Our adventure began at 4:30am on the Sunday as we set off from home in the Manawatu in the Hilux headed for the 8:15am ferry sailing from Wellington.
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Our 9 day trip was mostly going to be sightseeing around the South Island but we also planned for a day of fishing in the Twizel canals and a day hunt somewhere along the way, ideally for a South Island only species, namely tahr or chamois. My wife is also a very talented photographer so we would take up any opportunity along the way for her to get the camera out.
After a relatively smooth sailing across the Cook Strait we landed in Picton around 12pm and hit the road straight away with Nelson in our sights for the first night. We had a bunch of stops along the way and had a quick evening fish near the Maitai River mouth but to no avail.
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Day 2 was a big drive to our next destination - Hokitika. After stopping for a quick fish and finding some gold around the Buller Gorge area, we took the coastal route with a brief stop in Westport and visited the pancake rocks at Punakaiki with the early evening moody lighting before stopping at Greymouth for dinner and then on to Hokitika. A quick visit to the Glow Worm Dell was in order before we crashed for the night at our motel.
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Day 3 was a bit less driving as our next accommodation was in Franz Josef. We stopped at a couple of the major valleys along the way and I reminisced over a few trips I've done into those areas many years ago. I also managed to pick up a couple of deer on a slip not far away with the binos but as they were not the target species we decided to leave them be. After arriving in Franz Josef with a bit more time up our sleeve we decided that a hunt was in order so picked a local creek and went for an evening wander to check out some slips. It was promising looking country but fresh boot prints suggested that someone else had been in just before us. We didn't manage to spot anything but it was just great to be out in some new country with the prospect of seeing a chamois.
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Day 4 was a pretty big day. We left Franz Josef fairly early and headed straight for Lake Matheson to capture the classic mirror lake image with the mountains in the background. We eventually made it down to Haast after LOTS of stops along the way and after a quick pie and chat with a southerner who had a beautiful mounted red stag on the back of their truck, we then made a careful trip over the Haast Pass, stopping at the various waterfalls and views of Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. It was at about this point I decided that I live on the wrong island! We made it to Wanaka just as the light was fading and my wife was able to get some great snaps of "that Wanaka tree".
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Day 5 we were up early again and once I had scraped the ice off my windscreen we were headed for Queenstown via Cromwell. I loved everything about this area and wished we had spent more time there. We headed up the gondola in Queenstown to the luge which seemed a bit average compared to the one at Rotorua. The queues were pretty mad as you would expect for school holidays so we sped things up a bit by climbing up the hill instead of waiting for the chairlift and saved a lot of time. In usual fashion my boy and I did our best to look death in the face as we battled it out down the hill with tears in our eyes at the bottom from laughing so hard.
We made our way back to Wanaka later in the day, this time going via Cardrona for the token photo of the hotel (man that place was busy!). Back in Wanaka feeling pretty smashed we headed out for dinner and I had the best steak of the trip (Water Bar I think the place was called).
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We left Wanaka on Day 6 and made our way slowly over Lindis Pass to Twizel. The roads especially in the morning were very icey and it was no surprise to come across an accident where it seemed someone had been going way too fast for the conditions and collected a campervan in the process. From Omarama through to Twizel was thick fog and we were pretty much stuck in that for the next couple of days. The hoar frost was a sight to behold though and made for some great photos.
After stopping in at Southern Alps Outdoors to grab a bunch of tackle and gain some first class advise from the lady there (who I believe is related to a 270 loving forum member), we hit the canals. We didn't have very high expectations on the fishing front as after talking to a couple of mates that had been fishing the past couple of days, it sounded like things were pretty slow. We had not long started fishing when a dinosaur of a rainbow trout leapt out of the water in front of Ruby and I. I would have put it at well over 20lbs at a guess and was astounded by the length of it. We persevered and tried a range of differen't lures and rigs. My boy Kruz was really focused on catching a trout so he spent most of his time egg rolling while the rest of us tried a range of soft baits and spoon type lures. The freezing temperatures made things a real challenge with the eyelets of the rod freezing over and preventing the line from passing through. I spent a lot of my time helping the family out with changing lures, dealing with tangles and frozen line. My wife and daughter really struggled with the cold (hands mostly) but we kept at it till dark. Early in the evening we had spread out a bit along the canal and we heard Kruz yelling out from quite a way down. My wife jumped in the ute and raced down to where he was. She made it just as he was getting a nice trout to the edge and netted it for him. He was absolutely over the moon to land his first South Island fish and a nice 9lb rainbow at that. We all agreed that if one of us was to catch a nice fish he was the most deserving.
