2019 AU-NZ: New Zealand walks and hikes March 27-30

Our return trip March 27 to Milford Sound was spectacular! We made a number of stops on the drive in and out, including The Gorge, Mirror Lakes, and Mistletoe Lake at sunset.

March 28 we walked the first section of the Keplar Track ("Hike") near Te Anau and drove afterwards through an Okanagan-like area to Arrowtown. We met up with and had a nice visit with Andrea and Jens, whom we first met in mid-November in north Sumatra on a jungle hike to see Orangutan, and visited again in mid-February in northwest Australia (in Cape Range NP in the very beautiful Ningiloo Reef area). It was great to hear about their adventures (Andrea and Jens have a super BLog we follow, and we hear additional detail when we visit). They also gave us helpful advice about the DOC site near Aoraki (Mt. Cook).

March 29 we arrived at Aoraki (Mt. Cook) in time to find a great camp site and hike up to Kea Point for a view of Aoraki and the glacier that carved the valley where we were tenting. After dinner back at camp, we could see colour in the sky, so hiked back to Kea Point.

Our intention March 30 was to hike to Mueller Hut (about 1,000m straight up, and with a few scrambles at the top). This turned out to be too ambitious and the weather turned once we reached the mid-point. We did the first scramble up above the mid-point and then realized we hadn't done loose stone hiking in a while. We did 600m of gain and then headed down the mountain and back up to Kea Point to eat our picnic lunch.

Tomorrow, March 31, we head to the southwest corner of New Zealand's south island for a 5-day camp tour up the east coast to the ferry which will take us to New Zealand's north island.

2019 AU-NZ: Hello New Zealand March 21 - 26

Happy Fall March 21!

In south-of-the-equator Christchurch the early morning rooster crowing and crisp air in the rural area of our b&b accommodation reminds us of the Saanich Fair (which Yolanda is hoping to not miss in September 2019). The air, the bird sounds and the colours remind us of Vancouver Island. "It's a mini B.C.", family Dawne had said on our first evening in New Zealand. So far, this is also our impression, a compressed B.C. experience, and, of course, unique as well.

A wetlands walk in the a.m. on March 21 was followed by an oxygenation ponds stop at mid-day, at the suggestion of b&b host Andrew.

In the afternoon we visited the contemplative memorial to the 185 victims of and hundreds more severely injured in the 22/02/2011 Christchurch earthquake. In early April we hope to see the coastline northeast of Christchurch, which rose between a few centimeters and 2.5 meters as the adjacent plates shifted, resulting in the 2016 earthquake in Kaikoura.

March 22 we departed Christchurch en route to the west coast of New Zealand's south island. We stopped for a walk at Castle Hill Rocks and Weavers Water Fall before reaching Slab Hut Creek camp.

At Weavers Water Fall we observed 2min of silence with respect facing towards Mecca in recognition of the 50 lives lost in Christchurch in the March 15 atrocity directed at the Muslim community. We reached the Waterfall at 1:32, which was the time designated within New Zealand for 2min of memorial silence throughout the country. It was an emotional time, with many people around from many countries, speaking many languages. March 23 was the last of the Christchurch burials, of Muslims age 4 - 71.

At Slab Hut Creek camp we met Pippa & Peter from Wellington, NZ and had an interesting chat about their favourite places to visit in NZ. We also met our first sand flies and got a few painful bites, ouch!

March 23 in the morningtime, Pippa presented a "lesson plan" for our south New Zealand tour. They also asked us to be in touch when we know our arrival day in Wellington off the ferry from the south island, as they would like to accompany us for a hike or sightseeing activity. We added Pippa and Peter's suggestions to the set from family Dawne and from Bruny Island (Tasmania, AU) Sierra. We'll do our best to do it all!

At 11:30am we departed towards the west coast. Shortly thereafter, Bob's sand fly bite on his eyelid was significantly worse. Pippa had given him two one-a-day antihistamine, and fortunately Yolanda is driving these days.

We stopped at Westport for gas, but did not drive north 100K to see the stone sea arches, as Bob was not feeling 100%. We drove on to stop at Pancake Rocks and to make a picnic lunch. Pancake Rocks on the west coast of the south island of New Zealand are a geological formation with differential weathering of towers of limestone (ancient seashells) and mud (ancient ground-up rock?; slip?; "it is unknown", said the panel). Because the sea has crashed away at the coast for millions of years, the once solid mass of rock is weathered to towers, and its component alternating layers of crushed ancient seashells, and crushed mud, looks similar to stacks of pancakes. So, naturally, the cafe by the Pancake Rocks interpretive centre sells ... guess what ... pancakes by the stack! The stack was high (many pancakes for $19.50), so too much pancake for us at that moment. We opted for a picnic from the supplies in our camp cooler (new replacement cooler since forgetting our other two on Fraser Island near Brisbane, AU).

