Category: Uncategorized

Saturday 13 April

It was a very wet drive through to Oamaru and then on to the Waitaki Valley and west up the valley to Duntroon so I could visit the fossil centre. I wanted to see the local Maori Rock Art as well as go to the locality labelled “Earthquakes” on the map.

The Vanished World Centre at Duntroon was crowded with displays of 20 to 30 million year old marine fossil specimens of dolphins, penguins and whales. There are 9 sites in the valley leading to Danseys Pass that comprise the Waitaki Whitestone Geopark, NZs first UNESCO Global Geopark.

One of the most exciting finds over the years has been the fossilised bones of a giant penguin.

However, although the rain had stopped when I headed up the Waitaki Valley it had really set in again as I exited the Centre, so I gave away the plan to visit the fossil sites and Rock Art and returned to Oamaru to check in at Top 10 for the Saturday and Sunday nights. Sunday and Monday weather forecasts are good so I will return to Duntroon on one of those days and do the walks in the dry.

Sunday 14 April

My return visit to Duntroon on Sunday was to take the drive around the Whitestone Geopark circuit taking in Maori Rock Art and limestone formations. The Takiroa Rock Art site I visited was one of two in the Duntroon area, and included display boards with drawings of the art work behind the boards on the limestone cliff below a sheltering overhang. There were three groups of drawings, one of which had only two small items remaining as most of the work had been cut out of the cliff in the early 1900s and distributed to museums around the country. However in 1852 sketches were made of the full set of cliff drawings, and then a photo record was made in 1896, so the display boards replicated the early information. Vandals had also carved their initials into the walls of the shelter, now fully protected by a wire mesh fence.

Access to the art work, with visitors peering through the mesh fence.

This is believed to represent a taniwha interacting with another creature. The Takiroa Rock art site is one of some 20 locations where rock art has been recorded in the Waitaki Valley. There are only three sites remaining today. Farming development destroyed some and others were submerged in the hydro lakes at Waitaki and Benmore.

The Whitestone Geopark circuit started as a rural gravel road, first to a locality called “Earthquakes” by early settlers (as marked on the map} where a huge junk of cliff had broken off and slid downslope as though it had been displaced by an earthquake.

Subsequent geological investigation established it was an earth/slope failure (block slide) that caused the huge piece of cliff to break off. The wire cage on the bottom right of the photo protects in-situ fossilised bone pieces of a baleen whale embedded in limestone as exposed by an archaeological dig.

The Geopark circuit included other fossil sites as well as “The Valley of the Whales” where three sets of whale remains were found along the face of a limestone cliff. Then back towards Duntroon were the “Elephant Rocks” limestone formations in a farmer’s field.

This is part of the Elephant Rock formations which spread over 200m through farmland. The formations were used as a filming location in the first Chronicles of Narnia movie in 2005.

And then it was time for lunch.

The café was very busy as the A2O (Alps to Ocean) cycle trail passes through Duntroon on the way from Mt Cook to Oamaru.

End of the cycle trail at Oamaru Harbourside.

Monday15 April

This day was spent in the Historic Precinct at Oamaru, the highlight being a visit to the Steampunk HQ at the entrance to the area. The displays are meant to represent an alternate futuristic version of 19^th century Victorian England – it was a mix of weird and wonderful.

Large machines like this locomotive were on display in the outdoor section, while indoors all sorts of metal sculptures inhabited dark places. And, then there was light——

“The Portal” is a light machine that transports you to alternate realities as a space-time gateway (!!!).

Another outdoor wonder.

Tuesday 16 April

After a night freedom camping at All Day Bay in Kakanui I traveled out to join the main road south at John Turnbull Thomson’s arch bridge over the Kakanui River.

This bridge on State Highway 1, completed in 1874, was featured in my Beacons TV programme. Thomson was not only a brilliant engineer, he was also a well-known painter of watercolours.

The Moeraki Boulders, my next destination heading south, have over recent years become part buried in sand accretion to the beach.

The boulders today.

One of the earliest photos of the boulders (held by Auckland City library).

This week’s bird is a blackbird that fussed around at my feet picking at pieces of kelp on the beach as I was viewing the Moeraki Boulders.

At Moeraki Village, very quiet at 8:30am, I took Lighthouse Road out to Katiki Point Historic Reserve with its seal population on both shoreline rocks and grassy hillsides.

Moeraki Village Harbour, a crayfishing port.

Katiki Point lighthouse with the entrance to the Historic Reserve and wildlife viewing walkway at the edge of the parking area.

Some seals preferred resting on the rocks.

Other seals preferred a grassy resting place. On the way south I took the coastal route via Karitane and Seacliff, with a stop for lunch at the Karitane estuary after viewing the Old man and Old Woman rock pillars.

Old Woman and Old man at Karitane Beach.

As I neared Dunedin Tuesday afternoon rain set in and continued all the way to Balclutha where I stayed overnight in the Holiday Park ready to head for the Catlins Wednesday morning.

Wednesday 17 April

At the entrance to the Catlins on Wednesday was Nugget Point Lighthouse (built 1870). It is a tourist drawcard where I came across several Chinese families (with school age children, toddlers, and baby in a pushchair) on the walk in from the carpark. It was a busy place on a fine day, with the attraction being the Nuggets.

The Nuggets from the viewing deck at the foot of the lighthouse. They were named by Captain Cook who thought the formation looked like gold nuggets.

Near Owaka was Tunnel Hill, a remnant of the railway from Balclutha to the central Catlins forest areas. The railway operated from1879 to 1971 serving sawmills and farmland as the Catlins transitioned from forestry to sheep and cattle raising.

Although the Catlins Railway is not the most southern railway in the world, this tunnel is the southernmost rail tunnel in the world. It was busy on Wednesday with three groups of travellers following me through.

