The next outings

[Rockdoc]

Hi guys,
We've had a rough sort of year with the 2 big earthquakes over in Christchurch and one or two health problems for the wife. We are now all good and loving where we find ourselves living. Here's some pics of the year....

There's some of my work but I thought I'd let you digest these first...

AP

 

[sunk stoat]

Glad to hear you and the family are alright Rockdoc after the earthquakes.

The reports and tv footage looked pretty bad. I work with a bloke who's wife comes from NZ and still has family over with yourself, he said they were hit pretty bad.

The family and river photies look braw, especially the big strawbs.

All the best,

SS

 

[shocker]

Now thats a lovely vignette of life on the other side,thank you,made me smile.Maybe some of us could do something similar,but with a less impressive backdrop maybe.Its good to hear that you are riding the storms,it brings things on the news home a bit when you realise that there are PEOPLE experiencing these disasters,not just statistics....people you may have corresponded with....makes it more real,somehow.

all the best mate

shocksi

 

[Rockdoc]

I was a bit off colour when I posted that and was probably a wee bit short on the wording!

The response to both September's and February's earthquakes in Christchurch has been awesome to see, most people have offered their spare rooms, holiday homes and granny flats to the people of Christchurch till they get sorted out. We were shaken out of our beds by the September one despite being 3 1/5 hours away. More poignant to us here on the Coast was the Pike River tragedy just down the road and many of the guys I work with knew people there or were involved in the rescue and assessment attempts.

We feel immensely privileged and extremely lucky to have ended up here and I'll not be going anywhere else in a hurry, it is amazing how easy it was to become bogged down in Birmingham; I only went there in 2000 to make some cash to head off overseas again as I was struggling to find anything at professional rates in North Devon...anyway the first year is over and many more are anticipated!

Here's some more photos of general stuff, hope to get some more regular reporting in over the coming winter.

First outing with the birthday present...

Walk on the beach...(mind the crowds)

Winter picnic in a sheltered bay while 4m breakers smash the coast..

Dawn from the mine offices

Sunset on the ridgeline

Heli shot of the ridgeline with Westport in the far distance 1200m below.

Arthur's Pass at 100kmh (to relieve the boredom of a 1800km weekender to Dunedin to collect the dog)

Winter looking inland from Stockton Mine

777 fallen into some old underground workings...(please don't copy or send to anyone else)

A publicity shot.

There's probably better places in the world but not for me, it's a bit more interesting than the hard shoulder of the M6 and a bit closer to fishing and deer!

Hope to see some of you coming out soon!

AP

 

[Rockdoc]

Well, it appears that the security alert that my Norton 360 has been having a fit about has vanished....

Anyway, I hope you are all well and I've read with interest the goings on during the seasons over there. Guess you've generally had a pretty good season?

Since the winter I've only managed a couple of fishing outings and a couple of hunting trips....there are reasons. First up was that we bought a house with a big garden and moved in on the 1st anniversary of Pike River in November so I've been kept fairly busy doing a fair impression of "The Good Life" without the pig and with the help of a big orange mower that has a drink holder!

I thought you could do with an update;

Jo fishing on the Buller...she managed a whole hour before getting bored!

Here's one of three I caught on the river Arnold in September;

We snuck away for a RWC quarter final in Wellington...we all breathed a big sigh of relief at the result of the final as I could not imagine the State of National Depression and Domestic Violence had the All Blacks not won the World Cup!

and there was another Bok supporter in a kilt!

I managed to get taken to the backing on my 15' salmon rod in the early spring on this stretch of the Buller...probably a big sea trout but then the line went slack....good spot to practice though!!

Me and the "stealth dog" on the Nile river:

first braai/bbq in the new place...see that bush? That's what I get to listen to every morning! 28 months ago I looked out onto the beer garden(carpark) of the Bear Tavern in Bearwood....slight difference. The garden is full of native birds most of which are on the very endangered list.

disturbing them is ok when you've got one of these!

Our sea view! You have to go right up the back of the garden and look over the roof!

Mum came to visit at Christmas and she was pretty impressed with these two wee sea-spiders...

I also finally gave in and said the wife could have kittens....don't think they realise the black cushion is actually "stealth dog"!

