Rainbow Reach to Shallow Bay - Kepler Track

Wednesday 11th Feb 2009

We had a leisurely breakfast this morning and chatted to family back in the UK via the web cam before heading out for a half day walk along the Kepler Track.

The Kepler Track is a loop which skirts Lake Te Anau, then climbs to panoramic views from Mount Luxmore before descending to Lake Manapouri.
We planned to walk a very short section of the track from Rainbow Reach to Shallow Bay.

We started the walk by crossing a suspension bridge which traversed the river and then we followed a very pretty track lined with lichen, ferns and silver beech trees. The track followed the river for the most part and was where some scenes of Lord of the Rings were filmed.

We were lucky enough to encounter several birds, in particular a brave and handsome New Zealand Robin, several fan tails and some friendly tomtits.

Halfway along the track we made a detour to a wetland area where local information boards informed us about the bog plants, wildlife and the importance of these swamp-like areas. There were all sorts of plants, blue orchids and some plants that were carnivorous.

We continued along the track until we reached Shallow Bay where we enjoyed a picnic lunch, sitting on an old piece of timber overlooking the lake and enjoying the views of the Kepler range and Jackson Peaks.

Sandflies played their part yet again and after lunch we made our way back the way we had come meeting more fantails and tomtits on the return walk.

As the cottages at Kepler Mountain View were fully booked after our 2-night stay we relocated to Te Anau and Birchwood Cottages which are just outside the township of Te Anau. A lovely spacious and luxurious cottage was our home overnight and we plan to stay over on Friday (13th), as well. (www.birchwood cottages.co.nz).

Before dinner we popped in to town and had a look in the local shops and also walked along the lakeside where there were some lovely views of the lake surrounding mountains and views in the distance of yet more mountain ranges.

The weather has been fine and settled so far and we are hoping it will continue as tomorrow we are driving the Milford Road which will take us to Milford Sound.

Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre to Dock Bay Walk

Tuesday 10th Feb 2009

Our first full day in the Fiordland after a lovely night at our accommodation in nearby Manapouri. The weather had improved ten-fold with clear blue skies and plenty of sunshine. There are numerous walks in the area and we decided to opt for a 3-hour return walk which followed the shoreline of Lake Te Anau.

We started out at the Visitor Centre and followed the track which takes in views of the Jackson Peaks and the Kepler Mountains then briefly enters a tea-tree grove before the Te Anau Wildlife Centre. We took some time out of our walk to witness, at close quarters, a selection of New Zealand’s rare and endangered birds. There were Kea, Kaka, Takahe (a flightless bird and thought to be extinct), Antipodes Islands parakeets, yellow and orange-fronted parakeets, kereru, weka, moreporks and New Zealand wood pigeons. Many of these species would not normally be encountered in the wild.

We continued along the track where we could see the snow-capped peaks oft he Earl Mountains in the far distance. We continued along the shore stopping for our picnic lunch at a secluded little cove overlooking the calm waters of Lake Te Anau.

The walk continued to the Control Gates which regulate the flow between the two lakes (Manapouri and Te Anau), and ensure that lake levels are managed in accordance with limits based on natural fluctuations.

The track then continued in the shade of the silver and mountain beech forest, we had occasional glimpses of Lake Te Anau to the north. The vista stretches past Centre Island, the distant Fiordland peaks at the far end which include Mt Anau. Needless to say, the views were breathtaking.

The track through the forest was very pretty with plenty of ferns either side, small and large with beautiful uncurling ferns in their centres. After about 30 minutes we took a detour to Dock Bay for a rest. We had simply the best views of the lake and surrounding mountains and we stopped for a while relaxing on the fine sand before the notorious sandflies became so irritating we were compelled to leave!!!

Our return to Te Anau followed the same route in reverse - we stopped a while at the shore edge to enjoy the late afternoon sunshine before heading back to our little cottage in Manapouri.

Lovely day.