At the interpretive centre was a memorial to the Muslin community in the wake of the atrocity of March 15.

We drove to beautiful Mahinapua Lake camp and had time for an after dinner walk in the gorgeous, wet coastal forest/jungle. Upon returning to our tent, we were delighted to find one of New Zealand's many flightless birds plucking around in the wet grass.

The dew on and around our camp on March 24 in the a.m. at Lake Mahinapua resulted in us partially drying our tent in the camp shelter while we ate breakfast.

We then did a lovely 2hr return forest walk during which we saw, as Bob often says, "the usual suspects", plus a unique-to-NZ pigeon. We also saw moss, ferns, lichen, and a salal-looking plant.

A noon departure left time for a hike at Franz Josef Glacier. We headed back to our car when we saw the "big old dirty shirts" rolling in over the adjacent mountain, so missed being caught in the rain. We also drove to Mirror Lake, but found it socked-in . We arrived at lovely Paringa Lake camp with time for a daylight dinner and a game of Bananagrams before sunset, and before the rain started.

In the morning March 25, the hatch of our car provided enough rain cover for Yolanda to cook breakfast while Bob took apart the tent beneath the fly. Rain had been heavy overnight, and at one point there had been a few centimeters of rain beneath the ground sheet, so it was quite wet. Just after our road-side rest-stop lunch-stop (where we met an interesting group of elder geology retirees with a guide from Calgary) the sun came out, so we pulled over and gave the wet fly and ground-sheet a good shake.

Our drive to our Lumsden camp for the night took a bit longer than expected, as we made a side-trip to Hannah Clearing to see Nurse-practitioner Gemma about Bob's eyelid. Gemma said the presentation indeed seemed to be consistent with a sand fly bite and gave recommendations to help with the swelling. Gemma also inquired as to our travel plans and advised we get over the Hasst Pass as soon as possible as the storm would be increasing. Happily we did, as many roads in the West were closed the next day, and a bridge we had crossed the day before washed out near the Franz Josef Glacier (see footage of Waiho River Bridge washout).

We pressed on, stopping to see "that Wanaka Tree", but didn't stay for a show at Cinema Paradiso, as Bruny Island Sierra had suggested. We stopped for groceries in Queenstown, but not for a ice glass drink, as family Dawne had suggested.

Throughout, we saw gorgeous scenic vistas, many similar to BC. A difference from the BC landscape is the ocher scrub mountain peaks above the treeline, whereas in BC one would see grey rock mountain peaks.

We stayed at Lumsden private camp ground, as we ran out of time to reach the Milford Sound area camp site. It was nice, and we met Andrea from Germany (previously from East Germany), and had an interesting discussion about language, culture and kindnesses.

Another morning of wringing out our tent fly and ground sheet on March 26 following another heavy night of rain, as well as Bob's continuing eyelid discomfort and predictions of two more days of heavy rain, resulted in our booking two nights indoors at Fiordland National Park Lodge near Te Anau Downs (near the boat dock that takes hikers to the start of the Milford Track). We reached the Lodge by 2pm, checked in, hung our wet tent fly and ground sheet in the shower and carried on with trepidation 100Kms towards Milford Sound in the increasingly heavy rain.

The steep fiord (NZ spelling of fjord) mountains were gushing from every ravine, the roadside rivers were over their banks and in places rushing over the road. Lakes we passed were just below the road level and the rain was getting more intense as we drove along. Many cars were turning around, and temporary roadworks flashing signs warned of increased flooding and road closures. We decided to turn back once we reached a spot where the rushing water off the cliffside was splashing over its culvert onto the road, and above was a roaring, muddy waterfall. That was about enough. We knew that the increasing rain falling on the mountains would soon reach the bottom of the fjord and rise the water levels further.

Once back past the first river breach over the road, we slowed our pace of retreat and did some nature viewing and walks. Bob happily photographed a few new-to-us bird species.

The extraordinary stormy day ended with a gorgeous pink sunset over Lake Te Anau.