Well, actually my experience was priceless, as they say. But as is often the case, the big one(s) got away.

It was a glorious day and a lovely little river. We parked the car just off the road and agreed to meet up again in two hours. Ann walked downriver on a hike and I, with waders, net, pole and sundry other fly fishing gear designed expressly to CATCH fish, headed up stream.

You couldn't ask for a more beautiful spot.

Let's go fish!

I was wading slowly through calm, gravely water when suddenly I realized I had “snuck” up on a huge trout. Moby Trout it was. It was so big, I actually thought it was a tree branch in the water and paid it no attention until I saw its tail twitch.

HOLY SMOKES!! “This is it!”, says I. I prepared to make a brilliant cast over Mr. Moby Trout’s head when I noticed the wind had started gusting. Right down the river. I did a couple false casts up over his head and let loose. Nothing. The wind grabbed the tiny feather fly and gossamer line and tossed it aside, sneering at my mere mortal attempt at a brilliant cast. Another try was a little better , but not great and the fly floated past Mr. Trout off to one side. I think he looked at it, but No Joy.

I tried a couple more false casts and as the wind seemed to ease, flicked the line out, but it slapped the water a bit and Mr. Moby Frickin’ Trout gave a little kick and slipped upstream a dozen yards or so.

Now that he’s seen the fly, and rejected it, I have to change to a different one. At this point I found I had what’s known in hunting as “Buck Fever”. I was so excited at seeing such a damn big fish, I was shaking too hard to tie the damn knot on the new fly!

Oh, such are the tragedies of fishing big fish in little streams. It went like that for two hours. I saw big fish. They saw me.

Oh, well. I had fun. Lots. And we’ll do it again tomorrow.

This is the town we’re staying at today and where we spent the evening stalking penguins.  We thought folks would like to see some of the architecture.

When there's a "Snooker and Billiard Hall" you know you're not in Kansas anymore.

And…while Ann went out exploring – I spent some quality time in New Zealand’s only whiskey factory.  It actually went out of business back in the early 1990’s, but they stored casks of the stuff and today are selling it again.  I bought a 1989 cask strength single malt.  Yum!

Ann in Takaro Park in downtown Oamaru.

And a bit of the skyline. Definitely has a British feel.

Ann has wanted to see the Blue Penguins “up close” for two years now.  Tonight we were finally in the right place at the right time to see a dozen or more cross the road and waddle up into the caves along the cliff.

Hmm...maybe this would be a good spot to watch for them tonight?

We got to the bay at Oamaru about dusk...

Just as we were getting ready to leave, around 10 PM, the little scamps showed up...

They come up from the beach, hide in the bushes then when the coast is clear - charge!

And so it goes here in the Southland.  Tomorrow we go fly fishing (I hope) up river into the South Central Region to the small town of Kurow.  We’re booked into a farm stay.  Not sure what that will entail, but this one is more upscale than the “Caravan” at the farm hostel.

Wish us luck!

Early highlights of the first couple days of this year’s South Island trip.

We flew in to Christchurch and despite the stress of remembering how to drive on the “wrong” side of the road again, we made it to our motel without too much fuss.  We spent the afternoon walking around downtown and viewing the after effects of the devastating 2011 earthquake as well as the rebuilding.  The devastation was so great, they are still demolishing buildings today.  But the rebuilding is coming along nicely and we enjoyed the city.

The sign really says it all.

Some of the rebuilding downtown district.

They have antique trolleys running through the downtown. Lots of fun to ride. Beautifully restored.

After the “city life” in Christchurch we shifted 180 degrees to farm living at the Onuku Farmhouse Hostel just outside Akaroa where our “room” was a trailer (known in NZ as a Caravan).  What a fun way to stay!

We had a beautiful drive out to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula.

Home for the night!

View out the outhouse window.

Since it was only 2PM, we decided to hike to the summit – supposedly a one and a half hour roundtrip.  Well…we took a wrong turn and had to take the “adventure trail” which ended up as a three hour hike/climb just to get to the top.  Oh, well a nice hike and beautiful views.

Humm...is this really the right way?

No trail, but almost to the summit anyway. Just took a bit longer.

Whew...

...and a lovely moonrise on the way back down.

Oh yeah, and the bull?  Next day we went for another hike and guess what?  We got lost.  Ended up in a field with a pretty cow.  There were lots of cows on the hike, so what the heck, we just walked on by – well, almost.  This one started coming towards us…well, actually me…and started snorting!!  We made a hasty retreat once we realized it was a bull and would probably not be amused if we tried to pet it.  Once safely beyond his domain Ann admitted that she was glad I was wearing my bright red shirt.  Until that is, I pointed out that her pack back was bright red as well!

Yeah, well, they didn't say what to do about BULLS!

Most of the cows were like this guy. They couldn't care less we were there.

We finally found the trail sign (hint: look on the window).

So, day three and we’re in Timaru.  Bob has already made new friends with the locals.

The locals here are good listeners...

The entry to our hotel. Quite a change from our trailer from last night.

