All posts in — Julian

Auckland Family Trip

by julian on August 9, 2013 in -- Jack, -- Julian, -- Sarah, -- Olivia, Family with Comments Off

The Stone crew popped up to Auckland this week to see the Auckland family. I’ll post a few updates, but here’s a few pics from a nice day out on the water today. We went to Waiheke, Matiatia, Rangitoto and Mototapu. They all loved it. Livvy was a little nervous of the speed but got the hang of it in the end.

Olivia’s “Now you see me…” magic…

The Karangahake footbridge…

Jack at Waihi mine. What a huge hole in the ground!

Say no more…

The kids love their gran…

If you ever wondered what a pack of prize nut bars looks like, here’s a good example:

Livvy having a bit of fun at Grant and Liz’s place.

Some quiet time with Grandad.

We took the kids for a trip to the Auckland Museum. They had a ball, but Livvy was pretty tired. Still was quite an impressive place to visit.

And who’s the big kid at Mac D’s playground?

It was a pretty rough flight home but we got there in the end!

Mau Mau for dinner!

by julian on July 25, 2013 in -- Julian, Fishing with Comments Off

Nothing so delicious as a nice bit of Great Barrier fish for tea!

Here’s a photo of the fish (Blue Mau Mau) before I caught him Winking smile . This was from the Bro Trip 2013 with Simon and I. Much fun was had!

Jack’s trip to Auckland…

by julian on July 12, 2013 in -- Jack, -- Julian, Boating, Family, Fishing, Friends with Comments Off

Jack at Auckland airport…

Jack in a tree at the Vivians. Sorry, just realized I forgot to get some other photos! Bother! Next time…

Still, was awesome to catch up with Rose, Ben and the kids. Got a nice cuddle with baby Charlotte as well Winking smile

Always a good time at the Dobbs. Jack below is getting to grips with Timothy’s compound bow. He did pretty good! The boys took him up the tree hut as well for some bug-hunting!

Two cool kids…

A day out fishing with the boys…

Zach into a whopper!

We caught up with Nana and went up the Sky Tower for a bite to eat with a good view. He loved it.

Easter with the family…

by julian on March 28, 2013 in -- Jack, -- Julian, -- Sarah, -- Olivia, Family, Fishing with Comments Off

We all decided to hang out for the day today and just spend some quality time. I drove the Stone crew up to the Hurunui river for a spot of trout fishing. Jack and Sarah did some excellent casting!

Then it was off to the Waimak by the mouth for a quick spot of Salmon fishing. Heaps of people down there and Jack had a go at a bigger rod. He ended up having fun by throwing himself in the river!

Jack and Dad’s fishing day!

by julian on March 23, 2013 in -- Jack, -- Julian, Fishing with Comments Off

I did a mission with my wee boy Jack today. I took him backcountry to teach him about fly fishing and see if we could get him into his first trout.

We took off about 5:30am, under the cover of darkness after a hearty breakfast. Chilled out at Lake Lyndon to watch the sun come up.

We first went up to Lake Pearson and did some spin fishing and fly fishing practice, before heading to the Porter River.

This is Jack fly fishing in the first pool on the Porter. With a little ‘Dad help’ I got him into about a 3-4lb rainbow using a small Hare & Copper nymph. He fought the fish for a few minutes and then got busted off!

Jack hooked into a big trout.

Further up the Porter (we walked about 3km) I spotted a nice trout behind a rock. I ducked down a cliff, stalked it and got him first cast! It was great for Jack to see a fish, then see me stalk, hook and land the fish .

Proud dad feeling chuffed.

And here’s dinner! Oil, butter, rosemary, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper!
Yum!!

Family Fishing Day at the Rakaia Gorge.

by julian on March 16, 2013 in -- Jack, -- Julian, -- Sarah, -- Olivia, Family, Fishing with Comments Off

We all went to the Rakaia Gorge today to have a fish. I really wanted to get Jackson started with the spinning rod and also try him on the fly rod.

It turns out he was an excellent caster, and hit the far bank a few times! I also have him a go with the fly rod and he seemed to get the idea.

A few small rises, but they were mostly tiddlers. It was really just a great practice day for Jack to learn his casting.

I think I’ll take him up a real back country river next and see if we can get him into a trout! He’ll love that!

My cool kid…

Check out this wee baby brown trout that gobbled my nymph! it was tiny! Still Jack was happy to see a fish.

Even Livvy got into it with her little rod!

Trip to Auckland

by julian on February 24, 2013 in -- Jack, -- Julian, -- Sarah, -- Olivia, Family, Friends, Holidays with Comments Off

We took a wee holiday to Auckland to see the family and have a break. Here’s a few random photos…

The ‘Trenching’ weekend!

by julian on January 6, 2013 in -- Julian, -- Olivia, Renovations with Comments Off

This weekends mission was to trench about 250m around all the paddocks, lay pipe and sort the connections ready for the troughs later this week. So we can have water, taps and hoses to all the paddocks! We hired a trencher from Hirequip and went hard! All done!!! Two days in the baking sun but it’s all worth the effort!

Day off fishing with Dad…

by julian on December 13, 2012 in -- Julian, Family, Fishing with Comments Off

Just had a nice day on the water with Dad. Mostly we caught tiddlers, but was still a great day with heaps of sun! We went around Waiheke and tried everything, but mostly just small fish today. It was such a nice day though that we didn’t mind. I made Dad a cuppa over by the muscle farms.

Skipper J below!