Stonehigh Cutting on the railway was carved out of solid rock by workers using explosives, picks and shovels and “dobbins” (horse drawn wagons on rails).

Thursday 18 April

After visiting the excellent Owaka Museum, Thursday was waterfall and wetlands day, the most beautiful being Purakaunui Falls.

Owaka – “place of the canoe”. This art work was outside the museum.

Purakaunui three step falls is a calendar favourite.

The Tautuku Estuary wetland boardwalk passes through a rare fern bird habitat. This red-brown sparrow sized bird prefers to live in the saltmarsh rather than fly around in the forest. This is my second visit to this spot, the first being with Lexie, and have never seen the fern bird.

After freedom camping at Owaka Wednesday night, Thursday night I treated myself to the luxury of the Whistling Frog resort camping area and restaurant.

Friday 19 April

Friday it started to rain as I left the Whistling Frog and became very wet as I took the Coastal Route through Curio Bay to Fortrose and then on to Invercargill. The only way to take photos was to shoot from inside the cab of the motorhome with the window down – no way could I step outside. However I did get some useful shots.

Curio Bay in pouring rain with the petrified forest foreshore shelf on the right.

It was wild at the Bay with heavy surf driven by a strong wind.

The last visit before heading for Invercargill was Waipapa Point where in 2002 Lexie and I parked the motorhome for the night on a concrete pad right at the foot of the lighthouse. That afternoon a large seal lumbered up off the beach into the grass alongside the motorhome and slept beside us. There is no longer vehicle access to the lighthouse itself, as I have found all over the country DoC has sealed off tracks and roadways into special locations to make people park and walk in

The Waipapa lighthouse viewed in the rain across the sand dunes from the Doc carpark area.

I arrived Invercargill early afternoon and my neice Jan Mc Bain and eldest daughter Talitha came round to the Camping Park and visited me in the van from 3pm till 5:45.

Saturday 6 April

I left the summit carpark at 7am in fog and headed carefully down through countless hair-pin bends to the valley floor below and on to Queenstown. My objectives for the day were the Skyline Gondola and a trip in the Earnslaw to Walter Peak Station. Both were great visits with the sun coming out of cloud around noon for a crisp but bright day.

Gondolas climbing up past the bungy jumping platform.

The Earnslaw returning from the 11am trip prior to my joining a large crowd for the 1pm trip. The vessel takes up to 350 passengers. We were able to access viewing platforms over the engine room to watch coal fired boilers being stoked and steam engine pistons working flat out. Great trip.

Tonight and Sunday night I am in the Arrowtown Holiday Park with 207 powered sites and 38 tent sites, and it looks almost full to me. There have been loads of motorhomes and caravans on the road with many overseas tourists, and a lot of “golden oldies” (like me??).

Sunday 7 April

After a busy morning at the carwash cleaning several weeks travel grime off the van I spent the afternoon browsing the Arrowtown shops. Only made one purchase, choc bars at the Patagonia Chocolate shop.

Not only are the village trees full of colour, the hillsides overlooking the township are spectacular at this time of year.

Monday 8 April

This was my trip to Glenorchy, on a road crowded with Chinese in tour buses where I had to navigate around groups at view point overlooks. However my objective in Glenorchy was to walk the twin lagoons, 40 minutes each loop. 

Canadian geese occupied the Northern Lagoon (while black swans took over the Southern Lagoon).

I last walked these lagoons with Lexie on 30 March 2015, and because there were narrow boardwalks I took the hiking poles with me this time to help with balance, especially if I met other walkers coming from the opposite direction. On one occasion while positioning myself carefully at the edge of the boardwalk to let a couple of guys pass, the foot of one hiking pole got caught in the metal mesh used for non-slip purposes. I eventually untangled it but it was only when I got back to the van I spotted that the rubber foot piece was missing. There was no way I could go back and search for it in the swamp under the board walk, so on Wednesday I went into a sports store in Alexandra and asked the manager whether they had a spare foot. “Oh” he said, “you want a new boot” and took me to a box with a number of spares in it. It appears that losing a “boot” is common with hiking pole users.

Glenorchy Wharf shed.

For Monday night I had pre-booked a space at the DoC campsite at Kinloch, directly across the head of the lake from Glenorchy. You will recall I said that the road north from Glenorchy crossed the Dart River over a long one-lane bridge that was the star feature in a 2020 detective series on TVNZ called “One Lane Bridge”. It involved a young Maori detective who had a form of second sight – he kept seeing things around and on the bridge that did not exist.

The “One Lane Bridge” of the TV series. At the far end the road seal ends and the roadway splits into the access north to the Routeburn Track, and south to Kinloch, both being gravel roads.

Kinloch during the 19^th century was only accessible by boat supporting the timber mills and the sheep stations at the head of Lake Wakatipu. The Earnshaw was a regular visitor as well as several other smaller steamers serving settlements around the lake.

The Earnshaw, here unloading cargo at the wharf, accessed Kinloch until the Dart River Bridge was opened in 1974.

Today the wharf is derelict and inaccessible to boats as a result of huge floods in the Dart River burying the head of the lake area in gravel flats.

Tuesday 9 April

On my way out of Kinloch at 6:30am on my mind switched back to the TV series when I crossed the one lane bridge in the dark before dawn.

In the TV series the young Maori detective would be crossing in the dark like this and would see three spooky figures in the centre of the bridge who gradually faded away as he neared them.

From Kinloch through Glenorchy and Queenstown it was on to the Kawarau Gorge, stopping to view Roaring Meg Power Station and then the Goldfields Mining Centre ½ way along the Gorge toward Cromwell.

Roaring Meg Power Station.

