Winding road towards the steam

The following lines and posts are written with the journey already some weeks ago. So details might be mixed up and impressions more reflected or more biased. Happy reading!

This time the accompanying wine is a Krapez Merlot 2004 from Slovenia (!). Delicious! 

 

 

There was a promising line on the map that would save us some winding kilometers going up north west towards Lake Waikaremoana. We crossed this dirty river for the last time to follow the Erepeti Road, later the Ohuka Road (all dirt) and finally the to figure out that the intended road towards the west was pretty much not useable as it ran over private farmland and was more like a route than a road. Nevertheless the landscape for the first time on NI became more eye-pleasing. But it was still far from eye candy… 

We drove up the Waikaretaheke River towards Lake Waikaremoana. The river looked most attracting but based on JK it’s not worth a try. Still there might be fish in. The foliage was nicely autumn colored as it was during the last days. Autumn could really no longer be neglected or ignored; in addition the weather was cloudy with some sunny patches. 

We reached the lake Waikaremoana. A lake that was very remote now in autumn, but might see considerable traffic in summer. We followed the dirt road around its winding east shore, passed a terrific water fall (Mokau Stream?) and continued the road curve by curve by curve – it was green bush left and right of the dirt road and very windy. 

No unfortunately we did not camp close by in the campground but followed this dame northbound dirty snake in the bush called raod. All bush, nature – but I was sick of it. Tobias was rather noisy, my leg hurt from long hpurs of driving and I wanted to end this asap…. Fast fowrad, some hours later we passed a settlement in the middle of the bush, another hour later we passed the small village Murupara and had a stop there. I forgot why. We wanted to accomplish the last leg towards Rotorua where we arrived well after dark. After some research and search we found a decent motel right on the main road. We had a simple dinner and took a late night family dip in the hot spa on our porch. 

The Lake Waikaremoana and the surrounding Urewera NP might definitely have some appeal. At that day it was just pain in the ass, as there was no option to fish and the landscape nature was ok but by far not new or impressing (besides the water fall that I really liked).

Rotorua is famous for its hundreds of fumaroles, geysers and hot springs. The village is based on tourism. Nothing more nothing less. The close by lake is just a lake. The geyser areas around are all pretty much similar, if you have seen one you have seen all. We chose the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. We walked all the accessible tracks there and where deeply impressed by a group of ladies which where fishing for gas bubbles that did rise from the base of one of the largest hot springs. This looked even more contemplating than carp fishing. It might be the next trend sport after extreme-GT-blanking (freely adopted from “Only the river knows”). Ok serious now: The Thermal wonderland is ok, but you might possibly be disappointed after you have seen Yellowstone. 

      

   

After that touristic program we drove a couple of kilometers south west towards one of the Broadlands spring creeks close by. Before the fly fishing reader gets a stroke due to excitement: these creeks are very very difficult to access. We reached a bridge over one of the creeks I figured out, at least to have a look at. A perfect stretch of water, weeds, eddies and some room for the back cast due to the crossing street. I had to rig my rod and have a go right away standing on the street. It took a while and a few casts till one of the rising fish came to my adams. Ines helped to net it from the steep bank. Just a small rainbow (?) of something around 2-3lbs. Nice! There was another fish rising around +18meters upstream right in a narrow section of the creek close to a willow bush. I was fixed and could not move as the bank was too steep/swampy. I did cast again and gain but always there where two meters or precision missing. All the time watching if a truck was approaching on the road that I would have caught on the back-cast. Several casts later I got a rise from the targeted fish but it did not stick to the fly… A nice intermezzo on this creek with a nice rainbow on the sky and one on the fly. Tobias was sleeping during the fishing in the Prado and slowly woke up so we drove back towards Rotorua. There we had an afternoon cappuccino on the playground right on the lake and another night in the terrific motel.