I managed one good trip into the bush after deer...this is the Waitahu near Reefton and I managed to slot a spiker in the dawn on the trot. Camera battery ran out so no pics of dead deer. Then I got the hilux stuck in a creek getting out and nearly didn't make it to meet my Mum off the plane....complete with two days of wet filth and a dead deer...bet it was just like Yorkshire!

Finally, I had a play with some panoramics...here's the look North from Mt Augustus on the mine in the winter:

and here's the look south from Mt Frederick....

Sorry there's not many fish but...I've a weekend at the salmon on the Rakia in February....

AP

 

[haptonlad]

Nice pics rockdoc!
Keep them coming pal.

 

[Rockdoc]

Had a few sea-runners in the last couple of months. There's plenty of them and really good eating so please excuse photos of dead fish, I put them back in the upper rivers!

My spot is just up from the wharf and very tide dependent, however just on dark is pretty well guaranteed to see something.... Jo having a crack on Saturday:

Tried my hand at surf casting in the summer...not much good but will be trying harder next summer!

Managed to catch some yabbies or koura in a dam up the hill behind the house, Jo very excited by the first wild food she helped to catch in my acme wire traps!

Had a wet weekend in the bush with a couple of mates but no luck on the deer, hiked in to a hut and based ourselves there for a day or so. Rivers came up and we did get the heebie jeebies about getting back out...

All in all a fun summer. Duck season has just started but such awesome weather as to have been pretty hopeless so far. Hope to have some hard weather soon to bring them in.

Winter has no effect on my "table" fish as the lower Buller fishes all year but large trophy trout from the back country will have to wait till October.

I'll be dropping in over the winter to see how you guys are getting on....

AP

 

[haptonlad]

Nice report and pic's Rockdoc! keep them coming!
Thanks for sharing your adventures with us.
Regards Paul.

 

[Rockdoc]

Hi all,

Duck season was a bit of a washout...too much rain and not enough wind; managed to get a few Grey ducks and a couple of Parries but not really anything to write home about.

Anyway with the weird combination of snowdrops, daffodils, gorse and heather all in flower at the same time I nipped down to my "larder" fishery last Saturday night with my 15' and 12wt intermediate to swing a "Mrs Simpson" through the stream at low tide. I have a new acolyte, ginger with glasses from Manchester; looks about 12; asked him to come and share my spot as his gear is in a container somewhere between Lowestoft and Auckland.

Right on dark this silver bar hit me and cleared my backing twice.

5.5-6lb of fat winter sea-trout. Deep orange flesh and a bellyfull of little crabs. Ben caught one of about 2lb too so all good.

AP

 

[Aled]

Looks like life in New Zealand is really suiting you and your family. Nice one and a good fish as well.
Tight Lines
Aled

 

[Rockdoc]

Winter is well on it's way out at the moment and I've taken a week off work to chill and sort out the garden for the coming summer...howking over the veg plots with a medieval rotavator has all been done, tatties in and now just waiting for a couple of dry days (forecast for the weekend) to get the peas, beans, artichokes, butternut, pumpkin, courgettes, leeks, cucumbers, watermelon, broccoli, cauliflower and peppers planted out from pots in which they are doing well in the greenhouse. I had suggested to Jo that we might go on a proper "all day" fishing trip while I was off and she was soooo excited, so she took Monday "off" from kindy and we headed off to Lake Brunner; about 2 hours from home, with the kayak on the roof of the hilux.

Light to no breeze and clear/black water, Lake hopping with 1-2kg browns, I had thought it'd be easy to troll around and pick up her first fish. Easy? yes. First fish? No. We did keep going for about 3 hours and she even wanted to paddle for a bit so I discovered that the kayak drifts quite nicely while I fished. More to come from this effort I think...

Anyway, today I got the greenhouse beds ready for the indoor stuff and am done for a couple of days so I'm heading off into the bush with Grandpa's Holland .270 and the Stealth dog to try and fill the freezer.

A bit on edge at the moment with a horribly low coal price. Spring Creek mine closed on Monday but we should be ok at Stockton as the flagship mine of Solid Energy NZ...we may not be the cash cow anymore but at least we do show a profit....allbeit $5/ton

Keep well all, I really hope things sort out as I'd hate to go and live in the desert over the Tasman sea after living here.

AP