New Zealand Sport and Hobbies

Ashford Book of New Zealand Folk Art, The by Maryke Lups-Frowyn. Published by Shoal Bay Press. ISBN 090870447X. Recommended retail price $15.95.

Folk Art has experienced an extraordinary surge in popularity in Europe, the United States and Australia in recent years. New Zealand has been slow to catch up, but there is now a rapidly-growing number of folk art enthusiasts in this country.

Maryke Lups-Frowyn first learned the elements of folk art in her native Holland where she was taught, step by step, the traditional style of Bavarian and Dutch floral painting. When Maryke emigrated to New Zealand in 1983 she found that folk art was nearly unknown here. She was homesick, missing the contacts from Europe and the everyday folk art displays, so she kept developing her own work as a link with home. But he felt the need to share her passion with others so, in 1991, after nearly eight years of painting on her own and sometimes selling her work through friends and retail outlets, she started to teach folk art. She began with two continuing education classes for adults and now the classes have grown from two to six a week.

Using her experience as a teacher, Maryke now shares her skills with a wider audience through the Ashford Book of New Zealand Folk Art. Along with clear, straightforward advice on basic equipment and supplies, preparation of surfaces, brush strokes, advanced techniques and special effects, Maryke provides plans worksheets and detailed instructions for a number of projects based on the traditional, wooden craft items produced by Ashford Handicrafts. These include a spinning wheel and chair, country-style trays, a flower press and much-loved objects such as a dollhouse, a rocking horse and a teddy bear Christmas tree. Throughout, Maryke has succeeded admirably in blending the symbols of New Zealand with the more established traditions of her European homeland.

Following her detailed instructions you too can use your own artistic skills to create an heirloom that your family with treasure forever. Maryke's easy-to-follow step-by-step plans will take you into a new world - the world of folk art painting, where creativity knows no bounds. Soft cover, 72 pages. Published in 1998.

Brown Trout Heaven; Fly-fishing New Zealand's South Island by Zane Mirfin, Graeme Marshall, Jana Bowler and Rob Bowler. Published by Shoal Bay Press. ISBN 0908704968. Recommended retail price $24.95.

New Zealand's South Island … brown trout heaven indeed - and this is your passport to it.

Here you will find comprehensive advice on how to enjoy the unique qualities of the brown trout fishery in the South Island. The authors, all experienced anglers, survey the waters region by region, and offer sound advice on entomology and imitations, stalking trout and - most important of all - specific advice on South Island fishing methods and strategies.

There are also useful chapters on fishing equipment, angling etiquette, gaining access to the best waters, conservation issues, employing fishing guides, and some general travel and accommodation information for visitors from abroad.

All this is illustrated with nearly 200 brilliant full-color photographs throughout. Brown Trout Heaven will become the bible for all those who wish to fish for trout in the South Island.

Zane Mirfin is a professional fly fishing guide based out of St. Arnaud on the shores of Lake rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park. Zane has BSc and MA degrees, with his 1990 Masters thesis being titled "Trout Fishing in Nelson: Management of a Recreational Resource." Zane has fished and hunted throughout the South Island and continues to enjoy exploring and photographing this world class resource. He has fished extensively overseas in such faraway locations as Sweden, USA, British Columbia and Christmas Island, with four northern summers spent guiding in Colorado. Zane is also a real estate professional specializing in rural, recreation and lifestyle properties.

Former teacher and professional trout fishing guide, Graeme Marshall is well known to New Zealand outdoor sportsmen through his "Sporting Scene" column in Rod & Rifle magazine. He has collaborated with Les Hill on the highly successful books Stalking Trout, Catching Trout, and Images of Silver.

Graeme lives at Ngatimoti, close to the Motueka river. He is vitally interested in many forms of fishing and hunting. Other interests include wetland restoration and working on the four-hectare property that he and his wife Raewyn own. They have two children, Alistair and Rhonda, who are currently involved in tertiary studies.

Rob Bowler has had a passion for fly-fishing since he grew up fishing in the ponds, rivers and saltwater bays of New England. He first visited New Zealand in 1978 as a visiting scholar attending the University of Centerbury where he studied and produced an extensive research document on the early history of New Zealand for the University of California. He did take time out from his studies to fly-fish many of the waters of both the North and South Islands and he has witten a number of magazine articles on New Zealand fly-fishing over the last 20 years.

Jana Bowler, an avid fly-fisher, enjoys exploring rivers, lakes and streams with Rob in search of large, challenging brown trout. She holds the distinction of being the only woman ever awarded the Southland Fly Fishing Club President's Cup for the largest brown trout of the season. She is an experienced fly-tyer, a photographer and she has been a designer for commercial architecture for over 30 years.