The modern entrance to the Goldfields Mining Centre is reached via a new bridge. In the 1970s Lexie, Calum and I crossed a swing bridge here and wandered all over the Chinese pickings and even went down a narrow sluice channel to the edge of the river. No longer however – this is a commercial venture with strict health and safety controls (and very good displays).

Carpark at the Goldfields Mining Centre. What is special about this photo? Well the number plates on these three identical hired motorhomes (Wilderness Motorhome Rentals) read in order from left, MKN447 MKN448 and MKN449. They were on hire from Christchurch to a family of three couples who were travelling in convoy on their South island tour, and by coincidence the vehicles allocated to them by Wilderness were brand new and just registered.

I next went through to Bannockburn and walked for an hour in the Gold Sluicings Reserve.

View from the Cromwell side of the Kawarau River across to vineyards on the Bannockburn side with the Sluicings Reserve in the background.

As the Cromwell Top 10 site had been sold since 2017 with the land now a housing subdivision I travelled to Alexandra for Tuesday night in the holiday park there,

Wednesday 10 April

This was an Otago Rail Trail day. I walked from Lauder (near Omakau) 7km over two major bridges and through two tunnels to reach the Poolburn Gorge Viaduct in 2½ hours, including stops for photos and chats with cyclists who were curious about the lone walker on the trail. The downhill return 7km was 1¾ hours back, in time for a late lunch (having had snacks on the walk earlier). So, at 14km return, this was the longest day walk of the trip so far.

The curved rail bridge over the Manuherikia River, 2km from Lauder.

The first of the two tunnels, with a cycling group  parked up while exploring the old tunnelers camp up the steps on the left.

Poolburn Gorge Viaduct, 7km from Lauder.

For Wednesday night it was St Bathans Domain (only 5 campers in a huge park).

Thursday 11 April

Thursday morning I explored the St Bathans village.

The iconic Vulcan Hotel at St Bathans.

Reflections in the Blue Lake, 8:00am on Thursday.

I drove back to Omakau that morning and up to Drybread to visit the gold diggers cemetery. The 1864 miners had scant rations, and bread usually dried out well before resupply occurred, so it became known as the “dry bread” place. The name stuck. I met the lady of the farm on which the cemetery is located and she explained that they had put a mob of sheep in the paddock around the cemetery as well as in the cemetery itself, to keep the grass down, She was sorry it was a bit of a mess. Yep, it was a mess alright.

The sheep wondered what I was up to (sheep poo around the graves).

The track in was plastered with sheep poo, as was the grass either side of the track – I could not dodge it no matter how carefully I tried.

This week’s bird photo on the road to Drybread – a quail perching on a fence? Never seen that before.

From Drybread back through Omakau, over to the Ida Valley and Oturehua, and a visit to the Hayes Engineering works. Earnest Hayes was a brilliant inventor of farm tools and his fencing strainers and windmill driven water pumps were used all over NZ.

We were shown the workshop with fully functioning belt driven machinery running drills and lathes and saws.

The workshop time clock (??)

Pouring rain from the West Coast finally caught up with Ida Valley at 1pm after the workshop visit, so following lunch I drove to Naseby and took the gravel road in the rain through to the Kyeburn Diggings and up to the Dansey Pass Hotel for an overnight stay in the Danseys Pass Reserve. It rained all night. Why Danseys Pass? Well, on 6 March 2006 Lexie and I drove from Duntroon in the Waitaki Valley up via the tussock highlands on Danseys Pass Road through the actual Pass and then down to Dansey Pass Hotel, passing flocks of sheep and smiling drovers during the drive. Then, a hundred metres before we reached the Hotel we saw the back of a large sign which we stopped to look at to see what was on the front facing drivers heading up the Pass. 

6 March 2006 – that’s a thumbs up from me at our having unwittingly taken a road essentially banned for motorhomes.

It looks like we celebrated our achievement that day with two bottles of wine as we camped overnight on the riverbank near the hotel 18 years ago.

What does the sign at Danseys Pass say today?

Still the same. There was no such warning sign on the Duntroon side of the road, maybe because the steepest part is the climb from the Dansey Pass Hotel up to the top of the range, and coming down that 15 km (as we did) is less of an issue.

Friday 12 April

After all night rain at the Danseys Pass Reserve I left for Hyde to fill in a gap in our Rail Trail experience, the route from Hyde to the Prices Creek Tunnel (which we had visited from Tiroiti on the other side in 2015). The recently restored Hyde Railway Station was full of excellent storyboards.

This Station was not restored when we last came through this area. The actual “Rail Trail” is the path with the puddle in this picture.

I had to wait until the drizzly rain cleared around 10:30am before embarking on the walk to Prices Creek Tunnel, accomplishing the walk in 50 minutes, with the return walk 45 minutes, and very worthwhile. It was livestock viewing day, with sheep very interested in me wherever I went.

Lots of cyclists in wet weather gear on the Trail this day.

One of Ernest Hayes inventions – a tensioning wheel on a Rail Trail fence line.

Merinos on their own trail.

They often stopped to look at me up on the railway embankment – “and what are you up to” they seemed to be thinking.

So, on to Ranfurly for Friday night, and a big clean-up at the Holiday Park to get sheep poo from Drybread out of the grooves in my footwear.

Saturday 30 March

I first explored the Brunner Mine Site near Greymouth. On 26 March 1896 a huge explosion in the mine killed 65 men, NZs worst mining tragedy. It was put down to very fine coal dust exploding from an equipment spark, and with dust hanging in the air throughout the underground workings flames roared right up through the workings and out the mine entrance.

The suspension rail bridge was built to carry coal and coke wagons across the Grey River for railing to Greymouth Port. The brickworks and the coke processing area are on the bank on the other side of the bridge with the mine entrance in the hills out of this picture.

