The First Week

Well I am a bit more disconnected from the world then I thought I would be. It is a pretty far jaunt from the closest town with internet to the house. Not to mention there is only one car and gas is $5 a gallon here. So Michael bought a usb stick that allows us to get internet but it requires cell reception and we have to go up the road on a 4 wheeler to get any service. Long story short I am not going to be able to post as much as I hoped. And pictures are only going to be possible if we go into town because the usb internet stick we use costs money based on the amount of data you send or receive.

Here is a post from a few days back.

12-5-10

After traveling for two days on five different airplanes, sending checked baggage through four different security checks, and having TSA take a peek I have finally made it to New Zealand. We didn't miss any flights and all of our baggage made it on the same flight.

There were a few things that I had read about NZ that I was skeptical about before arriving.

1. The people are very laid back.

2. There are large fish.

3. Once you come you don't want to leave.

Each of the three have been proven true in the very first 12 hours of my arrival.

1. Prime example. We arrive in New Zealand and have to pick up our checked baggage to bring it through customs for our last two domestic flights in NZ. I was very worried that they were going to have a problem with my fly rod and want to take it away for cleaning. After sending all my possessions through the x-ray tunnel the only thing they wanted to see was the pair of climbing boots I brought with. There was a few small pieces of mud and gravel in-between the lugs. If this was TSA I'm betting they would have confiscated my boots or had me ship them back home. Not NZ. The lady said it was no problem and she would clean them off for me, which she quickly did. Then she told me that If i was ever lucky enough to visit NZ again to please take extra time to clean off the soles of my boots. They never even asked to see my fly rod.

Another example was going through NZ's version of TSA. You don't have to take off your shoes or belts or sunglasses. They simply ask you to remove all the items from your pockets and put your laptop computers through separately. No problem from any of the guards, they all give you a smile and a hello. Then on our second and last domestic flight from Christchurch to Irvancargill for some reason they have 4 of their gates out of the secure area and you don't even have to go through the security screen. All you need is a ticket to bored the plane!

2. We jumped in the car for a quick drive tonight to a beautiful public park they have close to the house here with short loop trail that follows a creek. Michael had previously shown it to me on Googles maps and I couldn't wait to go scout it out. After getting there and seeing that it was smaller then I was expecting I didn't give it much hope for holding any fish. We spotted a few 4" trout swimming around in the first pool. After walking another half mile up the trail not seeing anything but a huge eel (yes like a 3' snake underwater) our hearts sped up as we saw a nice 14" brown slowly feeding on the bottom. I was super excited to see any fish but my wildest dreams were about to come true. After another half mile walk we came to another point and saw a giant rainbow trout in a small slow moving section of the stream, he only stuck around for a few seconds after we looked over the bank but he was a solid 20" long. This guy would have been a dream come true to catch in the Gallatin and here he is sitting in a stream the size hyalite creek!!!! I can't wait to go buy a license and some flys and get some pictures so this isn't just a fish story.

3. Well #2 already covers this but the scenery is amazing around here too. And the weather isn't half bad either, 65 degrees and the sun doesn't go down till 9:30pm. More daylight for fishing!

For the last week we have poured concrete for a new shop, went into town for supplies for the house and for fishing, and spent two days learning how to prune the trees.

We have been able to go fishing two different nights after work for a few hours. The first time I had the largest brown trout I have ever seen other then in pictures attack a black woolly bugger but either i didn't set the hook well enough or he didn't swallow enough of it. The fight only lasted for one big tug. The next night we went again and I had pretty large rainbow trout also go for the black woolly bugger. He was swimming up stream and I cast out ten feet ahead of him hoping to drift it down a little bit to him. As soon as it hit the water the fish darted and I thought at first I had scared him off but it turns our he was going after the fly. He pounced on the thing and took off like a rocket but once again the fight only lasted a few seconds. Hopefully next time we can get one landed so we can snap a picture and these won't just be fish stories anymore!

I think we might go to Christchurch for Cait's birthday tonight and tomorrow so if I find a good internet connection I will upload some pictures.