Salmon fishing take 2 - 22 to 25 April 2016

Friday 22 April 2016
11:51 - just filled up with diesel (334299 kms) & off back to the canals to try and catch those very elusive yet visible salmon! Gorgeous autumn day, 18 degrees and sunny. Forecast is for rain tomorrow afternoon but looks like it might miss Twizel.  Had lunch at the Wrinkly Rams - the usual. Then stopped at the rest area opposite the Ohau skifield turn off to catch up with Kum & David. 
And it's now 16:15 and have filled with water, parked at The Grave & taken the dogs for a walk along the lake track. Now chill time! Which we successfully did, although there was 1 moment of WTF when someone knocked on our back window. An Asian tourist wanting to know if he could park here (in a big CSC van) & where to pay.  Had lovely lamb steak, new potatoes and asparagus (what is this, spring or autumn?) for tea, bed at about 10pm.

Saturday 23 April 2016
Woke up at 5:15 to the sound of rain. Back to sleep. Woke up at 6:15 to the sound of heavier rain. Back to sleep. Woke up at 6:55 because there was no rain! 10 degrees & a spectacular sunrise. And we were joined by several other vans during the night!  Beautiful sunrise through the clouds this morning!
Went up to the canal (above Ohau A) and although there was the occasional shower it wasn't anything like as bad as the weather forecast had indicated this morning.  I had no luck but Mike - well, he only landed the biggest fish of his life! A whopping 7.25lb salmon.  And in front of a very appreciative audience!  No more fish - but that's ok - the one we have was enough.  Thoroughly enjoyed the sashimi (& a beautiful piece of Puhoi Triple Cream brie) for pre dinner snacks, followed by fresh salmon and asparagus - yep, again - for tea! YUMMO.



Moonset

Sunday 24 April 2016
Another gorgeous day in the making, albeit a somewhat cool start on minus 1.  No fish!  And occasionally if got a bit windy, but we persevered.  Caught up with Jo who came out for a coffee.  
Back to the same spot as where we parked on the first night - simply to be able to hunker behind a bank and a tree to get out of a by now pesky blustery breeze.  More shashimi and brie for pre-dinner snacks but steak and salad for tea.  










Monday 25 April 2016
Bugger - another lovely day and we have to go home.  When it's this nice, you really don't want to!  Went to dump in Twizel but took one look at the queue and thought "Nah, we'll dump in Cromwell".  Stopped in to see K&D&C but just a quick stop as they had another 2 people there so it felt a bit crowded.  Off to the Cromwell dump station - same as Twizel!  So off to Alex - yay, straight in - and perfect timing too as 2 other people pulled up not long after us!  20 degrees at home and got back just after 12:30.

A wee break over the hill 14 to 16 April 2016

14 April 2016
Off for a couple of days break over the hill to do some fishing. Left after organising repairs to Murano & garage door (Mike) after I backed into the garage with the door not completely up (dinging both car and garage door) & selling raffle tickets for Victim Support at New World from 9:30 - 10:30 (me).  Stopped at Wrinklies for the standard lunch. Also went into Twizel to see if they had a wee storage think for worm lines - nothing - before parking up at Ohau B. 
Not a thing, & breeze got up so left around 4pm to go and park up at our favourite spot beside Lake Ruataniwha. Spent the next while enjoying warm sun and chilling. As soon as sun set at 17:35 the temp dropped markedly so we moved inside not long after. Waiting to see if we can see the Aurora as it was supposedly spectacular last night & there's still a chance tonight. No aurora but we did have a lovely tea of Japanese coleslaw and bbq chicken. Bed at 21:30 ish.

15 April 2016

Up at 7:40 after a good sleep - yay, first sleep in for weeks! 2.4 degrees, clear calm and sunny. It's going to be a good day! Apart from the fact that not only did I forget the eggs - I also didn't bring the tomato sauce. Sacrilege - I am not flavour of the month right now lol. Fished above Ohau A all day. 
I caught 3 fish - none legal and 2 only just over chocolate fish size. Beautiful day though - shorts, t-shirts.& jandals weather (except for Mike, who forgot to pack his jandals! This is the "forgot to pack" trip!). Brownie & Gaye called past to say hi on their way to Central and then we packed up to dump and buy some eggs. 
Back to beside Lake Ruataniwha (but further out so as to catch earlier sun tomorrow morning) wjere we sat outside in our shorts (! - it's half way into autumn!) til sundown. Met a local couple with a black cocker and talked to them for a while too. Bed at about 21:30.

Saturday 16 April 2016

Up at 06:50 as Roxie needed out. 3 degrees and calm. Going to be another good day. Will have a wee fish before heading home to get ready for shift tomorrow. Fished til 11:45 - nothing. Another glorious morning and a bit bummed reality beckons. 




Called in and saw Bones & Debs for 20 minutes or so before hitting the road. Stopped at Ahuriri for a lunch of leftovers and now 13:30 & carrying on to Cromwell to do some shopping.