The next day I wanted to catch the last fish of the trip and headed back towards the spring creek area from the day before. Actually these Broadland Creeks are much closer towards Lake Taupo than to Lake Rotorua. Parked on the road close to the first creek I wanted to give a try and crossed over the paddocks towards the mouth of the creek on the Waikato river. I started fishing right on the mouth and walked out on the bank just to get stuck in the gumbo. Quickly sinking in the dirt up to the knees, I could just get out and back to the bank. Mmm I should be more carefully on the next try. There were several rather small fish laying in the current. It was rather obvious that these pre-spawning trout would be hard to entice. After a couple of minutes a man came through the bushes and thorns with his fighting dog wearing a muzzle on a short leash. We had a friendly conversation about the creek. He was a Scotsman who relocated some years ago. His strong accent was obvious. It turned out that he did not only fly fish the creek but once in a while would use a threadline. I did not understand the reason to fish a spring creek C&R with a spinner or spoon. But after fishing and thorn bashing this creek, loosing and recovering my net in the thorns I got the point that fishing this creek is a challenge (there is a cut track on the right bank some meters away from the creek that ends around thirty meters away from the road, thus access from the mouse and then crossing might be the best option to fish it). Very limited casting space, thorns and at that time fish that were just not interested. I fished / walked up to the road and left the place without a fish to my hands. The water was rather low but still silty due to irrigation.

After a brief detour via another spring creeks mouth (again very limited access due to private land), I relocated to the spring creek from the day before. Again I had a few casts on the road-pool from the day before but the good fish rising was just out of my reach. After some consideration back and force I tried a couple of times to wade the creek – but right beside the firm bank it was very deep (+1,8 meters) and I would be immediately at maximum wading depth. Combined with current, rather swampy ground and vertical banks of 1,5 meters wading was no real option. Every time I tried to get out of the creek testing its wade ability my hands got some additional cuts from the rough grass. So I crossed the paddocks to follow the creek further upstream to a piece of water that looked accessible based on google satellite images. It was semi accessible: again high or rather swampy bank. 

To my surprise I pretty much instantly spotted a fish and did not spook it. Must have tried and Adams or a Royal Coachman. The fish came and after a while it came to the net. A Rainbow of around 3lbs. I knew that this fish would pretty likely be the last fish of the trip. At least the last fish was caught on NI. A few more casts to irregular rising fish in the distance but nothing more. 

For the last time of this trip I turned around and walked back over the paddocks, crossed the fences, reached the car, disassembled the rod, got out of my wading gear and left the creek behind me.

The fly fishing end of this terrific trip!

Nelson at the Top of NZ NI – where is here good fishing?

As the Rainbow Road did not provide much in terms of fishing I had to get to the water as soon as possible. I remembered one semi hammered river just an hour away from Nelson, so I gave its middle/upper section a try (where a gravel road follows the river). Strange river with limited visibility on that day due to the partially covered sky and the dark river bottom. It did not look too bad at first but the fish number I spotted or spooked was rather low for my expectation. Nevertheless the river did run low and thus nice and clear. The fish I did not spook were rather spooky. I ended up blank. The leaves were about to turn yellow and brown - autumn was there. On the way back to the car a friendly farmer offered me a lift on his quad for part of the distance. For dinner Ines figured out to go to Milton Street Takeaway where we had decent fish-burgers. A good place for a quick and simple meal. And on that 1^st of April we fixed the accommodation from the next day onwards. As mentioned it was not easy to find something in Nelson that suited our needs at a reasonable price, nice setting and close to the center.

Tuesday we packed everything for the relocation and went on a winery and Nelson area tour. Visiting Höglund Glas (as usual), Kahurangi (surprisingly good wines), Neudorf (as usual, for lunch cheese or bring your own picnic in the garden, I still do not like their wines so much) and Woollaston (they would have offered a nice platter as lunch in a very nice setting with good wines – recommendation!). We unfortunately did not know about the lunch option and Wollerstone and had some greasy sandwich in the oldest pub of NZ and some so so cheese at Neudorf. 

 

 

This afternoon we relocated to our home of the following days: Avocado Apartment at Cleveland Terrace. An apartment that offered not just a very nice view over Nelson and the sea, quiet location, fully equipped nice kitchen, an orchard with fruits and vegetables to be consumed and a quality of building that we did not see often. The very friendly owners gave us a glass of absolutely delicious honey and a bunch of fruits to. At that point we did not yet know for how many days we would call that apartment home. Unfortunatly the avocados were far from ripe or ready to be harvested. 

One of the better restaurants in Nelson is the Hopgood’s, thus my idea was to go there, have a nice dinner and share this evening with Mike and his wife Nans. Mike the fishing guide pretty much introduced us to the NZ style of fishing three years ago. We were happy that his wife could finally join us and we had a nice evening with lots of fish talk. It was good to see him again and that there was no need to take care of the dishes afterwards.