Fiordland Facts

Fiordland National Park - a few facts:

• Fiordland NP is 1.25 million hectares , or 3 million acres in size,

• The steep, jumbled topography, rugged coastline, dense forest and challenging climate results in a region that has largely shunned the development of roads and towns,

• World Heritage status is given to areas throughout the world which deserve special protection and recognition because of their unique characteristics. Fiordland was designated a World Heritage Area in 1986 because of its superlative natural features, its exceptional beauty and its role in demonstrating the earth’s evolutionary history,

• Fiordland NP is one of the wettest places in the world, with Milford Sound averaging more than 6m a year!

• The coolest months are between May and August, when daytime temperatures range from 4 to 10 degrees Celsius. The winter sun sits at a low angle and frost produces ice on sunless valley floors.

• November to February are the warmest months, and in sunny sheltered places, temperatures can rise above 25 degrees Celsius.

• On either side of the road to Milford, the landscape is cloaked in cool temperate rainforest, jungle-dense and complete with vines, climbers, perching plants and ferns, including tree ferns.

• The predominant tree species is the silver beech (tawhai), which prefers the wet conditions of Fiordland.
  

• Fiordland lies next to a dramatic fracture in the earth’s crust - a boundary of the Pacific and Australian Plates. The Alpine Fault marks the place where they meet, with the Australian Plate diving beneath the Pacific Plate (the Alpine Fault traces down the West Coast of the South Island and leaves the land near the entrance to Milford Sound). In this collision, the land on the Pacific Plate is being heaved up to form the Southern Alps.
  

• Wildlife - New Zealand Fur Seals, Fiordland Crested Penguins, Blue Penguins and Bottlenose Dolphins can all be found thoroughout the fiord.

• 

Invercargill to Manapouri

Monday 9th Feb 2009

We awoke to grey skies and drizzle which turned into darker, cloudier skies and torrential rain!! Not the best travel conditions!

Still, we left Invercargill mid-morning to continue along the “Scenic Route” which would take us to our next destination, Lake Manapouri in the Fiordland National Park.

We made good progress despite the weather conditions and whilst we could just about make out mountains and the surrounding countryside, low cloud and the rain obliterated most of the views en route.

As the weather was so miserable we didn’t make too many stops along the way aside from a brief visit to Clifden, where there was a small Suspension Bridge. As there is a Clifton with a suspension bridge back home we thought we should at least take a look at this one!! It was worth the stop as the rain had eased off and the bridge and the river both looked impressive.

On arrival at our accommodation for the next 2 nights (a cottage just outside Manapouri with 360 degree views of the Kepler mountain range- www.kmv.co.nz), we unpacked and went down to the lake where at Fraser Beach we had views of the lake and surrounding mountains - although the rain had stopped the cloud was still low and hugged the mountain peaks - it still made for a moody and mysterious panorama and it was very peaceful. We followed a short track which took us along the shoreline and back again.
We went back to the cottage and were pleased to see the weather improve later in the evening, so much so that when the sun started to set we were treated to a fabulous sunset from the cottage and gardens.

Invercargill

Invercargill - Saturday & Sunday 7th/8th Feb 2009

We arrived at our hotel in the early evening and had a very warm welcome from the hosts Trudy & Eian.

After unpacking we had a lovely meal in the hotel restaurant - Blue Cod, a first for us and it was delicious! As was the sticky date pudding we had for dessert!! After dinner we caught up with some emails and read for a bit before bed.

Sunday morning we headed out to explore Invercargill. Invercargill is New Zealand’s southernmost city, and the commercial hub of Southland although on a Sunday morning it is very, very quiet!

Invercargill is a well-planned city with wide, tree-lined streets and many parks and reserves. Queen’s Park is the best-known reserve in the city centre. A botanical reserve featuring formal gardens, including rose gardens.

We strolled through this beautiful park and went to the local farmer’s market to see what they had for sell - there were a few stalls most selling local produce which included organic fruit and veg, flowers, cheeses and breads.

Strolling back through the gardens we passed the 18-hole golf course where we watched a few golfers tee off before making our way to the Southland Museum and Art Gallery.

Apart from its three art exhibition galleries, the Museum which is housed in a pyramid-shaped building near to the entrance of Queen’s Park, contains displays outlining the area’s human and natural history. It is one of the most captivating and interesting museums we have visited to date and we spent several hours there.

