Category: Uncategorized

Sunday 23 March:

I started my Saturday visit to Blackball at the original 1898 to 1938 mine workings where —–

—– coal was transported by an aerial ropeway until 1910 when rail service was provided.

Apart from the boiler chimney on the hillside the rest of the coal processing area was concrete foundations and rusty metalwork. The was a sign pointing to “Mine Walk” that turned out to be —–

—– a steep 30 minute climb involving around 10 zig-zags to emerge —–

—– to a hill-top viewing point over Blackball township and right out over the Grey River valley. [It took 20 minutes on the downhill return walk.]

Blackball is famous for the February 1908 miners’ strike when 7 of the men refused to adhere to their 15 minute lunch break and took 30 minutes in spite of a warning to return to work. When they were fired the local Miners Union came out in support and called a strike insisting the men be reinstated without loss of pay. With all mine work stopping men resorted to sports and hunting and gardening with workers’ unions throughout the country raising funds to support the Blackball families. The standoff continued through to May when the company finally caved in and agreed to reinstate the sacked seven.

The formation of the Federation of Labour grew out of the strike, with Bob Semple a leading figure who eventually became a Labour politician and the 1942 first Labour Government’s Minister of Public Works.

This mining museum was set up during the 2008 commemoration of the 100^th anniversary of the strike. Included in the outdoor displays are ——

—– a group of six miners’ huts and this memorial wheel. The huts are fully kitted out with belongings associated with named early miners. The names of all miners on the coast who died in mine accidents since 1990 (including the Pike River victims) are inscribed on ceramic plaques around the circumference of the winding wheel from a mine poppet head.

Monday 24 March:

In December 2024 the “Pounamu Pathway – Journey to a Land of Legends” cultural experience was opened in Greymouth. This immersive digital storytelling self-guided journey is a Poutini Nga Taihu  (people of the West Coast) venture in collaboration with Weta Workshop.

The Mawhera Pa building featuring the experience —–

—– is right near the centre of town, —–

—– and I spent 1½ hours taking in the stunning visual and sound based stories of how pounamu (greenstone) from the West Coast found its way to the North Island and across to the South Island East Coast on pathways via sea and via mountain passes.

From the 1770s to the early 1800s Te Tai Poutini (the Maori name for the West Coast) was the battle ground —–

—– over this rich greenstone (pounamu) resource, with the eastern Ngai Tahu sending war parties across the Alps to attack the western Ngati Waitangi, custodians of Te Tai Poutini.

Tuhuru, “a giant in stature and an awesome warrior” was the paramount leader amongst western Ngai Tahu tribes who defended their custodianship of the precious pounamu. This figure portraying Tuhuru was huge and incredibly lifelike.

You can see his figure’s real size with these other people present.

There was also a 15 minute digital video projection of a day in the life of Mawhera Pa residents where the camera moved around the shoreline (as here just prior to showing the fishing canoe on the right being launched) with children and adults on the beach and planting in their gardens, and with whare and pataka in the background. Archeologists knew the layout of buildings for the Pa and Weta Digital was able to thus create a pretty effective  presentation of community activities over a 24 hour period.

I then set off north up the coast from Greymouth passing through the coal-town of Runanga ——-

—– where the “Miners Hall” presented a statement that no longer would the mine owners be able to ride roughshod over the rights of workers. This hall, dated December 1908, is typical of halls in other mining towns following on from the February to May 1908 Blackball strike and the rise of the Miners Unions and Federation of Labour.

The coastal drive north to Westport has beaches and headlands with offshore rocky outcrops for mile after mile, a far more spectacular drive than the road north from Haast. I stopped at several headlands to —–

—– capture the best wave action I could.

I made it to Punakaiki and the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes in time for some early afternoon refreshment before my walk —–

—– and this guy came right up to my elbow with a covetous glance at the ice cream I was enjoying.

The tide was out so there was no action on the blowholes, but the pancake rocks were crisp and clear —–

—– as was the activity in the surge pool where the waves barrel in through a tunnel under ones feet.

The DoC Visitor Centre was under construction in April last year when I went through, and now is finished with a cultural immersive experience attached ——-

—– which tells of the legendary origin stories of how pounamu came to be on the West Coast. Although the entrance way looked enticing I did not have the 1 hour available this late in the day as I wanted to get north of Westport to Granity School before sunset.

I made it to the primary school grounds in Granity late afternoon and could see that the end of the school building had been shortened very recently ——

—– and that huge new boulder seawall protections had been installed to check the foreshore erosion impacting on the school grounds and building. Granity School and Village has been in the headlines several times over the last 20 years as huge storms have threatened to destroy both the school and foreshore dwellings.

It was then time to head a few km up to Hector to a freedom camping spot close to the beach, —–

—–and watch the sun go down while having tea.

Tuesday 25 March:

I left Hector and after some morning photos of the Granity School coastal protection work travelled through Westport heading for Murchison. There were two places of interest enroute through the Buller Gorge —–

—– the first being Stitts Bluff, where there is one-way traffic under an overhang cut out of solid rock —–

—– as best viewed from Kilkenney lookout, and the second being Berlins ——

—– where alongside the roadside café and campground there is this sculpture of a sand-fly equipped with knife and fork, ready for a meal of any café patron game enough to eat at the outdoor tables.

Wednesday 26 March:

It was a dull morning when I set off up a side valley from Murchison that showed on the map a walkway at the end of the road, but what I found was that the walkway was along an ancient water race servicing the Six Mile power station that first provided electricity for Murchison township in 1922.

This now disused facility is six miles up valley from town, and is guarded by a black sheep and two white companions (over at the fence). The water race intake was a 1.4km forest walk from ——

—– the top of the penstock feeding the power house turbine ——

—– to the intake weir constructed above the first of several water falls high up on Six Mile Creek. The water race (leading away from the weir to the left of the picture) ——

—– had a control gate that could be shut down if the penstock flow had to be stopped for any reason.

Inside the power house the generator (in the foreground) coupled to the flywheel —–

—– and turbine (in the background) looked in excellent order, even though the station closed in 1975.

And those sheep? Well, when I came back down from the top of the penstock to have a look inside the powerhouse the black sheep and two companions came trotting right up to me as though expecting I had some sort of treat for them —–

Meanwhile —–

—– a fantail was dashing around the four of us —–

—– laughing at the sheep, “you’re not going to get anything out of him”.

.From Murchison I travelled up to Lake Rotoiti to spend the night at a DoC campsite, and spent a lazy end of day sitting on a bench soaking up the sun while watching swimmers and boaters enjoying the water —–

—— and batting away the sand-flies seeking any bare skin they could find.

Thursday 27 March:

I travelled back down the road from St Arnaud and Lake Rotoiti first thing to the Kawatiri Junction and joined SH6 on its way from Murchison to Nelson. This was the end of the original passenger railway from Nelson leaving 75km to join the mainline at Inangahua unfinished.

Construction started in Nelson in 1873 and reached the Kawatiri siding here in 1923 after stops and starts affected by construction delays, WWI and financial constraints.  The one tunnel on the line is a 20 minute return walk from the above siding.

The tunnel, completed in 1923, is 185 metres though granite rock, and was a major challenge for construction workers.

The Hope River rail bridge entrance from Kawatiri to the tunnel has been replaced —–

—- by a walkway bridge. The main use of the line was to service farming communities from Nelson to Hope (which is a few km up the road from Kawatiri) but it always ran at a loss, and it was decided to close it in 1955. This was strongly resisted by the community who had lobbied for many years for the line’s completion south to Inangahua. When a demolition train arrived from Nelson in September 1955 —–

—– a group of 9 women sat on the line for a week in protest until they were arrested and taken away so work could proceed.

After my walk on the rail-trail I travelled north to take the direct inland route to Motueka instead of heading for Nelson and up the coast, and was intrigued to spot —–

—– this sign next to —–

—– these three bright roadside items (I hear you say “not another set of outdoor sculptures?”)

The “garden” was several hectares in size with dozens of weird and wacky “sculptures”, a large number developed from split or shredded or shaped timbers. Examples were —–

—– colourful clusters ——

—- or naturally weathered pieces —–

——- or chunky bits —–

—– or splits —–

—– or spikes.

It was quite a relief to come across a more conventional piece titled “Lean on Me”.

I met the artist in his gallery —–

—– where I asked him about the wall hanging “Make Art Not Beef” of which I had seen in other material elsewhere on the property, and he explained they also have a small farmlet with 40 beef cattle as another income source. The male figure carrying a brief case is not the artist, but a mannequin clothed from hat down in thin dried lemon and orange slices (!!!).

Friday 28 March:

I managed to get to Motueka last evening in time to get a freedom camping spot at —–

—– their Beach Reserve where autumn colours are beginning to show —–

—– as the sun rose over Tasman Bay at 7.45. It was then time to get on the road over Takaka Hill into Golden Bay.

First trek of the day was to Hawkes Lookout near the top of the Hill —–

—– where you could see right out over Tasman Bay to Richmond and Nelson with the mountains of the Bryant and Richmond Ranges stretching across the skyline from Pelorus on the left to St Arnaud on the right.

At the next lookout I discovered the entrance gate to Ngarua Cave Tours so took the access road down the hill a couple of 100m to find I was just in time for the 45 minute 10am tour.

So I kitted up at the tour office (overlooking Tasman Bay) —–

—– to find that I was the only person on the first tour of the day (there were 10 people waiting for the 11am tour when my guide and I got back).

Being near the top of the hill the cave system was dry, which meant that the stalactites and stalagmites were of a different character than those in wetted cave systems such as Waitomo and Te Anau.

They were chunky, forming what was termed limestone coral as individual drops of water from groundwater seepage slowly evaporated leaving the mineral content as dried out small noodles.

