PPS Destinations Report 

Otago and Southland, South Island, New Zealand

Date:        March 2 to 14, 2009

Speakers and Topics:   

Dr. Bernie Wynn-Williams (Christchurch); Maxillary Implant Overdentures  

Dr. Don Wallace (Queenstown); Anti-microbial Agents in Periodontal Therapy

 Reported by Dr. Ernst 'Ernie' Schmidt, Vancouver, BC, Canada

AOTEAROA -  'Land of the Long White Cloud' - may be the Maori name for New Zealand but it could just as easily mean 'Land of the Heavy Winds and Rains'.  Ok, so our fourth PPS visit to South Island might have had some weather issues - again! - but what a great time and what beautiful scenery. That is, when you could see it.

This year's PPS spring trip was basically a customized adventure made possible by PPS directors, Heather and Don Wallace of Frankton/Queenstown.  Under their organizational guidance, we were all able to enjoy an amazing program which optimized our South Island Experience.  From Transportation, accommodations, meals, entertainment and right down to the fishing guides, this was nothing short of amazing.  Read on for details.

Week One officially began in the backyard of the Wallace's house in Frankton, where most of the members met for the 2 hour bus ride to the Wanaka/Hawea area where we would be accommodated for the first week.  After a scenic ride on 'The Cardrona', a delicious lunch at the historic Cardrona Hotel with its lovely gardens, we finally arrived in Albertown, somewhere between Wanaka and Hawea, and hit home at Peter's and Karen's Maungawera Lodge and Ian and Anne Horrax's  Riversong Bed & Breakfast Homestay .  Riversong is a smaller B & B and took 2 couples whereas Maungawera was a larger lodge and was the focal/meeting place for all dinners and meetings during the week.  Accommodations at both venues were spotless and we all enjoyed great hospitality and meals throughout.

Our fishing consisted of four consecutive outings where our guides rotated us through four of New Zealand's most famous Rivers.  On the first three days, my partner Pete Esposito, guide John Barlow and I fished the Hunter, Makarora and Ahuriri Rivers, each with its rightful place in Kiwi angling lore.  Scenery was spectacular on each of these glacial flood-plane rivers and you now know where some of the calendar shots come from.  Each river was characterized by a river set in a much larger flood-plane basin and surrounded by beautiful tree-less mountains on both sides. The Hunter is a medium river which is crossed relatively easily and braids before it runs into Hawea Lake.  I found the fishing to be reasonable although most of the fish were cruising the slower waters near the lake or along one of the larger spring creeks.  Otherwise, a lot of water had to be covered in order to find a feeding fish holding in the fast riffle-type water.  The Makarora is a much larger river that is not easily crossed, sits in a much larger flood-plane and empties into Lake Wanaka.  There are bigger fish to be had in these waters but the heavy heavy winds made fishing very difficult and, at times, the dust would get in your eyes.  Having said that, there was no pain to the eyes when it came to the scenery.  On the third day, the best weather was to be had when we fished the famous Ahuriri River (pronounced Ahh-Who-Ree-Ree; without emphasis on any particular syllable).  This was one of my best days as not only was the fishing good but the scenery was breathtaking as well.  This is a relatively fast, braided river in the middle section where casting is done in the occasional riffle but more commonly along the seams adjoining some of the heavier water.  Average fish in the middle section would be about 2 to 4 pounds as opposed to the more famous and more heavily fished upper sections.  In all three of these rivers, both rainbows and browns are available.  Of these three rivers, the biggest fish were seen in the stretches of the Makarora River, although it was very tough back-hand casting along the steep cut-banks, trying to avoid the howling winds blowing down the valley floor.

On our fourth day, the weather had changed and the day was filled with heavy rain and overcast pregnant clouds.  Our substitute guide Nick, took us up to the Nevis River, known not only for its intimacy along the middle gorge-like section but one known to provide trophy fish.  The drive through the valley was surreal and reminded me of the LOTR movie setting as the green carpeted hills were dotted with unique rock formation/outcroppings.  The river itself was clear and the conditions were not that bad, being broken overcast and totally devoid of Orcs.  This was a very pleasant day and nice river to fish although I was limited to catching one small brown while blind casting to, what the Kiwi guides refer to as, the 'likely bits'.  Ok, not bad for the wicked drop in barometric pressure and we'll just have to file that one for a future visit.  Other than that, I will always remember this section of the river for its heart pounding, leg wobbling climb out of the gorge back up to the road.

Although most of us fished these four rivers, some guides took our members to other rivers/streams in order to escape weather conditions or to find good fishing.  It should be noted that there is an amazing number of waters which adds incredible diversity to this area.  In addition to the four-day fishing program, some of us were also able to fish the mighty Clutha River at different spots below Lake Wanaka.  Although the average fish size was about 4 pounds and the waters were gin-clear, I could not help but be amazed at how much Dydimo had affected all river systems, especially the Clutha.  Dydimo is an algae infestation, AKA 'Rock Snot', which has affected many of the premier South Island Rivers but has not impacted the North Island Rivers at this time.  The faster flow and with more scouring-potential a river has, the less the impact, whereas tail-waters and those below large lakes are affected most heavily.  Not only are the rocks harder to walk/wade on but there are times when the river appears to full of  pieces of rotten carpet drifting down the river.  Even though the fishing was still quite good on these rivers, one couldn't help but think that this must be having some impact on the river's bioproductivity in some way or another.  For this reason, all visiting anglers must now adopt felt-less footwear and be prepared to spend a fair bit of time washing waders, wading shoes, rods and reels in special yet simple solutions.  As most anglers will be adding rubber soled wading shoes to their packing list, I would suggest that most of the times, these boots were 'brilliant' but once in a while I wished I had added the metal studs to the bottom of my boots, especially when the Dydimo was thick on the rocks. 