Rob and Jana's home and office in Oregon USA overlooks the North Umpqua River, famous for its fly-fishing for summer and autumn steelhead. They travel to New Zealand every year and it was their intimate knowledge and love for the country that influenced the founding of New Zealand Itineraries, a travel consulting service which organizes itineraries for visits to both the North and South Islands.

Rob and Jana can be contacted in the USA at 1-800-953-9732 or by writing to them at 344 Smith Springs Lane, Idleyld Park, Oregon 97447. In addition, you can visit their website at www.nicefish.co.nz for information about travel and fly-fishing in New Zealand. Soft cover, 144 pages. Published in 2000.

Classic Motorcycles in New Zealand by Kerry Swanson. Published by Dunmore Press. ISBN 0864693117. Recommended retail price $28.

In this superbly illustrated book, Kerry Swanson examines the evolution of the ‘do it yourself’ attitude amongst Kiwi motorcyclists by focusing on individuals and their machines. Some individuals, such as Burt Munro, are internationally recognised. Some machines or models are important because they represent a crossroad for either manufacturer or motorcycling in general, and others were selected simply because historically they have their place in the evolution of motorcycling in New Zealand.

Class Motorcycles in New Zealand takes the reader from 1920’s Harley-Davidsons and Indian Power Plus machines, through British domination in the 1930s with the Norton International and Excelsior Manxman. In the 1940s while Britain clung to her pre-war models and updated them, Honda in Japan wanted to build better motorcycles. Throughout this exciting evolution, individuals in isolated New Zealand demonstrated innovative and adaptive thinking and engineering skills which have most decidedly and recently been crowned with John Britten’s internationally successful V-1000 in the 1990‘s. Paddy, an ex-biker, thoroughly recommends this book to all motor cycle buffs. Soft cover, 139 pages.

Great Escapes: A Guide to Motorcycle Touring in New Zealand by Peter Mitchell. Published by Longacre Press. ISBN 1877135453. Our price, $24.95.

New Zealand is a paradise for motorcycle touring. The appeal of the open road is heightened by the magnificent scenery and the exuberant variety of dramatic landscapes. Here it is possible to travel from the beach, to the river, to the mountains and back again in one day.

This excellent guide to over 40 great escape runs, in both the North and South Island, explores endless terrains of open country, spectacular coastlines and hidden roads of promise. Each run is accompanied by a map, a route description giving times and distances, and an overview of the added attractions and highlights encountered along the way.

All runs have been graded and the author includes tips on improving riding skills, what to pack, as well as information about weather patterns and crossing Cook Strait. He also lists motorcycle-friendly accommodation, the best places to eat (from the finest fish & chips to smoked salmon), local folklore and much more. Contact details for Visitor Information Centres are given complete with phone, email and web-site numbers where available.

Grab your helmet and fill-up the tank! This book will make you head for the road.

Peter Mitchell was introduced to the joys of motorcycling as an economic necessity while studying at the University of Otago in New Zealand. He has since become an enthusiast for the open road.

Peter has traveled widely and enjoys writing and painting. He and his partner Donna welcome fellow travellers at their historic Castlewood Bed and Breakfast in Dunedin. Spiral bound, 184 pages. Published 2000.

Click here for a great review of Great Escapes on Bikertrash.com

Hooked on Fly-tying by Keith Draper. Published by Shoal Bay Press. ISBN 0908704607. Recommended retail price $15.95.

In 1973 Keith Draper published a small book on trying trout flies that went on to sell over 20,000 copies world-wide. Now, in response to countless requests from anglers, he has written a new and enlarged book showing the use of new materials and designs and written with the clarity and attention to detail you'd expect from the acknowledged expert.

Over 65 wet flies, streamers, dry flies and nymphs are covered, with clear and detailed line drawings making even the most complicated patterns clear to the fly-tier.

The fascinations of tying your own trout fly - shaping artificial materials to imitate the appearance and behavior of natural prey - are unique. The satisfaction achieved, particularly when you land a fat trout on a fly of your own making, is hard to surpass.

Whether you are an old hand or a new convert to this absorbing pastime, this is the essential guide to successful fly-tying. Soft cover, 152 pages. Published in 1997.

North Island Trout Fishing Guide by John Kent. Recommended retail price $19.95, our price $18.

This practical ready-reference handbook provides accurate up-to-date information on trout fishing in the North Island of New Zealand. It is directed towards both local anglers and the increasing numbers of overseas enthusiasts attracted by New Zealand’s unsurpassed fishing opportunities. The world famous Taupo and Rotorua areas are described in detail. So are many lesser-known, more remote but equally rewarding back country waters. In fact more than 300 streams and 60 lakes are considered in this useful guidebook.