Lots of bones from small and large moa have been found in locations where the birds had inadvertently fallen down a tomo into the depths of the cave (there were even kiwi bones). There were smaller bush moa as well as the very large birds (see the huge leg bone on the left).

A highlight of the 300m walk through the depths was the great cavern with its 1,000s of coral and very thin “straw” stalactites. My guide sang a waiata which resonated beautifully in the splendid acoustics of this space.

We exited the cave system via a very steep ladder up through the original tomo where the cave discovery was made in 1870.

Overall I would rate this cave experience top of the three systems I have visited (the other two being Waitomo and Te Anau).

After the cave visit it was down the road on western side of Takaka Hill looking out over the Waitui valley leading to Golden Bay.

Like the eastern side the road is very steep and winding, and it was a relief to see the valley floor getting nearer.

As it was only 11.30 am I drove through Takaka and up the Pupu Valley Road to the Pupu Springs (full name Te Waikoropupu Springs).

The entrance way to the Springs walk was pretty impressive with loads of ——

—– excellent story boards and artwork.

The 30 minute forest loop track took you to two viewpoints, first —–

—– the large pool in which there were three areas of strong bubbling up water —–

—– where you could clearly see the source emerging from the 3m depth to the pool floor, —–

—– and the “dancing sands” pool where it was impossible to get a photo of the sands through which the spring water bubbled up.

Leaving the Springs area I noted a gravel side road signposted Power Station walk – “not another local scheme” I thought. So 4km of narrow dusty road took me to the Pupu Hydro Scheme, originally developed in 1929 to service Golden Bay. Once the Cobb River Power scheme opened in 1944 the Pupu unit was kept serviceable as a backup system until 1980 when a burnout of the generator stator closed the station down. The following year the Pupu Hydro Society was formed and over the next 7 years this volunteer group completed a restoration of the power station.

It was only a short bush walk to ——

—– the power house sitting on the valley floor ——

—— and fed by a penstock which delivers water down the hillside from a 1.7 km water race along the top of the valley ridge (similar to the 1922 Six Mile power scheme at Murchison).

Even the turbine, flywheel and generator (the latter two visible on the left of this photo) were similar to the 103 year old generator system in the Six Mile powerhouse.

So, back to the main road through this ford ——

—– and to Takaka, and then to Pohara Beach and the Top 10 Holiday Park for the weekend.

Saturday 29 March:

The limestone walk at The Grove was vegetated almost entirely by —–

—– nikau palms which grew within, around and —–

—– on top of the limestone rock structures.

It was a steep climb up past massive formations ——

—– to a shoulder width defile leading to ——

—– a viewing platform high up within the bluff —–

—– and looking out over Golden Bay and the mountain ranges in the Kahurangi National Park to the west.

So it was a modest walk today, with a big one planned for tomorrow, Sunday.

Sunday 16 March:

A bright sunny day attracted loads of families to visit the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in the northwest Styx area of Christchurch. This facility is quite different from the Orana Wildlife Park I visited during my Week 2 stay in the city. Orana  was like an open-range zoo with long walks between animal enclosures. Willowbank is a compact area of boardwalks and tracks around ponds, lawns, gardens and bush enclosures, and configured into three zones;

• Wild NZ (with 18 types of  NZ and overseas “residents” from eels, water fowl, deer, wallabies, iguana, otters, gibbons, lemurs, tortoises);
• Heritage NZ (with 13 types of domestic and wild donkeys, pigs, chickens, goats. cattle, sheep, rabbits, all within a barnyard environment); and
• Natural NZ (18 areas for mainly native birds, including a kiwi house where you were “guaranteed” to see at least one of their 3 resident kiwi).

At the reception and ticketing area you could purchase a feed “bucket” (the green topped plastic containers with handles for kiddies) or a food packet to assist in making contact with those birds/animals where there was a sign “Feed Me”. [There were lots of species where the signs said “Do NOT feed me”).

Kiddies of all ages had no trouble interacting with the animals, whether it was fallow deer —–

——  or an Arapawa goat, an animal thought to have been brought out to NZ in early settler ships and now resident only on Arapawa Island in the Marlborough Sounds.

There were several unusual geese in the displays, including ——

—– the Sebastopol Goose from Europe with its curly feathers, and —–

—– the Cape Barren Goose from Australia. It is not common in NZ and makes a double-note pig-like grunt earning it the nick-name “pig goose”.

On the unusual animals side is the Capuchin monkey from the Americas ——

—– thought to be one of the world’s most intelligent of the monkey species. A great hit with the visiting kiddies was —–

—– the mother and baby Capuchin. Moments after this photo was taken the baby reached down and grabbed the piece of carrot from under mum’s elbow to yells of delight from the watching children.

Kune pigs were a favourite for feeding.

All the young lad on the edge of the picture had to do to feed this lot was —–

—– to drop the food pellets straight into the open mouth. Those animals which can be fed by visitors know the drill, and when people are around they line up expectantly —–

—– such as this Waipu goat, who is quickly rewarded —–

—– as is his partner. The Waipu is derived from Angora goats which escaped into the wild near Waipu in the late 1800s and became feral. They are the world’s rarest goat breed with less than 40 breeding animals domesticated.

So, did the guarantee re seeing a kiwi eventuate for me? Yes, but only because I stayed much longer in the kiwi house than most other visitors. It takes over 15 minutes to get one’s eyes accustomed to the dark, with low level red lamps the only lighting. There was no floor to ceiling glass between kiwi and viewers as in the last two kiwi houses I have visited, just a glass “fence” topped with a rail at breast height so you could peer over into the forest floor and watch for movement.  When a large kiwi moved into my view and scurried around feeding in the undergrowth for over ¼ hour I was able to whisper and point to others arriving in the kiwi house, “over here, over here”.

Monday 17 March:

On Friday during the wheel bearing replacement at Team Hutchinson Ford they discovered both front wheel brake linings were worn out, so booked me in for today. I therefore took the van in for service from 7.30am, carried on site-seeing till 12noon, drove the repaired van back to the holiday park, and then bussed back into town for the rest of the day (just as I did on Friday).

My objectives today were an in-depth look at Turanga (the new library) and to visit Te Puna O Waiwhetu, the Art Gallery. The library was unlike most libraries I have visited in the past, with loads of art work ——-

—– including at the main entrance these “urban sheep” which are —–

—– part of the City Council’s “Enliven Places” programme for delivering public space art works throughout the city.

Although books are the staple information source ——

—– there were computer stations everywhere, and ——

—— reading areas with comfortable chairs/sofas, plus cultural displays (Gay Pride exhibits and no Brian Tamaki “heavies” around) and —–

—– a Persian New Year display (Happy Nowruz).

And then there was an alcove where videos could be shown on a large screen. It was showing a 2023 dance film collaboration between a crochet artist and a choreographer to present a Maori world view through dress and movement. 

Dancers wore crocheted dress items and carried crocheted artefacts with crocheted panels and figures in the background, including —–

—– this figure here.

I was also told to visit the fourth floor outdoor garden to get a view of the city. With a post-quake building height limit of 28m set for most of the city, rebuilds were from four to six stories in height depending on the ceiling height set by the architects. The Turanga building had high ceilings, hence only four floors.

The roof garden views (see reflection in the window on the right) set out the variety of buildings filling the city from the new 4 to 6 story ones and the older high rises that survived the quakes and were able to be refurbished and strengthened at their original height.

The Art Gallery was once such survivor, having been constructed to modern earthquake building standards, with its external glasswork ——

—— remaining firmly braced by clever design (view looking directly up from my lunch table in the café).

In addition to a wide range of exhibitions inside the gallery, such as this ——

—– water sculpture “Fountain in Transit” in the main foyer, there was the notable outdoor sculpture —–

—– that has been a feature of the Christchurch art work scene for decades.

On my walk four blocks back to the bus interchange through the after-work crowds heading for the evening bars and restaurants, I noticed a large group of people on the River Avon access steps near the Bridge of Remembrance.

They were feeding Tuna kuwharuwharu, the longfin eels that live in the Avon at these steps.

Tuesday 18 March:

Leaving Christchurch for Waipara I managed to get in two wetland walks (around 35 minutes each) plus a sculpture viewing before forecasted heavy rain set in from late morning.

The Styx Mill Conservation Reserve challenged one to observe some 8 waterfowl species, but although I saw  —–

—– one Australian coot (above) and one female Paradise shelduck on their extensive pond areas —–

—— it seemed that Canadian Geese (not on the 8 bird list) had taken over as the main residents.

The second wetland was near Kaiapoi, the Otukaikino-Living Memorial, being a collaboration between DoC and Lamb and Hayward Funeral Directors which since 1992 have facilitated planting of this culturally significant area sacred to Ngai Tuahuriri Romagna. Over the years a native plant has been provided for every funeral conducted by Lamb and Hayward, with a volunteer group doing monthly plantings.

The wetland walking loop has ——

—– picture boards showing pre-planting views which ——–

—– you can compare with the current view today.

There were no waterfowl on the ponded areas at Otukaikino, but plenty of song birds in the short forest walk from carpark to wetland.

The Fanfare Sculpture was my final visit before travelling in rain to Waipara for an overnight freedom camp at Glenmark Reserve.

This distinctive 20 metre diameter globe is placed at the beginning of the main motorway entrance to Christchurch which starts near Kaiapoi. It was originally hung below the Sydney Harbour Bridge to mark New Year 2005, and then was gifted to Christchurch City by the City of Sydney in 2007. It was reassembled here in 2015 by the City Council in collaboration with the designer, NZ born sculptor Neil Dawson.

There are 360 stainless steel fans (each 1.5 metres diameter) of which there are always some spinning whatever direction the wind is coming from. These remind me of the plastic windmills on a stick we used to run around with on A&P Show Days when I was a kid.

