It has been great to spend some time at Joel and Julies in Invercargill. And with the Uni holidays on as well we were lucky enough to be there when Tia came down to stay for a week. We havn't seen much of Tia in recent times so it was a real bonus to hear how she has been doing and what she has been up to. We also went for a bike ride on one of the local mountain bike tracks. Tia and I were quite entertained when Jocelyn crashed off into the scrub with her legs kicking in the air.
Jocelyn and I also did a drive to lake Monowai in Fiordland with the idea of taking the rig there for a few days. It's a lovely spot but the camp site was in shade all day and would have been freezing.
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| Lovely lake Monowai. |
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Jocelyn on the walking track around the edge of Lake Monowai.
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While at Joels, Rod rang and said he was planning a 2 day trip down to the Cascade river in south westland. Would I be keen to go. Brian Bolt was to be coming along as well. I'm always up for another adventure, although it seemed a hell of a long drive for 2 days down there. So I left Invercargill at 3.45 am and drove to Wanaka where I met up with Rod and Brian at about 7.15. I left my ute at Rods mate Ians place and then we were off around lake Hawea heading for the Haast Pass. It was about another 3 1/2 hours driving to get to the Cascade River block. After turning off the main road onto the Jackson River road you are passing through a river valley with bush dropping right down to the road on the right and lovely river flats on the left, with the bush rising again across the beautiful Jackson river. As we came around a corner we were surprised to see a large chamois standing in the middle of the road. Now that was a surprise. He didn't hang around too long and bounded into the scrub on the side of the road.
As we pulled up at the gate into the block it was raining and the Martyr River was up a bit. The plan was to unload the gear at the house then put the jet boat into the Cascade river and motor on down to the mouth for a fish. The caretaker at the house welcomed us and helped get us settled in then we were bouncing our way down to the Cascade. With the jet boat in and gear loaded we were off. Tearing off down the river in a jet boat while it is raining is a bit of an experience. We were well wrapped up in wet weather gear but that rain in the eyes makes it pretty hard to see where you are going. Brian and I were trying to keep our heads down but of course Rod needed to read the river and decide which channels to take so his face was getting pounded. Its about 3/4 of an hour down to the mouth and once we arrived we got straight into the fishing. There had been a fair bit of rain in recent times so the water was a bit discoloured but it wasn't long and we had a few fish on board.
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| The Cascade in the jet boat. |
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| A nice brown trout for Rod. |
Right down at the mouth Brian hooked a really good trout and it was putting up a real battle. After a fair bit of win and lose he finally got it to the boat and it was netted. Brian was stoked. Biggest trout he had ever caught he said. So the camera came out and some photos were taken. By this time the trout was looking pretty subdued and was ready for the bin. Rod lifted the lid and Brian dropped the trout in where it landed on the ice bottles, the trout did a big leap , jumped right out of the chilly bin over the side of the boat and flopped back into the water and disappeared. The look of shock on Brians face was a real classic. What just happened? His trophy fish was just a memory. Lucky we had the photos or no one would believe him. We had a great afternoon but with evening coming on we motored back up the river and loaded the boat back onto the trailer. We cleaned the fish we had kept and it was back to the house, cook up a feed and then a bit of shut eye.
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| Brians large trout that escaped back into the river. |
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| Parked on the beach for a cook up down by the mouth. |
The next morning dawned fine and sunny. A bit of mist lingering over the river flats as we drove down to the river. The big heavy hereford cows slow to move out of the way. A large white heron or kotuku eyeing us warily as we crossed the numerous small creeks on the way to the river. With the boat in the water the peace was shattered with the roar of the jet boat. A bit chilly on the way down river but a lot better than driving rain in your face. The day turned out to be a real stunner. We caught numerous fish most of which we let go again. We kept a few of the big ones to take home for family and friends. We cooked up a few sausages on the beach for lunch and went for a short walk and checked out the numerous deer prints in the sand dunes by the beach. What an amazing, beautiful place to come. It was quite a few hours driving to get here but few people get the opportunity to come to these true wilderness areas. It is real solitude in these areas. Cell phones don't work. There is no internet here. Just nature at it's best. It gets a bit busier in the whitebait season but this time of year it is deserted.
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| A nice brownie caught on the fly rod from the beach. |
It was getting a bit dark as we negotiated the last few rapids back to the trailer. But what a special day we had all had. We had a few fish to clean then back for a feed and a few beers.Yeah awesome.
