The trigger happened as I was driving home from Melbourne earlier in the year.
As I drove over the Bonnie Doon Bridge, I noticed that Lake Eildon was FULL as was the Goulburn River as it flowed to the Murray River. This triggered a memory of growing up in the Central North Island of New Zealand on a hilly dairy and sheep mixed farm.
Near us was the mighty Waikato River which starts in Lake Taupo and flows to the Tasman Sea. In my early years the government was building dams on the river to create large bodies of water which would create a safe and secure hydroelectric power for New Zealand. In the end they built, I think, seven dams.
The upside of all this was the opportunity to swim, go water skiing and also trout fishing. As a young person I engaged in all pursuits as my father had a ski boat and a tinnie with a 4.5 HP Seagull outboard motor.
Of course, running into all the lakes were many healthy rivers. As a 12-year-old I used to ride my single speed push bike 5 miles to the river with my fishing rod, then walk 10 miles up and down the river, eventually catching a couple of rainbow trout to take home for the family meals.
Once I achieved my driver’s licence, I could drive our Series 1 Land Rover, with the tinnie on the back, down to the Hydro Lakes (we had three within 20 miles of the farm). With a couple of mates, we would trawl for trout all day and always came home with trout.
So, the trigger ignited all the memories of lakes and rivers close to home that I could experience at my whim.
Further to this, another activity. As a senior Boy Scout I used my river experience to achieve my survival badge. We had to create a bivouac and catch our own food (eels and trout) for a weekend. It was a lot of fun, especially watching the eels attacking our bait on the lines in the water. We caught three large eels and we eventually threw one on the fire and ate the flesh. Badge achieved!!
The next experience of rivers came in the early days of my RNZAF wings course when we were sent on a weekend survival course in the high country of the South Island in New Zealand. After hiking for 6 hours, we set up natural bivouacs and then set about thinking about FOOD. We were issued 1 x 24-hour ration pack for 4 people for the 2 days. That meant that we had to seriously search for food (animal or plant).
Luckily, we were beside two small lakes which had a small stream running between them. (Paradise for me!!) I immediately went looking along the stream for trout that were in the spawning mode in rivers and streams. I used my experience and slowly felt along the edge of the stream coming into contact with a trout on the edge. This I tickled and scooped out of the water, repeating this until we had a feed.
That night we built a large campfire and cooked the trout. Some of the guys started to light flares for light, causing a lot of eels to come searching for the light. We caught a few, throwing them on the fire. This created an offensive smell, permeating our survival clothes which stank and had to be thrown out when we returned to camp.
So, my trigger moment created a lot of connected memories to lakes, rivers, fishing and survival.
Happy days!!
James Davey
November 2023
As I drove over the Bonnie Doon Bridge, I noticed that Lake Eildon was FULL as was the Goulburn River as it flowed to the Murray River. This triggered a memory of growing up in the Central North Island of New Zealand on a hilly dairy and sheep mixed farm.
Near us was the mighty Waikato River which starts in Lake Taupo and flows to the Tasman Sea. In my early years the government was building dams on the river to create large bodies of water which would create a safe and secure hydroelectric power for New Zealand. In the end they built, I think, seven dams.
The upside of all this was the opportunity to swim, go water skiing and also trout fishing. As a young person I engaged in all pursuits as my father had a ski boat and a tinnie with a 4.5 HP Seagull outboard motor.
Of course, running into all the lakes were many healthy rivers. As a 12-year-old I used to ride my single speed push bike 5 miles to the river with my fishing rod, then walk 10 miles up and down the river, eventually catching a couple of rainbow trout to take home for the family meals.
Once I achieved my driver’s licence, I could drive our Series 1 Land Rover, with the tinnie on the back, down to the Hydro Lakes (we had three within 20 miles of the farm). With a couple of mates, we would trawl for trout all day and always came home with trout.
So, the trigger ignited all the memories of lakes and rivers close to home that I could experience at my whim.
Further to this, another activity. As a senior Boy Scout I used my river experience to achieve my survival badge. We had to create a bivouac and catch our own food (eels and trout) for a weekend. It was a lot of fun, especially watching the eels attacking our bait on the lines in the water. We caught three large eels and we eventually threw one on the fire and ate the flesh. Badge achieved!!
The next experience of rivers came in the early days of my RNZAF wings course when we were sent on a weekend survival course in the high country of the South Island in New Zealand. After hiking for 6 hours, we set up natural bivouacs and then set about thinking about FOOD. We were issued 1 x 24-hour ration pack for 4 people for the 2 days. That meant that we had to seriously search for food (animal or plant).
Luckily, we were beside two small lakes which had a small stream running between them. (Paradise for me!!) I immediately went looking along the stream for trout that were in the spawning mode in rivers and streams. I used my experience and slowly felt along the edge of the stream coming into contact with a trout on the edge. This I tickled and scooped out of the water, repeating this until we had a feed.
That night we built a large campfire and cooked the trout. Some of the guys started to light flares for light, causing a lot of eels to come searching for the light. We caught a few, throwing them on the fire. This created an offensive smell, permeating our survival clothes which stank and had to be thrown out when we returned to camp.
So, my trigger moment created a lot of connected memories to lakes, rivers, fishing and survival.
Happy days!!
James Davey
November 2023
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