Wednesday 19 March:

I seem to be having a sculptural feast this week with today’s visit to ——-

—— Iron Ridge Quarry sculpture garden 11km west of Waipara up Ram Paddock Road  into the Waipara River Gorge.

This old lime quarry was purchased by Raymond Herber in 1997, and after bringing in 170 truckloads of topsoil to “sculpt” and landscape the quarry floor set up his metalwork sculptural  workshop, extending the skills he used in producing large metal sculptures for the new Te Papa in Wellington. He and partner Heidi live on-site in their home alongside the workshop, with Heidi tending the grounds while Raymond carries out commissions for clients local and international.

This stainless steel Clydesdale is a “flagship” feature of the park —–

—– which is sprinkled with dozens of steel and iron works ——

—— including this “Dandelion Flying” sculpture.

Scattered around the quarry floor garden as well as the hillside walk are limestone sculptures from guest artists, these selling well according to Heidi (this one priced at $1,050). The hillside walk provided a view out over the Waipara River Valley, with this view —–

—— framing the highest sculpture on the hill above the workshop area. Those hills in the background provided an interesting perspective on the Waipara River Valley.

They almost seem to have been painted by a landscape artist.

Thursday 20 March:

Today was a lazy day walking around Hanmer Springs after overnight rain cleared in the morning, then after lunch continuing my sculptural feast by walking the Forest Amble Sculpture Track.

Hanmer was established as a spa resort in 1860 by the Government, which then in 1897 opened a sanatorium to take advantage of the “healing waters and alpine environment” to treat sickly people. After the sanatorium burnt down in 1914, it was replaced in 1916 by —–

—– the Queen Mary Hospital to treat wounded soldiers from WWI. It continued as a military hospital during WWII, then under the national hospital service as a treatment facility for drug and alcohol dependency up to closing in 2003.

The Hot Pools were used by the hospital over many years to help patient recovery, and no, I did not use them – this photo of one of the outdoor pools was taken through the back fence.

I then discovered on an information board at the Hot Pools that the Hanmer Heritage Forest had a Forest Amble Sculpture Trail. OK, I was up for another dose of sculpture viewing so off I went. The  Heritage Forest was established by the NZ Forest Service in the early 1900s in experimental trials of introduced exotics to study those best for the NZ environment. Today Ngai Tahu owns the wider commercial Hanmer Forest of which the Heritage section comprises 204 hectare.

Sculptor Andrew Lyons of Christchurch used timber from a redwood tree that grew outside the Hot Pools facility to create a series of wooden sculptures along the 1 km circuit. I teamed up with an Australian couple form Perth to spend around an hour ambling along in the quietness and windless ambience of the forest with sunlight touching the tops of the very tall trees above us, and birdsong all about us. Here is a selection of what we found.

First, at the entrance, we were greeted by a dog on a tree stump, and —-

—- were invited to “follow the dog” around the walk. A picture of this dog was attached to trail markers throughout the walk.

After we passed couple of very large squirrels I was the first to spot ——

—- these wooden fantails in a tree above us. From then on we kept looking up as well as around to spot whatever might come next, like this —–

—– climbing bear.

Depictions of NZ wildlife included ——

—– this falcon, and ——-

—– this iguana.

Overall the 15 sculptures (singles and groups) were an absolute delight, set amongst Corsica Pines, Austrian Pines, European Elders, Norway Spruce, European Larch and Macrocarpa, with an understory of sycamore, silver birch, rowan and cherry, some of which were starting to show autumn colours.

Friday 21 March:

Leaving Hanmer Springs you reach SH7 north to Lewis Pass by crossing back over the Waiau Gorge river bridge to then travel up the Waiau Valley.

The Waiau Valley is broad as is the braided river that covers a large part of the valley floor.

The Gorge has this 1887 wrought iron one-way bridge providing the only road access to Hanmer. [The original wooden bridge of 1864 was destroyed in a northwest gale in 1874.]

The road up to Lewis Pass has an imperceptible upward grade through mostly open country with tussock river flats until suddenly there is a sign for the pass, and then there is a steep forest lined descent down to Maruia Springs and Springs junction.

This descent provided views of the rugged country on the western side of the pass, which then flattens out at ——

—– Marble Hill Conservation Area where I stopped for lunch, and a bush walk to ——

—– the “Sluice Box”, where the Maruia River squeezes through a narrow rock-lined channel.

From Springs Junction the road branches either north on SH65 to Murchison, or continues as SH7  northwest to Reefton. I stopped off at the entrance to Reefton township to have a look at the old powerhouse and generator restoration work that was in progress last April when I went through. Reefton was the first community in the Southern hemisphere to receive reticulated electricity.

The original power scheme was commissioned in August 1886 and went through two upgrades until it was decommissioned in 1946 with the arrival of main grid electricity. The current project has spent over $3 million to install a new 220w turbine to again supply the township of 1,000 people (same size as in 1886) with local power, and at the same time they have upgraded the ruins of the original station.

A new timber flume will carry river water from well upstream direct to the turbine in the generator building (or powerhouse) on the river bank – the scheme is not quite completed yet with opening date still to be advised.

Display panels with a frame through which you can take photos provided an overview of the new scheme.

My photo through the last frame shows the new red painted power house and alongside (towards the camera) the grey mock-up of the original 1886 turbine fed by a black pipe.

Reefton’s main street was spick and span with bright buildings and verandahs hung with flower baskets.

Fancy a pizza delivered by TukTuk?

Saturday 22 March:

Had another “that looks interesting” moment today when I saw a sign “Historic Gold Mining Town – 17km” about 8.15am on my way south from Reefton. I presumed it would be a winding gravel road into the bush, but the first 10km were on a one-way sealed road with freshly mown verges to the fence line on both sides of the road, and which took me to —–

—– Blackwater Historic School. The building is being restored in stages (new paint on the entrance porch)  but inside the school room, with desks and children books and papers all around, it looked like they were in class here this past week.

It was the sign at the school entrance —-

—– that had me scratching my head in a “will I or won’t I” moment. The “will I” won out and off I went on —–

—– a gravel, very narrow, windingly steep road 7km into the forest and hills —–

—– to suddenly burst out onto a plateau and shallow valley that comprised what was left of Waiuta township, now looked after by DoC. There was only one other sightseer here when I arrived at 9.15am, but on the way out at 11.30am I met two cars, and had to reverse uphill to a wider section of the narrow road so these uphill folk could squeeze past with cm to spare.

Waiuta became a goldmining township from 1905 when 4 lucky prospectors found rich gold bearing quartz on the ridge. Over 45 years it became NZs second richest goldmining area (Waihi mine was the richest). It comprised two main shafts, the Blackwater and the Prohibition. Prohibition was worked to a depth of 879 metres being some 300 metres below sea level. However, in July 1951 the Blackwater shaft collapsed and flooded, resulting in closure of the total mining operation. With no employment available the 600 population of Waiuta had to leave, and within 3 months only20 residents remained.

I spent 2 hours walking the whole series of tracks viewing ruins —–

—– such as the miners bath-house —–

——- as well as restored cottages —–

—– and the police station. The lockup seemed to be mainly used for letting drunks sleep off their inebriation rather than for dealing with criminal offenders, as the place was generally pretty law abiding.

The hospital building is now restored as a community hall and group bunkroom.

The roads and tracks were excellently maintained, with a grass areas mown and trimmed, and remnant buildings freshly painted with detailed story boards everywhere – a real credit to DoC.

They even had a rugby field plus paved tennis courts for staff and community recreation.

My original programme for today had been to explore Blackball Mining Town east of Greymouth, so with the diversion to Waiuta I ended up in Blackball after lunch. I spent 2 hours there, including a 45 minute Mine Walk, before heading to Greymouth for a Sunday housekeeping day. So I will tag the Blackball experience onto tomorrow, Sunday, in next week’s Travel Notes as there will likely be no photos for the first day of Week 10 and I will thus give you the Blackball photos then.

Sunday 9 March:

This was a full “rest” day in Greymouth, with no regrets re not sampling the huhu grubs of the Wild Food Festival in Hokitika. One of the food truck trailers from the Festival was overnight Saturday near me in the Top 10 leaving on its way back to Christchurch today. So laundry and van cleaning plus reading and relaxing on a hot sunny day was in order – hence no photos for the day (but I make up for this tomorrow).

Monday 10 March:

I had booked in for the Mistletoe Flats DoC campsite for tonight, halfway back to Christchurch via Arthur’s and Porters Passes. While heading for the Otira Valley on SH73 Greymouth to Christchurch I spotted a “Historic Plaque” sign as I crossed a one-way bridge some 40km from Greymouth. “Historic Site” signs are common while travelling, but “Historic Plaque”? So I turned around and went back to check it out. The plaque was on a concrete block in the bushes at the side of the road, not easy to get to. But, it was an IPENZ (Institution of Professional Engineers NZ – now Engineering NZ) Millennium Project Plaque. In 2000 IPENZ erected country-wide plaques recognising significant projects or people in NZ’s engineering history. This was one of them, and about a person.

Finding the plaque about Charles O’Connor in the bushes was the first unexpected event of the day.

The bridge piers O’Connor designed were never used for the railway as its final location was changed to pass alongside Lake Brunner instead of going through Kumara.

However, the road designers notched steel girders into the sides of the piers and used the girders to carry the weight of road traffic. The solid piers were intended to carry the weight of the railway engines of the 1880s.

Lexie and I had already come across the fame Charles O’Connor achieved in Western Australia with the 350km Perth to Kalgoorlie water pipeline. We never knew of his association with the West Coast.

We followed sections of O’Connor’s pipeline between Kalgoorlie and Perth in February 2004 [photo from Wikipedia, as I have not scanned our print photos of that trip yet.]