The next morning we all went out for a quick hunt before packing up. Rod got close to a couple of deer but because he is now a bow hunter no venison made it back to the camp. Brian spooked a couple but didn't get a look at them, and I saw nothing but herefords. It would have been great to stay another couple of days but we made the long drive back to Wanaka where I picked up my ute and after saying goodbye to Rod and Brian I drove back to Invercargill.
After a couple of days we again packed up the rig and headed back to Twizel. We had a couple of weeks to wait before we had to go back to Invercargill and take possession of our new Ranger. We had decided to trade ours for an upgrade as ours was now approaching 3 years old and had done 85,000 kms. This way we start with a new 3 year warranty and should have trouble free motoring for a few more years.
We arrived at the NZMCA camp by the salmon farm at twizel .We arrived in the late afternoon and the ground was still white with frost. Wherever you looked there was ice or snow. A good place to keep all your gas bottles filled for the heater. After setting up I grabbed the rod and had a few casts. Within 1/2 an hour I had landed 2 salmon. Not large but good eaters. The frost was starting to bite by this time so it was back to the rig and feet up by the heater.
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| A misty frosty morning overlooking the salmon farm. |
Over the next couple of days the frosts were amazing. One morning it had to be around -15 degrees.
The ground and the trees were all white with frost and parts of lake Ruataniwha had frozen. When it snowed the next day the snow settled on the ice on the lake and there was about a foot of snow on one of the arms of lake Ruataniwha.
Unfortunately I got crook again. While in Invercargill I had a recurrence of cellulitis in my left leg which we got onto pretty quickly. But they put me on some penicillin pills and I had a reaction to them. So I spent about 5 days in bed feeling very poorly. I was also off my food for 5 days so I must have been crook. I also had a spot on my face checked and the doctor reckoned it should come off and be tested. So he chopped it off and left me with a few stitches and a black eye. Lucky it tested clear so no worries. It took me awhile to get back on my feet and then well enough to get out and about again so I missed out on a lot of the fishing I had planned to do while in Twizel. But when I did get out I got onto some fish pretty quickly. We had moved down to the Ohau C camp on the top end of lake Benmore again. The winter rates were $10.00 a night for the rig.
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| My shiner. I told everyone Jocelyn hit me with the frypan. |
The first night I just walked over to the point where the canal becomes the lake and almost immediately landed a good trout around 7 or 8 lbs. I kept this fish for smoking. I then caught another 3 trout, all bigger than the last one and released them all. I guessed the last two were double figure fish. Pretty happy with that I called it a night.
Over the next couple of days it turned really cold again and we had quite a bit of snow right in the camp. The hills were covered in it and looked very picturesque. It is such a beautiful spot but boy it sure can get cold. Jocelyn and I went for a drive around to lake Pukaki and up Hayman road then up onto the Tekapo canal for a look. The canal comes to an end there and goes through some control gates and then down through the pipes and into the power station and then flows into lake Pukaki. Up at the control gates I spotted three trout that had died and were pinned against the grating. They had been there awhile and were rotting but one of them had to be around 40 lbs and the other two over 20lbs.They were huge.
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| The snow coming down. |
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| Then the beautiful sunset over the snow on the hills. |
We also did a drive up to lake Ohau and checked out the two DOC camps up there. The first one the wind was blowing off the lake and it was pretty bleak. The second one had at least a foot of snow all through the camp and if it snowed again the access could be a bit marginal. But lovely country with high mountains and great scenery. Maybe a place for the warmer months. Back at the canals I went for a fish one evening back at the salmon farm on the main road. I tried the other side of the canal this time. Using a small soft bait I caught a salmon almost immediately. I wasn't happy with the size although it was legal, so I released it to grow. I cast again and felt a really good strike and managed to hook this fish as well. This one took a fair bit of line and put up a much better fight. It took awhile but I coaxed it into the shore gently and was very happy to see a very fat salmon around 15lb. This was my best yet so I was pretty stoked with that. And as Jocelyn loved to eat salmon this one was kept.
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| A real chunky salmon. |
The following weekend Monique and Greg came to stay. Luckily the weather was reasonably settled. and we managed to get out and about a bit. They slept on the double bed where the table is. Its still reasonably comfortable with four people in the rig. We had a very pleasant weekend with a bit of fishing and bike riding. We also got the kayaks down and Monique and Greg went for a paddle. Then on Sunday night James showed up as well for tea. He dropped off a bit of my gear I had left with Rod and brought us a nice wild pork roast from a fat pig he had caught. Nice. The next day we were off back to Invercargill as our new ute had arrived. So over the next week we have to get the hitch changed over to the new one and sort out a few other issues before we can get it on the road. Maybe then we will start moving further north to try and find some warmer temperatures.