For the afternoon I drove up the road to Westport to Punakaiki. There were great coastal views on the way.

You can see the road top right of picture. This photo was taken from the Strongman Mine Disaster Memorial. This mine exploded in January 1967, with 19 miners losing their life.

Punakaiki is well known for its Pancake Rocks and Blowholes.

The Pancake Rocks.

But the Surge Chamber is a feature that people queued to photograph.

The Surge Chamber.

As you can see the day was a stunner with warm sun and no wind all along the coast.

Sunday 31 March

From Greymouth to Hokitika I stopped off at Goldsborough where the original gold mining works involved bring water for sluicing down out of the hills and through tunnels when hills stood in the way. Two of these tunnels are accessible by foot and lead from the main road into a bush walk to the stream that feeds the pipeline.

The pipeline is now gone and replaced by a boardwalk. The above view from the road access looks through to the bushwalk. Lexie and I passed through this tunnel during our 2017 tour of the South Island.

Downstream from Goldsborough there was a span of the original 1891 Arahura bridge in a Heritage Park alongside the modern 2009 concrete bridge. The 1891 truss bridge was a combined rail/road bridge, and during the Beacons episode on road and rail transport we filmed a car driving over it to illustrate how versatile NZ engineers were in developing a single bridge with two functions.

The 1891 bridge had seven truss spans and a deck that enabled cars and trucks to run on planks over the sleepers.

The deck of the combined road/rail bridge.

The 2009 replacement works involved both a new road bridge and a separate new rail bridge. This span is one which Lexie and I would have driven over during our Westland travels before 2009.

Monday 1 April

This day was another goldmining day following the Kaniere Water Race which was built in 1874 to supply water for sluicing claims in the hills east of Hokitika. The 20 km race snaked around the contours of the hillsides and across valleys on wooden flumes.

The Kaniere Water Race crossing a gully carrying a stream.

In 1891 the gold was gone and the race abandoned. However the Ross Goldfields were ramping up production and they needed a source of electricity to operate water pumps in their mining operations, and so the race was recommissioned to provide water for a power station at Kaniere Forks which supplied Ross from 1909 to when the gold ran out in 1916. After several industrial owners the Westland Power Board took over the power station in 1960 and it still operates today.

The race is now a 20km walking and cycling trail, but I only spent a 40 minute walk to get a feel of the country through which it is constructed. In places the sides are lined with timber, and there are numerous flumes over small streams which run down from the hillsides

My final venture on Monday was the Hokitika Gorge visit with its two highly photographed suspension bridges. It is 30km up in the hills south east of Hokitika, and a very popular visitor  attraction. The carpark had four large sections with space for 15 to 20 vehicles each. There were 10s of cars there, dozens of people coming and going on the walkway (mainly Chinese families and German couples) and 1000s of sand-flies.

Hokitika Gorge and the smaller of the two suspension bridges.

Tuesday 2 April

Early morning saw me south of Hokitika on the Mananui Tramline walk which passes an old sawmill site with the line crossing an extensive wetland. In 2017 Lexie and I walked the whole tramline, a 4 hour return journey over wetland and through forest, but this time I only spent an hour overall, surprised by the lack of wetland birds. However on my way out of the wetland area a white heron swooped up from the edge of the swamp, circled around me and settled in the top of a nearby tree.

There did not appear to be a nesting spot in this tree – in any case nesting finished in February.

Next it was my turn to explore the tops of trees in the forest at the Treetop Walk. It was a great experience, just as good as the two Treetop Walks in Australia, one in the Otways in Victoria, the other near Albany in Western Australia.

Yes, I did climb the 106 steps to the top of the tower.

The climb was worth it for the views.

The Ross Goldfields water race walk was next. It was a 45 minute strenuous hiking pole assisted climb to reach the original line of the race coming out of the hills, then a 30 minute descent back down to the township. One had to admire the energy of those early miners in constructing these epic works.

The remains of an original wooden trestle carrying a water pipe across a gully and into a tunnel high in the hills above Ross.

Tuesday night I freedom camped near Harihari to enable an early morning Wednesday start for Okarito.

Wednesday 3 April

There is a wetland walk at Okarito that Lexie and I enjoyed in past travels. White Heron breeding ground tours do not operate as the season is finished, but the company runs bird watching forest and wetland tours throughout the year.

Okarito wetland boardwalk.

This friendly fantail chased sand-flies all around me as a I trekked through the forest on the other side of the Okarito Wetland.

Wednesday was also a return trip to Franz Joseph Glacier and Lake Matheson (the Mirror Lake) at Fox Glacier.

50 years ago when Calum was 7 we walked up the riverbed at Franz Joseph to the foot of the ice at the rock shown above. Today this current view is from as close as the dozens of visitors there with me were allowed to get. The 2023 floods washed out the riverbank track over a large section of the valley up to this viewpoint.

Not only were the Alps covered in cloud at Lake Matheson, the lake itself was host to hundreds of Canadian geese who would have upset the reflections if the Alps were clear.

However, in a brief window through the clouds I did get a telephoto image of Mt Cook sitting behind that treetop.

Thursday 4 April

Overnight for Wednesday and Thursday at Haast Holiday Park enabled me on Thursday to visit Knights Point, the Shipwreck Cove wetland and dune walks, the Hapuka estuary walk, and Jackson Bay Ocean Beach walk.

Knights Point was the Haast end of the Paringa to Knights Point road construction (1958 to 1965) that connected the West Coast to the Haast.

Jackson Bay was a short lived new town1875 to1878, but is now a busy cray fishing port.

On the way out of Jacksons Bay I waited at the side of the road for a large herd of Hereford cattle to pass. Had a chat to the head drover who explained that they had brought these animals down from the Jackson heights after summer grazing and were heading for sale this coming week.

