Wednesday, October 28, 2009
WA Beaches
A place called Monkey Mia where I got to feed a wild dolphin.
Western Oz has fantastic water.
One of us was smart enough to buy a fly net. The Pinnacles.
Travellin' Light
Yeah, as Max says in the blog below, we are "travellin' light". Mind you if you saw our bags you would yelp "light!" But travellen' light for us now is more a matter of mind than luggage. For the first time since the 70's we set out with no itinerary, no schedule. We did have reservations for our trip to Samoa but then they all got tsunamied away so and we cashed in those tickets for plane fare to Perth and here we are in Western Australia with seat of the pants travel. When we arrived we decided to take a bus adventure tour of Western Oz but at the last minute we bailed as things looked sketchy and rented a car. We have now decided to NOT go to Queensland and the great barrier reef as Oz is EXPENSIVE ($1200 per night at the reef resort). In fact thanks to Tyler's wisdom we have been staying mostly at backpackers hostels in nice double rooms. Our 1974 photos in the youth hostel cards draw hoots and howls...oh well.
We spent 2 days in Perth -nice city but not special, went out to an island near Fremantle that was quite nice, then rented the car and headed north up the coast. Wow. WA is a BIG state. But this is the Oz we remember...outbackish. We've seen emus and kangaroos nearly every day. The turquoise water is stunning and the beaches are long lonely and lovely. Perfect weather.
We spent 2 days in Perth -nice city but not special, went out to an island near Fremantle that was quite nice, then rented the car and headed north up the coast. Wow. WA is a BIG state. But this is the Oz we remember...outbackish. We've seen emus and kangaroos nearly every day. The turquoise water is stunning and the beaches are long lonely and lovely. Perfect weather.
Friends
Max Stalling, a Texas Honky Tonk Singer/songwriter did a song last year that went, "I got friends from there to here, the payoff from all those ramblin' years. If friends were gold, I'd be a king I guess. But friendships better than golden crowns, havin' a bunch won't weigh you down, that's the price of a life of travellin' light."
Thanks Max, your words grabbed me by the throat. Our ramblin' years in the 70's sure produced some golden friends and we've been having some delightful evenings with so many of them.. I had a wonderful night with Mike and Lynn Spencer in Okato where their "farm"/pottery has been transformed into a botanical paradise. I could sit for hours with these two fascinating souls....it is just so easy to pick up where we left off 6 years ago. Then we met the joyous Sue Plyler in Auckland. She is ALWAYS so much fun and toured us all over the Auckland area. Sue was a godsend when we took the boys to NZ and she will always be remembered for so incredible nights in New Orleans at Mardi Grais. Aaah the memories.
We ended up with a spare day and went to Hamilton to see our dear friends Lloyd and Helen Clarke. They were my backbone in '74 when my dad died and they became great friends who even spent a California week with us in SF and Yosemite where the laughing never stopped. Recently one of their five beautiful kids stopped by with his wife and visited in Klamath. Just the best.
Monday, October 19, 2009
The Cast
After about a week of fishing the South Island Tyler had arranged to hire Chris Doer, one of the better guides in New Zealand. On the day we fished with Chris I let him know that my high mileage was causing me to slow down, I don't fish with the skill Tyler has and my wading is a bit wobbly. So after we hit the Oreti River, famous for its big browns, Chris began to stalk the banks looking for trout. It is known as "sight fishing" and a mystical art as only guides can see fish while we mortals sometimes glimpse gray smudges, often nothing at all.
He began fishing with Ty while I followed. After a half hour or so he had me cast across a fishless run just to evaluate my casting skills, to determine how much work he had ahead putting me on a fish. (I would guess I was in the D+/C- range).
Soon we found a little backwater eddy pond that sometimes held fish so we had to crawl up to it on our bellies like Green Berets, and sure enough a couple of big bruisers were cruising around and he had Tyler blindly lay out a nice cast that the fish refused. Too bad, on we fished.
Around noon we sighted the first real fish out in the river in a catchable position. Chris lined up Tyler and had him lay out a gentle cast that the fish refused. He tied on a new fly the fish ignored. Next he tried a new angle, then a bigger fly, a smaller fly, a bright fly a dark fly and after about 30 minutes of casting Chris determined the fish was just not in the mood for lunch. But we were.
