Day One, The Drive Up!
After being on call Thursday, and getting the obligatory 7 consults the night before a planned day off, I got up and loaded up the Bighorn and headed North! Murchison is about 450 kilometers from Timaru. The route begins traveling north over the Canterbury Plains, through the foothills of the Hanmer Range, over Lewis Pass [about 2800 feet surrounded by 6200 ft peaks] and into the valley where Murchison resides. Because New Zealand has no divided highways, this short drive will take me about 6-7 hours. The valley is surrounded by the Hope, St. Arnaud, Spenser, Ella, Victoria, Brunner, Lyell, Matiri and Lookout Mountain Ranges. These peaks range from 1400 to 2200 meters high, [4600-7200 ft.] In the Lookout Range, Mt. Owen can be found which is a mountain peak used in the filming of The Lord of The Rings. After stopping in Hanmer Springs to buy my birthday present, a map of New Zealand on possum leather for The Stone Duck, and a quick cup of coffee, I headed north with plans to stop at the Boyle River.
The Walkway along the edge of the Boyle River.
This river is close to Christchurch, the second largest city in New Zealand with about 500,000 people, and so gets a lot of pressure. It is also close to the "main highway" and so just about anyone can fish the lower reaches. Apparently there are some good pools further on up but one needs a full day to hike up and back! I'm told it is mainly a morning river and fishing the water with the sun on it is futile. So I thought I'd just stop for a quick look.
The Boyle River.
I didn't spot any fish and was
soon back on the road. East of the Southern Alps are "prairie" type plains
used mainly for grazing. The mountains are treeless and remind me of
Idaho. Once through the pass, heading down the western slop, the terrain
changes to one more typical of western New Zealand. The western side is
exposed to the easterly trade winds which dump loads of rain on the western
slopes. This results in a wetter "rain forest" type of landscape.
Canterbury Plains.
There
are supposed to be some natural hot springs along the highway at Sylvia Flats
but I couldn't find them. Once in the valley, I shot up to the Blue Grey
River at the beginning of the Valley. This river has its best runs beyond
a farm and the gates didn't look too inviting. Because the water was
relatively cloudy, I didn't bother to ask permission and decided to head for the
next river on my route. About 85 km outside Murchison, I met up with the
Maruia River. This river is supposed to be home to some fine resident
Brown Trout. At the upper end I stopped to fish some water near a bridge. Lewis Pass.
Walking along the rivers edge, I couldn't spot any fish but the setting sun was to my disadvantage. I decided to blind fish a couple of the pools with a Hare & Copper and managed to hook my first fish of the weekend. It's size was somewhat disappointing but I thought it made a good start as things could only get better, right? After managing to land, photograph and release this prize, I passed through Murchison in the darkness of night and decided to head up to the Buller River to camp out. The sky was clear and the view of the southern constellations was magnificent!!