Just before reaching Otira Village around noon the Tranz Alpine train whizzed past on its way to Greymouth (by some quirk of my travel timings I seem to keep coming across these trains regularly).

I then stopped for lunch in the van at Otira where the locals seem to have a thing about local drug use [“Absolutely no A class drugs will be tolerated here” – OK, what about Class B?]. However, the Lake Brunner school kids had spent some time in 2023 at the village decorating the railway pedestrian underpass with dozens of murals.

With the many signs warning pedestrians not to cross the railway tracks here, but instead told to use the underpass, I guess the message is, “do as you are told or the Taniwha will get you”.

As I explained last year two sets of double locomotives are stationed at Otira to help push the Tranz Alpine and the several daily coal trains to Lyttelton up through the Otira rail tunnel.

So back to O’Connor’s record on the West Coast. As I climbed the very steep Otira Gorge road I had to marvel at the location of the road, surveyed and constructed under O’Connor’s supervision following Arthur Dobson’s selection of the pass into the gorge as the best route through to Westland from Canterbury.

This avalanche shelter and stream water flume overpass further on were both running with water when I went down this road last year.

Today both were dry as heavy traffic crawled at almost walking pace up the steep incline.

Even going down the 1999 viaduct that bypasses “Deaths Corner” heavy trucks have to crawl in low gear to avoid potential run-away, this resulting in traffic build-up behind the trucks.

From the viaduct lookout you can see back up to the top of the pass where O’Connor started his survey and road construction, and  —-

—– where the Arthur Dudley Dobson memorial is located [stock photo above], recognising his discovery of the Pass on March 12, 1864.

Now, in the photo above, just hidden by the vegetation between the stone pillar and the road, is an off road parking area for people visiting the memorial, and where the second unexpected event of the day occurred.

As I reached the top of the pass a loud repeating “whomp, whomp” came from the front left wheel so I pulled into the parking area just in front of an SUV and lay on a mat to look under the front of the van for anything loose that might be hitting the front wheel –  nothing visible. The driver of the SUV called out asking if I had a problem, and I said I think I’ve got a failed wheel bearing. He said “we can readily check that” and grabbing the top of the wheel he shook at it, and it moved, and we agreed that did not look good. We then checked the right front wheel and it was firm as a rock, so he said I should be OK to drive on carefully. I replied “Christchurch, here we come, slowly” and thanked him for his help. So instead of ‘trickling” to Christchurch over two days I “whoomp whoomped” my way for the rest of the afternoon arriving a day early at Tasman Holiday Park in Papanui. They, of course, were very happy to book me in for the extra day so it was with some relief I settled in for the night.

What was further interesting was that as I approached and passed Mistletoe Flats DoC campsite I could see the forest on the hillsides right down to the road had been burnt out in the fire of 6 December 2024 between Castle Hill and Bridge Hill, so my intended night in the forest at the campsite would not have been a pleasant one with remnant fire smells all around.

Tuesday 11 March:

I was at Team Hutchinson Ford in the central city at 7:30 am, and pleased to have them fit me in for wheel bearing repair this coming Friday. So I parked up at Eastgate Mall in Linwood at 8am, and after 9:00 when free Gold Card bus travel kicked in, took the Orbitor bus 1¼ hour circuit right around the outer city area passing the four large city shopping malls in the process. I then returned to my site at Tasman to park the van until Friday morning – no point in chancing further damage to the wheel bearing before repairs are carried out. No photos again today (but I made up for that yesterday).

Wednesday 12 March:

Rain began steadily from around 4am and continued through to after 10am. When a break in the cloud came at 10.30 with the sun shining through for 10 minutes or so I optimistically rugged up against the 15 degree outside temperature, put on my waterproof gear, and brolly-up headed for the No.1 bus to travel to Kaiapoi.

Rain started bucketing down as I headed in this electric bus up great North Road from Papanui, but by the time we reached Kaiapoi ½ an hour later it had paused.

The river front harbour at Kaiapoi has moorings for pleasure boats and the ——-

—– River Queen faux paddle steamer excursion boat.

The orange roofed building behind the boats in the harbour view (2 photos above) is the “Paris for the Weekend” café.

Entrance to the café is under the overhanging eve on the left of the building, and given their outdoor sign touting the excellence of their cheese scones, I ordered one with coffee, and was offered jam and whipped cream with it (a sort of cheese Devonshire tea) – it indeed was excellent.

Alongside the entrance ramp into the café was a wind vane highlighting the nautical history of this river harbour with ——-

—— the silhouette of a three-masted schooner. This had been a busy port in the past.

The real surprise regarding the café was finding its origin from the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury Earthquake displays in the Museum which I visited after my 11.30 coffee and scone time.

The café building was originally the Kaiapoi Railway Station ——-

—– and after being lifted off its foundations in the quakes [Museum photo] was relocated and restored to eventually become “Paris for the Weekend” in 2016.

I left the Museum just after 1pm as the rain started coming down again, and bused back to Papanui to get into camp and change out of my wet clothes. However, the trip to Kaiapoi was really interesting, and a good, but short wet day out.

Thursday 13 March:

Overnight I booked for a 1pm to 2.30pm luncheon cruise on the Kaiapoi River Queen for today, as the weather was to be clear, fine and warm. So 11am I caught the No. 1 bus again and headed for the Kaiapoi waterfront. As I had some time to look around before boarding the River Queen I decided to walk up to ———

—— this pedestrian footbridge which is a well-known feature of the Kaiapoi River area.

The bridge is across the road from ——–

—– the Mandeville Tavern. Mandeville, near Gore, is the home of the Croydon Aviation Centre which featured in Week 5’s Travel Notes, but I do not know of any connection between the two Mandevilles.

So here is the bridge today, Thursday, ——-

—– and here it is after the February 2011 earthquake. The Mandeville Hotel in the upper left is hidden by a large tree in the photo taken today.

The River Queen is an all-electric twin-prop vessel which makes for very quiet travel down the Kaiapoi River into the Waimakariri River and then on to the river outlet to the ocean.

Main deck diners as we head down-river ——–

—– and top-deck “imbiber” as we approach the river outlet with ——–

—– fisher-folk lining both the banks of the river and the sandy spit on the beach at the river mouth.

Vegetation on the river banks included loads of dead tree branches as with the ground sinking during the earthquakes the resulting high water table saturated tree roots and killed the trees. Now, 14 years later, bank-side plants are still slowly adjusting to this environmental change.

There were ducks, seagulls and shags on the river, with this pair taking time out from fishing to sunbathe on the tidal flats.

So, after docking at the river front harbour following the cruise it was time for an afternoon tea stop at ——-

—— my favourite Kaiapoi Café before heading downtown to catch the No.1 bus back to Papanui. The cruise and meal made for another good day out.

Friday 14 March:

I was away at 7am to Team Hutchinson Ford in the central city, and after dropping off the motorhome for the wheel bearing repair explored on foot the new commercial areas and laneways between the bus interchange and Cathedral Square.

Five Lanes has narrow laneways leading from 4 separate main streets into central hidden squares with shops and eating establishments throughout the lanes and the squares. Innovative planning has gone into Christchurch’s earthquake recovery, leading to all sorts of surprises ——-

—– such as this Little Fiddle Irish Pub revealed in another hidden square off a side-lane from Five Lanes.

It was nice to see something familiar, such as the front of the old post office in Cathedral Square. It had been the city information centre for many years and following the 2011 earthquake was to be refurbished and converted to shops and restaurants. However, redevelopment stalled, then last year the owners went into voluntary liquidation.

The other stalled project in the square is the Cathedral itself. After spending over $100 million funding has run out, and the restoration work mothballed until fund raising can enable continuation of the project.

The north side of the mothballed Cathedral (taken from the new City Library).

This is a billboard depiction of the south side of the proposed completed Cathedral.

Some 1,460 commercial buildings were destroyed by the earthquakes (some 85% of the central city area). The renewal over the past 14 years has been extraordinary – the whole city is fresh and new.

The library on the north side of the square is an example of the new face of the city, but it was the internal architecture which I found refreshing.

This children’s’ section has a huge play area alongside book displays ——–

—– and access between floors is provided by these “floating” timber staircases.

Also, scattered throughout the building is a range of artwork.

Once again I used an All Day Tram Pass to get around the city, hop-on/hop-off throughout the day. Some of these trams go back to the late 19^th century, being retired in the 1950s. This one had a typical sign of the times for that period with ———

—— this warning. Not sure who enforces the penalty.

Tram Stop 12 (out of the 18 stops) was for the Arts Centre.

These buildings were, in the 1950s, the University College of Canterbury, and included the engineering school where I studied for 3 years. For many years the 23 buildings in the complex were operated by a Trust which in 2009 realised that its $20 million dollar insurance cover was well below the replacement value of the time, and so reinsured the buildings. This was fortuitous as the revised cover enabled it to undertake restoration work after the earthquakes which would have been impossible under the old insurance cover.

The upper floor of one of the refurbished buildings contains an exhibition on the Arts Centre Restoration Project, and the cross-bracing in the ceiling shows the type of strengthening work undertaken. The insurance funds have now run out with two of the most severely damaged buildings (part of the old engineering school) mothballed until funds can be raised to complete the work.

Rutherford’s “Den”, where Sir Earnest Rutherford conducted his experiments on the structure of the atom, has been part of the completed restoration work.

The “Den” is a downstairs basement room off the main quadrangle in the Centre, and ——–

—– in an upstairs original lecture theatre they have extensive displays on Rutherford’s life and work for which he received the Nobel Prize while in his late 30’s. The display panel above quotes Albert Einstein as saying that Rutherford “was a second Newton” who expanded the frontiers of human knowledge. Praise indeed.

The quadrangle at the Arts Centre features its distinctive cloisters.

