Boys Fishing Trip 3...Third Time Lucky.

Over the last few days my Dad and I went trout fishing on one of the lakes in South Waikato, Waipapa. This lake forms part of the Waikato river, between the Maraetai hydroelectric dam, and Waipapa hydroelectric dam. Maraetai is the largest of the 8 hydro Dams on the Waikato river system, and Waipapa the smallest. The Waipapa section is also supplied by the Waipapa river, which starts in the Pureora forrest park, and flows eastwards out into the lake...

It is a stunning part of the country, and is only an hour away from Willowbrook. Here is a view of some of the park, from one of the highest bridges in the north island...

We had lovely weather. The lake was a flat as a millpond...

until you got up close to the Maraetai dam outlet...

 

Above: You can see some of the penstocks of the dam. 

Below: The penstocks during its construction in 1953

Fast flowing water...

The area is rich with native birdlife as well as fish. We saw a family of black swans...

you can hear the Tuis and other birds in the background over the swan honks...

This is the still pond where we caught most of the trout. It is just where the Waipapa river flows into the lake... 

Further upstream Dad showed me a waterfall that he used to hike up 30 years ago... 

  

We went harling in the water between the lake and the waterfall, as well as fly casting. We caught about 14 trout, 6 of which we threw back, and 8 we could keep...

  

Here is some footage of landing a small trout...

Bounty, Day 1...

On the first night we baked our trout. We seasoned them with salt, pepper, ginger, mustard, lemon, dill and capers...

On the second night we smoked our trout, seasoning them with salt, pepper, ginger, lemon, and brown sugar, before smoking them with Manuka wood chips...

Mmmmm. So, third time lucky, I finally caught some of these elusive trout. 

We are hoping to fit in some deep sea fishing around Christmas, before I leave for Dubbo.

Canterbury Tales Part One...

Last week we enjoyed a stunning mini-break catching up with friends down in Canterbury. We had a great time, with plenty of great wine and food. After exploring the international Antarctic centre on Thursday, we mooched around a few antique shops enjoyed a couple of pints at the few pubs which are still standing in  Christchurch, and then went home for a dinner of slowly cooked beef chaps with seasonal vegetables and red wine. The next day after a much needed sleep-in we set off on a mystery tour our hosts had arranged.

After some guerilla gardening we were set to go...

We were taken on a lovely scenic tour of southern Canterbury, stopping in historic Oamaru for lunch at a Victorian tea room and visiting the heritage district where all the buildings are of historic importance. Then our journey continued, ending at twilight when we arrived at the small historic vicarage of St Alban's outside Kurow...

It was built in the late 1800s out of hand hewn Oamaru limestone and is situated near the foot hills of the Southern Alps.

"Between 1881 and 1891 the Anglican community in and around Kurow was served by curates who resided locally but who were appointed to the vicar of Oamaru. In 1891 this situation changed, however, when the Waitaki Mission District was established and Hugh Corrie Frere was appointed as the first curate of the new parish. At the same time Emily Campbell, wife of the late Robert Campbell who was one of North Otago's leading landowners, left a large bequest of approximately £5300 to finance the erection of a church and vicarage in the district.

Emily Campbell's generosity proved to be somewhat of a mixed blessing, however, as the Anglicans of Duntroon initially disputed Kurow's suitability as the parish's centre. The New Zealand Church News of August 1892 records that Mrs Campbell's legacy was causing divisions within the district's Anglicans although "Kurow (was) really the proper centre of operations, and ought probably to have both the church and parsonage". [NZ Church News, Vol XXII, No. 8, p7]. Happily the controversy was eventually resolved by Bishop Nevill of Dunedin who recommended that a church be erected at Duntroon whilst a vicarage and adjoining chapel were built at Kurow. £2,500 was subsequently allocated for the construction of the latter, which began forthwith, although St Martin's Church at Duntroon was not erected until 1901 to a design by Christchurch architect, Thomas Cane.

The large size of the Kurow vicarage may in part be explained by the fact that the first incumbent at St Alban's had a large family and a private income with which to pay domestic and stable staff. The last resident vicar at Kurow vacated the house in 1970." 

- From The New Zealand Historic Places Trust

The vicarage has now been turned into bijoux accommodation, which our hosts had hired for the weekend.

Later the reason for the impromptu holly pruning was revealed, the holly being needed to trim the table for a mid-winter Christmas dinner...

The next day we continued our tour around the lakes of South Canterbury ...

...before returning home by night fall for another lavish spread.

The next day we went to look at a large plot of land they had purchased outside Christchurch, complete with a stream filled with brown trout and wild watercress..

Part 2 Tomorrow...

The Boys' Weekend...

Well, I finally took a weekend off work, my first in 6 months, and went on an overnight tramp with some mates...

We started off from Hamilton in the early hours and spent the morning fishing in the Tongariro River, which is famous for its trout...

Despite seeing quite a few fish in the river, we didn't catch a thing. - but then it was midday. Not having time to stay for a twilight fish we carried on south towards Tongariro, parked up, and set out on the Urchin Trail up over the Kaimanawa Ranges.

Dominated by the Kaimanawa mountain ranges, the Kaimanawa Forest Park encompasses a vast (77,348 hectares) largely unmodified expanse of native forest, shrublands and tussock grasslands. It was gazetted in 1969 and is managed to protect and conserve soil and water, native vegetation, wildlife and scenic values.

It lies south-east of Taupo and extends from Tongariro National Park in the west to the Kaweka Ranges in the east.

It was a blisteringly hot day.

Below: Lake Taupo in the distance, from the first summit.
The trail starts near to lake level.

It then winds its way up through stunning native bush...

before breaking out of the bushline into rocky alpine terrain...

from the first summit we hiked over the ranges below...

to the Waipakihi Valley river flats below...

After a long day's tramping, and a futile effort at stalking deer on the river flats, we settled down to a roaring camp fire and a rough meal of Fillet Mignon with seasonal vegetables and a bottle of Shiraz before scoffing down some creme brulee and settling in for a night of port and cigars under a cloudless sky enblazoned with stars (talk about slumming it!).

We forgot the marshmellows though!

The state forest is home to much wildlife, including Sika deer

and wild horses, known as Kaimanawa horses, which are protected.

for more information visit the Department of Conservation website.