Monthly Archives: March 2018

Wanaka and a treat for Hobbit fans, the Treble Cone – Mar 31

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Treble Cones, A Hobbit site

Slight drizzle this morning. We wanted to head of to find some Keas. The guy next to us suggested the Treble Cone ski area. The Rob Roy Glacier trail was apparently devoid of Kea.

We set off in the direction of the Treble Cone ski area, also a Hobbit film location. The page 113 of Hobbit Film Locations shows an excellent shot of the crags which you can see from the campsite. The picture also shows the area where our campsite is located.

Driving towards the ski area is on sealed roads in what looks like Glenco valley. Spectacular scenery. At the point where the sealed road ends, there is the turn off to the ski area. But the actual road was unfortunately closed. So, no driving up to the cones or seeing Keas.

We drove on then along the unsealed road towards the Rob Roy Glacier trail. The road is in a huge valley which is flank by fields on each side. Sheep and deer are reared here. The bird life was phenomenal, flocks of hundreds of Yellow Heads were in the fields or sitting on the road. They have the alarming habit of flying in front of the car, darting from side to side.

Several birds of prey were spotted, as were spur winged plovers. The other siting were the pairs of Paradise Ducks which live in the Southern Alps.

We continued but as the road deteriorated we came to a sign which suggested if you went on, and it rained you might not get back to where the sign was, near a ford. We (ie Rosemary) hesitated, I walked the ford (well looked it), dithered, then two more campers came by and dithered. I decided to go for it, despite the protestations of R. Made it through with a breeze. And the next ford. On we went and then met a man who said the next ford over the river was too deep and had already caught one car. We hesitated again and were caught up by one of the vehicles we’d seen hesitate at the first ford. They said they’d gone on, when they saw we’d made it ok.

As the rain had started again (closer to the mountain) we (aka R) decided to beat a hasty retreat.  Of course, as we drove nearer to Wanaka and away from the glacier, the weather improved. In Wanaka is was virtually cloudless. That’s mountain weather for you.

In Wanaka we parked for a latish lunch, Green lipped mussels and prawns in a coconut curry sauce. Yummy. Rosemary had a vegetable dish with pan-fried lamb slices. She thought they were a bit tough, which was good cos I got to clean up and I thought they were delicious.

Where we’d parked was a short distance away from the main parts of town. A path wound its way alongside the road. One side of the path was bordered with large square terracotta tiles. Very cleverly, seemingly as part of a Millennium project, the tiles recounted historic events. I think you could sponsor a tile. We ummed and ahhed over some of the content, but what a brilliant way to see history in a timeline.

A bit of a walk around the shops of Wanaka and then back to the campsite for wine and supper.  Quite a pleasant evening, the wind dropped off.

 

 

Haast to Lake Wanaka – Mar 30

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Haast Valley

Up and a slow getup to allow the Armistice convoy to get ahead of us. This was the Armistice 100
Easter Rally Convoy 2018 which took 20 days, starting in Rotorua, travelling down to Queenstown, and then back up to the North Island again.  It was organised by the New Zealand Military Club. Took a few pictures of several WWII army vehicles and motor bikes. The motor bike was suffering; I believe it left on a trailer in the end.

We headed towards the Haast Pass with a mixture of blue sky and clouds on the mountains, and some lower clouds caused by the sun warming and evaporating the moisture on the vegetation from the night’s rain. It made a pretty sight.

We stopped off at various sightseeing areas, Thundercreek Falls, then the Fantail Falls. The Fantail pull over was full of people so we nearly didn’t stop. Both good to view.

As an event, the Haast Pass was rather disappointing. We hardly noticed the summit of the pass, because the tall trees and growth on the side of the road made much of the theatre of the valley virtually invisible. (The next day driving on the dirt road to the Rob Roy Glacier trail was a much more awe inspiring drive.)

The drive alongside Lake Wanaka was spectacular, with wide open vistas.

We arrived at Wanaka, stopped at the supermarket for some food and headed over the Glendhu Bay campsite. We were surprised at the size of the site – huge. Being a Bank Holiday and therefore school holidays, it was teaming with people. The facilities are a bit tired, but we had a large pitch to ourselves looking straight out on to the lake.  Alas, the wind soon made us sit in the van.

During the night the wind really got up, I wonder how those tents perched on top of the long-wheel base Land Rover Discovery survived the night. (We didn’t see them again, so perhaps they did not survive.) It rained during the night, and was still drizzling slightly at 8.00. Sun was soon out.

Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers – Mar 29

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Franz Josef

A lovely quiet night in the DOC campsite, except for the whining of mosquitos and sandfly. A quick breakfast and back into town for our guided walk up to the glacier. There were two other couples and a loner, one couple from Phoenix Arizona, and the other couple from up North, and the lone female escaping the nerve agent in Salisbury. The benefit of the guided walk are the explanations of the flora, fauna, geology and history. The guide also takes you through areas which are generally cordoned off from others, so we had a lovely walk through NZ rain forest to start with, and then a demanding walk up through rugged rocks.

Unfortunately, the base of the glacier has been safely unreachable for many years now, waiting for the glacier to start to extend again in the wetter years. We made it to a viewing point where there was a good view of the glacier, the melt water and a waterfall in the distance. A cup of tea, and then back down again.

