Category Archives: Country

Mirror & Cathedral – Apr 05

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Lake Wilkie

The day looked mixed, yes blue sky, but some clouds and it had been raining during the night.  Let’s see how the day progresses. Down to the kitchen for our breakfast of coffee, yoghurt, fruit and mixed grains.

Our first destination for the day was Wilkie Lake, called the Mirror Lake at the Campsite to make it a bit more interesting. (Rosemary v insulted cos Wilkie was her nickname at school and certain friends still call her that.) The walk to the lake was through a tree fern forest, the first glimpse was from a platform well above the lake. You then descended down to the lake onto a boardwalk. Access to the lake is very limited. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing again, and ripples broke the mirror surface. It was notable in the 30 minutes we were there how much the wind had risen.

Back in the van we headed to the Cathedral Cave, stopping at a boardwalk en route. The boardwalk at Tautuka Estuary took us down to an estuary with reeds. Not much wild life to be seen. Bit disappointing, could have been good for dragons, but not on a cold windy autumn day.

Cathedral Cave was interesting, a lovely 1K walk down through a tree fern forest which allowed us to see many light effects. Masses of photographs of various light textures to be binned! The cave is large, you walk in one side and walk out the other side. You visit at low tide, two hours before and after. One of the few times I have used flash on a walk.  The waves on the lovely beach were spectacular, especially with the offshore wind blowing their heads off.

Next stop was Curio Bay. We parked in the car park and wondered why we were here, then we saw the notice for the Petrified Forest and the Penguins. We saw the forest, but not the Penguins. The rain did come for a short period of time here. The forest reminded me of the first season of Dr Who with William Hartnell.

Now it was a drive to Invercargill where we stayed at the Beach Road Motor Camp, stopping at the Lignite Pit Café for one of our slowest arriving coffees yet.

Tonight was reasonably warm, the wind dropped and we were parked in a sheltered area, so able to cook and eat next to the van.

 

 

Nugget Point, Jacks Blowhole and then the rain – Apr 04

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Nugget Point

Today started bright and sunny as we left Dunedin for the West. Target was Invercargill, but we had a day in hand as we had decided to give Milford Sound a miss.

Our first stop was the town of Balclutha. I can’t remember why this was on my list. I had noticed the wind had been rising on our journey, a slight skittishness with the van. At Balclutha it was definitely blowing a hooley. Now we had stopped a coffee and cakes were in order along with (for Rosemary) a walk around the local charity shops, mainly the Sally Army in NZ. She bought a pillowcase (eh??).

Back on the road, we passed through Kaka Point and the stopped at Nugget Point. A walk out to the lighthouse showed us the East in sunshine, and the West in grey. The grey of course was steadily advancing our way. This was a good place to visit, loads of seals, in the water and on the rocks, some in very precarious positions. They left us wondering how they could get into these sunny areas until we saw some bounding up the rocks.  Back to the car, we had mainly missed the rain.

Next place was Jack’s Blowhole. A longish walk, and the rain had not yet started. We arrived at the ‘blowhole’, not really a blowhole as we would call it, but still an impressive large hole over the top of a cave.  Now it decided to rain. R was in waterproofs, I was not. I got soaked; R was triumphant, having suggested at the start that I take my waterproofs.

The agenda was now to see Wilkie Lake and the Cathedral Caves. These were driven passed, rain and of course I had not checked the tide for the caves. We stopped for the night at the Whistling Frog Café and Bar which was a renowned restaurant in the region.  I think in the region was the only reason it was award winning, seemed mainly to sell burgers of various varieties, and the only option R wanted was off the menu.  No matter a few beers and a chowder was fine for me, while R ended up with a chicken burger without the bun.  The beers and wine were nice, and R managed a laundry load. Of course, the meal was to save us cooking in their kitchens in the rain. Of course, as soon as we went for our prepranidal drinks in Happy Hour, the sun came out. (Short lived rain showers persisted throughout the night.)

R woke up during the night when a mobile home turned up for the night with lots of banging and shouting. I slept through this, otherwise I would have been really noisy getting up in the morning.

Royal Albatross – Apr 03

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Royal Albatross
Another early morning rain shower which ended before 8am.  As soon as it ended I was up and out, making sure I was in the shower block. The sun was shining and it remained pretty well cloudless for the rest of the day. I can live with the timing of the rain over these last couple of days.

Today was Royal Albatross day on the Otago Peninsula, their only mainland breeding colony. We drove along the coast road, inches from the water’s edge without any barriers. The wind was strong, so there was a good chance of seeing some adults or juveniles flying. Though you can see the flying Royal Albatross from the carpark, we decided to pay the fairly hefty price of $50 each to watch a short film and have a guide talk to us and take us to view the four Albatross chicks. All four fluffy, white chicks were visible. The webcam star chick gave us a good walking display as it waddled through the grass. The chicks spend all their time eating & not moving, so get overweight very quickly. As fledging time nears, the parents cut down on food and encourage the chick to waddle to them for food.

On cue, as we arrived, an adult Royal Albatross flew into view and made several attempts at landing. Unfortunately, the final landing was just below our view line.

An Australasian Hawk also flew around and we saw a ginger tom cat in the undergrowth but at a distance from the breeding grounds.

Glorious creatures, with impressive 2.9-3.3m wingspan.