Friday 5 April

Friday, I left the west coast via Gates of Haast, and drove up over the Haast Pass and through to Wanaka, stopping at waterfall vistas on the way.

Heading up the Haast River Valley.

Thunder Creek Falls at the Gates of Haast.

Gates of Haast Bridge.

After shopping in Wanaka I headed up the Cardrona Valley to the Summit Carpark at the top of the Crown Range road to spend the night (freedom camping allowed – but it was cold).

Sunset over Queenstown viewed via telephoto lens from the summit carpark on the Crown Range.

Saturday 23 March

Today I travelled from Westport to Murchison, then over the Lewis Pass to Waipara and freedom camped at Glenmark Reserve.

Sunday 24 March

To Christchurch Tasman Holiday Park which took over the Top 10. Stopped and explored all the coastal villages and beaches enroute to Christchurch. Explored parking at Christchurch railway Station for Tuesday morning Coastal Pacific trip before checking in at Tasman,

Monday 25 March

Laundry and housekeeping followed by Coffee Club lunch at Northlands Shopping Mall.

I checked out the laundry first thing in the morning to see how many coins I would need to do two loads of drying and washing. However there was a sign in the laundry that it was a “cashless” system for operating the washers and dryers. You scan a QR code and when the website for using the machines comes up on the iPhone you click on the machine you intend to use, pay the wash or dryer charge via credit card, then set the temperature (for wash) or heat and time for dry, push start and the system gets underway. Clever stuff.

I seem to be constantly finding new ways current computer systems are easing transactions. When paying online for my tickets to travel the Coastal Pacific there was a question “are you a Senior Citizen – if so enter your Gold Card number in the box below”. When I did this and clicked “next” there was an immediate response, “confirmed”, and the ticket price dropped by 10%. However, on the train the Café staff told us that their Eftpos machines would not work until we arrived in Blenheim or got back to near Christchurch, and they preferred customers to use cash for purchasing food and drink. For those without cash they would run up a tab and come round with the Eftpos machine just before we reached home.

Tuesday 26 March

What a great day out on the train trip. It was 5 ½ hours each way, and I spent half the time going up in the viewing car, and about a 1/4 of the time there on the return to ChCh. The day was cool, windy and sunny going up along the coast, but once we left the coast heading inland to Blenheim it warmed up noticeably. Returning it was sunny through from Picton to the coast but then cool again and overcast with low cloud until we headed inland toward Greta Valley, with a sunny evening all the way home.

Leaving ChCh the sun rose as we headed up to Waipara with a good view of the Glenmark Reserve freedom camping site from where I had photographed the Sunday Coastal Pacific passing by.

My camping location at Glenmark Reserve, Waipara, as we passed at 5 to 8am. It seems to be busy every night.

Sunrise on the hills at Greta Valley.

The coastal views were superb, with lots of traffic on the road.

This truck followed us before and after Kaikoura, so the driver must have stopped for a cuppa while we collected passengers at the Kaikoura stop. The photo angle shows the train as being very long.

The viewing car has handrails designed to prevent people leaning out from the edge of the carriage. I was able to hold the camera at arm’s length to get my views of the front of the train.

Viewing car at the rear going up allowed for great pictures of the front of the train – going back to ChCh the viewing car was behind the engine giving good views of the rear of the train when rounding corners.

Going up the loco was in front of two service cars (baggage and freight), followed by the Scenic Plus carriage (expensive first class service) followed by a Cafe Car, two passenger carriages then finally the viewing car – seven cars plus engine total length. We were just under half full going up, then totally full to Kaikoura going back where a group of a dozen passengers left. Overall the service was well patronised.

I took loads of landscape photos on the trip, showing extremely dry conditions in Marlborough. However the many vineyards were a great contrast from the stock fields.

Vineyard between Blenheim and Picton.

Salt works processing operations at Grassmere with salt streaming onto a stockpile.

I took 255 photos on the trip which will provide great memories in the future. Today I head back to the West Coast via Arthurs Pass, freedom camping on the way towards Greymouth. Will update you on my travels before Easter Sunday.

Wednesday 27 March

Wednesday I began the return to the coast. Rain set in midmorning and around 12 noon I had to take off-road shelter as a huge storm battered the van. I found a thick hedge I closeted the vehicle against at an off-road parking area at Aylesbury near Darfield as rain and hail and strong wind buffeted the van. My objective for the day was to visit the limestone Tors at Castle Hill after travelling over Porters Pass. However, when I arrived at the Tors carpark at around 3:45pm it was very cold and windy and given the return walk to visit the limestone features would take over 40 minutes I decide to camp early for the night and come back early Thursday morning.

Mistletoe Flats DoC campsite for Wednesday night.

It was well sheltered and although very cold outside the gas heater in the van kept me snug. In the morning there was snow on the tops of the mountains all around me.

Thursday 28 March

So I got back to the Castle Hills Tors parking area 20 past 8 Thursday morning with no one else around. The Tors are named Kura Tawhiti now. It was cold and dry with misty drizzle on the hill tops as I set off on the 40 minute loop track in a blustery wind, so strong that gusts threatened to blow me off the track at times.

Parking area with Tors in the distance.

Main group of limestone formations.

The loop track proceeds up around the back of this group with loads of formations over the rise.

It was cold, but I was well wrapped up with Lexie’s old wool-merino hat down around my ears. She gave this headgear to me years back when she got a new one.

Fortunately several areas of the track provided shelter from the wind.

It was then on to Cass where the railway siding shed became famous from a Rita Angus painting.

The modern Cass where goods trains can drop off wagons for local farm stations.

Inside the shed was a book exchange library where someone had left a postcard of the iconic Rita Angus painting.