While exploring the Arts Centre at 11am I got a call from Team Hutchinson Ford to say the van was ready, so I walked through town to pick it up, drove out to Papanui to park it on my site at Tasman Holiday Park, then bussed back to town and caught the Tram to return to the Arts Centre. It was quicker to do this than continue sight-seeing in the city and battling rush hour traffic by picking up the van late afternoon. In addition I was able to stay in town till after 6pm, finishing up at Regent Street where ——-

—– I enjoyed a “Hokey, Tokey, Pokey” chocolate topped ice-cream while sitting with a “friend” from “Rollickin Gelato Desserts”.

So, the day ended at Regent Street with a four-city block walk to the bus interchange (trams stopped at 6pm) and then back to camp – a busy walking and riding day overall.

Saturday 15 March:

I drove out to New Brighton and explored the Saturday Market and then the beach area. The main building on the beachfront is the Library and the “Salt on the Pier” Restaurant and Café.

The Library is on the right of the clock tower, and ——-

—– the café downstairs and restaurant upstairs on the left.

After lunch I walked the 300m long pier (longest in Australasia) ——

—– which was built in 1997 at a cost of then $4 million. It was damaged in the 2011 earthquake costing $9 million in repair work which was completed in 2018.

On the walk out I found people peering over the side at some sand art ——

—– commemorating the 6^th Anniversary today of the March 2019 shooting tragedy.

Fishers were landing catch at the end of the pier which was equipped with wash-down benches for people to handle their catch and prepare bait.

Meanwhile ——

—– there were loads of folk enjoying the sun and 26 degree heat up and down the beach either side of the pier.

Sunday 2 March:

With rain setting in overnight Saturday I was pleased to have completed the four walks that day in the dry. Although today there was a brief spell of early morning sun, heavy rain set in from 8.00 through to 11.00. I took off for Jackson Bay around 11.45 with low cloud on the eastern mountains to reach the steep bushed slopes on the south side of the Arawhata River.

The Arawhata drains a huge mountainous catchment to the south of Jackson Bay and has a long one-way bridge to cross its extensive gravel bed. The road to the Bay turns sharp right after crossing the river and runs alongside the hills on the left which eventually squeeze the road right up against to foreshore some 5km from Jackson Bay Harbour.  

Every time there is really heavy rain the sodden bush slips down onto the road carrying gravel and rocks and boulders ——

—– blocking the road completely. The last storm blocked two portions of the road in a similar manner as shown at this location, and it will take weeks to restore the sealed road alignment while travellers use a temporary bypass.

I had a yarn with the owner of the Cray Pot Café while having lunch, and he said that from September last year to this February they had road shut-downs of 22 days due to slips along this last 5km of the road into the Bay. The last one resulted from a 320mm rainfall over 24hours.

The area was settled by European immigrants from 1874, but farming and forestry was not as successful as hoped for, and although some hardy pioneers stuck it out today village commerce centres around fishing, specifically crayfish and long line catches.

The Cray Pot Café attracts a lot of custom during the tourist season, and when I arrived the parking areas were crowded with motorhomes and cars, with the indoor and outdoor dining areas chocker with people. So I decided, that as the rain had eased, I would take 20 minute bush walk out to the Ocean Beach.

The signs at the beach here warned about trying to walk around the shoreline to the next bay (Smoothwater Bay) as the conditions included a rough boulder beach ——

—— and very rough seas, particularly at high tide.

The bush walk was sand-fly infested, but for a local fantail I acted as his larder while he dived and twisted up and down and around and behind me scoffing the insects I was attracting.

At one point he stopped and looked at me as though saying; “Thanks mate  – I have had a great feed – if you like you can head off to the Cray Pot for your lunch”. Which I promptly did.

The crowding at the Cray Pot had eased when I got there at 1.30pm for a superb meal of blue cod, salad and chips. I sat outdoors overlooking the wharf, but the sand-flies were no problem due to long sleeves (and having a beard helps).

The real threat to diners were seagulls waiting to swoop for scraps on any plate left on an outdoor table once someone stood up to leave following dining.

Monday 3 March:

Heavy rain set in again on my return to camp at the Haast River Holiday Park, and continued throughout most of the night. It reminded me that I had said to you in last week’s Travel Notes that the Roaring Billy Falls (where the large tree was stranded on the river gravel) were modest but in heavy rain would be a raging torrent.

So, with effectively having had two days of rain, the last one heavy, I decided to go back up the Haast valley and check out Roaring Billy.

At a road-side bluff on the way up, where there was no sign of water when I came through on Saturday, a huge torrent was cascading down out of the bush.

So here again is the Saturday view of Roaring Billy and the stranded tree —–

—- and here is the Monday view, with the river now right across the gravel bed and rising quickly to maybe nudge this tree further down-stream.

And, as you can see, Roaring Billy was really “roaring” this time compared to Saturday’s trickle.

Leaving Haast over the very long one-way bridge (with two passing places dividing the bridge into thirds) I headed into the murk towards Lake Paringa.

This was the view in the rain at Knights Point.

As I crossed the Kaka Stream bridge near Lake Moeraki I caught a glimpse of yellow as I whizzed over the bridge, so turned round and went back to investigate.

It was a Caterpillar D8T bulldozer working in the stream bed downstream of the bridge.

On the West Coast heavy rains result in many streams carrying gravel and boulders rapidly downstream and piling this material up under bridges, blocking the waterway. So there is lots of work for contractors with bulldozers in clearing the channels before the next heavy rainstorm.

Lake Paringa was my stopping off point for the night in advance of a walk to Fox Glacier next day. The DoC camping area filled up overnight, but I got there early and secured a good spot with lake view.

This father took his little boy down to the boat launching area, and on the way back past me to their van I heard the young lad repeatedly say “they are biting me – they are biting me”.   Yes, this place was sand-fly infested which meant keeping windows closed whatever the weather.

Tuesday 4 March:

From a cold misty morning at Lake Paringa I headed north to the Fox Glacier walkway just a couple of km before Fox Glacier village.

The carpark was filling quickly at 9.00am as I took this photo of the river flowing from the glacier upstream with its load of rock-flour making the water grey-white.

The walking track for the most part was on the original road access-way to the viewing point for the glacier, but in 2019 a huge flood washed out a section of the road. With an estimated cost of $16 million to re-establish road access, and then no guarantee the same thing would not happen again, restoration of the road was abandoned. So a steep up and down foot track through the bush now enables cycle and pedestrian access around the washout back onto the road and up the valley to the original car parking area (now with bike-stands instead of car parks). Instead of a 10 minute drive (as at 2019) it is now a 4.8km 1hr 30min return walk. I was away 2 hours, 1 hr 40min walking and 20 minutes viewing and photos. The road climbs steadily up the valley, so at places is slow going and hard work.

The glacier is large, sweeping steeply down the valley below the snowfield at the base of Douglas Peak with tributary glaciers coming in from left and right. I decided to take a close-up of the ice texture where the base of the glacier disappears behind the ridge on the left of the photo, and to my surprise —–

—– when I viewed the resulting photo on the computer I discovered a 5-person guided walking party on the ice, presumably 4 hikers and a guide. There is a Fox Glacier Heli Hiking drop-off point out of sight behind the ridge on the left

Back on the road at 11.30 I drove straight through Fox Glacier village and out west to Lake Matheson, famous for its reflections of the mountains on a clear day. No such luck today with low cloud hanging over the tops all day. However, a viewing point called Glacier View was signposted several km further down the Lake Matheson access road, so I went to investigate.

Originally this location was known as Peak View, but in 2022 it was redeveloped as a cultural heritage site with a broken canoe [as shown in this picture “borrowed” from DoC]. Ngai Tahu mythology describes how Aoraki and his brothers (all sons of Ranginui, god of the sky) voyaged from the heavens onto the Pacific ocean, but made a serious error when they could not find land and capsized the canoe (which became the South Island) with the brothers becoming petrified into NZs tallest mountains.

Cloud conditions prevented my getting a decent shot of the glacier today (hence the “borrowed” picture above), but ——

—– the broken canoe was a masterpiece in carving, giving me several good shots.

Wednesday 5 March:

I left Fox Glacier yesterday afternoon and set out over the hilly winding road of the Omoeroa Saddle between Fox and Franz Josef to base myself at Franz Josef Top 10 Holiday Park for two nights. The weather forecast showed fine sunny conditions for my Okarito Boat Eco Tour this morning, and indeed conditions were perfect.

The 30km Franz Josef to Okarito road led me past lake Mapourika where the sun, at 8.00am, was just coming over the eastern mountains to chase away the lake mist.

Arriving at the Okarito wharf I met Swade and Paula —–

—— who greeted me with  “you must be Ian” as there were 4 couples and me booked for the morning cruise. [Photo from their web-site.]

We were told that if we looked carefully over the wharf edge we would see Heronimus (presumably not spelt Hieronymus, the Greek for Jerome) the local great white heron who has adopted this part of the tidal flats as his regular low tide feeding spot. 

Herons stand tall watching the water flow for passing small fish or eels, and —–

—– when they see a prospective target, they stretch their neck forward, and then —–

—– strike quickly to capture their prey.

The great white heron nesting refuge is just north of the Okarito tidal lagoon, with the breeding season lasting from September to February, at which time both parent birds and youngsters fly off to different areas around the country to spend the rest of the year till next September. We saw around 7 or 8 white heron feeding on the flats or resting on bankside vegetation as we travelled up the tidal lagoon into the Okarito River.

We were each given a checklist of some 28 water and land birds that inhabit the lagoon and surrounding wetlands, as well as a set of powerful binoculars we could use to follow-up siting’s that Swade and Paula pointed out to us as we cruised quietly upstream against the outgoing tide.

