Fantastic Fishing

As you can see I've been doing quite a bit of fishing. Am in the town of Twizel and fishing in all the hydroelectric canals. Have been catching quite a few and some nice ones too. And finally today I got a BIG one!
The top photo is a decent Sockeye Salmon. They do get up to 20lbs in the canals here but most in the 2-8lb range. They fight really hard. The second pic is me fighting the fish in the third picture. A nice 3lb Brown Trout. See the guy laying on his belly? He's getting ready to net it for me. The fourth photo is a good view that shows you how big these canals are. And finally the last photo is what I caught this morning. A very nice 10lb Rainbow Trout. My biggest trout ever. Took about 10 minutes to land and put up a excellent fight on 8 pound test line. A very beautiful fish. All the others I have been turning loose. I get the strangest looks/comments from the locals whenever I turn one loose. They usually keep most everything that they catch. I did keep the big rainbow. Took it to a chef in town that smokes and vacuum packs them. Hope it's good!! Hopefully will top that 10 pounder this week. There are a lot in the canal much bigger than that. Now I'm shooting for a 15-20 pounder!!

Wandering Wallabys

Am back in Twizel staying with Brent and his family. Weather has been good but there is a little rain in the forecast. Have been doing quite a bit of fishing the past few days. I've managed to land a few small ones and have lost a couple BIG fish. Rainbow Trout. Any how as you can see today was a hunting day. We went out shooting Wallabys. A cousin to the kangaroo, and introduced here in NZ. In some areas they are a real nuisance competing with sheep. I managed to shoot four and they're not easy to hit the way they hop straight away from you. As you can see they are pretty good sized weighing between 15-40+ pounds. Was neat to jump them up out of brush and see such a strange animal bounding away. We seen perhaps 20 altogether. I fired at about three others and missed, including one sitting still at 50 yards. The two I'm holding together were still shots at 200 yards or so. The first one I got was hopping and I got it at about 150 yards. Fun to hunt and good to know that you're removing a nuisance animal. As you can see from the top photo the leaves are just stunning at the moment. They're starting to fall though. I think the peak was last week. Not sure what the next few days are going to bring. (I like that).

Steam Power in Queenstown

Coming around a curve in the road the other day towards queenstown I could see A Lot of smoke. And it looked like a trail instead of rising in a plume. Couldn't figure out what the source was till I got a bit closer. And low and behold it was a steam powered locomotive. Very cool. I managed to get in front of it and got to see it pull into the station. Never having seen one myself I thought it was pretty neat. And in Queenstown they also have a steam powered ship that goes out for daily cruises on the lake. The boat I know was launched in 1910 so it's over a hundred years old and still going strong. The locomotive I think was from around the late 1880s. Neat to see these two amazing pieces of history still in operation.

Arrowtowns' Splendor

Spent a night in Arrowtown. A small old gold mining town. The town has a lot of character. Lots of neat old buildings and history. It had its heyday in the 1880s'. The leaves on the trees were just beautiful. I imagine the must have been at their peak this week. Lots of oaks, maples, English walnuts, poplars and such. Having not seen this much fall color in the last 12 years myself I was amazed! Truly beautiful. Lots of neat shops and the had a really nice museum. Really enjoyed my time there.

Even more Doubtful!!

A few more more pics from my Doubtful Sound trip. For those of you wondering why they call them sounds but they're really fiords. Geographically speaking they are glacier carved valleys leading to the ocean. In the first photo you can see down to the sound. At only half to around a mile wide. But around 15 miles long. And the amazing thing is at that only half a mile wide its over a 1000 feet deep. As steep as the mountains go UP it goes DOWN. Pretty cool. The two photos in middle kinda show the boat. My four bunk room, and the dining room. And the last photo is a shack on shore where the fisherman store their catch for awhile. They call them crayfish, but they are lobster to us Americans. They off-load them at this shack and keep fishing. Then pick them all up on the way to port. Pretty neat I thought.

Discovery in Doubtful

Am back from another overnight cruise. This time was in Doubtful Sound. Another amazing trip. Of the two sounds (Milford-Doubtful) Doubtful is the one that kiwis go to. They say its better. I wanted to see for myself. So which one you ask did I like better? Well they're both amazing. In Milford the mountains tower over you more, but Doubtful is much more remote and tranquil. And doubtful is larger. So you get more cruise time on the boat. To get to Doubtful you take a ferry boat across Lake Manapouri, takes about hour, get on a bus and go over a mountain pass and down to the head of the sound where you board the big boat for the overnight cruise. The boats are the same on both sounds.
This time I was in a quad-share room. Me and three other guys. An you know what, it was great!!! Why so great you're wondering, sharing a very small room with three other guys. Well because I discovered something (more like realized). Traveling isn't about all the beautiful places that you see. It's about the people that you meet!! And that started the moment I got to NZ. First meeting my awesome kiwi family the Hendersons who took me in on the farm and showed me the kiwi-way. Truly great people and perfect examples of kiwis. To Brent MacDonald and his family who invite me along and do all kinds of outrageous stuff with. And now on the boat I get put in a room with two Australian fathers and one son. The wives and two daughters were just across the hall. What amazing family's they were. They have been here in NZ hiking for two weeks and the overnight cruise was their last big ho-rah before going back to Aussie. They've invited me over to spend a few nights with them where they live south of Sydney. I guess I'll have to go right?? Warm sunny Australia sounds nice for a few weeks with cold winter on the horizon here. In a month or so I think I'm going to go. But this whole trip so far has really been about the people. I had been told before leaving the States many times that the kiwis here treat you like a long lost friend. And it definitely is true!!
Yes that's me jumping off the back of the boat, and yes the water was really COLD!! But I did it!!! We saw lots of dolphins and I never get tired of watching their playful antics. And lastly after two great nights in real beds on the boats I'm back in the tent with my best friend Jim.