After the Albatross we headed across the peninsula to Allans Beach. A huge sandy beach which had a few Seals. (Actually, I walked by one thinking it was a log.) We later passed a few estuaries where there ware lots of Paradise Ducks and Variable & South Island Pied Oyster Catchers to photo.

Many beaches were festooned with enormous kelp seaweed. Must have been detached from their habitat by the cyclones. Loads of really bleached out driftwood. Rosemary found a bit which she claimed looked like a duck’s head. Mmmm.

Back to Dunedin, and a Countdown to buy provisions including beer, wine and steak. R wanted to buy a chocolate Easter Kiwi & Egg, but none were to be had.

Dunedin and the Taieri Gorge Railway – Apr 02

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Ed Sheeran in Dunedin

The rain pounded down hard on the roof in the early morning. A little lie-in, and when the rain stopped at 8.30 we got up to shower as did the rest of the campsite. Lots of Ed Sheeran fans in the campsite who had arrived back from the concert at 11.30. Rosemary said they made a lot of noise, I had heard nothing,

After a delayed shower we made it out at 10, to a lovely blue sky. Today we had a walk around Dunedin, or, is it Edinburgh? All the street names are from Edinburgh, Prices Street, George Street, Frederick Street, Hanover Street, Heriot Row, Leith Street. There’s a statue of Robert Burns. The area names are also duplicates, such as Musselburgh, Helensburgh, Corstorphine and we camped next to the River Leith.

A wander around, the purchase of a t-shirt to celebrate Ed Sheeran and his concert here, and then it was lunch. Lunch cos we would be back later than normal in the evening. We duly examined the menus. R rejected the burger restaurants. We finally alighted on Vault 21 which had an interesting menu. A beer, 8.5%, followed by a weaker beer at 5.5%, two plates of yummy food. and we were ready for the train trip. Oh, one thing, we missed noting that there was a 15% additional charge for a Bank Holiday!

Arrived at the wonderful station and caught the tourist trip to Pukerangi through the Taieri Gorge. Some grand scenery and some wonderful engineering with the viaducts and bridges clinging to the side of the gorge.  The whole trip would have been a little bit more enjoyable but for a Spanish couple sitting opposite us who took the cult of selfies to a new level, along with very loud, fairly non-stop talking.

Back at the station, it was now getting dark, so straight on home for some more beers and a frugal supper of sandwiches which had been on sale on the train at the bargain price of $3 each.

Bendigo Gold Mine and Hayes Engineering Workshop – Apr 01

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Ophir, old mining town

Busy day today and the clocks went back in New Zealand, so a possible early start, and dark finish for the day.

Today we were heading to Dunedin, where we heard Ed Sheeran was performing his final three performances, on consecutive nights. Dunedin has a population of 120,000. Ed, in the three days he performed here, was playing to a total of 120,000 people. It seems the city has become obsessed with Ed Sheeran, there was even an Easter Egg Hunt. The aim was to find a photograph of Ed Sheeran inspired street art, your best Forsyth Barr experience (where Ed played) and to snap and tag yourself in front of the Ed Sheeran wall. There were also take off t-shirts on sale in a variety of designs but wait until you see mine.

We packed up on a cool but cloudless day and head East, stopping at various tourist attractions on the way. At one point we saw people sitting out in the wilderness on chairs staring into the valley, we concluded they were cheap skate plane spotters who wanted to watch the Wanaka War Planes in action this Easter Sunday. They had been flying the previous two days, and I think today was going to be a big fly day.

Our first stop was Bendigo, a gold mine. The mine was a small cave in a rather inaccessible place. First we had to cross yet another ford (yeah!), and then drive up some steep dirt roads. Parked on the verge and then scrabbled down into a steep valley. Yes, the mine was there, impressive. We met two other people who had visited the place 30 years ago. They commented on the massive changes here, where once there was scrub, now there were vineyards.

Next stop was Ophir. This was an old mining town with some of the building still in existence.  We had a coffee and cakes at Pitches Store which is an impressive building built during the Gold rush era. The town was a one street hillbilly type of habitation.

A short drive on was the Hayes Engineering Workshop. We hit it on an open day. Country music, BBQ and women spinning were the features to come to our attention. We skirted by this to look at the exhibits. The workshop was founded by Hayes who emigrated to New Zealand from Warwickshire and started making implements which would help him farm. He ended up selling his wares around New Zealand, employing men in the factory and employing salesmen and saleswomen to sell his wares throughout NZ

Nearby we stopped at a gold mine head where there were about 20 cyclists visiting the area, all leaving their bikes on the verge. A quick 20-minute visit and then we were on are way. This time non-stop to Dunedin.

The landscape we saw on the drive was impressive. Driving on mainly flatlands bordered by high hills on either side. Fields had huge crop irrigation systems, like the ones in Norfolk around Thetford, but so much larger. In some places we could see for very long distances to mountain ranges far away.

On arriving in Dunedin, all the parking spaces were gone, kids were all walking in one direction towards the arena. We mad a bee line to the railway station to enquire about tickets on the local tourist train that takes you through a spectacular gorge.

Next to find a campsite. Yes, we could get in despite Ed, though all cabins were booked and only a few spaces available for small campers.

Rosemary saw the owner had a webcam feed running on the Albatross colony, so received yet some more advice for Tuesday when we hope to see Albatross and Penguins.

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.