I am standing on the bridge of the Mataura River, which is the river that runs through Gore and the town of Mataura and other places then out to the ocean, which is about an hour from us. Grandpa has said several times that they don't have rivers like this iin Utah. This is wide and is not in the gully of two mountains. Formerly it has been the brown trout capital of the world but the creeping pollution from sheep and mainly dairy farms has caused it to have a rather tarnished reputation. Not just the farming industry but a small number of people have found the river convenient to dump their trash rather than drive it to the dump. That is being blamed on the increased cost of dumping prices... No one likes human trash in their river.

Grandpa's fishing buddy in Bountiful knew of the reputation of the Mataura River in New Zealand and was so happy for dad to come fishing here. He has not and probably will not. The season closes in a couople of weeks and to rent equipment would be prohibitive and he is not goin g to borrow either. So...I have encouraged him but he isn't. We thought we would see many more fishermen than we have. I have seen 3 the entire time. However, we are in the city and they could be fishing elsewhere.

We are looking up river and it flows under me and out to the town of Mataura, for which our Branch was named. It runs behind Gore and you can see the industrial part of town with the colored tin rooves and the town proper is to the right of those. Main Street has proper shops for about a block in length and 3-4 off-shoot streets 1/4 block in length with more shops. Tiny town. Just the right size.

What else do you want videos or pictures of? Assuming that I am a fabulously entertaining photographer and you want more of either...hm-m-m.

Love you Mom