John Kent, author of the successful companion volume, the South Island Trout Fishing Guide, draws on over 40 years’ trout fishing experience and a life-long enthusiasm for New Zealand’s back country and high country fishing areas to provide an unparalleled guide for local and visiting angler alike. Soft cover, 210 pages.

(53k)

Plants For Free! A New Zealand Guide to Plant Propagation by Andrew Maloy. Published by Shoal Bay Press. ISBN 090870416X. Recommended retail price $12.95.

Gardening is the most popular hobby in the world and gardeners the most sociable and generous of people, only too happy to pass on a few seeds and cuttings of this and that. But how often do your seedlings fail to thrive or your cuttings, stuck hopefully into the ground, fail to develop successfully? Often it seems the only way to obtain a desirable plant is to visit the nearest garden center - and you always come home with more than you intended to buy!

This book will help you find an alternative to buying all your new plants. It describes basic, commercially proven methods of plant propagation that take advantage of modern horticultural research and developments, and it gives details of the best methods for reproducing over 600 specific plants.

With some simple, inexpensive equipment, a little patience and some practice, a whole new range of possibilities will open up for you. Learning how to raise your own plants from seeds or cuttings and discovering the nurseryman's techniques of grafting, layering and division will not only save you money but could well develop into a new and absorbing hobby - and a beautifully planted garden.

Author Andrew Maloy is a tutor in the Horticulture Department of Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, and has over twenty years' experience in the nursery business. He indulges his own enthusiasm for raising new plants in a small plant nursery on his Auckland property. Soft cove, 136 pages. Published in 1997.

(63k)

Running With The River: Tales From Paradise at Dusk by Murray Rogers. ISBN 1877270458. Published by Hazard Press. Recommended retail price $29.95.

Running with the River combines humorous anecdotes of the author’s childhood and teenage experiences on river and stream – a backdrop to a growing adult awareness of the huge diversity of experience the sport of angling has to offer – with a much-needed assessment of the state of New Zealand’s waters.

From the author:
The book plays with some of the friends I’ve had the privilege to journey with on river, stream and lake. They may have cause to see me as an untrustworthy bastard, and someone they would prefer not to accompany again, especially as I am arrogant enough to suppose what angling might mean to them, and then to write about it. What it means to me has not been entirely overlooked, however, and that may hold a few surprises and laughs at my expense – I have tried to be fair, if not kind. It highlights a range of riches that go far beyond the catching of trout, but with angling providing the reason for spending time in wonderful places with great people.

The book also looks at the ethics involved in angling for trout with rod and line; commercialization of rivers by trout fishing guides, and destruction of rivers and streams by other commercial activities. The book argues the case for much improved management of our marvelous environment, especially our water resources. Also described is the establishment of the Water Rights Trust as a vehicle to help achieve sustainable management of our water resources.

Murray Rodgers spent most of his childhood years on a remote farm nestled amidst the beech forests of western Southland, and as a teenager, on a South Canterbury farm. He was educated at Timaru Boys High School, the University of Canterbury, and from life-long experiences trekking our back-country river valleys with friends and fly-rod in search of the occasional feisty trout.

For the last twenty-three years, he has worked as a management consultant and is currently one of four partners of Rodgers & Partners Consultants Ltd. based in Christchurch. He is Chairman of the Water Rights Trust, established in 2002 to help ensure proper management is restored over our rivers, streams, wetlands, lakes and aquifers for the benefit of future generations.

His wife, Jenny, and two adult daughters, Hilary and Diana, share his love of the outdoors, but this is muted by their sympathy for the trout. Hard cover, 160 pages. Published in 2003.

(58k)

Salmon Fever; A Guide to Salmon Fishing in New Zealand by Ross Millichamp. Published by Shoal Bay Press. ISBN 0908704615. Recommended retail price $24.95.

As every experienced fisherman knows, there is much more to catching salmon than just chucking in some ironmongery and chancing it. Those who know their tackle, know their rivers and river-mouths, and above all know the habits of their quarry, catch by far the most fish.

Ross Millichamp is a field officer with Fish and Game North Canterbury, a position he has held for the past six years. Management of the salmon resource of the North Canterbury region is one of his principal areas of responsibility. Ross has been fishing for salmon since he was ten years old, and he attributes his success not to luck, but to knowledge and good planning. Now, in Salmon Fever, he shares the secrets of that success in a comprehensive and highly readable guide to every aspect of the sport of salmon fishing.