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After some success on the canals we woke on Day 7 pretty excited as this was the day we had set aside for a day hunt. To be honest I was feeling pretty anxious about this for a whole lot of reasons. For one I had done a lot of research and also got a hell of a lot of great advice and recommendations from good folk on this forum but we only had one day and one opportunity so I felt the pressure to choose the best place that would be safe and suitable for the family, and with the best chance of seeing something. Secondly, with the state of the roads, especially at that time of the morning I wasn't keen to travel too far and with a road closure the day before, didn't want to get stuck somewhere and not be able to get back to where we were staying. For anyone that takes their family out hunting, you will understand the added sense of responsibility when you head into the mountains. It is very differen't to just worrying about yourself and making decisions based on your own ability and experience. With all of that weighing on my mind, I packed as much gear as I thought necessary into mine and my boys pack and we set off to our chosen area.
Out of respect to those who gave me advise on this particular area I won't say where it was but no doubt those who are familiar with it will recognise it in the photos.
We were still in fog/cloud when we set off from the vehicle and although I hoped it would clear, my initial thoughts were that our chances of getting to have a decent look around might not have been that good. Regardless, we were really happy to be out and about hunting in country that we hadn't been in before with the prospect of seeing a species that rest of the family had never even hunted before. We gained quite a bit of height in a relatively short amount of time and gaps were starting to appear in the cloud so we took the limited opportunities we had to glass around. We had not long stopped for a bite to eat and I was trying my best to scan around the rocky outcrops and likely looking spots. I was thinking to myself that it felt more like chamois type country when all of a sudden a tahr came into view right on top of a rock! I let the family know and the excitement levels went through the roof. Unfortunately before anyone else could spot it the cloud moved in again and the area was blanketed. I had managed to get a quick range of 430 yards before the tahr disappeared into the fog but I wasn't certain that I was getting a true reading or if it was reflecting off the fog. We took the opportunity to use the fog to cover some more ground anyway in the hope that it would clear again and we would be in a better shooting position and hopefully in range.
We stopped in an area that we hoped would be suitable and got setup. We waited for what seemed like an eternity but it was a great opportunity to let the breathing and heart rate settle down and get everything comfortable. Looking up the gully further it looked like the cloud was starting to shift and eventually the area the tahr was in began to clear up but unfortunately tahr was no longer there... I set about working over the area trying so hard to find a glimpse of it and to my excitement I managed to locate it again. We were now 355 yards away which my 7mmRM was well capable of. My wife was the designated shooter and although this would be her longest shot on an animal to date I knew she would be fine having shot dozens of Red, Fallow, Sika and Sambar with her own rifle and a couple with my rem mag previously. As she was getting comfortable and waiting for the right shot I noticed two other tahr appear to the left of the first one. I turned to Kruz and said if Mum drops her tahr, you be ready to jump on the rifle. His eyes lit up and his level of encouragement to his Mum increased! Eventually everything aligned with the tahr pretty much side on and stationary, the camera rolling and everyone ready for the shot. I watched through the camera as the Amax sailed perfectly in just behind the shoulder of the tahr and it dropped instantly and began tumbling it's way down the hill. Yes! After a very quick celebration Kruz wasted no time in getting in behind the rifle and we relocated the remaining two tahr. They were obviously unsettled but unsure where the noise had come from and stopped on the next rocky outcrop along. I took a quick moment to recheck the range and gave Kruz the ok to squeeze off the shot when he was ready. His tahr dropped instantly and rolled down the hill but was still kicking around a fair bit so I instructed him to give it one more which he did and finished it with a perfect shot. It was smiles and hugs all round as we celebrated two first tahr, something we'd had no expectation of whatsoever. It was then that my 9 year old Ruby announced that she could see the third tahr standing there and could she shoot it? Hmmm I said, it's a bigger cartridge to her 7mm08 and a bit more recoil I warned her. She was adamant that she was up for it so I let her take aim on an empty chamber for a look so I could make a judgement of whether she should shoot or not. It took her very little time to locate the tahr through the scope and tell me that she was ready to go. She was focussed and very certain about what she was doing. The tahr was quartering towards us and now at 365 yards. With a nod from my wife to show that she was agreeing with what I was thinking, I checked Ruby's position and made sure everything looked right, adjusted the elevation on the scope and chambered a round up ready - telling her what I was doing each step of the way even though she's been through it plenty of times before. I was confident in her ability having seen her shoot half inch groups at 100 yards with her 7mm08 and clean shots on animals but this was a differen't rifle, on a tricky angle, at a reasonable distance and at an animal that for a North Islander wouldn't come about again