Milford Sound

Have been in Milford the past two days. And this place is AMAZING! The mountains here tower over you like nowhere I've been before. The weather has been perfect as you can see in pictures. Low 60's. Went out on an overnight cruise last night and only just got back. They take you out in afternoon, you get in small tender boats and go for spin around, then back on board the big boat for supper. Which was superb as well. There were 51 passengers on board. Had my own room which was nice. The boat is in the fourth picture. Met lots of interesting people on board, the skipper was a really nice guy and super interested in Montana. And the on board nature guide has been all over the western US. Having been here in NZ over 3 months I can tell you that it so far has been the coolest thing I've done yet. Truly a must for anyone visiting. Off to do bit hiking/ camping for next few days.

Fall Foliage

I guess fall is here. The leaves are starting to get really pretty. The yellow that you see are a kind of poplar. And the reds are oaks. The oaks you only see in towns, where the poplars grow along rivers and such. There are some really pretty maples in towns also. As you can see have been doing some fishing. Have been catching some salmon and that is my first decent one. About 20 inches. And riding the bike which I always enjoy. Weather has kinda been unsettled the last few days but looks OK the next few. Am off to Milford Sound and Fiordland for week or so.

Stewart Island

Am back to civilization. Had three good days hiking. You take the ferry boat over and it is about an hour trip to get there. No cars on ferry. The locals have a few cars on island but there are only about 20 miles of road. Checked into the hotel/pub first day and went for look around. The place is so quiet and isolated, it's almost like stepping back in time. All the fishing boats idle in the harbor looked really cool. Oban is the only town on island and only about 500 people live on whole island. It basically is a fishing town. Blue Cod, Oysters, Lobsters the main catch. Hit the trail the next day first thing. Had about a 6 mile hike in to the first hut. Did a bit of fishing and caught few small perch like fish. Second day was about 8 mile hike. The bush(forest) here is really thick. Lots of ferns and such. The place is a classified rainforest. Lots of mud and everything is perpetually wet. And green. The closest I came to seeing a Kiwi were tracks on the beach and the sign of one on the power pole! They're pretty elusive I guess. Hiked out third day (6miles) and caught ferry back to mainland. All in all its a very neat place. My only fault for island is the forest is so thick and never changing. After three days hiking, it always looked the same. But the birdlife was amazing and the peace and quiet very refreshing. I would recommend that you go there, just don't think you need to hike for multiple days. It truly is a special place.

The Catlin Coast

Have been the past couple of days exploring the Catlin Coast. The very southern part of South Island. It's really beautiful here. What I envision Scotland and Ireland to look like. And heaps of Sheep!!! I thought there were a lot of them elsewhere but nothing compared to here. It never ceases to amaze how the landscape can change so fast. From lofty towering peaks, to more gently rolling hills and the ocean in no time. Am currently in the town of Bluff. The southern most town in NZ. It's a major shipping port, and oyster/ fishing town of about 2500. Also one of the oldest settlements here in NZ.
Am leaving tomorrow for Stewart Island. It's a very remote island off the coast about 15 miles. Home to the iconic Kiwi bird. As well as numerous other different birds. And also the only place in the Southern Hemisphere where there are White-tailed deer. Same as home. Apparently it's a wildlife haven. Will do some hiking for 3-5 days and stay in huts. As it is very remote I don't expect another post for few days.

Moeraki Boulders

These large round boulders in the surf are one of the most iconic places in New Zealand. They are featured on the cover of many travel books. And they're pretty cool too. Some are not so perfectly round but most look as though they had to be man-made. Wasn't easy getting on top of that one with nothing to grab ahold of. Oh and the penguins right. Must have seen about 25 or so. They are Yellow Eyed penguins and somewhat endangered. They live and breed here on the New Zealand east coast. There are 6 or so other varieties that live here as well. Pretty tame for most part. Will let you walk right up to them within about 10 feet before they shuffle off. I want to pet one and see what they feel like but don't think that is going to happen. Am currently in Dunedin getting ready to go to the Cadbury Chocolate factory. Few sprinkles mixed with peeks of sun today. High 50's perhaps.