Lush green hills. Precipitously peaked mountains. Water an emerald green. Unimaginably big trout. And only the happy angler in the frame, with no other people in sight.

Such are the picture postcards from New Zealand that have been arriving in my inbox ever since my friend arrived for his year plus stay in this anglers paradise. Every one of them is beautiful.

Teasing he’s not. Anton is too polite for that. But he easily could be. Consider what he’s had to cope with: a year in New Zealand, funded by a Fulbright scholarship, with his lovely wife, free to travel the islands as he pleases. I know; your heart bleeds for this poor soul.

I aspired to this once. When I applied for graduate school, I applied for a Fulbright to New Zealand to study aquatic environments. Having gotten another opportunity, I withdrew before they could tell me my ploy was too thinly veiled. But Anton, in his typical way, has done what many can only imagine.

When he left, I asked him to send pictures. He obliged, and I ate them up. Too good to keep to myself, I thought I’d share a few of them now. They feature many New Zealand trout, and many beautiful scenes. Mostly, they portray an aspiration. In seeing these, I think: I’ll go there one day. Right now, that means sometime after I renovate my bathroom and before I have kids. At least, that’s what I imagine.