With the end of the fishing season – 30^th June – coming closer, we choose Hawke Bay as our next stop with the intention to fish some of the many great rivers and creeks in the bay before the winter closing. We had been looking forward to being in Hawke Bay for a long time because of good friends living there. 

Unfortunately, the rain that had been missing in other parts of the North Island for a very long time was flooding Hawke Bay for weeks and all the rivers ran high and dirty. The rain was like a bad spell and every time we had a couple of days with fine weather and the rivers started to clear, a new front arrived.

Catching up with our friends was great and we enjoyed their company very much. What a pleasure to be invited to stay in their holiday home in the hills with great views, heaps of space and everything one needs to be comfy. Fishing the rivers being out of question didn’t matter that much anymore and we did some fine walks and a lot of reading and doing nothing instead. We didn’t even bother to visit some of the many wineries in Hawke Bay, but we certainly savored their high quality products. 

Being together with our friends and on our own in our temporarily cosy home, time went by all too fast and we had to leave for Murupara, if we wanted to enjoy some of the finest end of the season fishing.