Sorry I haven't been posting

[luckydude]

There are people here who like it when I post. Kinda makes me cringe because I have all of a few months of knowledge and you guys have decades.

I've been working a roller coaster of where do I go. I live in extreme fire danger in the Santa Cruz mountains, so I've been looking.

I was looking at New Zealand (which as a Dutch dude they say it wrong but whatever) and we still are. It's hard to get in there, we are trying.

Where ever I go, I'll be in a Grady and I'll be the newbie asking for your help. You guys are great.

 

[wrxhoon]

I hope you, your loved ones and property are Ok . We had horrible bushfires ( wildfires to you) here last season. Lives and property lost all around Sydney .

 

[luckydude]

I hope you, your loved ones and property are Ok . We had horrible bushfires ( wildfires to you) here last season. Lives and property lost all around Sydney .

So far. so good. We have friends who got burned out, we were lucky (living up to my handle I guess). As beautiful as it is to live where I do, I have to admit the constant stress of fires is getting to me. I packed up guns and camera stuff into the boat and parked it at a friends house, the fires were a little too close.

 

[magicalbill]

Stay Safe; Glad your OK!

When you say "Go," do you mean temporarily get away from the fires or actually move & re-locate?

 

[luckydude]

Stay Safe; Glad your OK!

When you say "Go," do you mean temporarily get away from the fires or actually move & re-locate?

I'm actively trying to get to New Zealand. I find their politics and a lot of things they do make more sense for my way of thinking.

As an example, their reaction to a mass shooting in Christchurch recently was to ban all semi automatic weapons. I'm a gun owner, have hunted, and I fully support this [*]. If you are a decent hunter, you have no need for a clip or a semi auto anything. Those are fun to shoot but history has shown that crazies will get them and shoot a bunch of people. I'm of the opinion that any weapon that is legal for citizens should be slow to load. My reasoning is when the crazy goes to reload, that's when you tackle them. So single shot, lever action, revolvers, shotguns, are all still fine but nothing with a clip and no speed loaders for revolvers.

I'm fully aware that my opinion is not widely shared by everyone in America; it seems like I fit in the head space of a Kiwi better than I fit in America. I apologize in advance if you don't agree with my thoughts on guns, I know that many people disagree.

[*] I did have one idea on how you can keep your AR's. Make each gun range have an armory and you check out your AR, go have your fun, check it back in. That's basically the military model.

 

[Bloodweiser]

Molin labe

 

[magicalbill]

Hey, no need to apologize; you should be able to state your case. I guess this means no visit and no fishing trip for me....

What is involved in moving to New Zealand?

 

[HTHM]

I will have to share my oliebollen recipe Maneer! @luckydude
vind je Jenever ook leuk ?

 

[Bloodweiser]

NZ best beer Stein lager

 

[luckydude]

I will have to share my oliebollen recipe Maneer! @luckydude
vind je Jenever ook leuk ?

Ah, some Dutch, nice. Where is Jenever? And don't get fancy with your Dutch, I can barely read the simple stuff. I lived in Bergen, NH for a year when I was 14 (after many summers there) so that year I actually learned how to speak Dutch, came home dreaming in Dutch. But it has faded, my Oma died decades ago.

 

[luckydude]

Hey, no need to apologize; you should be able to state your case. I guess this means no visit and no fishing trip for me....

What is involved in moving to New Zealand?

Depends on when you come. We're in the middle of fires, nobody is going to buy now. We'll be looking at selling in the April/May timeframe. Until then, come visit. We have to deal with the COVID stuff, so 2 cars to the harbor, masks on the boat unless there is wind. If you are cool with that, lets go fish!

Getting to New Zealand right now is super hard. They have a hard border closure. I'm going to talk to the embassy next week and try and make my case that we're not the stupid no mask Americans, we're the smart ones who are willing to quarantine on both ends, get tested on both ends, jump through whatever hoops convince them that we aren't bringing COVID.

It may turn out that it takes years to get there, I dunno.

On the up side, if/when I get there, I will buy a similar setup to what I have here, main house, some land, guest house. A nice guest house. For sure there is a place for magicbill and wrxhoon (did I spell that right?) but for anyone else with a Grady. Even Grady wanna bees. I like people who fish. And there is some magical fishing there, check this out, this would be my back yard:

 

[magicalbill]

Beautiful area for sure.

I would indeed enjoy a visit, but travelling under current circumstances is scary to me. Worrying about hotels, increased interaction with people, and going into public places would zap the fun out of it. In a normal world, I'd try to figure it out.

I felt bad about not being able to take Ky Grady and family for a ride this summer when they were here for the same reasons. I hope to be able to RZ with them during future trips.

Once the World flips right-side up again, (and it will) I'll re-evaluate what is safe and what isn't.

Thanks again for the invite; Between 1/2 of CA being on fire, the Covid Pandemic and your future moving plans, we'll kick that Can down the road for now. Stay Safe!

 

[wrxhoon]

I see you are getting ready for the NZ brutes . I fished not that far away from there a few times at Alderman Islands . One trip I managed to break 2 rods . When you get tired of landing kings, a bit closer to the islands you get big snapper for dinner, a little further away in deeper water around 400" you get blue eye ( kiwis call them blue nose), hapuka and grouper for dinner.
If you get NZ citizenship you can come to AU, they almost the same as us.
As far as guns go we banned semi autos here in 1996 after a mass shooting in Tasmania . I have several rifles and one shotgun, they are all registered , kept in a safe and police check them every 3-4 years .
I agree there is no place for semi automatic riffles for a normal person to hunt or shoot at a riffle range.
Thanks for the invite, I'm sure I will take you up on it, we are only 2.5 hours away from Auckland.
I hope the fires keep away for you .

 

[HTHM]

This is Jenever: https://bols.com/products/spirits/bols-genever/bols-zeer-oude-genever

 

[luckydude]

Ah, that brings back some memories, I think my Oma drank that. I'm a wine guy for the most part, if I'm trying to kill some pain then vodka. With food, definitely wine. Italy ruined Chards for me, now I drink Pinot Grigio, drinking a glass right now.