It also features a tuatarium where we saw several of New Zealand’s “living fossil” at close range. The tuatara. We were also lucky enough to see babies in the enclosure who were surprisingly active!

Earlier in the day we had met a couple who told us that there was a big band competition later in the park so, before returning to the hotel we made our way to the bandstand where several “Scottish” pipers/bands were performing - they were very colourful and we stayed in the park and watched the performances and the locals who had all turned out to enjoy the afternoon sunshine and free entertainment.

After our educational and cultural experience(!) we headed back to the hotel with the Sunday papers and spent the remainder of the day relaxing and catching up with emails.

Dinner was pizza from a local pizzeria but, pizza with a difference. Vegetarian and vegan varieties with toppings of spinach, cashews, pineapple, capiscum, chillies and refried beans - they were delicious!!

Tour of the Catlins - day 2

7th February 2009

We left our little bach and our first stop was Lake Wilkie. It was quite fresh first thing, so we had a brisk 30 minute walk, following the side of the lake. The walk shows the unique succession of forest development from lake edge to mature forest. The surrounding forest was mirrored in the water as it was very calm.

We made a stop at a café called the Whistling frog, and had a hot chocolate to warm us up. Along from the café was McLean Falls, another spectacular waterfall after a walk through native bush. This took us 40 minutes and with the walking and hot chocolate we slowly began to warm up. The falls were quite fast as we had had some rain the previous evening.

We followed the southern scenic route on to Niagara, passing lots of little fishing villages and wooden bridges spanning the rivers. Arriving at Porpoise Bay the weather was beginning to clear, we could see the blue sky slowly creeping in from the sea towards the land. We stopped on the headland, watching the surfers battle against the strong waves, and ate our lunch.

Just around the corner from Porpoise Bay is Curio Bay which is one the world’s most extensive and best preserved examples of a Jurassic forest. We were lucky to arrive when it was low tide when it is easiest to see the fossils. There is a small population of endangered Yellow Eyed Penquins here, there were a few sitting on the rocks posing for the cameras. They are moulting at the moment so can’t swim until their new feathers are through.

The rocks look like ordinary rocks until you take a closer look and you can see that they were trees! Whole tree trunks can be seen and also tree stumps and flakes of wood. A volcano erupted and covered the forest with silica which turned the trees to stone. This happened very quickly in a matter of months and so preserved the forest as it fell. Mud and silt covered it over and when the sea levels went up they washed away the mud and silt to reveal the petrified forest we can see today.

The sun made an appearance and we had a couple of hours mooching about in the rock pools and sand.

We carried on around the coast to Slope Point the southern-most point of the South Island, we could see Stewart Island and the Bluff from here and the coast line stretching on around. There is a sign on the cliff edge saying how far it is to the South Pole and the Equator from here.

Before making our way back onto the Southern Highway to Invercargill, we made one more stop at Waipapa Point. It had turned out to be a lovely, sunny, calm afternoon. There is a lighthouse here which we had a look around before heading down to the beach to step over yet another seal, flicking sand on himself! There were banks of wild crocus which filled the air with their heady scent. There was also a lot of Bull Kelp, the ocean has forests of it which divers like to swim through. It is really tough resembling leather.

After a day of seeing something wonderful around every corner, we got to Invercargill, not a particularly glamorous place, to our digs for the night. We were staying at the Victoria Railway Hotel. (www.hotelinvercargill.com).

Tour of the Catlins

Day 1: 6th February

We left the B&B after chatting to yet another French couple! They were from the East of France, on the Luxemburg border, and spoke very good English.

We made our way out of Dunedin heading South on the Southern Scenic Route, which hugs the coast. The weather was overcast, but warm, ideal for driving. The scenery is pastureland right to the cliff edge, with rows of wind-sculpted trees showing which way the wind blows off the sea. Lots of sheep and cows in these parts.

We past Wetlands, home to wild fowl and some of New Zealand’s rarest birds. Inland lakes dot this area, lots of people boating, swimming and fishing, and some surfers out in the sea. It is Waitangi day today, so everyone is enjoying a long weekend break from work.