After seeing white-faced blue herons, dotterels, swans, oyster catchers, stilts, gulls and shags, we approached a royal spoonbill colony resting on their tree top refuge as we entered the Okarito River. You can see the birds on the right with Mount’s Cook and Tasman way over on the horizon,

The tree-top perches provide their base from which to feed and sleep – nesting season is over for this year.

And looking to the horizon we had ever changing views of Mount Cook (on the right) and Mount Tasman (on the left) as we travelled. {Tasman looks taller than Cook in this picture, but this changes as our viewing location changes.)

A really nice touch to the tour was morning tea (or plunger coffee) plus homemade cookies when were moored up halfway through the two hour cruise, watching the freshwater mullet jumping in the river beside us.

Returning to Okarito wharf at the end of the tour I headed to Pakihi Walk on the way back to the main road and climbed a steep track (1km, 30 minute return) to get a hilltop view of —–

—– the Okarito Lagoon and the ocean to the west ——

—– and the Southern Alps to the east.

And of course there had to be a male South Island robin fossicking around my feet for grubs or worms when I came out of the track. (By the way, no sand-flies at Fox or Franz or Okarito – I seem to have left them at Lake Paringa).

After lunch in Franz Joseph my final walks for the day were the 20 minutes to Glacier View at Franz Josef and 20 minutes to the Sentinel Rock viewpoint off the Glacier View Track.

Franz Josef Glacier is now a long way back up the valley from when Lexie, Calum and I walked to the ice face in the 1970s.

Anyway, the main reason I revisited Franz Josef glacier today (having included several photos of it in last year’s Travel Notes) is that the high peak just touching the clouds on the right of the range is Mount Gunn (according to a new set of South Island maps I purchased for this trip).

So back to Top 10 for tonight, stopping at the notorious bailey bridge that had to be renewed after the March 2019 devastating flood (the same storm that wrecked the access road to Fox Glacier)..

Franz Josef bridge over the Waiho River after the 27 March 2019 flooding [press photo supplied by DoC]. It was subsequently rebuilt in 18 days.

The renewed bridge today with the Waiho River valley (leading to the glacier) in centre background. The bailey bridge construction is still vulnerable to major flood events, but its kit-set structure will enable quick replacement following any future washout.

Thursday 6 March:

Heading north from Franz Josef I passed through Whataroa, headquarters for the tour company that takes visitors to the White Heron nesting colony. Their office was open but I think that as the nesting season is now over they run nature tours for the rest of the year. So I proceeded up valley to the remnants the old Whataroa River Bridge.

A modern new structure takes SH6 over the Whataroa River some 2km downstream of these original piers. What attracted me here was the teal blue/green colour of the water coming down from the mountains – no sign of any effects from the heavy rain further south at the beginning of the week.

Not far up the road from here was Gunns Creek, the bridge for which also passed over a cattle underpass ——

—– for I had now entered Westland dairying country on the Whataroa River flats.

Harihari, north from Whataroa, is the location of a replica of the plane flown by 21 year old Australian, Guy Menzies, taking 11 hours 45 minutes from Sydney across the Tasman on 7 January 1931 to crash land in a local swamp up the road from the township.

Both Menzies and the flimsy looking plane survived the landing. His trip was meticulously planned in secret with the plane adapted to carry fuel for 18 hours flying, the destination being Blenheim. It was 1am on the morning of 7 January when Guy took off, enduring a strong easterly head wind which as morning broke shifted to a northerly driving him south. He reached land near Fox Glacier and flew north up the coast looking for a potential landing area near a settlement. The flat fields near Harihari were deceptive and he ended up in the swamp.

The other rather special thing about Harihari is the playground decorated by school kids and a local Westland artist.

There are 100’s of tiles made by the children plus artwork on panels and cylinders by Sue Syme —–

—– who included a self-portrait in her distinctive style (that’s her centre right).

I proceeded further north to Lake Ianthe to spend the night at the DoC campsite there. The facilities had been upgraded with new toilets, and also an  outdoor wash-up place for campers to clean up after a meal. It was while I was taking a photo of the site from the lakeside jetty I suddenly ——

—— spotted a white heron (far right centre above).

This guy was feeding. Here, having spotted a small fish, —-

—— he quickly strikes and secures a tasty morsel which he swallowed in a couple of gulps.

Friday 7 March:

Two objectives today; the Mananui Tramline walk and the Westcoast Treetop walk.

I walked part of the timber tramway trail last year (and Lexie and I have walked parts on two separate occasions) but this time half an hour down the trail I took a forest side track to Picnic Point on the shore of Lake Mahinapua, overall a 4km return trip of 1½ hours. As you can see above the tramline track is smooth and gradual, but the Picnic Point side track was rocky, riddled with tree roots, and both boggy and steep in places.

Although it was grey and overcast, the gravel beach at Picnic Point was worth the visit. The tower at the Treetop Walk is hidden in the forest to the far left across the lake.

The Treetop walkway structure has a steel grid floor 20m above the forest floor, with the tower another 27m (107 steps) higher. I did not climb the tower ——

—– as it was crowded with zip-line riders waiting their turn the whole period I was on the walkway. I spent quite a bit of time trying to catch some of them on camera during my walk.

Riders queuing at the base of the tower.

Away at last ——-

—– and zipping through the trees on the way down to the ticket office and café.

I did get loads of time to view the forest canopy. The walkway has 11 stopping places with the guide pamphlet describing different aspects of the forest floor and canopy at each location; well worth the visit (even though I did it last year as well). It takes around 45 to 60 minutes to do the walk, but I soaked it all up over 1½ hours (including zip-line watching)

Saturday 8 March:

There were more than 100 campers last night at the Lake Mahinapua DoC campsite. Every DoC site I have been to this trip has pretty well filled up overnight (Lake Ianthe had about 12 spaces) as there are loads of overseas tourists in campervans and motorhomes on the road. I leave around 7am each day, when everyone seems to still be sleeping.

I headed to Hokitika to re-visit the Hokitika Gorge and see if the No.2 suspension bridge which was being rebuilt in April last year was finished. When I reached town I could see preparations underway for a big event at Cass Square Park that looked interesting, so I asked one of the early morning workers what was on today, and he said “it’s the 35^th Wild Food Festival” and pointed to a banner on a nearby street pole.

OK, do I really want huhu grubs for lunch? It will still be worth visiting though, so off I went to the Gorge.

Well, the No. 2 bridge at the Gorge is not finished, but close to it, with removal of the old stringers (dangling below the new structure) waiting to be removed,

According to the info panels at the start of the 90 minute walk the turquoise colour of the Hokitika River in the Gorge is caused by fine rock-flour particles diluted within glacier meltwaters.

The forest trail to the Gorge had quite a few rata vines in flower. These are separate subspecies from the rata trees growing in Doubtful Sound, the vine being a parasitic growth which climbs a tree, then surrounds and suffocates it, becoming a vine “tree” itself.

So, back to the Festival where I was charged $50 as a senior ($60 adults) and given a wristband to show I was over 18yrs old and could thus enter the alcohol serving tents/booths.

Lots of attendees came in costumes ——-

—– such as these Mexican ladies ——–

—– or in colourful clothing ——

—– or in matching outfits.

Of the 50 food and drink stalls, the two with the largest/longest queues for the whole 1½ hours I was there were —–

—– Mountain Oysters (Small $6, Medium $8, Large $10) —–

—– and the Wild Meat Kebabs ($12 for rabbit, or wallaby, or fallow deer, or goat, or wild pork).

For more “refined” tastes you had a choice of ——

—— fried locusts (at $5 each) ——

—— or huhu grubs, which were being harvested then cooked onsite.

These two guys were breaking up a stack of rotten logs to search for grubs which were found by peeling back the decaying wood and ——

—– exposing a wriggling $10 lunch.

I hear you asking, but no, I did not eat any of the really wild items at the festival. After leaving the show around 1pm I explored Hokitika town and beach and then took off for the Greymouth Top 10 Holiday Park where I will be camped for tonight and Sunday while I catch up on laundry and house (van) keeping.

Sunday 23 February:

I headed south toward Te Anau from Cascades DoC campsite first thing this morning to the Earl Mountain Walks, thinking I would get a good hour of walking in to start the day. However, the trail was initially through forest but within 50 metres degenerated into tree roots and a waterlogged bog. I immediately revised my plans for the day, and because the sun was rising in a clear sky (totally different from yesterday’s low cloud and mist) I decided to go back up to the Homer Tunnel, and get some sunlit photos of places I really could not see yesterday.

Early morning reflections on Lake Gunn.

Traffic from Milford emerging into the sunlight on the top end of the Homer Tunnel. The passenger in the van has a big smile on her face, “warmth at last” (as seen when enlarging the original photo), as they have just come from the cold shady valley leading from Milford Sound up to the tunnel entrance.

I then stopped off at the Lower Hollyford viewpoint that was shrouded in mist yesterday

.The view across to the Lake Marion valley, 11am on Saturday ——

—– and the same view today, 10am.

On the road back to Te Anau I could not resist a morning view of the Eglington Valley grasslands —–

—— nor the sunlit reflections at the Mirror Lakes {minus disturbance from the diving ducks).

Monday 24 February:

Te Anau to Arrowtown was today’s objective. First stop not far out of Te Anau was at “The Wilderness” reserve where a remnant of the soils and vegetation of some 8,000 to 10,000 years ago has been preserved.

This wilderness has an ancient mix of shrubs, lichens mosses and herbs ——

—— that have survived infertile soil and freezing -7 degree winters for millennia.

The countryside from Mossburn through Five Rivers, Athol, and Garston to Kingston was familiar country to me, having set out survey pegs for new bridges and road alignment improvements in this area while working out of Invercargill in 1958 for the Ministry of Works. I even surveyed the amount of land that would be flooded if Lake Manapouri was raised to the level of Lake Te Anau in furtherance of a massive hydro power scheme that was ultimately rejected by the community, with the Government backtracking to the current scheme and Lake Manapouri staying at its original level.