We walked about 20 feet up the bank to the lunch beach when Chris spotted another gray smudge that he determined was a fish, but now Ty was tired and it was the old man's turn. He tied on a size 14 bead headed pheasant tail (yeah, I don't really know what the hell that is either) and told me to stand ankle deep in the river, face straight up it and cast the fly (a nymph) beyond the fish but not to cast so far that my dark fly line scared the fish (yeah, right).
So I stepped into the river, began to whip my rod back and forth and at some point thought I had enough line out so I let 'er fly. The nymph landed beyond the fish and began to drift right back over it, it made just a slight movement (did he eat it?) and my little white indicator jiggled a bit so I lifted my rod. WHAM! He was on and came racing down river as I frantically stripped in the line while Tyler hollered and hooted as if he'd been shot. What a great father/son moment. It wasn't a brute by Oreti standards but it tipped 6 pounds when Chris weighed it.
So that was it. One Cast.
After lunch Ty and Chris spotted several nice browns and cast and cast. No luck. I just followed along enjoying the splendor of New Zealand and appreciating how lucky I was to be here with my son, but I never fished again that day. One cast. Next day we all went back. No fish. I think Ty and Grant tried another day too. Notta.
Talk about lucky. I made only one cast the entire day. Sometimes the fishing gods just smile down on you.
(That's the fish with Ty and me down below in the previous post. Sorry we never got a shot that did it justice.)
He began fishing with Ty while I followed. After a half hour or so he had me cast across a fishless run just to evaluate my casting skills, to determine how much work he had ahead putting me on a fish. (I would guess I was in the D+/C- range).
Soon we found a little backwater eddy pond that sometimes held fish so we had to crawl up to it on our bellies like Green Berets, and sure enough a couple of big bruisers were cruising around and he had Tyler blindly lay out a nice cast that the fish refused. Too bad, on we fished.
Around noon we sighted the first real fish out in the river in a catchable position. Chris lined up Tyler and had him lay out a gentle cast that the fish refused. He tied on a new fly the fish ignored. Next he tried a new angle, then a bigger fly, a smaller fly, a bright fly a dark fly and after about 30 minutes of casting Chris determined the fish was just not in the mood for lunch. But we were.
We walked about 20 feet up the bank to the lunch beach when Chris spotted another gray smudge that he determined was a fish, but now Ty was tired and it was the old man's turn. He tied on a size 14 bead headed pheasant tail (yeah, I don't really know what the hell that is either) and told me to stand ankle deep in the river, face straight up it and cast the fly (a nymph) beyond the fish but not to cast so far that my dark fly line scared the fish (yeah, right).
So I stepped into the river, began to whip my rod back and forth and at some point thought I had enough line out so I let 'er fly. The nymph landed beyond the fish and began to drift right back over it, it made just a slight movement (did he eat it?) and my little white indicator jiggled a bit so I lifted my rod. WHAM! He was on and came racing down river as I frantically stripped in the line while Tyler hollered and hooted as if he'd been shot. What a great father/son moment. It wasn't a brute by Oreti standards but it tipped 6 pounds when Chris weighed it.
So that was it. One Cast.
After lunch Ty and Chris spotted several nice browns and cast and cast. No luck. I just followed along enjoying the splendor of New Zealand and appreciating how lucky I was to be here with my son, but I never fished again that day. One cast. Next day we all went back. No fish. I think Ty and Grant tried another day too. Notta.
Talk about lucky. I made only one cast the entire day. Sometimes the fishing gods just smile down on you.
(That's the fish with Ty and me down below in the previous post. Sorry we never got a shot that did it justice.)
Monday, October 12, 2009
Playing Tourist
New Zealand is such a beautiful country that it is always a treat to just go and see it but we were treated to perfect sight seeing weather. The fishing weather was ok too as we all caught some very nice new Zealand browns.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
South Island
We first spent a night at Tyler's house then took the ferry to the South Island. It was cold but mostly clear. We fished around Gore down at the bottom of New Zealand but also had side trips to Milford Sound and Mt. Cook. We stayed in hostels and everybody caught fish. A GREAT two weeks.
In New Zealand
Tyler and Meghan have been teaching in New Zealand since february. It has been their Spring break so Meghan flew home to Oregon and her Dad, Gil, came out to New Zealand to fish and see the sights. Tyler also invited me and my good friend Grant Pine. We rented a van that was cramped and fished 3 days on the Taongariro on the North Island.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)