Just because I can!

This blog is of little note, yet as I sit on my little hillside, the slightest things make me chuckle. This was one of them.




A mummy grasshopper and a daddy grasshopper doing 'stuff' on my daysack.

Made me chuckle anyway!


- Posted from my iPhone

Some good views.

Despite the rain, thunder and general slowness of this exercise, Waiouru does chuck out some glorious views. Would I buy a house here though?? Not a chance!




A view after the rain!


Sunset over Mount Doom


Early morning at the OP.

- Posted from my iPhone

Thunder Warrior - an apt name...

So, the live firing phase of the exercise has started and it has lived up to it's name. The mornings have been gloriuos sunshine, yet the afternoons have been torrential rain and seriously impressive thunder and lightening. There have been several times where I have questioned why I do this for a living?! The only thing going for my morale has been to glance at a Singaporean who looks in infinately worse shape than me; they don't do cold and wet.



The view from the window.

Thankfully I have had my trusty NMV which has kept the majority of the wet out. This was until the route became impassable. In typical me fashion, refusing to accept defeat I have now made some structual improvements to the vehicle. There is a go faster dent in the bumper, the drag caused by the antenna was removed, as was the rubber strip along the side. I too accept you can't get a vehicle along that route without fishtailing into a tree or two.... nevermind. It is nothing a bit of T-cut won't solve.

Only 7 days to push......... mega.

- Posted from my iPhone

There's a little fishy on a little dishy.....la la la la

Rainbow trout for dinner, and it satisfies all things green!

Fresh, organic and even line caught!

M&S would be proud.




- Posted from my iPhone

Oncorhynchus mykiss

I deliver Fishing Update......

I have stepped forth from the ranks of those who only eat fish, to the ranks of those that catch them too. My wife has suggested that we hold a party or something, to mark this most saintly of days.

I only managed half an hour with the rod due to some Singaporean chappies turning up, yet hauled ashore 3 nice little Rainbow Trout.

Using the well known scale below, where quite clearly W = cLb

Invariably, b is close to 3.0 for all species, and c is a constant that varies among species. For lentic rainbow trout, b = 2.990 and c = 0.000426, and for lotic rainbow trout, b = 3.024 and c = 0.000370.

Now for the non-marine biologists out there, a Lentic ecosystem concerns the ecosystems of lakes, ponds and swamps, whereas Lotic ecosystems are the ecosystems of rivers, streams and springs.

Therefore my lentic Rainbow Trout measured on average 13.5 inches, so can be assumed that it weighed 1lb. This is enough for a couple of small fillets, or one portion I would suggest.

I hope that this is educational enough for you. Remember, everyday is, indeed, a school day.

Anyway, here is the picture of my little fishy.

No fish were harmed in the making of this Blog

The Rock

Dear followers, a happy new year to you all.

A new year brings a new Blog location. I am currently posing as a student, and piggy-backing onto their wi-fi system, as I am officially in the middle of nowhere in an Army camp in Waiouru. What am I doing here you might well ask? Well, I ask the same question. What am I doing here? Well, the official answer is that I am here as the Liaison Officer between the Kiwi's and the Singaporean Army. Seeing as I arrived here not knowing anyone on the camp, or indeed who to report to, and not knowing anyone from Singapore, I feel that the title of Liaison Officer is a bit too grand. Still, after a fruitful few hours this afternoon I have managed to get myself a helicopter ride, a fishing trip on the lake (more of this later) and a hunting expedition. Not bad I reckon. So I might change my title to Mr Lucky Dude. There is also a rumour that there might be some Singaporean chaps here tomorrow...breath held?? I think not.

So, onto the fishing...

I am now the proud owner of a Shimano Raider Spinning rod, 4 piece graphite, 6'6", and some lures. Impressed? I should hope so. Having never fished in my life i thought it would be prudent to find out what to do. This involved 2 videos on YouTube and much laughter at the ridiculous American accent, and why the geezer in question was shouting at the fish he had caught, and was calling it a hog (or to be more precise "...you godam hawg..."). Still, I left the house the following morning with the same attitude of '...how hard can it be...?'

Down to the Manwatu River I tramped, crossed a few farmers fields and there she was...a glorious stretch of river brimming with Brown Trout. On the third cast I had a bite, and started getting all excited, the fish were literally jumping out of the water. You might have guessed by now, that this will be the tale of 'the one that got away', I shall not disappoint. After an hour or so I had got quite good at getting bites, and making fish jump out of the water, yet still no fish for dinner.

And then...I had one...a right beauty, felt pretty big on the end of the rod, and i hauled it in, thinking that my face would be on the next edition of Hunting and Fishing with an idiotic grin holding my trophy fish...and in she came...

I was glad I was alone, as the first words that passed my lips were "Bugger", I then laughed a lot, packed up and went home.

Disheartened I was not, amused I was. I can see the attraction of fishing now.

Here she is, my first ever catch....

The rock...weight...sod all...amusement value....priceless!

I suppose I must also add a comment or two about the expedition South over Christmas and the New Year. It was a truly epic road trip. And I must put a public thank-you on here to my parents who made it so much fun. Between us all, in excess of 2,000 photos taken, hours of film, approximately 30 bottles of wine consumed, 100 Beers, 18 tonnes of crisps and dips eaten and hangovers approximately every day. An awesome time was had and there will be photos posted when they get sorted, but a quick starter for 10 is the link below. They are some panoramas that I took and cobbled together.

http://gallery.me.com/chris.scott1530#100180

Love to you all.