If you prefer to fish the surf or the gut, or you are an upriver angler, you will find useful advice on using different techniques and the latest in tackle. The author covers lure fishing and bait fishing and includes an analysis of al the major South Island salmon fishing rivers - as well as some practical advice on preserving all those salmon you are going to catch by smoking, bottling or canning.

Extremely well written, with great full-color photographs throughout, Salmon Fever is destined to become the bible for all salmon-fishing enthusiasts, with practical advice that will benefit beginner and experienced angler alike.

Ross Millichamp is a field officer with Fish and Game North Canterbury, a position he has held for the past six years. Born in Timaru in 1964, he spent most of his early years in the North Island, before moving back to Christchurch when he was eight. His salmon fishing career started two years later under the guidance of his father Roger and his grandfather Ted, who is something of a salmon fishing icon in Canterbury. Ross has been salmon fishing ever since and now has more than 20 seasons to his credit.

After finishing secondary school, Ross attended the University of Canterbury, completing a Bachelor of Science and Post-Graduate Diploma of Science, majoring in zoology. He spent the next two summers working at The Complete Angler, a well-known fishing tackle shop in Christchurch, before seeking a job in the 'real world.' His next position was as the assistant manager of the Kaitangata salmon hatchery on the lower Clutha River. After three years in the deep south Ross moved back to Christchurch to take up his current position with Fish and Game, where management of the salmon resource of the North Canterbury region is one of his principal areas of responsibility.

Ross has been contributing articles to fishing magazines for nearly 10 years, in addition to producing a number of Fish and Game publications. He is currently an associate editor with New Zealand Fisherman magazine. Salmon Fever is Ross's first book. Soft cover, 184 pages. Published in 1997.

(23k)

South Island Trout Fishing Guide by John Kent. Recommended retail price $19.95, our price $18.

The South Island’s wide diversity in landforms and climate is reflected in its waterways. There are sluggish, rain- and swamp-fed streams meandering across farmland, clear rushing mountain torrents shaded by dense native bush, unstable glacier-fed rivers, cold spring streams and natural and artificial lakes. Yet nearly all these waterways contain trout, and with the many rivers and lakes exhibiting such widely differing characteristics, the South Island is truly an angler’s paradise.

In this comprehensive guide to the South island’s incomparable trout fishing waters, more than 270 rivers and 95 lakes are described, along with their location, access, fishing season and appropriate techniques and flies. The book will be of special interest to anglers who enjoy the challenge of exploring and fishing new water. As the author says, “one of trout fishing’s great excitements is the experience of discovering a new stream or lake”.

John Kent, author of the successful companion volume, the North Island Trout Fishing Guide, draws on over 40 years’ trout fishing experience and a lifelong enthusiasm for New Zealander’s back country and high country fishing areas to provide an unparalleled guide for local and visiting angler alike.

(87k)

Volcanic Trout: A Complete Guide to Fishing the Taupo Region by Brendon Mathews. Published by Shoal Bay Press. ISBN 1877251275. Recommended retail price $29.95.

Brendon Mathews’ book will become an essential companion for the thousands of anglers who seek high adventure in Taupo waters every year. Brilliantly illustrated with 200 full-color photographs and maps, there is no facet of the fishery that this book doesn’t cover – from an introduction to the region’s violent and explosive past, through the natural history of both brown and rainbow trout and a detailed description of all the lakes, rivers and streams in the region, to fishing equipment, methods and techniques.

Taupo’s secrets are revealed; discover not only the best way to go about catching those big trout, but also where to go to find them. Along with this, the author offers advice on keeping, eating or releasing your catch, how to protect the resource, and general information on guides, charter services, accommodation, and all the other practical aspects so essential for a successful expedition to the Taupo fishery.

More than 20 years have passed since a comprehensive book was last written on the marvelous Taupo trout fishery. Since then the pools in the great rivers running into the country’s largest lake have changed radically, as have fishing techniques and even the regulations, which seek to ensure that the fishing remains at the highest possible standard.

Volcanic Trout is a timely, authoritative and beautiful book.Soft cover, 223 pages. Published in 2003.

Click on links below for these books.

Ashford Book of Dyeing, The by Ann Milner

Ashford Book of Spinning, The by Anne Field

The Coaching Process: a practical guide to improving your effectiveness by Lynn Kidman and Stephanie Hanrahan

Down To Earth! The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Growing Organic Vegetables by David Prosser

Essential Lavender; The Gardener’s Guide by Virginia McNaughton

Fast Light Boats: A Century of Kiwi Innovation by Grahame Anderson

Leading Edge, The: A Life in Gliding by Dick Georgeson and Anna Wilson

Sport in New Zealand Society edited by Chris Collins

Last modified on Friday, July 2, 2004