March 21st, we are in the library of Invercargill. We just went to Stirling Point (Bluff), the most southern point on the island. I had Bluff oysters and they were indeed delicious! It is a NZ delicacy, harvested from March to August in the Foveaux Strait here in Bluff. We are lucky to be here at the right time. Tomorrow we will drive to the Catlins and hopefully see some penguins. It is cold here, 12 degrees Celsius but it is not raining.
Travelling on the South island is like driving from one national park to another. From the 4.7million people living in NZ, 76% live on the North Island. On average there is less than 15 people per square kilometer in NZ (contrast this with Belgium where there are 892 people per square kilometer). Their conservations efforts are really incredible. A lot of indigenous species were lost both by Maoris and European settlers hunting and farming, but they managed to change their behaviour after realising the disastrous effect on flora and fauna. The NZ Department of Conservation manages about 30% of the NZ land as parks. There are 14 national parks in NZ and 31 marine reserves. Besides these there are many regional protected areas.
Cape Foulwind, named by Captain James Cook in 1770 when his ship Endeavour was blown offshore from this point.The Cape Foulwind Walkway leads to Tauranga Bay,where there is a fur seal colony.Fur seal or Kekeno. They were at the brink of extinction in the 1800’s when Europeans hunted them for the meat and their pelts. In 1978 they were fully protected by the Marine Mammals Protection Act, and they have continued to grow in numbers ever since.Pancake rock in Punakaiki.
Pancake rock is a very popular tourist destination, so we could not resist.The pancake-layering of the limestone is created by immense pressure on alternating hard and soft layers of marine creatures and plant sediments.Hokatika Gorge. The turquoise colour of the water is caused by the combination of rock “flour”(fine powder of rock), glacial and river water.Dorothy Falls in Hokitika.Lake Kaniere in the evening.Lake Kaniere early morning.The Kaniere Water Race Walkway, following a channel that used to supply water to the gold mining operations. In 1864, Hokitika was the centre of the West Coast gold rush. We hiked the 20KM (10KM one way) walkway.
The next day we travelled to Franz Joseph Glacier where we did a Heli-hike on the glacier. More on that in the next blog.
March 13th, we are in Queenstown and it is cloudy. We are planning to do part of the Routeburn Track tomorrow. This is one of the 8 Great Walks in NZ, is 32KM long and takes about 3-4 days. We will only do one day and see if we can make it to the first hut and then return, because these walks are not a loop.
In the meantime some pictures of our walks in Abel Tasman National Park, the smallest but very pretty National park of NZ. Abel Tasman (a Dutchman) set foot here in 1642. The park was opened in 1942. We walked two parts of the Abel Tasman Coast Track, which is 60KM long and also one of the Great Walks of NZ.
The park is known for its golden beaches …and its beautiful rocky formations, but unfortunately also for the many sandflies.Too bad I did not bring my bathing suit to go for a swim!Golden Bay.The coastal track includes some tidal river crossings that can only be done at low tide. As we were a bit too early to cross, we relaxed and ate our lunch while watching the adventurous trying to find a shallow path across.View of a river estuary from Gibbs Hill.
From Abel Tasman we continued north to Cape Farewell. It is the most notherly point on the South Island and named by Captain James Cook in 1770 because this was the last land seen by his crew as they departed to their homeland.
We made a beautifull walk of 3 hours along the beach with lots of driftwood, wetlands and dunes.
Oystercatchers.… dreamcatchers …On our way to Wharariki Beach near Farewell Spit.sand everywhere…Much of the scenery made me think of the Hobbit movie.Wharariki Beach.On our way back to Nelson we had the famous green-lipped mussels with garlic bread at the Mussel Inn. Yummy but I still prefer our little black ones.
From Nelson we went to St.Arnaud and stayed two nights at the Nelson Lakes.
Rotoiti LakeThe longest swing bridge of NZ, 110m, over the Buller River.A beautiful DOC (Department of Conservation) campsite but we could only sit outside when covered with DEET. The only pest on the west coast of the South islands are the sandflies, which bite ferociously.
As much as I love the nature and being surrounded by it, the sandflies make it sometimes very difficult to endure being outside. James Cook was one of the first europeans to record his encounter with the sandfly as follows: “The most mischievous animal here is the small black sandfly, which are exceedingly numerous, wherever they light they cause a swelling and such intolerable itching that it is not possible to refrain from scratching and at last ends in ulcers like the small pox”. It is only the females that bite and suck blood which helps them to produce eggs. The males are vegetarian. After some time you become used to it…a little..:-)
The fantail or by its Maori name Piwakawaka. They are not shy and constantly fly around trying to catch insects disturbed by hikers.The New Zealand robin or toutouwai is only found in New Zealand.
In the next blog I will report about our trip from Westport to Franz Josef Glacier.