The upper catchment of the Mataura River near Athol is deer country, but this was the closest I could get to one.

Garston has a café and “Hunny Shop” ——-

—– with this mascot on the roof, ——

—– while just up the road is the terminus for the Kingston Flyer Sunday train excursion (Kingston to Fairlight return).

Do your remember when TVNZ brought out its new Rolling Ball logo with the ball featured in scenic locations all over NZ? One such location had the Ball rolling along the platform here at Fairlight.

This photo board was located at the Kingston Railway Station. Do you remember the famous 1975 Cadbury’s Crunchie Train Robbery advertisement shot on the train? A classic still today.

In the late 1970s the Kingston Flyer ran day trips Lumsden to Kingston return, with Lexie, Calum and me taking the trip. The line has long closed and is now a cycle trail except for the Kingston-Fairlight section still in use for Sunday trips and private excursions.

The engine in the above billboard (No. 778) is in dusty storage at the Kingston Waterfront, while engine No. 795 (above) is the one in use each Sunday.

These carriages currently in use are real vintage.

From Kingston I drove up alongside Lake Wakatipu to Queenstown and took the new town centre bypass into town to checkout parking for my lake trip on Tuesday. This controversial multi-million dollar project opened a couple of weeks ago.

As shown within many other roadworks featured in these Travel Notes, Maori designs have been used on retaining walls.

I discovered the all-day parking area I have used in the past for Queenstown visits required a credit card swipe for payment, which of course I could not do (the new card being mailed to Bethlehem after last week’s hacking incident and card cancellation). However a QR code on the parking machine gave me access to download to my phone a PayMyPark app with which I could set up an account, top up the account with money (easily done with my GoMoney ANZ app) and then use it the next day to pay for parking.

Tuesday 25 February::

I arrived at the Boundary Road parking area 7.30am, opened the PayMyPark app on the phone, entered the number of the nearest parking machine plus the van rego number, dialed up the time required (through to 5.30pm) and clicked on “pay” and that was it. [When the 5.30 time arrived the app sent a reminder and asked if I wanted to extend the time, but I was already back in the van and had left the parking area.]

I stayed in the van as steady and heavy rain set in 8.00 to 10.30 after which it cleared, eventually by 1pm becoming a warm sunny day for the trip to Walter Peak and the Gourmet BBQ lunch.

The Spirit of Queenstown passing in front of the Gardens peninsula prior to berthing for our trip.

The TSS Earnslaw berthed shortly after. It picked up a crowd of day trippers and followed us up to Walter Peak, taking 40 minutes compared to our 20 minute voyage.

We had a young lady trainee skipper berthing and operating our departures, with the main skipper taking over for the voyage ——-

——– while she got back to her maritime studies homework using a RealNZ training manual.

The Walter Peak original homestead is now a restaurant and hospitality complex.

We made our way to our section of the restaurant through extensive well-kept gardens.

There were two Aussie couples and me from the Spirit of Queenstown booked for the Gourmet BBQ lunch at 2pm (the rest on our voyage were headed for Bobs Cove across the lake), but when the Earnshaw arrived 1.45pm about 150 more people joined us for the lunch.

The BBQ meats were excellent as was the full buffet service main courses and desserts. The Aussie couples were golfers and had sampled the course at Millbrook Resort ahead of the 2025 NZ Open starting this Thursday.

After lunch we were treated to the Walter Peak Farm Show hosted by shepherdess Ashley and her two Border Collie sheep dogs.

This was a very well-staged event —–

—– with Ashley explaining her relationship with her two dogs, and told us that a well-trained Collie can be worth up to $10,000.

She then went on to demonstrate her sheep shearing skills —–

—- before sending Mia way up to the top of the hill to bring down previously shorn sheep —-

—– into the field behind the stage.

Job well done Mia! These dogs never bark at the sheep – their control is eye to eye, as you can see here.

The Earnslaw picked up its contingent from the wharf before our boat came in for us for our return to Queenstown.

The Earnslaw had a good head start on the voyage back to town, although we did catch it up in spite of leaving 20 minutes later.

So, how would I rate the day out – I submitted my review to RealNZ as 5 stars out of 5.

Wednesday 26 February:

Today was an Arrowtown based day walking some 3-plus km to and around Millbrook Resort, enjoying a first-class lunch at their Hole in One Café, then walking 2½ km back to the village.

Before heading along the river trail leading to the walk to Millbrook, I checked out the entrance road leading to the Macetown historic goldmining area. Two Nomad guided tour vehicles passed me on their way to the first ford on the Macetown stream, each packed with 8 sightseers and a driver. It is a 2 to 3 hour return drive on a steep narrow unmaintained roadway.

Lexie and I hired a 4-WD Toyota Land Cruiser for our trip to Macetown in January 1990 (photo taken by Lexie). It involved 20 stream crossings and long sections of tortuous cliff-side one-way track. We felt a real sense of achievement on completing this, to us, “daring” event.

In case you are wondering, I did come back for her.

Arriving at Millbrook Resort the walking and cycle trail passed right alongside the golf course area, and down the Avenue of past NZ Open Winners.

Everyone will remember Bob Charles exemplary record both in the Open and in subsequent seniors tournaments worldwide.

The practice putting green was very busy.

Major Sponsors of the Open are Manuka Doctor, who markets honey as well as honey based medications ——–

—– and Hyundai, who for some reason or other saw great marketing advantage by displaying their latest EV model in a duck pond —–

—— thereby displacing the residents for the duration of the tournament.

After that excellent lunch at the Hole in One Café it was back to Arrowtown and tiramisu for afternoon tea to finish my food intake for the day.

Thursday 27 February:

I headed out from Arrowtown after a final hot chocolate at Patagonia and dropped in at the Kawarau Bridge Bungy Centre.

The old 1880 suspension bridge now has two functions, first as a bungy jumping venue, and second as part of the Arrowtown to Cromwell cycle trail through Gibbston Valley.

This young lady leapt out with characteristic screams which then moderated to triumphal yells as she  ——

—– avoided a dunking in the river. Each person is weighed before their jump so an appropriate size and length of elastic cord can be selected. The cost – $320 per jumper, and at 5 to 6 minutes between jumps, the company is probably doing quite well.

The new bridge just upstream of the old suspension bridge was being designed in the Ministry of Works Head Office in Wellington when I worked there in 1960.

The Clyde Dam visit I had hoped for this day did not eventuate as I was the only booking, and they needed a minimum of two persons to run a tour. So I headed for Crowell, stopping off at —–

—– the Roaring Meg Power Station in the Kawarau Gorge, a favourite view with loads of travelers taking photos.

After lunch at Lake Dunstan View in Cromwell I headed north to Shrek country.

Shrek was a Merino Ram who had escaped the annual shearing roundup at Bendigo Station at Tarras for over 7 years, creating a record wool clip when finally caught and shorn. His statue at Tarras commemorates this event.

Tarras has been a popular stopping point for us every time we travelled Cromwell to Omarama, and apart from Shrek has always been defined by another Central Otago animal in village signage.

Can you spot him in this latest village sign for the locality?

From Tarras I took the back road to the Red Bridge reserve near Luggate to freedom camp for the night. On arrival I took a walk in the trees between the overnight parking area and the Clutha River, and came across an initially baffling metal construction.

I suddenly realised I was at a Frisbee Golf Course, having remembered a TV item on the sport some months ago.

Players cast their Frisbees from a tiled “Tee” at the “hole” in the distance.  This is Hole 8, which at 38m or 125 feet is a Par 3.

The player aims their specially designed Frisbee at the chains surrounding the centre pole, and if hitting them successfully the Frisbee drops into the catching basket (a hole in one is a possibility).

Friday 28 February:

I had arrived yesterday afternoon at the Luggate Bridge overnight freedom camping area around 3:30pm with around 5 or 6 of us parked up for the night. But by 9pm there were well over 100 motorhomes/campervans crowding the site and the off-road areas across from us.

Conversations you could hear as people settled in for the night indicated most were overseas travelers.

Hawea dam was my first walk for the day (30 minutes). This project was carried out at the same time as the Roxburgh Hydro scheme in the 1950s, with the 18m raising of Lake Hawea providing water storage to feed Roxburgh via the Hawea then Clutha rivers.

The outlet gates below the earth dam appeared to be operating at full bore.

The lake arm at the dam has special wildlife significance as a breeding area for the Southern Crested Grebe, a protected South Island bird of which there are only around 1,000 in the wild.

These birds do not walk well on land, and create nests from floating sticks and grasses to breed on water. Local wildlife supporters have provided a floating raft, walled on two sides to provide shelter for a grebe pair who have returned year after year to raise between 3 to 5 chicks a season.

Natural floating nests do not cope well with lake level rise and falls of up to 8m, nor with the local windy conditions, hence the provision of the shelter. When hatched the chicks climb onto a parent’s back where they are protected while being fed by the other parent. They become independent after around 6 weeks.

Lake Hawea is separated from Lake Wanaka by a very narrow pass with the road leading to the head of Lake Wanaka reaching the Makaroa Valley. After a 20 minute “sawmill” bushwalk at Makaroa I headed toward Haast Pass, stopping off at The Blue Pools walkway at Cameron Flat.

However, the two bridges providing access to the Blue Pools viewing location were closed, having reached the end of their operational life. This did not deter many walkers, like me, from taking the 45 minute forest return-hike to the first bridge.

There were people picnicking and swimming at the bridge site while contractors were threading new cross-supports through the old deck as part of the renewal process.

