get!
I couldn’t spare more than two weeks for the tour, which is far too little to do New Zealand justice, so I limited what I tried to see. I didn’t want to be driving all day, every day, and wanted to leave plenty to see on any future trip that I might make.
I flew out on the evening of Friday 6th November, 11 hours to Hong Kong, 5 hour lay-over, then another 11 hours to Auckland, a 1.5 hour transfer (which was about 45mins too short for comfort) and an hour and a bit domestic flight to Christchurch, arriving middle of Sunday the 8th!
NZ Routemap2 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
Day 1-3
Monday morning morning, still far from sure what time zone my body thought that it was in, I met up with fishing guide Chris Bell of http://www.adventureflyfishingnz.com, left my rental car at his house, and headed off to see if we could find some un-educated trout.
First stop was up on the Broken River, just off the road up towards Arthurs Pass. It wasn’t a great day for photos, kind of overcast. None of my pictures of Castle Hill as we passed are worth showing.
DSC02900 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
It was up here that I got my first look at the infamous New Zealand sand fly. Not the sort of place a visitor would necessarily think would be buggy, but it is. The only thing that keeps them away is when the wind is really blowing.
Someone with no sense of etiquette jumped in upstream of us just as we were setting up and proceeded to scare off all the fish ahead of us, so we didn’t stay long. We stopped at a couple of places along the way towards the angling club “hut” we were to stay in at Lake Clearwater. The Rakaia River its gorge bridge was quite something. Water is blue as a result of glacial flour, fine ground rock, which allows greater scattering of light. The water looks blue for the same reason the sky does. It really looks like someone has dyed it!
DSC02915 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
We arrived at the hut in the dark, so it wasn’t until morning that I could see the view. It’s a popular spot and there is practically a whole village of holiday baches and caravans. Not hard to see why though.
DSC02919 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
Just up the gravel road we tried to tempt something out of Lake Heron. I got broken off, no other takes, it was hard fishing in very strong winds. Mind you, not catching wholly wild fish in such surroundings beats hauling in stock fish all day in some murky gravel pit
DSC02925 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
DSC02933 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
Lake Heron is just around the corner from Mt. Sunday, where they built the Edoras set for Lord of the Rings. This was the only Lord of the Rings / Hobbit filming location that I particularly wanted to see. I did see others, but this was the only one I went out of my way for.
DSC02980 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
DSC02969 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
That was the warmest day of the whole trip, up to around 23degC.
From there, we headed down to a rather less spectacular area near Geraldine to try our luck in the Orari and Opihi. More hard fishing, and rather wet and colder weather.
IMG_0335 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
The denser trees around the river made me think we would be eaten alive by sandfly, but didn’t see any at all. Did see a lot of interesting things growing on trees. Not really sure if these were lichen or air plants!
IMG_0332 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
Nice brown trout from the Opihi
IMG_0344 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
All the fish I caught were returned with care. Rather hard for someone who likes his ponassed trout, but although the fish grow large, there are not many of them and catch-and-release is encouraged. There are also a lot of restrictions regarding camp fires, and trying to cook even a small trout on a camping gas burner would be absurd.
After finishing my three days with Chris Bell, he let me stay at his house, which was really going above and beyond!
Chris.
New Zealand South Island:- Two week fishing/camping road trip.
DSC03020 by Last Scratch, on FlickrVisiting New Zealand was something I had dreamed of doing for many years, however it seemed such a long way off, literally and figuratively, that I stalled and never really put effort into planning such a trip. I told myself that I didn’t want to do the trip alone, that I wanted someone to travel with, and no such person ever materialised. This last year though, some friends said they would like to see New Zealand too, and suddenly the prospect of a trip seemed a lot closer and more real. After a bit of planning on my part, my friends realised they had insufficient time or funds and so pulled out. I nearly shelved the idea again at that point, but am glad that I did not, instead choosing to go ahead alone.
Travelling with friends has many advantages, sharing costs, sharing driving and cooking, having people to talk to and share the experience, and maybe most of all, not having to be the sole inspiration for activities every day. I realised though that travelling without companions still had one big advantage; no need to consider whether what you want to do suits others. Even though I hadn’t fly fished for over 15 years (closer to 20!) there was no way I was going to visit New Zealand without wetting a line, and with only myself to worry about there would be no one to complain if I felt like wetting a line in every ditch and puddle I passed!
