Travels and Journeymen

I gather Denny became a "journey" man a little while ago and went to that lovely country Portugal and Spain as did Rooi in Italy...hope you both enjoyed it...personally added a long journey amazing experience to our lives...Oz, NZ, China, Mongolia (Siberia in Russia)...travelling on a train track that was initially built by the Tsars...an amazing feat that railroad and the great Wall in China...we stand in awe what modern man achieves today but it boggles the mind what ancient man achieved.

 Yes w hat man has achieved is amazing but nothing compared to what God has created.

 Welcome back Seb, sounds like the trip of a life time!

 G'day Seb !Yup its amazing what you can achieve if you throw enough bodies at it .Beandork considering that the Chinese who built the Great wall had never heard of christianity I think maybe Confucious , or the Pantheon of Chinese gods would have more to do with it .Confucious was at least real .

 Welcome back Seb, your trip sounds interesting, which parts of Oz and NZ did you visit?
Sydney and it's awesome harbor would have been a must so also would South Island?

 The real question is Seb are you a fisher man as well as a fisher of men ? Just mild stirring mate but if you didnt catch a fish in NZ shame on you !At my whanau reunion my cousins went fishing in lake Maraetai and local creeks for 2 days and when I got there they had 300 + fly caught browns and rainbows in the smoker at our Marae !

 Some might have been caught on the "Maori Fly " [tickling ] !

 Hey, WD.... I bought an Atlantic bonito from the boat. I smoked it las Sunday. Devine! It's some sort of barracuda. Have you got something close in your neck?
PS: They call it a katonkel over here.

Unfortunately no time for fishing...went to South Australia... Adelaide/Port Lincoln to see my son...Aussie mother and NZ Christchurch and Queenstown...beautiful ...stepson...this is not the type of trip one can do in limited time frame...too much distance and time zones...I'
m definitely going back in spring/ summer next year....really took to both Oz and NZ...far too much to see.

China and Siberia was interesting but we were totally bushed out....just too much travel and time zones...behind and then in front...now I know what super rugby players feel like...I'm getting too old for this and although I coulld spend the rest of my life travelling this was too much over a short time and rather extravagant and wasteful...need to spend more time in one place at a time with no pressures or timelines. What little I saw I was impressed.

 Hey mr Draad yes here in QLD we have bonito through to NSW .In Hervey Bay I caught a bonito off the Urangan jetty and a small mack tuna which a chef mate turned into sashimi there on the jetty complete with wasabi etc .Japanese tourists were smashing them down and told us how the same if possible would be 500 bucks a plate [ 1988 dollars mind you ].Still wriggling ya cant get fresher !Seb I was bought up by the Tongarriro river and lake Taupo and fished the same pools made famous by Zane Grey .Ya gotta go fish NZ mate .My hometown still has a 24 hour comp in which you have to catch a trout and shoot a deer and pig .My uncle used to win year in year out till his sons took over from him.Oh and you have to stick the pig like a proper man does eh ? Hahaha!

 WD, I got it for R75...about A$ 7.5, for about 2.5kg.

 Same Jetty I used a 2kg bonito as a live bait for a "Turrum " a sort of giant trevally .It looked like a car door with gills and slurped down the bonito like a wee jellybean ! Big tug of war with a 100kg hand line to catch a 30kg fish .I was going to release it but a shark bit its tail off so I stuck it in the shower while I ran off to get ice .My missus and her GF came back and thought they would give me a fright so they ran a hose into the shower and ripped the door open .I heard them screaming as I came back up the stairs ,they got the fright of their lives when this big old fish slid outta the shower hahaha !

 That's a steal. I'm not sure what it sells for in Sydney, my guess is three times your price per kg. Atlantic Salmon sells for $30/32 per kg and I know Bonito costs a bit less.

 Bonito is fine but its gotta be pretty much straight outta the water ,not bad smoked but excellent bait for bigger fish like yellowfin tuna .

 Seb
I have travelled a lot in my lifetime.   Spent three weeks in Russia in St Petersburg, Moscow and Vladimir.   Sorry did not take a trip on the Trans-Siberian line.
I liked Austria very much and paid three visits starting in 1972.  My favourite cities in Europe are Vienna and Paris,   The most fabulous palace I have ever seen is the Hermitage in St Petersburg, followed by Versailles and Schonbrunn.
Was in Hungary, Slovakia and Italy as well and three times in Istanbul and Greece.  In Australia I visited Perth and Sydney - where I was fortunate to meet Denny a second time.
I have never been to the Far East or South America.   To t ravel extensively a person needs money and as a Public Servant for 50 years that was not often available.   Guess I will not travel outside the country again as a pensioner.      

 Tx Mike, that's nice to hear. A rarity in this forum these days. All things being equal I hope to be in CT in December 2018 taking in the CT 7's, the Met and the Boxing Day Test. In between I'm hoping to tour bits and pieces of the rest of the country...perhaps we can touch base over a few?

Yes Mike...unfortunately it takes money...a hell of a lot...in the old days it was a lot easier in Europe and when very young it's best but sadly some the interesting countries like Russia, Eastern Block, China, Scandinavia etc were not accessable by Saffas...travel educates and it's therapeudic...it widens the mind and gives you the true picture.

To travel and see countries properly you need a lot of money and lots of time...and it's better when young...a buddy and me did England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland,Italy,Austria,Spain and Portugal in an old Bedford truck with mattress in back...we also added two Australian sheilas who were hitch-hiking through Europe...this was when we were 19 and 20...it cost us virtually nothing...we paid just over 100 pounds for the old Bedford in London and sold it later for a slight profit...this was in the seventies...we lived on the whiff of an oil rag...roughetted...did various menial odd jobs to virtually survive...wired parents for money to prevent starvation and canibalism but it was fun. Kids cannot do this today.

To come back to recent holiday...things were very different...huge distances in limited time frames...I will never do this again...it is not only expensive especially for us SA's but one is frustrated because one needs plenty of time...Australia on it's own is impossible to see in a lifetime let alone in a week or 2, and NZ too awesome for words being small but rich in diversity and natural beauty and splendour.

It was the first time I been to China...very interesting and lots to see but it is rather too big and busy for me...the main reason was the incredible train journey...most people go west to east...we did the opposite...it's awesome but does get monotonous in places...the train itself is fairly comfortable and the food good but the distance, wow.