Rain in the night and rain in the morning called for a very relaxed 3^rd of April of writing, editing pictures and shopping in the afternoon. Nothing more, nothing less. Most of the rivers might have been still good fishing till around early afternoon, but I did not feel the urge to go out in that downpour.

Thursday Ines and Tobias went to the center of New Zealand which was just some kilometers away, they continued via the Founders park, the Japanese gardens and back through the shopping parcours. I set up my fishing parcours as I had the idea to fish the river at the Rainbow Road (after getting the key from the station) that was still a little high and colored. Just saw and spooked very few trout in the silty water, fished two or three spots and finally decided to drive up all the way to of its major tributaries. There in the junction pool I hooked one fish on a fly not to be mentioned (neither dry nor nymph) and saw a dolphin taking a fly from the surface (looked like it was rolling) that left me with open mouth. This dolphin was either a huge trout of something ++10lbs or a very brown salmon. The sun was already close to the mountain’s ridge so I rushed up the river but did not spot any reachable fish. Too bad, should have gone there right from the beginning. No fish this sunny day but still a nice trip up that valley we drove down a few days ago in rain. I did not expect to be back so soon. The two upper sections look promising and even the fished stretch of the morning should be good on an according day. Driving back over the dirt road, opening and closing various gates, crossing streams and finally arriving at the paved road towards Nelson took quiet some while. 

For dinner we met a friend that I talked into New Zealand last summer. At first she just wanted to travel New Zealand for some month after graduation but she ended up to be a guide and finally the junior manager of a horse tracking business up on the very north tip of the SI. She extended here stay in NZ several times - might be my talking was good to start this.

Friday was supposed to be a real family day. We went to the beach, had a short swim and a dip up to the chest for Tobias. The sea was somewhat cool but ok for a swim and the beach deserted due to after-season. Tobias loved it till he shivered. I was feeding a metal-detector-guy with coins by throwing a couple in his search path. Before that I tried to get some input from Mike where to fish the next days. The input was slightly less specific than I hoped for, but it made me to drop my plan to do some chopper thing in the Kahurangi and instead confirmed my alternative plan to drive back to Reefton for another four days for focus on fishing and curing the fever that came back after the last fish less days. Further ‘our’ cottage in the village of light would be available for a stopover in between and for the last night. As the weather forecast was again altered I planned to start early the next day. 

The outlined planed was to fish two rivers, one for a campout and the other with rough 4WD track access and a night at a hut. It was time for some serious fishing again, I was hungry for some bush bashing and river walking! I was looking very forward for that and a couple of nights of solid sleep.

Leaving Ines and Tobias alone was acceptable for them as Nelson is a real gem and lovely village. Everything on hand, a nice apartment and relatively good weather announced. Nelson would definitely be one of the places to consider if relocation to New Zealand would be a serious option.

Karamea to Hanmer Springs - Easter on the Rainbow Road

After that cracker of four days in the bush in a convenient hut, with challenging but rewarding fishing and lots of walking, my feet were two sizes bigger and there was no need to move too much. 

I asked Ines to show me the Oparara Basin with the Moria Gate that Karamea is famous for. It was pretty much the excursion she ‘rehearsed’ on the day before with Tobias. So she went there again and I for the first time. The loop walk combines the arch / kind of cave and the tarn. It was a little longer than her estimation of ‘around 10 minutes’ – more to an hour. The Moria Gate provided some nice motives for pictures, especially a rock structure inside with its wave shaped erosion patterns glowed like gold in the low light of this semi-cave. 

(Might be anybody did recognize the frequently usage of the term 'semi' - it is more or less about making fun on a NZ butter brand that describes its product as "semi spreadable" but in fact it is the worst butter to spread I ever encountered. Other terms to make fun about would be 'retreat' or 'boutique'.) (... oh and the text in the brackets before was only inserted due to typograhpic reasons making the text more appropriate to the pictures) 

 

 

This night we had a reservation at the Riverstone Restaurant in Karamea. The best location for a dinner in the north west corner of SI. The food was very delicious and for the first time we had some whitebait (very small fish). It was served in an omelet as appetizer and tasted surprisingly good. This place can be recommended absolutely! Riverstone even offers two chalets as an accommodation option for the time after the beloved Karamea Lodge.

