Wild West Coast

Just a few more random photos from the past week. In the first pic you see a bunch of Hereford cattle. I'm not sure why but over here on the west coast they seem to be the predominant breed. Must be that they handle the wet weather better or something as it rains over here all the time. Elsewhere in NZ Angus are pretty popular but around here it looks to be Herefords. They breed them to Angus bulls though as I see a lot of them. If you guys that are in the know look closely at the model number on the John Deere you shouldn't recognize it. Correct me if I'm wrong but the odd model #3350 signifies that is was made somewhere in Europe. A lot of rain here today. Usual though I guess.

Fantastic Fishing!!

It's always amazes me how fast a week can go. Especially when you are doing something you love. Like Fishing!! After seven straight days on the ocean the big fishing trip is over. I can't even begin to describe how much fun I had. Not to mention all the amazing people I met this week. A big Thank You to Jim the skipper for taking me along. And Brent, a huge thanks for inviting me along. You guys are true examples of real kiwis. The hospitality was amazing.
The top photo is the fleet that went out everyday. Six out of seven boats are in the picture. The boat I was on is second from the right. The third photo is all the fish from the week. It was all divided up evenly between 30 people. And each person got 30 pounds of fish fillets. So that's 900 pounds of fish for the week!! Not to mention each person taking home 2 big crayfish to boot. A pretty good haul for a weeks fishing. The last photo is the group having"a feed". That's what kiwis call eating a meal. It was dinner-supper to us Americans. For kiwis they call it "Tea". The last meal of the day anyway.
Am headed back up the west coast now. Will be back at the farm in Methven in a couple of days. Looking forward to that. Two straight months of being on the road has been great, and I've seen some beautiful country and met some awesome people!! But it will be good to be in one place for awhile. Who knew being on vacation was so tiring??

Fish On

Having a great week fishing. We have been catching quite a few fish. Somehow the skipper is the only one who manages to catch the big fish. Today he caught a 38# bluenose. That's him in the last photo. One of the other guys caught the shark in the first pic yesterday. All the crayfish that you see on the bench in the third photo were picked up by the three guys in the photo. They go down with scuba gear and catch them. They call them crayfish but they are just like North American Lobster. Minus the big claws. They are all really big though. Most weigh between 4-6#s. And get this. They are worth $40.00 a pound. So each cray is worth $150.00. They caught 27 that day and that adds up to around $4000 dollars worth!!! And let me tell you they are Awesome eating!! We ate them raw, and boiled. Amazing. Somehow I managed to take a nap onboard while we were moving between spots. Today was the first day of full sun and it managed to put me to sleep!! Thanks Brent for that pic!! What would I do without you?? One more day of fishing.

Haast Fishing Trip

Hey. Am on the second day of a week long fishing trip on the west coast. Out of a small town called Haast. Zero cell service here and none for a hundred kilometer radius. Am fishing on the boat you see in the first picture. It's a friend of Brent's. The last photo is of Brent in red pants, Jim the boat owner with the big fish, and Andrew in the camouflage. Those three, me, Andrews partner Galen and another young guy Jacob are six fishing off Jim's boat for the next week. We're going out on ocean every morning, staying insight of shore. There is a fishing club that we are with. There are seven boats here and 30 people. Everyone is staying at a Holiday Park and eating together. Super fun. It's going to be a great week. And the weather is supposed to be great. The second and third pics are my catch for the day. The two fish are called Bluenose. Caught two at once. They weigh around 5 pounds each. And the thing in the third pic that I'm not impressed with is a Blind Eel. It was nasty. Today we caught around 15 fish and yesterday about 20. While I was pulling that eel in a shark came right up to the surface chasing it. It was about 5-6 feet long so pretty good sized. I could have reached out and grabbed it by the tail almost!! Better not though I figured! Pretty cool though! Looking forward to 5 more days fishing.

Inspiring Mt.Aspiring

Just got back from a three day two night trip in Mt.Aspiring National Park. Awesome. Had rain and a good storm the first night in. The first nights hut is the fourth photo. Quite a bit of snow up high. About a 2.5 hour hike in to there. The second day I went up to the hut in the third picture. As you can see its WAY up on the side of the mountain. And hiked all way back out and to the car today. Am going on another 2-3 night trip starting tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be fine the next few days. May as well take advantage. Low 50's and sunny. Heavy frosts at night though. Beautiful Fall weather.

Wonderful Wanaka

Arrived in Wanaka yesterday. A very nice town of about 7000 people right on shore of lake. It's a popular vacation town and in winter hosts a lot of skiers as its very near a couple of ski hills. The weather has been beautiful the past few days. Full sun, in the low-mid 50's. A little rain forecast tonight and tomorrow morning, then back to sun. Am off on a 2 night 3 day hike up by Mt.Aspiring. Another of the highest mountains in NZ. I'm sure I'm going to get into a little snow by the look of it. Should be another post in 3-4 days.