for a fair while. With the camera rolling I gave her the ok to squeeze off the shot. I watched as the bullet sailed in from the right side of the screen, it's height was perfect but unfortunately it was a pinch to the right and a very narrow clean miss into the rocks, no more than an inch off the tahr). She was a bit disappointed at the result but I was quick to tell her that it was me that had failed her. She had clearly pulled the shot to the right and if I had thought to let her do a dry fire before the shot she would have been far more familiar with the trigger which likely would have resulted in a better shot. She had a lot to be proud of though, she was up in tahr country hunting a species that not every kid gets to have a go at, she had shot a magnum cartridge which not many kids her age do and she tried really hard and was very close to being on the mark. She was accepting of the outcome once I explained things and we turned our attention to the success of her Mum and brother. Mindful that the cloud could engulf the area again at any moment before we got up to the tahr, I took a couple of photos and noted some prominent features to refer to once we got up there. It took us at least an hour to get up to the area the tahr were in and it was quite steep with bits of loose rock all around. I noted some things to the family to be careful of and we took our time helping each other out, talking through the best path to take and where we thought the animals would be. It wasn't long before we located my wife's tahr. Knowing that Kruz's tahr wasn't much further around, I hauled my wife's tahr around with us as we went so we could sort them both out together. As we got to where I expected Kruz's tahr to be, he was a bit worried as it wasn't anywhere to be seen initially, but I soon located it further down the slope and there was a big relief and realisation that we had done it!
I went down and hauled Kruz's tahr up to where the family was and we sat down high up on the hill taking it all in. To say we were over the moon would be a huge understatement. I think our expectations were so low that we were just in amazement that it had all come together and worked out how it did. It was just the perfect bonus to our trip and we couldn't have asked for much more.
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Now I'm mindful that some may frown upon us for shooting two young bulls and I accept that. But I can tell you that the excitement and appreciation for my wife and son shooting their first tahr, and the effort we put in as a family, exceeded any bull tahr I've ever shot myself. The feeling of accomplishment and appreciation for the animal would've had little difference in that moment if the animals were older and mature. The uniqueness of shooting your first of a species is something that only happens once.
After plenty of photos and reliving the action over and over, we took all the meat we could and the skin off my wife's tahr along with the two heads and I shouldered a very heavy pack ready for the journey back down. We took our time and made sure everyone made it back safely and it was a huge relief to make it back to the ute. You couldn't have wiped the smile off our faces if you tried.
We had just under an hour of light left when we got back towards Twizel and decided to have one more go at a different canal but despite our efforts we didn't have any luck on the fish. We figured we probably used up all our luck on the tahr!
Although feeling pretty buggered by the time we rolled up to our motel, the thought of a nice meal was enticing so we cleaned up and headed for the local pub.
It was a bit of a struggle to get out of bed on Day 8 to be honest but we had a decent drive ahead of us so packed up and bid farewell to Twizel which was still a white foggy winter wonderland. The first part of the journey through to Lake Tekapo was slow due to the icey roads but that slowly improved and we made our way to Christchurch, not without stopping in Fairlie for a pie or two! We arrived in Christchurch and the wife was keen to hit the shopping malls so her and Ruby did that while Kruz and I went and checked out the local Hunting and Fishing store. Darkness soon set in and after a visit to the pier at New Brighton we headed to our accommodation for the final night of our journey. That night we had the first lot of rain for the whole trip and we were grateful for the beautiful weather we'd had up until then.
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Day 9 was our final day of the trip. We set off at 7am with patchy rain still falling and made our way to Picton with a few stops along the way in and around Kaikoura and Blenheim. We made it to the ferry with about 40 minutes to spare. Four rather tired North Islanders made their way back across the Cook Strait and then it was into the peak hour Wellington traffic and a couple of hours later we were back in the Manawatu with gale force winds, pot holes and idiot drivers!!
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I have to say this was one of the best holidays we've done as a family and for me it actually felt like a proper break from work which was much needed.
It was a bit of a struggle heading to work the next day but there were lots of memories to reflect on and I found myself grinning away at the thought of it all.
I just wanted to finish by saying a massive thank you to everyone who replied to my query about hunting options around Twizel/Tekapo. I was so blown away by the amount of advice from people and how much people were willing to help. That really resonated with the folk we met and spoke to along our journey through the south. There is a unique vibe down there and some extremely welcoming and friendly people. The thought of moving south crossed our minds a few times during our travels. There is an itch there that needs to be scratched...
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