The Bottom of New Zealand
After spending 3 fabulous days in the Milford Sound area with Jolein I was on my way to the bottom of New Zealand and a place called Stewart Island. I have been told everywhere that the best fishing in NZ is at Stewart Island so that was the plan. We made it there and had an afternoon fishing trip planned but it got cancelled because of big winds so Ernst, Alain and myself bought some fishing line again (Alain forgot the old stuff in Queenstown) and went fishing off the pier. That did not work and so we decided to drink instead. That seemed to work fine and we had a grand party with the locals. Thank godness I was staying 3 days or I might have missed the early ferry. I did get my fishing trip in later and it was awesome. I went with another guy and 2 girls from the hostel but none were Stray people. We also had 2 older guys along. The 4 of s had a bet for the most and the biggest fish. I won the most fish by alot but one of the girls did catch a bigger fish. They were all Blue Cod and averaged around 4-5 pounds. I actually hit 2 doubles (2 fish at once) and the others lost all hope of winning after that. They gutted and filleted the fish as soon as we caught them and on the way back they bagged them so that everyone got equal portions. I was great because i still ate 3 meals off of it with sharing with others. I also did some scenery hikes and spent some time on the beach with Lena.We left Stewart Island on the early ferry and started to make our way up the east side of the south island. We went thru the Catlins Wilderness area and saw dolphins, seals but missed out on the penguins but i saw some at Stewart Island. We made our way to a city called Dunedin and I am staying here for 3 days. We got in on a Saturday night and we decided to have a Stray pub crawl and managed to get to about 7 bars before it all fell apart at about 2 in the morning. I did get alot accomplished in Duniden though, I went on a 4 hour train ride to the Taieri River Gorge where the largest Tressel bridge in the southern hemisphere is but I do not think it is as big as the one in Lethbridge and I made sure that the conductor knew it. The train ride scenery is much better in NZ than in LA though. I also did a tour of the cadbury Chocolate factory and got lots of samples (here goes the waistline) as well as a tour to the Larnach Castle (Only one in NZ) and to see an Albatross Colony. The Albatross is a huge bird with a 10 foot wing span and they were at least 12 of them flying around when we were there. Absolutely amazing birds!!! I am on my way back to Queenstown tomorrow for a couple of days and then on to Christchurch for who knows how long.
Till I write again the adventure continues as I meet new people, see new places and live the dream!!!
Tags: New Zealand
sdietrich90
Good to know all is well.