Waitangi day ‘celebrates’ the Waitangi treaty being signed. In 1840 when the British declared New Zealand a colony a treaty was signed between the British and a number of Maori chiefs.

We stopped off for lunch at Kaka Point, overlooking the sea. The sun finally came out, and it was really warm whilst we had our lunch.

We carried on to Nugget Point, seeing beautiful long stretches of white sandy beaches. Every now and again we saw a seal hauled up on the sand sunbathing.

Nugget Point has a path leading to a lighthouse, built in 1869, it overlooks a series of wave like pinnacles, which look like nuggets. As we followed the path we could hear seals on the rocks below, and when viewed through our binoculars, we could see them playing in the rock pools and suckling their mothers. We stood on the far side of the lighthouse, looking out to sea, watching the seals, dolphins and sea birds. The rocks had fringes of kelp waving in the current, making it look like hair.

Next en route was the Purakaunui Falls. It was a ten minute walk through a beech and podocarp forest leading to a viewing platform overlooking the waterfall. The water drops 20m over a series of wide terraces, and as it had rained the previous evening, they were quite impressive.

Our last stop before arriving at our next overnight accommodation was Cathedral Caves. These caves are on the beach and can only be accessed at low tide. We had to walk for 20 minutes down through lush native bush, until we reached Waipati beach. The sun came out as we walked along a stretch of white sand towards the enormous cave entrances. The opening of the largest cave is 30m high. The cave walls were layered in different coloured rocks and were quite spectacular.

We had our first encounter with the notorious sand fly. These little blighters bit any uncovered skin they can get their teeth into.

We arrived at Papatowai our destination for the night. We stayed in a traditional New Zealand Bach, cottage to you and me, or more like a garden shed. It was situated on the edge of the Takakopa estuary, and we had a walk along the water’s edge as the sun was setting. There are some truly beautiful places in the world, and we have been lucky to experience some of them.

Otago Peninsula

5th February, 2009

The 24km long Otago Peninsula offers a wide variety of attractions, including rare and unusual wildlife, historic buildings, and spectacular harbour and coastal scenery.

We took the “high road” Which runs over the top of the peninsula. Our first stop was to walk down to Boulder Bay.

It was quite a steep decent down to the bay, which was in fact closed due to Yellow Eyed Penguins nesting at this time. The views were stunning though. There was a haze over the sea, on the horizon, which gave the scene an eerie feel. We thought of the early explorers going out in their little boats, thinking that the world was flat, how brave were they!

We carried on along the peninsula stopping along the way to look back on the Dunedin harbour and view of Hoopers and Papanui inlets. We followed a gravel road which circumnavigated Hoopers inlet and here we saw pied stilts and pied oyster catchers, two types of wading birds.

Our lunch stop was at Allan’s Beach, a lovely stretch of white sand edged by dunes. We Walked onto the beach looking at the sea, and were amazed to see a huge sea lion just led on the beach, basking in the sun. We only noticed it was there when it flicked sand over itself, with a big flipper! After a hasty retreat to higher ground, we ate our lunch just watching it lazing about.

We were then treated to a front row view of an Elephant seal and her pup, emerging from the sea, and waddling up the beach towards us. They then proceeded to have a roll and play in the sand, the pup chasing some seagulls, before they waddled off along the beach. Then they were gone, just like that. Amazing. What a way to spend your lunch break!

After lunch we drove along some gravel roads towards Victory beach to see The Pyramids. These are a couple of volcanoes in the shape of a pyramid, in a wetland conservation area. We had a stroll along a well marked path, climbed one of the pyramids for a great view of the surrounding area, and then headed back to the car.

Back on the main road, we drove to the prominent Taiaroa headland at the mouth of the Otago Harbour, which is home to the worlds only mainland Royal Albatross colony.

We were there at about 6pm when the birds were coming in to roost for the night. The sky was full of huge birds with massive wing spans. As we were stood on the edge of the cliff they seemed to pass just in front of us, although taking a photo of them was not an easy task . It was really windy on the headland, and the Shearwaters were having trouble coming in to land on their cliff-side homes. These are the only conditions to see the Albatross fly as they are so big, they need the weather to be windy so they can ride the therms.