I had a cuppa while parked beside the railway and as it was 10am I began to work out where the TranzAlpine might be – had it gone through Cass already? I reckoned it might be close given the time it left Christchurch and the distance Cass was on the way to Greymouth. And then, suddenly I could see the 3 bright headlights of the engine way down the line, and then the train came thundering through.

Two engines were hauling the train.

I noticed not only were there two engines, there was two of everything, café cars, viewing cars, first class Scenic Plus cars, and four (instead of two) regular passenger cars – the train was twice the size of the Coastal Pacific which I took on Tuesday.

It seemed quite a coincidence I happened to be at Cass when the train came through (but that was not the end of my train experience that day).

I went on to Arthur’s Pass into steady rain as I approached the Village at 11:30am. I wanted to visit the Devils Punchbowl Falls behind the village, but it was so wet that maybe I had to miss out and carry on to the coast. I went into the DoC Visitor Centre and the lady behind the reception desk was on the phone and I heard her say that the rain was going to ease from 1pm. I then asked her about the weather and access to visit the 131 metre falls. The description of the walk to the falls said there was a 150m climb up to the base of the cascade, which seemed to be out of my level of capability. She confirmed the rain was scheduled to ease from 1pm, and said the climb to the punchbowl pool at the base of the falls involved 400 steps. OK, not for me, but she said there is a good view from the second bridge on the walking trail, and before the steps start.

Devils Punchbowl falls from a distance (only half the height visible) with new snow on the tops – this was around 1:30pm when the rain had fully stopped.

Then it was on to the top of Arthur’s Pass and down the Otira Gorge.

The 1999 viaduct which did away with “Deaths Corner” at the top of the Pass (rain had recommenced and spots got on the camera lens).The viaduct slopes steeply down as the road descends the gorge.

Going down the gorge I was in a huge traffic queue behind a large transporter that was carefully descending in low gear on the steep grade.

I arrived at Otira about 3:15pm and after taking photos of the quirky hotel there noticed 4 railway locomotives coupled together at the station.

There were Lord of the Rings themed sculptures at the hotel.

So I went through the pedestrian underpass to the station and realised that these four engines must be on standby to assist trains to climb the steep grade up through the Otira Tunnel. The down-slope engine was idling so I thought there must be a train coming soon, and sure enough at 4pm the TranzAlpine appeared in the distance, pulling up to stop at the station while the idling engine hitched up to push from the rear of the train.

TranzAlpine pulling into Otira – how about that – twice in one day to see this train.

It was a long train, as I explained before.

Two engines pulling at the front and this third engine (facing backwards) was pushing from the rear.

I spoke to the guy in the hi-viz jacket who coupled up the rear engine, and he said once they get to Arthur’s Pass they uncouple and come straight back down the tunnel to assist the 5:15pm coal train. That will require more than one pusher engine because these coal trains are huge.

So, Thursday was a big day. Late afternoon I arrived in Greymouth and checked in for 3 nights at their Top 10.

Friday 29 March (Good Friday)

I did a loop from Greymouth back up the road to Otira then turning left at Jacksons to take the scenic route via Lake Brunner back to Greymouth. At Kumara, where the last gold rush in New Zealand took place in 1876, there were 25 story panels in the village green covering the history and families of the area.

The gold rush story – these 25 story panels were large and full of information. Needless to say I did not read them, but have photos of the lot to study at leisure.

Lake Brunner was calm and warm, with the village of Moana full of holiday makers.

The house boat harbour at the lake.

Saturday 16 March

Today the Kaikoura Mountains provided a summer vs taste of winter contrast.

Friday morning, 15 March.

Saturday morning, 16 March.

And the whale watch vessel I travelled on on Thursday is the Te Ao Marama.

Passengers are all seated in the cabin ready for the 30 knot dash out over the Canyon.

Hitting 30 knots well out from the marina.

Sunday 17 March

Now for the Sunday Weka Pass trip.

At the photo stopover the train reversed down the track out of sight in a cutting, then travelled back at speed to give us this view. One passenger had stayed on the covered open wagon.

Passing through a typical cutting on the way to Waikari.

Approaching Frog Rock cutting on the return journey. Main road down slope far right centre is near where I took the next photo of the afternoon train trip.

Afternoon train exiting Frog Rock cutting on the climb to Waikari. Uncovered open wagon directly behind the engine.

Frog Rock from the highway.

Weka Pass is home to loads of limestone outcrops both sides of the road and railway.

Monday 18 March

Following my Weka Pass Railway trip yesterday, today was my 2 hour return walk to the Maori Rock Art in a valley behind Waikari. The steep climbing and descents was taxing at times, but it was highly satisfying to have made it.

Half-way up the first climb looking back down to the Waikari Village. My trusty hiking poles taking a rest.

The view into the valley and the rock overhang in which the art work is located. Note from the fence line the steepness of the climbs and descents.

There were dozens of figures spread along 30m or so of overhang. Many had been enhanced by colouring, but you could see lots of faded images below the enhanced ones.

The black and red images were of undefinable creatures. The whole overhang section of the rock art wall was fenced off with wire netting. Many years ago vandals had spread black paint over parts of the wall, and so protective fencing had been erected after restoration work was completed.

Monday afternoon it was on to Hanmer Springs where I freedom camped overnight some 7km out of town.

Tuesday 19 March

Rain set in during the night so when arrived in town 8am Tuesday morning the town was rather dreary with mist low over the surrounding hillsides. However I was really impressed with the huge trees lining the streets, and the modern shops reminiscent of Queenstown. I did not visit the hot pools but sneaked a picture through a back gate.

A small hot pool before 9am opening. By 10am the parking area outside the pools entrance was crowded with cars. Overall Hanmer was a very modern pleasant place.  

