The West Coast Part 2

Wrapping up our south island trip here are a few more photos from the West Coast.

We travelled south from Haast to Jackson Bay, the southernmost point on the West Coast road. There is not much there now, but in the nineteenth century is was touted as having the potential to be the biggest town in New Zealand. This is what remains of the cemetery – slowly being reclaimed by the forest.

At the Haast DOC Centre this kotuku seemed to have taken up residence. They only breed in one place in New Zealand, Okarito, slightly to the north.

Another rare avian local is the Fiordland crested penguin. We went to a beach just up the coast from Haast and had an entertaining walk through bush and streams to where they come ashore. It was a rough day

so we didn’t have much luck but here is one trying to navigate the surf into shore.

The day we travelled north was particularly wet and misty so I haven’t got any suitable shots of most of the journey. These are from Punakaiki, home of the famous pancake rocks.

 

 

 

Travelling from Murchison over the range into Marlborough the temperature dropped to 1 degree and we had brief snow.

(I should have dusted the dashboard before taking that photo).

Running down towards the east coast the sun came out and the temperature climbed. There were lambs to remind us that spring was just around the corner.

The West Coast Part 1

Leaving Dunedin we travelled up through Central Otago. It was warm and sunny in the morning but approaching the mountain divide we could see bad weather ahead. This is the view at Lake Hawea where we had lunch.

A bit further on there had been a slip and we had to wait several minutes while this digger worked at clearing the road and building a temporary retaining wall. Apparently there was another slip a bit later which closed the road again for some time.

Then on into the approaching gloom

which we encountered at about the highest point on the road as we entered the West Coast. Running down to sea level it was typical West Coast weather, wet and misty.

In compensation the rivers and waterfalls were magnificent.

 

We stayed in Haast Township for two days and did a fair bit of travelling and walking. The bush down there is superb and the bird life outstanding. Here are tui. It’s unusual to see twin tufts like this.

This one is feeding on kowhai.

I’ll finish this post with a few pictures of the bush. As you can see it is a very wet part of the world which accounts for the lush growth.

Pictures from the South Island

We recently did a ten day road trip on the Mainland, down the east coast and back up the west coast. These are a fairly random selection of images, roughly in chronological order.

The first day we took the ferry across to Picton and followed the coast down to Christchurch. En route there were some stunning views of the Kaikouras. These are the same mountains seen from Wellington in the previous post.

We spent Fathers’ Day in Christchurch. Jenny and Sam are both overseas but they sent me home made cards and greetings electronically. I’ve recently discovered beer from a Christchurch brewery called Cassels and we went there for brunch with Denise, Janie and Gary. Both food and beer were excellent.

Continuing southwards to Tekapo we took the inland route to Geraldine where there was a fine display of daffodils.

Tekapo is a small town at the southern end of an alpine lake of the same name.

The main reason for going there was to see the night sky from the Mt. John observatory. The area is part of the world’s largest international dark sky reserve. The first night we were there was not good for seeing stars – there was heavy rain and no visible sky. The next day dawned brighter – this was the view from our motel.

The Church of the Good Shepherd is on the shore of the lake. It was built in 1935 as the first church in the area.

The area is known as Mackenzie country after the nineteenth century character James Mackenzie who is credited with opening up the area to European exploration. This is a monument to his dog.

We had lunch at the café on Mount John. There are about half a dozen telescopes sitting protected in their domes.

A kind old couple took our photo.

We came back that night and it was a magnificent display. The broad arc of the Milky Way was the centre piece. The Magellanic Clouds were visible as was Saturn (and it’s rings through a telescope). Words can't describe the wonder of the heavens. We had 90 minutes of star gazing with two very knowledgeable guides. The organisation we went with took a photo of the group – we had to sit still for 30 seconds while they played red light over us. 

The next day we headed south to Dunedin. We stopped for lunch at Fleur’s Place in Moeraki (where the boulders are).  

The experience lived up to the establishment’s reputation.

Stay tuned for fun and games on the West Coast ...