But, that would be tomorrow (Thursday NZ time, Wednesday US time).

Today, we packed and packed, then did some boat work.  I finished reinstalling the starboard forward porthole.  It’s now done.  I also pulled the fuel injectors on the diesel. They are still leaking a little since our fuel contamination problem and subsequent cleanup in Fiji in 2013.  They were cleaned, but evidently not pressure checked.  Something’s not seating right, so out they come and I’m having them pressure checked this time. Hopefully that’ll solve the problem.  They drip about 1/2 pint in 12 hours of run time.  Not a lot, but knowing there’s diesel oil drizzling over a hot engine isn’t my idea of a “relaxing sail”.

Ann spent the day digging out all our “land clothes” which are buried in various hard to access spots in the boat.  Almost as much fun as doing the laundry.  Both are vital, but not a lot of fun.

We ended the day with a hike up Mt. Parahaka.  It’s the local mountain that towers over Whangarei.  For us, it’s about a two hour round trip hike up through some beautiful rain forest.  Relaxing as well as good exercise to get us ready for our upcoming bike ride.

So…tomorrow at 0940 we fly from Whangarei to Auckland, then onward to Christchurch on the South Island for about three weeks of sightseeing.  The fun starts on March 3rd with a four day mountain bike ride on the Otago Rail Trail.  We’ll ride about 20-30 miles/day in the mountains on an old train route.  That means it’s now a dirt/gravel trail. Not super tough riding, but about 40% harder than doing it on the road, so it will “feel” more like 40 miles/day.  Much of it along some pristine river, where if all goes well I’ll do some fly fishing.  Each night we’re booked into a farm or very small inn.

This is back country touring and we’re really looking forward to it.

If the back country part were not enough adventure, add that we’ve been watching the weather report for the last two weeks and it’s showing a BIG storm hitting that area right in the middle of our trip.  Should make for even MORE of an adventure, eh?  If you want to follow the weather Google “Clyde” or “Alexandria” and “South Island, New Zealand” and you can see about where we’ll be.

Stay tuned.  We’ll blog as long as we can get some internets along the way.  At the very least we’ll sum it up when we’re done!

Ah, after a nice BBQ with our friends, we’re treated with a lovely sunset across the river from our spot on Charisma.

Sunset over the river.

That’s today’s project. Bummer is, it’s not even on The List! Ann noticed it looked suspect when she was cleaning/polishing the cabin sides. I took a closer look and yup, the outer flange/seal was starting to come loose. Next step for that is a leak and core damage. Glad we caught it early.

So…hammer, chisel and wedges to break the seal, then lots of scraping to clean the old gunk. Now some epoxy to fill in some voids and the old screw holes – let dry a couple days and put it all back together with new sealant.

Flange pried off, cleaning out the old sealant.

Another exciting day in life aboard Charisma!

It’s nice to check a couple things off the old boat repair list.

Today, we got new fuel lines for the Racor. In retrospect, this is what I “shoulda” done in the first place. The old ones looked a little suspect – I don’t know why I just didn’t replace them with the old Racor. Anyway, done!!

The new Racor and new fuel lines all tucked in nice and tight.

Ann’s been polishing the stainless and may have found a leaky porthole – that’s tomorrow’s project, to take that apart and look at it.

She has also been working hard on our South Island tour and has booked hotels and plane flights at great prices! WooHoo!

This evening we had a delightful and unexpected time with a bunch of “yachties” at the BBQ. There must have been a dozen or more and a couple of Ukes. I played one and got some positive review, so I’ll have to bring mine in future. We had fresh corn, eggplant, kumara (sweet potato) and yellowtfin tuna grilled very rare. Yum!

Ugh! I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy project. At least the first half of the varnishing is done. We’ll do the second half of Charisma when we’re back in mid-March. It was a great idea of Ann’s to do half now since varnishing is tedious as hell.

But, on the fuel filter project – the short, flexible fuel lines between the Racor and the hard copper lines leaked once I had everything back together. A long story, but 26 year old brass crimps on rubber hose didn’t hold up to the wrenching around necessary to take them apart and put them back together again. I knew it would be like this, yet hoped it wouldn’t! Arrgghh… That’s what boat projects are like (sigh).

So… I’m having a shop that builds hydraulic lines look and see if they can tighten the crimps. I’m asking them to pressure test any fix so I don’t end up reattaching and filling the lines (again!) with diesel only to find they still leak. If they don’t test, I’m asking them to build new lines. “They’ll be at least $100 each!” And what is my alternative!!??

Oh well, that’s not even one boat dollar!

Today’s project, putting in a new diesel fuel filter – also known as “the Racor”, for the name of the manufacturer. A messy job and irritating. I bought the exact same model, but wouldn’t you know it, the inlet size has changed. Had to order special parts that won’t come in until tomorrow, meaning, we get to live with a very messy cabin until I can finish the project.

Yuck! The old one was full of crud.

The filter lives under the floor.

The new unit getting ready for installation.