Back home safely at last!

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dezza

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But suffering from an advanced case of jet lag after spending 29 hours in the air.

But everything is fine; I pick up my car from storage on Monday and after a big sleep, I have over 500 emails from around the world to answer.

First imoressions of my trip are that the Oz economy is booming and they are desperate for qualified engineers, technicians and artisans. The fishing is just too darned right wonderful to describe in words and New Zealand is truly a gorgeous place.

Hopefully I will be telling you more when I am rested.
 
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Ray Daywalker Clarke

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Welcome home Ron, hope your OK after some shut eye.

29 hours is that it, you know what it's like in Oz, my son did a 53 hour bus trip, the joy. So next time he jumped on a plane
 
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dezza

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The situation in Christchurch was dire. Christchurch is located close to a tektonic plate which whinges and wobbles regularly. The problem this time was that the epicentre of the quake was the centre of Christchurch where a number of high rise buildings were hit, hence the deaths.

The local people came through this catastrophe very well and much of the town looks quite normal. It's a lovely old colonial town. Some parts look like Cambridge or even Oxford.

New Zealand has its problems from an environmental and economical view. Many of the Canterbury Plains rivers on South Island are being abstracted to provide irrigation to feed vast numbers of cattle bound for China, as this country does not have the resources to feed itself.

Economically NZ is far behind Oz. You can see this when you compare the way the average person lives compared with Oz. In fact many Kiwis are living and working in Oz these days.

Other than that, there is some remarkable fishing to be had in present day NZ, and you can vitually fish where you want on a $113 (£75.00) a year licence which you can get from any tackle shop.

Oh and yes Anguilla pacificus is a fascinating beast. I caught two of the sods, but not in NZ. From the NSW coast to be precise.
 
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michaels

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Welcome back Ron, have a good long sleep and relax. Having fished in Australia I know, appreciate and understand what a great time you must have had, it’s brilliant.

In Australia, I fished the River Murray, mainly from a house boat, bank & tin boat trawling. The main species we caught were the Murray Cod (60Ib+), Callop or known as the Golden Perch or Yellow Belly (8Ib+) and the Red fin (5Ib+) similar to a perch, great eating, but must not be returned to the river. But the Carp had to be seen to be believed, there were thousands of the buggers (10-20Ib), but unfortunately, they have to be culled due to the damage, degradation they are doing to the banks. It is actually against the law to release them back. Also a small number of cat fish, which had small venomous spines, which is a protected species and had to be returned.
We plan to go to New Zealand in 2013, so Ron you can give me some tips!
 
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dezza

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Carp can be extremely destructive of environments, especially in places where there are too many of them.

I caught some belting carp in South Africa a few weeks ago, from waters where they were not overstocked. The problem with carp in Australia and in some other warm countries is that they overbreed in waters that are incapable of maintaining the numbers. The best thing for carp in Australia is to kill as many as possible.
 
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Ray Daywalker Clarke

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In parts of OZ you have to kill the Carp, it's against the law to return them, not sure if its law over all of Oz or not, and you wouldnrt want the fine.

I also know that Carp are blown up in some waters due to there being so many.
 
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dezza

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That rule is applied all over Australia where carp exist. If carp ever got into the river systems of the Northern Territory, it would be the end of that marvellous species the Barramundi.

There has been untold damage to Murray Cod habitat by carp in the Murray/Darling river system.
 
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Thanks for the phone call mate, nice to have you back, I`ll have to pick up the Angling Star, I believe you`ve done a write up in it
 
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robhale

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Welcome back Ron! I've been wanting to visit Oz for a long time, although never really got round to it (a new baby and a two year old toddler don't help). :)

The economy is indeed booming and is probably one of the best survivor stories as it never even went into recession. NZ is a different story however, the principal income being livestock and tourism.

Wages are low in NZ and *everything* is bought on credit. A friend of mine did a trial emmigration and came back - she worked for one of the big credit providers who's main customer earnt less than £12K a year but bought a 42" plasma worth 4 or 5K on credit. :eek:

Would love to fish there though. Did you do any fly fishing for the trout whilst there?
 
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dezza

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Absolutely bang on Rob. Oz is certainly the place to raise a family. Big salaries, big houses, lots of room, great schools and wonderful fishing. If you live at the coast (as most do) you are never far from the most wonderful sea angling, all looked after by the way.

(policitcal references have been deleted)

---------- Post added at 02:52 ---------- Previous post was at 02:46 ----------

I and yes I did some wonderful fly fishing in NZ and caught browns and rainbows.

But it isn't easy and the first day I totally blanked, and then I got into the swing of things. A lot of NZ trout and salmon fishing is done with spinners and lures, I didn't have the tackle for that. But I loved the small intimate crystal clear streams where you have to stalk the fish and hide behind every bush.
 
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Aussie Bob

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There's roach in Australia ...plus tench and perch (locally known as redfin) not sure how big the roach go (none near me). The perch can go to a very decent size 2-3 kg although they can take over some waters and you just end up with a heap of stunted little perch....the lakes locally to me have just filled up after years of drought so i am hoping to finally start fishing again.
 
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