During our stay in this region, a parallel non-angler program was organized by Heather Wallace.  This program was just as active and included a fly in-trip to World-Heritage Mount Aspiring national Park for a walk through Siberia Valley and then returning to the bus after hiking to a waiting river jet boat.  Other activities included lunches in the high-country mountains and visits to the charming towns of Wanaka, Cromwell and Bannockburn to visit local wineries and to explore the local history of these communities.

After a wonderful stay in one of the most scenic mountainous parts of the world, the bus came and took us away, with the promise of the lovely Mataura River and its famous dry fly fishing.  En route, we had a wonderful lunch at Gibbston Winery and were then delivered to our Homestays in the Gore area of Southland.  This is a lovely heritage-style town set amidst the pastoral farmlands of the Mataura Valley.  One of the biggest differences to our last visit was the obvious increase in dairy farming ('dairying') as opposed to sheep farming.  Sadly, where sheep see a river as a natural fence and don't go near it, cows tend to destroy the river bank and its vegetation.  On some of the rivers, it was sad to see rotting dead cows lying in the middle of the river or along the banks.  In any event, we were wonderfully received and accommodated by our four Homestay B&Bs.  In our case, four couples stayed on a 12 acre 'pasture' in an very-modern home with a beautiful window-lined view of the pastoral Mataura Valley.  Our fishing program and accommodations was organized by Casey Cravens of Wild Angler.  Casey, a transplanted Texan who has relocated to Dunedin, acted as head guide and organized all our guides for our stay in the Southland area.  On this section, our first day was probably one of our best.  Casey, my partner Hans Schumacher, and I set off to fish a section of the Mataura below the Wyndham bridge.  I love this river!  Fishing on my own, I was able to get satisfaction by casting nymphs along the seams or in the riffles and by using dry flies in the shallow side channels.  What a fun day of relaxed fishing.  Sadly, that's where the weather decided to change our plans and go from bad to worse.  After a lot of heavy raining, heavy winds and unseasonably cold temperatures, the Mataura and its tributaries steadily rose until it was no longer-fishable.  Even with the inclemency of the weather, our guides were still able to find clear waters with prospect of fish.  Only one day was a 'blank' for us. We headed out to fish the upper Oreti River.  This was truly a beautiful tussock-lined valley, with a gin-clear intimate stream set along beautiful snow-covered mountains.  I have no doubt that the Oreti can live up to its reputation of producing large fish but we simply didn't see any.  On a subsequent day, member Chris Travis went to the 'walk-only' section of the river and flogged the river mercilessly to force the Oreti to give up one stingy fish.  Well, ok, what a fish!  This 8 1/2 pounder (see current PPS homepage of members Chris Travis and Bernie Wynn-Williams) would have made anyone's trip for sure!

At the end of our fishing trip, it no longer mattered that the rains kept coming.  The rivers were out of shape anyways.  So, on my last day, what else was there to do but to sleep in and do nothing for a day.  Imagine my surprise to hear that Mark Rule of the Wyndham Anglers Club phoned to say that he would take me fishing.  Where could we possibly go on a day like this?  Well, it just goes to show that there is nothing like local knowledge.  Given two options, we took the 'Secret Lagoon' option and headed down to the Island's southern coast and fished a lagoon right along the ocean's edge.  The brackish waters held big fat browns in very slim waters, cruising the shallows to opportunistically feed on anything that could be got.  Within a short time, my partner Pete and I each hooked and landed our best fish of the trip.  What a great way to finish up the trip. That, and blue cod fish and chips at the Howl at the Moon' Pub in Gore!

Saying our goodbyes, we boarded the bus back to Frankton/Queenstown, preparing for a last meal before boarding our flights back to our homes.  The highlight -an irony to be sure - was the beautiful warm weather for our barbecue in the Wallace's backyard.  What a stunning view of the famous Remarkables backdrop.  If I didn't have such a good time on the trip with all of my friends, I think this would have been a bitter pill to swallow.

Just as with the first portion of our trip, the spouses enjoyed a parallel non-angling program which featured trips to Nugget point, visiting Catlans Park, touring Gore and surrounding areas to visit local galleries, gardens and historical points of interest.

Without any doubt, we all realize what a fun time we had.  Equally without doubt, is the camaraderie enjoyed by the group making this such a fun trip.  Logistics for the trip were handled by Heather and Don and help was recruited by them.  Recognition for the flawless organizations and execution of this trip is as follows.

Week One

Maungawera Lodge - Karen and Peter

Riversong Homestay B&B' - Ian and Anne Horrax.

Riversong Guides - Wanaka Fly Fishing Guides - Ian Horrax and John Barlow

Week Two

Gore Area Homestays:

• Hokonui Hills Homestay - Shona and Brian McLellan;  bssm@sld.quick.co.nz

Wild Angler New Zealand - Casey Cravens

Finally, special thanks to our wonderful friends, Don and Heather Wallace:  This was their gift to us!

Following are some thumbnails of trip photos.  Please click on them and then return to this page by hitting the ' back ' button on your browser.

Chris and Diane Travis provided the following photos.  Please click on them and then return to this page by hitting the ' back ' button on your browser.

Rick and Patty Todd  provided the following photos.  Please click on them and then return to this page by hitting the ' back ' button on your browser.

Bo and Hans Schumacher  provided the following photos.  Please click on them and then return to this page by hitting the ' back ' button on your browser.

Pete and Maureen Esposito  provided the following photos.  Please click on them and then return to this page by hitting the ' back ' button on your browser.

Don and Beth Young  provided the following photos.  Please click on them and then return to this page by hitting the ' back ' button on your browser.

Bob and Maddy Tacy  provided the following photos.  Please click on them and then return to this page by hitting the ' back ' button on your browser.