The next day meant to leave Karamea. We drove over the winding road – luckily Tobias was sleeping – towards Westport, up the Buller Valley. There I saw a group of three, one girl and two boys coming out of the bush with rods in their hands, right as we passed on a place where it was clear that they fished a river that we were fishing two years ago. I slammed the brakes, jumped out of the car and had the trout-bum interview: where, what, how far, how many, what size….? They did not do well (no fish) as they did not walk up far enough. We back then made pretty much the same mistake, nevertheless we had some fish contact. Our fishing there some years ago was kind of adventure. We walked in partly on the riverbed with very little local knowledge, camped around two hours in on a  good camping spot there. As we did not walk in far enough we had hard times fishing and only hooked/landed some fish on the first day. That night the rain started hard and it rained and rained and in the morning the only option was to break camp and rush out as the river was close to not fishable and the water rising fast. Around late morning we arrived at a little side creek that was on the way in just a creek of might be 0,5cums. Now it was a small river of boisterous 15-25cums with a very unclear main current. We had to set camp and pitch the tent again, found a good spot just 100 meters bush bashing up that creek. The plan was to wait for the creek to drop again. The rain eased but still it was raining. I defined the deadline with 7pm and a drop of the creek of 30 centimeters - in that case we would rush and head out the same evening. We spent a boring wet day in a tent, not much to read (Ines had something), not much food left for an additional night. Luckily it worked out, the rain stooped, the creek drooped exactly by the defined amount, we managed to cross the creek without losing control, headed out found the kind of track most of the time, luckily we had one good headlamp and finally arrived at the car at 21:45 close to pitch black - we were happy! The late meal in Greymouth we got in a bar tasted delicious! And we found dry accommodation! I pretty much realized my miss-planning: food, weather and did not go far enough : ) Still it was a good adventure to be told in future years. For this trip this kind of adventure was no option.

The other drivers on the road were not so happy about my parking in the middle of the road, so I ended the brief interview and we headed off. Reefton (hello cottage!), Springs Junction, Lewis Pass, and finally Hanmer Springs. Tobias was screaming around one and a half hour – so I could not fall as leap while driving. On the way towards Hanmer we booked the very last accommodation. A funny 60es style motel/cabin. Good for one night and reasonably cheap. We arrived close to dark.

It was Easter weekend. The worst place is to be on Easter is Hanmer. It was no intention it just happened and could not be avoided. Ines wanted to go to the Hot Pools. Not for me. As she saw the 100m queue she revised here intention. We did the groceries to drive the Rainbow Road north of Hanmer (take care to be informed about the access restrictions and rules on this 4WD metaled road, do not try it with a motor-home or a 2WD!) for a couple of days and to fish some rivers and lakes there. Due to the expected traffic and possible fishing pressure we drove right to basic Coldwater Creek camp and omitted some 4WD-river access. We passed the highest pass in New Zealand - pretty much without stopping as the landscape was of rather low attraction. At the camp there were two other groups at the campsite. A couple from NI that was just about to discover SI after traveling the whole world and a family celebrating their anniversary with both we had some friendly conversation.

This night rain started and the next morning looked everything else but friendly. The lakes where no option due to lack of visibility, wind and some gusts so we drove to a stream / tributary of the main river to check it out. But with an overcast sky spotting is very hard. It still rained and I was far less than motivated. We decided to head out immediately as the weather was not clear for the next days and I did not want to lose a day sitting in a wet tent. We continued further north towards the middle part of the Wairau valley, passed the Rainbow valley road and arrived in St. Arnaud without any plan where to drive afterwards and no accommodation for the night. Thus the next step was to find a cup of cappuccino as at least its handle would provide some hold. We found that and I had an awful time to figure out what to do and where to go. This really gave me and headache as the options where Blenheim, Nelson or St. Arnaud. After a while of checking out availability of accommodation and prices we ended up to book a night at our usual place in Nelson. The Rutherford Hotel in the big ugly building. But it offered again reasonable prices and high standard (btw the owner of the Hotel is famous for his nature destroying river dam projects – please do not support this and book somewhere else in case you are more sensitive than we were). That night the dinner was special: room cooked tortellini with a decent fresh ready-made sauce. The sprinkler did not start.