As I wasn’t going to the hot pools I took off for the west coast over Lewis Pass, enjoying a very scenic drive through to Maruia Springs and Springs Junction. I had lunch at the DoC Marble Hill Reserve where in 1964 a deep concrete wall had been constructed across the Alpine Fault to monitor any creep or other movement. A narrow gap in the wall was sited exactly over the fault line, but nothing has been detected so far.

I spent Tuesday night freedom camping near Reefton. But that afternoon I visited the site of the old power station, the ruins of which were featured in the 1985 Beacons documentary. I did a piece to camera climbing down steps to the generator location and commented on how derelict the site was, and said this place should be a national monument, being the first community electricity scheme in the southern hemisphere. Well, to my surprise, some nearly 40 years later this is exactly what is happening. The site was busy with building activity as a fully restored power generation system is underway financed by $2.5m of grants and $365k of local funds and in-kind work.

You can see the building work through the “window” in this story board. A new 220kw generator from Sweden is to be installed.

Wednesday 20 March

Today I was early on the road through to Westport and the Charming Creek Walkway. The last time Lexie and I visited was in 2017 when the track access from the coast road at Ngakawau (north of Westport) was closed due to huge slips in the gorge leading to the Mangatini Falls at the top of the 2 hour return walk. We had first done the walk back in the 1990s, then again in 2015 and loved it, so missed out in 2017. Well, 7 years later the track is still closed, so I went through to Seddonville, and up a winding 10km gravel road into the Charming Creek Mine location to take a 4 hour return hike into the Mangatini Falls from the opposite direction. The walk is along the tramway via which coal was transported from the mine in the hills above Seddonville along the Ngakawau Valley to the Mangatini Falls at the head of the Ngakawau Gorge before dropping steeply down to the coast road.

I packed lunch and a drink and set off 11am along the easy grade of the rail bed, which had its original wooden sleepers still evident in many parts. Arriving at the Falls 1pm I then lunched at a story board shelter and headed back 1:45pm returning to the parking area at the old mine ruins 3:30pm (a four-and-a-half-hour expedition). Wow, it was a taxing venture but very worthwhile. Old coal mining equipment as well as sawmilling ironmongery and accompanying story boards was fascinating.

Walkway commencement.

The old tramway had bits and pieces of old wagons in several places. Old sleepers were still there in many parts of the track.

The “locomotive” hauling the coal wagons was actually powered by a large petrol driven Allis Chalmers tractor engine.

The tunnel at the end of this section of walkway took the tramway through to a view of the Mangatini Falls before the rail track began a steep drop down the side of the Ngakawau Gorge (photo above) to the coast for unloading onto conventional train wagons.

Tunnel entrance heading downslope. The raised rail on the right is actually a wooden centre rail for braking the train on the slope down to the coast (right hand rail is not visible, being covered in leaf litter.) You can see the braking centre rail in the B&W photo above.

The Mangatini falls viewed from the tunnel exit.

So Wednesday evening it was Freedom Camping at Hector alongside the highway bridge over the Ngakawau River right on the coast.

Thursday 21 March

Thursday was an exploration day of the Denniston Incline, starting with a 40 minute return walk to the bottom of the incline at Conns Creek where wagons reaching the terminus of the incline were assembled into trains for transport to the coal loading facilities at Westport Harbour.

Conns Creek bottom of incline in the early 1900s.

The designers of the incline put in rails at the same gauge as the main railway along the coast which meant that the coal wagons coming down the incline were assembled in the large marshalling areas at Conns Creek into full trains which then took the line down the valley to the coast and on to Westport. At the harbour cranes were used to lift the coal wagons off their wheel base, suspend them over the ship’s hold, and workers sprang the doors in the bottom of each coal wagon to dump the coal load into the ship.

Marshalling area at Conns Creek.

Train heading down the Waimangaroa River Valley 2km to the coast main line.

Dozens of wagons made up this full train heading for the coastal main line. The 2km long rail line above is now the walkway I took in on Thursday during my 45 minute return walk to Conns Creek from the coast highway parking area.

Conns Creek bottom of incline today, with the crane for lifting supplies into empty wagons to be taken up the incline still preserved.

A full wagon ready to start rolling over the top of the incline. The brake house (roof in bottom left of picture) controlled the speed of the cable which lowered the wagon down slopes as steep as 1 in 1.3.

Brake house foundations today with coal wagon in same place as 1951 B&W photo above.

You can see two illustrated story boards on the right of the above photo – the Conns Creek and Denniston locations had loads of almost brand-new explanatory boards of exceptional quality. It is from these I photographed the B&W illustrations in the before and after pictures above.

Friday 22 March

Last night and tonight I am at the Westport Holiday Park with internet access, and power to recharge camera and computer batteries. The weather has been fine, sunny for large parts of each day, and warm both night and day. I went indoors today for a couple of hours in the Coal Town Museum, a totally modern facility compared to the one we filmed in for Beacons in 1985.

Tomorrow, Saturday 23 March, I head back over the Lewis Pass via Murchison to Canterbury where I will Freedom Camp en route to Christchurch, arriving there Sunday afternoon for a three night stay. Monday will be housekeeping, and Tuesday 26 March I will take the Coastal Pacific to Picton and back, leaving 7am and returning 7:30pm. I wanted to do this trip before daylight saving ended, and leave a gap of some weeks before doing the Tranz Alpine  Christchurch to Greymouth return. I will pick that trip up when I come back through Christchurch later in April. On Wednesday next week I will travel back to the West Coast and to Greymouth via Arthurs Pass.

Monday 11 March

At the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre I took in the two major display halls, Knights of the Sky (WW I) and Dangerous Skies (WW II).