The climax to our day was yet to come. We left the birds circling around overhead, glad to get out of the blustery conditions and drove around to Penguin Place.

This is a private reserve set up on farmland, in an effort to save the world’s most endangered penguin from extinction. The Yellow Eyed Penguin is only found on the Otago Peninsula. We were able to visit a working conservation programme and witness undisturbed activity at close range, through a unique system of hides and tunnels.

We had a short lecture on the penguins and then we were taken in a minibus down to the reserve . The adult penguins come in from the sea and make their way up into the native bush where they have left one chick hidden in the undergrowth, whilst they have been fishing all day. Their habitat has been destroyed as the native bush has been cleared away from the beaches, and the penguins, being very shy will not come onto the beach if they see there are humans.

We were shown into a series of hides where we could see the chicks waiting for their parents. They were all fluffy. A couple of penguins came in from the sea whilst we were there. We were very privileged to see them.

It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Central Dunedin Wednesday 4th Feb 2009

Awoke to the sight of slight drizzle! Checked our emails and discovered the UK has had severe snow storms! Whilst New Zealand is having one of it’s better summers the northern hemisphere appears to be experiencing one of the worst winters for decades - global warming??

The South Island is sub-antarctic and so when a southerly wind blows it is a tad chilly! As we have headed further south the days are noticeably longer and the temperatures a few degrees cooler but the scenery is stunning and with electric blankets to warm the bed at night we have no complaints!!

As we have been without proper internet access for several weeks it was good to be able to connect up and contact our family and let them know how we are going and find out how things have been at home - it’s good to talk!

For the next couple of nights our “home” is a delightful B & B (www.city sanctuary.co.nz), where we have a beautiful room in a huge house in the suburbs of Dunedin. The owners are marvellous hosts and great cooks!

Our first evening we discovered that the other guests staying the night were a French couple from Paris - we spent a very pleasant hour or so chatting and finding out a bit about everyone - we were pleased that despite not speaking French for almost a year, most of it came back to us without too much difficulty!

After catching up and a sumptuous breakfast of freshly baked bread, croissants, cereals, apricot compote, yoghurt and salmon and cheese we waddled(!!) out to explore Dunedin.

A 15-minute walk took us into the flat central part of the city (the surrounding roads/streets are predominantly steep hills not unlike the streets in San Francisco!).

We headed for the area known as The Octagon which is the focal point and it is where parades, festivals, protests, parties and royal visits are held. It is a small oasis in the heart of the city, surrounded by a number of fine buildings including the Municipal Chambers, an excellent example of the use of Oamaru stone, St Paul’s Cathedral which stands high above the Octagon, and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery which houses early and contemporary New Zealand arts.


We visited the Cathedral and photographed the surrounding buildings before making our way to the First Church, the flagship of the Prestbyterian Church in Otago.

After our tour of the First Church we walked along Anzac Avenue and passed by the Prison and Law Courts before making our way to the Dunedin Railway Station.

Dunedin’s Railway Station is one of New Zealand’s finest historic buildings and one of the best examples of railway architecture in the southern hemisphere. Although not large by international standards, the station’s proportions lend it an air of grandeur.

Following a morning of sight seeing we continued our exploring in the afternoon by heading south.

Tunnel Beach Walkway.

Located 4 miles south of the city, Tunnel Beach is named after the tunnel cut through sandstone cliffs in the 1870s by Edward Cargill so that his family could get down to the pretty beach below. We took the short but steep walkway to the beach where we enjoyed breathtaking views of the sandstone cliffs which have been spectacularly sculpted by the wind and sea. We walked through the tunnel and took some great shots of the cliffs before making the climb back to the top of the pathway. It was hard going but certainly good cardio vascular exercise!!

Signal Hill.

After our “hike” we headed north of the city to Signal Hill and from where we had excellent (if a little hazy!), views of the central city, upper harbour and parts of the Otago Peninsula which we plan to explore tomorrow. Watch this space!