Back in Franz Josef we had a beer and then head on South. First crossed the temporary Baily bridge. Temporary; it’s been there since 1995!  A slight detour to see the Fox Glacier. Many of the walks to Glacier have been closed for the last couple of months because of a mudslide. Today they were hoping to reopen some of them. We just wanted to view the glacier from a distance and photograph it and a helicopter for a size comparison. Success.

On the road again, nice fast driving with slow vehicles pulling over to let you go by, except for the cretins driving Maui motorhomes who keep on and on regardless of the queue behind them. Yes, I am afraid it is always Maui!

We stopped at a very nice DOC campsite at Lake Paringa, but the boss wanted a shower, so on we went to Haast. The first Haast River Motels and Holiday Parks looked rather dire with no green (grass) parking, so on to Haast Lodge Backpackers and Motor Park. This was even more dire. So back to the first site and booked an unpowered site. We were directed to a rather nice green area to park on, complete with bench and table.

The convoy celebrating the anniversary of armistice were there too. We must find out when they intend to leave, otherwise we will be stuck behind them all the way over the pass.

 

Treetop Walk and Lake Mapaourika – Mar 28

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Treetop Walk

During the night there was a shower of rain, but the forecast held true and there was blue sky at dawn. While we were eating our meagre breakfast a BBQ man came around and offered me pork chops and bacon from his exuberant morning excesses.

We headed off South and soon came across the first of the WWII convoy being administered to by the AA.

Our first stop of the day was, as suggested by Nic & Kate, a Treetop Walk, where you walked on a number of platforms and walkways above the forest. This, I thought would be the chance to bag a few birds, so loaded the BIG lens. Of course you can guess, hardly a bird in sight. A few fantails were in evidence. Done those. Did snap a picture at a distance of a Bright Eye. Rosemary spied a couple of different orchids growing on some deadish tree tops.

We spent a good couple of hours on site, then back to the café for some bacon and eggs on ciabatta , while R had French Brioche toast with berries and bacon. Picked up a few brochures for the Franz Josef Glacier, some Helicopter trips and an Eco Walk. The Eco Walk won.

We headed on, stopping at Ross where we posted our postcards, after getting a description of what an NZ postbox look slike, the Goldfields were not attractive enough to keep us, though we took a brief look at their Gaol.

After lunch back on SH6 we came across the convoy at Harihari. They had stopped for a break and were being ushered back on to the road. We waited and then had 20 slow moving vehicles to overtake. Luckily the road was straight, and NZ has a limited number of vehicles.

We soon passed Lake Mapaourika where I planned to camp for the night. But continued on to Franz Josef to book our Eco Walk and buy a couple of bottles of wine. In the local bar, had a pint and a chat with a British couple from Reading who were B&Bing

At the campsite, flushing loos, we cooked our meal and the went to bed, hopeful the sand fly would not bite us too much.

Seal Colony at Tauranga Bay and Pancake Rocks – Mar 27

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Seals at Tauranga Bay

The rain started during the night, when we got up for breakfast it had stopped for a short while. We left the site just before 10, heading to Cape Foulwind and the lighthouse. We walked up to the lighthouse and back, photographed an obliging Weka. The rain still held off.

Drove on to the Seal Colony at Tauranga Bay. I was not really expecting to see any seals, but there they were and a whole crop of new ones which had already been tagged. Several hundred photographs later, we left.

The next stop was Mitchells Gully Gold mine, the rain was still managing to hold off. This Gold Mine showed a number of tunnels dug through the gold bearing sand. There was a water wheel which was used to crush the ore so that it could be treated with Mercury to extract the gold as an amalgam.

On one of the tracks a very obliging fantail stopped to have one, or more, photographs taken. It obliged by fanning its tail and generally looking very cute.

We continued South on SH6 stopping at the odd view point. We turned left up a dirt track called Bullock Creek Road. This was another Hobbit location where the cliffs were used as a backdrop to some of scenes. Not sure we got to the ones actually used as a nervous passenger was demanding that we should turn around on the narrow single-track road. Oh, and the rain started in earnest now.

Back on SH6 we continued to the Pancake Rocks. It was now raining cats, dogs & mice, ie biblical stuff. So straight into the restaurant for a wrap-lunch and coffee and then the tourist advice to buy some cards. Now it was a walk around the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. We were totally drenched during the walk, camera, mobile, jeans. We sat in the car, air-conditioning and heating on hoping to dry; fat chance.

We continued on SH6 in the driving rain and wind, stopping at Greymouth. The intention originally was a DOC site on Lake Kaniere, but a site with no kitchen, shower, laundry and no where warm & dry to sit was not something we were looking for. Instead we went for the Top Ten at Greymouth, using the laundry and tumble dryer to dry our sodden clothes.

On the site was another convoy, this time celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1918 armistice and driving a range of WWII vehicles. In the ‘Sky’ room they all watched “The Monument Men” a WWII film about the recovery of stolen art work. Their comments were all about the vehicles.

The next three days look good, so the glaciers and Haast pass should be photogenic.