Knights of the Sky: British pilot who crash landed into a tree in German territory being given a cigarette by German pilot while soldiers inspect his tree bound plane.

Dangerous Skies: Lockheed Hudson shot down by Japanese over New Guinea Jungle.

Tuesday 12 March

After having a beach walk and leaving the Marfells Beach DoC campsite I peeped over the fence into the Grassmere Saltworks before late lunching at the Kekerengu Café and stopping overnight at their beachside camping area.

Wednesday 13 March

This started as a windy and showery day on the way to Kaikoura, but I managed to get good photos at the five Cultural Art stopover areas on the newly reconstructed coastal road. These off road parking and landscaped areas include sculptures and display boards relating to Maori heritage, local plants, wildlife and landscape. The seal colony at the Ohau stop overlooked the breeding area with hundreds of females and their pups littering the rocky and grassy foreshore with pups playfully tumbling around with each other in mock combat or frolicking in tidal pools.

Grey fur seal.

Pups at play on land.

Pups at play in their “private” swimming area while mums and feeding pups relax on the rocks.

The rain showers eventually cleared by the time I got to the seal colony in Kaikoura, but there were no seals there. Anyway I wanted to climb the hill behind the parking area (the hiking poles were really useful) and walk the clifftop track to the shearwater colony Lexie and I Last visited 20 years ago. It is now surrounded by a predator free fence, and had grown in size remarkably with hundreds of breeding burrows on the hillside.

Shearwater breeding ground.

Thursday 14 March

After a light and early lunch I joined the 100 plus other whale watching folk on the 1:30pm cruise out to the GPS location where the local sperm whale group had been seen that morning by the two earlier cruises. It was around a 30 minute 30 knot (54kph) dash through 2m swells first over the inshore shelf (water depth 40m) then out over the Kaikoura Canyon (850 to 1200m depth) to where the whales feed at depth (they can dive up to 2000m for 40 to 60 minutes in their hunt for squid as well as small deep water fish). When we reached the spot where whales had been last reported, the boat shut down engines and a hydrophone was used to pick up sperm whale clicking sounds. This gave us the general direction and distance to where they were likely to surface. As everyone aboard scanned the sea for tell-tail spouts from breathing blow off, two whale watching light planes and a helicopter began circling low over the water about 500m away and then we spotted a spout. The crew quietly took the vessel to within about 30m of the whale.

We knew it would only be on the surface for around 10 to 15 minutes while it recharged its oxygen levels before deep diving again. The crew knew when it would dive by watching for two deep breaths in a short interval, and they then said it will dive on the count of 6, and sure enough after 6 counts the tail went up as the whale took off vertically for the deep.

We were told it would be 40 to 60 minutes before it came up for air again, so we all began to look for another whale which we found about 20 minutes later. The crew have names for the several whales which frequent the canyon at this time of year, and the two we saw had Maori names which I am unable to recall. They identify them by the tail flukes with their distinguishing chips and gaps.

After the second whale sighting the crew took us on a direct line to the coast to look for seals and dolphins. While miles away from the coast two seals popped their heads out of the water to look as us as we sped by while another was lazily lying on its back on the water surface. As we got closer to the shore we were suddenly surrounded by dozens of Dusky and Hectors dolphins in a mix of small and large groups.

They frolicked around the vessel as we cruised slowly through them, with groups both sides and in front and rear of us. Overall we really got our money’s worth on the trip which lasted from 2pm to 4:30pm on the water. [By the way, if any trip does not find a whale, Whale Watch refunds 80% of the $165 adult ticket price.]

The vessel had 3 large TV screens which were used to provide commentary during the trip, and at other times we could follow the tracking map (shown here) indicating our position, speed and water depth as we travelled.

Friday 15 March (today)

Took a long walk on the foreshore Esplanade through town before a couple of hours in the Museum. Great displays re whaling as well as local history and records of the 14 November 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake (7.8 magnitude). I must say the road and rail restoration following the earthquake has resulted in the best bits of infrastructure I have ever come across in NZ. The new road is excellent, superior to any of the new roads I have been on this past several months.

Saturday 16 March (tomorrow)

Tomorrow I am away to Waipara to freedom camp overnight in the local Domain before the Weka Pass rail trip Sunday morning. Will be out of internet access for 3 days or so until I reach Hanmer Springs.

I am Ian Gunn of Tauranga, New Zealand, and following a lifetime filled with travel experiences shared with my late wife Lexie (1938-2023), am now travelling widely via motorhome exploring NZ. In addition, as a New Zealander, I currently travel overseas to Australia from time to time.

Lexie and I met within a group of mutual church friends in 1955 while tertiary students in Christchurch, and kept in touch intermittently over the years, meeting up in person in Scotland in 1961 while Lexie was teaching in the Borders and I was a postgraduate student at Kings College, Durham University in Newcastle upon Tyne.

We subsequently cemented our relationship by marrying in NZ in 1963, then living in NZ, Australia and Scotland up to 1969 when we settled in Auckland with our son Calum, born in Glasgow 1967. As a family we travelled widely throughout NZ and subsequently continued overseas travels. Calum first went to Europe then worked in the US for engineering consultants and the World Bank, travelling extensively in the Americas and Asia. Lexie and I motorhome (or RV) journeyed for 13 months throughout North America in 1984, then during the 1990s and early 2000s journeyed across, up, down and completely around Australia in numerous individual trips via motorhome. as well as taking motorhome trips to the UK and Europe. Calum meanwhile married Alicia from Lima in Peru while both were working in Washington DC, and they have travelled extensively in Europe and the Americas while taking breaks from their busy professional lives in Wellington.

For our family it has been, am Gunn, will travel.

This blog provides glimpses of my ongoing motorhome travels in NZ as well as the occasional visit to Australia