Flash Floods Rise and Disappear Quickly on the South Island
Recently the South Island has received intense rain (south of the Queenstown area). Footage of road washouts and observations by many of the worst flooding they have ever seen were very scary to follow. As of today however, about a week after the floods, we are amazed at how quickly the rivers have dropped and cleared. […]
Remembering The Great Simon Dickie
This post is nearly a year after the passing of great friend, angler and legendary Kiwi, Simon Dickie. As a multi-winning Olympian he carried the torch well for New Zealand. Anyone who had the opportunity meet Simon knew immediately that he was a special guy. The number of stories that he could tell of the […]
Massive Fat Trout
Waiting for the next Year of the Mouse? According to a recent report from Owen River Lodge… the mice have arrived! See these recent ORL clients… “If you ever wanted to fly fish New Zealand and land a HUGE trout, then this is the season to do it. Our guests have landed 2 double digit (10lb +) […]
Owen River Lodge Wins Visitor Excellence Award!
At this year’s New Zealand Tourism Awards Owen River Lodge was announced as the winner in the Visitor Experience category! On top of their award last year for Business Excellence for tourism operations with less than $6m annual turnover- this latest achievement shows that certainly you are in good hands when you visit! According to the lodge’s recent announcement, “Sustainability […]
Gen Z has discovered Fly Fishing!
Dear Gen Z and Gen X. Heck! Dear Anyone that is just discovering fly fishing: Where have you been? First Conde Nast posts an article about fly fishing being the new surfing and now the New York Times declares bird watching as passe?! What’s next for the sport? A River Runs Through It: Part 2 I’m giddy! This is all great stuff […]
Fly Fishing needed a Reboot?
Recently (10/14/2019) the travel magazine Conde´Nast posted an article claiming that fly fishing was getting a “sharp reboot.” While this sounds great… we aren’t sure that the sport needed this in the first place. However, it’s always nice to see that fly fishing is still on the radar of larger publications… no matter the content. […]
New Zealand has not been this affordable in years!
There are many misconceptions about travel to New Zealand. Among them are that it’s too far to travel and that it’s a “once in a lifetime trip” that will blow the travel budget. For 29+ years The Best of New Zealand has helped clients navigate these issues and show them that a trip to New […]
2019-2020 Update from Tongariro Lodge
Tony Hayes is a fly fishing legend. As owner of the Tongariro Lodge (click here for specials) he has fished with world leaders, Hollywood stars and some of the best anglers the world has ever seen. We are proud to once again team up with Tony and his excellent team at Tongariro Lodge to provide our clients […]
What the New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority means for our clients
New Zealand is changing the way visitors enter the country. The new electronic travel authority and tourism levy are meant to improve the travel experience for everyone! Here’s what you need to know about these changes. Q: What is the NZeTA? A: The New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) is a new border security measure introduced […]
Where Do We Stand With Year of the Mouse (Part 3 of 3)
In Part 1 of this series we generally covered The Year of the Mouse In Part 2 we wrote about actions taken place to prevent it in 2019/2020 So, where do we stand? Should anglers plan on a Year of the Mouse happening? Our take is that if there is an explosion of rodents, the result will be larger-than-normal […]