The lack of planning that went into this trip ensured that it had to happen in the final quarter of the year, and my friends’ input before pulling out aimed me at November. The weather can be changeable at that time of year, most of the people I met told me that I should have visited in May when there are more sunny days, but on the other hand its close to the start of the fishing season, and the fish are not nearly so wary. Being out of practice for 15 years, I reckoned I wanted all the advantage I could get!
I couldn’t spare more than two weeks for the tour, which is far too little to do New Zealand justice, so I limited what I tried to see. I didn’t want to be driving all day, every day, and wanted to leave plenty to see on any future trip that I might make.
I flew out on the evening of Friday 6th November, 11 hours to Hong Kong, 5 hour lay-over, then another 11 hours to Auckland, a 1.5 hour transfer (which was about 45mins too short for comfort) and an hour and a bit domestic flight to Christchurch, arriving middle of Sunday the 8th!
NZ Routemap2 by Last Scratch, on Flickr Day 1-3
Monday morning morning, still far from sure what time zone my body thought that it was in, I met up with fishing guide Chris Bell of http://www.adventureflyfishingnz.com, left my rental car at his house, and headed off to see if we could find some un-educated trout.
First stop was up on the Broken River, just off the road up towards Arthurs Pass. It wasn’t a great day for photos, kind of overcast. None of my pictures of Castle Hill as we passed are worth showing.
DSC02900 by Last Scratch, on Flickr It was up here that I got my first look at the infamous New Zealand sand fly. Not the sort of place a visitor would necessarily think would be buggy, but it is. The only thing that keeps them away is when the wind is really blowing.
Someone with no sense of etiquette jumped in upstream of us just as we were setting up and proceeded to scare off all the fish ahead of us, so we didn’t stay long. We stopped at a couple of places along the way towards the angling club “hut” we were to stay in at Lake Clearwater. The Rakaia River its gorge bridge was quite something. Water is blue as a result of glacial flour, fine ground rock, which allows greater scattering of light. The water looks blue for the same reason the sky does. It really looks like someone has dyed it!
DSC02915 by Last Scratch, on FlickrWe arrived at the hut in the dark, so it wasn’t until morning that I could see the view. It’s a popular spot and there is practically a whole village of holiday baches and caravans. Not hard to see why though.
DSC02919 by Last Scratch, on FlickrJust up the gravel road we tried to tempt something out of Lake Heron. I got broken off, no other takes, it was hard fishing in very strong winds. Mind you, not catching wholly wild fish in such surroundings beats hauling in stock fish all day in some murky gravel pit
DSC02925 by Last Scratch, on Flickr DSC02933 by Last Scratch, on Flickr Lake Heron is just around the corner from Mt. Sunday, where they built the Edoras set for Lord of the Rings. This was the only Lord of the Rings / Hobbit filming location that I particularly wanted to see. I did see others, but this was the only one I went out of my way for.
DSC02980 by Last Scratch, on Flickr DSC02969 by Last Scratch, on FlickrThat was the warmest day of the whole trip, up to around 23degC.
From there, we headed down to a rather less spectacular area near Geraldine to try our luck in the Orari and Opihi. More hard fishing, and rather wet and colder weather.
IMG_0335 by Last Scratch, on FlickrThe denser trees around the river made me think we would be eaten alive by sandfly, but didn’t see any at all. Did see a lot of interesting things growing on trees. Not really sure if these were lichen or air plants!
IMG_0332 by Last Scratch, on FlickrNice brown trout from the Opihi
IMG_0344 by Last Scratch, on FlickrAll the fish I caught were returned with care. Rather hard for someone who likes his ponassed trout, but although the fish grow large, there are not many of them and catch-and-release is encouraged. There are also a lot of restrictions regarding camp fires, and trying to cook even a small trout on a camping gas burner would be absurd.
After finishing my three days with Chris Bell, he let me stay at his house, which was really going above and beyond!
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