Lexie and I visited the Blue Pools in summer 1996 ——

—— and here she is looking down from the current “old” bridge close to where the contractors were working today.

I left the Blue Pools carpark area and travelled 2km down to my fourth walk of the day, 25 minutes return to the Cameron Flat Overlook.

Although a stiff climb in parts, this walk was well worth the view (Blue Pools parking area upper left of photo below the left edge of the domed mountain).

On the walk back I was treated to a view of a busy pigeon feeding on rich forest berries.

So, it was over the Haast Pass, down to the Gates of Haast Bridge and —–

—— rapids, and on to the DoC campsite at Pleasant Flat in the Haast River Valley.

From Pleasant Flat snow was visible covering the ridges leading up to the peak of Mount Solution in the Solution Range.

Saturday 1 March:

Another camping spot crowded with overnight vans – I managed to sneak away 7am before anyone else was awake, with my first walk (25 minutes through the forest) at Roaring Billy Falls.

The river bed is around 150m wide at the falls, and this whole tree was stranded during the last flood – these Westland rivers are powerful.

The Falls were modest, but in heavy rain would be a raging torrent.

Because heavy rain was forecast to be on its way, I took off through Haast Township up the coast to Ship Creek for a 20 minute Kahikatea Forest walk, and a 35 minute Lake Dunes and beach walk, completing these by 10am.

Wildlife on these walks consisted of sandflies (sorry, no photo), plus —-

— a South Island robin (and more sandflies) plus ——-

—– a fantail (and more sandflies).

The power of flood waters was evident in the forest trail walk which I did last year, and which Lexie and I have done twice over the years.

The left side of the track was in the past fully tree lined so you could hardly see the stream – now the bank has collapsed taking the forest into the stream bed.

The Dune Lakes are squeezed between the foreshore and the main highway, and are home to loads of fish and birdlife.

This morning they were perfect for reflections with quiet before the coming storm.

My fourth and final walk for the day was at the Hapuka Estuary close to Haast Junction and on the way to Jackson Bay.

The Haast Flats are rich farmland and cattle raising is a major activity (as viewed on my way to Hapuka River).

The 20 minute estuary walk comprises boardwalks and forest trail and viewpoints which Lexie and I have experienced each time we visited Haast over the years.

So, after lunch at Hapuka I checked in to the Haast River Motels & Holiday Park, set up camp, and finished off these notes as the rain sets in.

Sunday 9 February:

It was a wet morning when I cruised around the University area looking for the boarding house I lived in during my engineering intermediate year 1954 – it no longer existed, replaced by a new apartment block which swallowed the next door property as well. I then returned to the Otago Settlers Museum for the rest of the morning. The modernised museum is three times the size of the 1950s with excellent displays and video presentations re the development of Dunedin and Otago.

The public transportation displays reflected development from horse drawn (above) to horse-powered mechanical including cable cars (not shown) ——–

—– as well as trolley buses for Dunedin’s hilly streets.

Sunday afternoon I visited Margaret and Alister Rae at their retirement village home in Mosgiel. Margaret was Lexie’s Matron of Honour at our 1963 wedding in Christchurch, and the Raes have remained special friends ever since. They first interested us in the idea of retirement village living many years ago (“come and join us in our village”) but we noted how cold Mosgiel is in the winter. Tauranga has been a much better choice.

Monday 10 February:

I freedom camped at Sutton near Middlemarch Sunday night and woke to one of our favourite places near the start of the Otago Rail Trail —- the Sutton Railway Siding. Grahame Sydney’s painting is iconic.

A print of this painting has a special place in our hallway at home.

And here is the building today — a little run down.

Nearby is the Sutton Salt Lake with a 1 hour loop track walk through limestone tors littering the landscape – Lord of the Rings country.

After Sunday’s rain the track was wet, long overhanging grass saturating my boots, socks and trouser legs, but the walk was great. That white spot is the van in the distance — only a few minutes into the walk.

The salt lake is in a hollow in the landscape, having no outlet. Over centuries evaporation has led to salt accumulation, which does not inhibit wildfowl, although there were no birds this day.

The total lack of wind is “reflected” in this view across the lake.

I spent the rest of the day at the Hyde Railway Disaster Memorial on the Rail Trail north of Middlemarch.

On 4 June 1943 a passenger train rounded a corner at twice the recommend speed and derailed – 21 people lost their lives, NZ’s second worst rail disaster after Tangawai, Christmas 1953.

Why spend the day at this location? Well the carpark was a good place to watch the TVNZ broadcast 12 noon to 4.15pm of a one hour playing time NFL championship final in the USA between the Kansas Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. I wanted to understand how this game worked – it was boring, with four 15 minute quarters playing out agonisingly slowly as the clock stopped following each play, with plays often lasting only 20 seconds or so followed by several minutes as the teams faced off to restart. It took over four hours to get through the game and half-time music show. Give me rugby union any time.

Tuesday 11 February:

I decided to head east from Hyde some 19km to Macraes Flat and check out the Oceanagold mining operation. Oceanagold had sweetened their deal with the community when applying for consents to enhance the village with artwork and visitor attractions. They did a pretty good job all round (my view – maybe not all the locals view).

The hotel was the centrepiece of the village, but across the road was the wetland landscaped and maintained by the company.

From the bird hide at the wetland I viewed dozens of swallows swooping around chasing insects, but the real “bird” surprise was on the adjacent track behind me.

This massive Haast’s Eagle Sculpture was unannounced on any signposts in the village. It was created by Mark Hill (son of Michael Hill Jeweller) and flown in from Arrowtown by helicopter for installation on 18 December 2008.

The Visitor Centre at the mine provided great views of operations as well as excellent storyboards regarding both the open pit and underground gold mining plus videos of mining operations and people.

The large open pit was enormous – it made the Waihi open pit look like a pothole. Only a fraction of its extent is visible above, this photo showing huge trucks coming and going moving material in opposite directions, no doubt all with specific loads for specific locations.

Underground ore on its way to the processing plant.

The processing plant is close to one of the earlier open pits (there are three of them), but the main gold bearing ore is currently from underground mining (since 2008), with some 80km of access tunnels now snaking around 720m deep under these Central Otago hills.

From Macraes Flat I backtracked to the Rail Trail to camp for a second night at Tiroiti Rail Station, and found I had neighbours at my freedom camping location – three women who were riding the trail (good to see other than cyclists for a change).

The horses were contained by an electric fence overnight after being watered at the nearby stream, and grazed on long grass behind them (this view through the van window). The Rail Trail embankment is in the background.

Wednesday 12 February:

This morning low mist covered the valley – the 3 horsewomen were away south by 6.30.

They would have taken a horse track around this bridge as happens on several  viaducts. However some have no bypass, and riders need to dismount and lead their charges carefully across, as indeed they have to do for the three tunnels on the Rail Trail.

I headed north to the Daisybank access to the trail, setting off 7.30 for a 54 minute 3½ km return walk. I then headed to Kokonga and accessed the trail at the basalt loading station.

Still misty at Kokonga as I drove onto the trail to reach a parking area.

Some 2000 tonnes of bluestone basalt in blocks similar to those showing above were railed from here to Dunedin for use in the 1902-03 construction of Dunedin Railway Station.

I walked in mist from here in a 1 hour 32 minute trek of around 6km return passing alongside rich cropping lands and sheep pastures (no sheep pictures this week).

By the time I got to Ranfurly the sun had chased the mist into a hot day. I took a back road into town and by chance came across the Annual A&P Show.

Dressage judging was under way as I stopped for a view.

And in the background there was loads of kids yelling from the Bouncy Castle next to the many stalls that lined the showground embankment.

Ranfurly is well known as an Art Deco township.

There was plenty of artwork around, including this metal sculpture with its shadow on the Museum wall (the refreshment rooms has a new role now).

Ladies had real style in the 1920s-1930s.

After lunch it was out to Patearoa Station with its original stone woolshed.

The Maniatoto Plains has an area-wide irrigation water scheme with the whole valley served by irrigation channels snaking across the farmland. However, rather than flood-irrigating fields as in the past nowadays huge spray irrigators circle slowly around a pumping wellhead.

The busy end of an irrigator, the well-head being maybe 500 to 1000m away in the distance.

Thursday 13 February:

Another misty morning, this time in the Domain at Waipiata where there were only four of us freedom camping overnight.

One of my neighbours as I left the Domain at 7.30 to park up and walk south on the Trail, going nearly 6km return over 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Excuse the “close-up” but mist limited forward visibility to around 50m, and it was really cool.

This was the first day cyclists passed me on the Trail.

From Waipiata I took a side road upcountry to search out the Sanatorium that looked after tuberculosis patients from all over NZ from 1918 to the 1960s when antibiotics took over treatment of TB. The location was chosen because it was known that local miners who had respiratory problems thrived in the Maniatoto goldfields.

The Green Bridge on this road is a very popular swimming spot (not this morning, obviously).

I eventually reached the Sanatorium Buildings now occupied by a religious group as a retreat and refreshment centre.

Entrance to the old sanatorium complex.

There were extensive buildings in the complex – one set of dormitories with kitchen and dining area was being used by the annual field camp of the Survey School from Otago University.

I spoke to the supervisor of the group (the guy in the hat second from the right) and asked if he knew Alan Blaikie, one of my two best friends at Gore High (the other being Russell Graham). Alan was a foundation staff member when the School was set up in 1963 – indeed he knew Alan well, as both a staff member and then a board member.

On the hills above the Sanatorium was the Hamilton Gold Diggings so I took the van up a narrow dirt road to access the area. When I reached the parking area and turned to look back into the valley I had travelled up from, this is what I saw. ——-

——- The whole of the Maniatoto Plains was still covered in the mist I hiked in at Waipiata earlier in the morning, while here above the mist layer it was hot and sunny.

Hamiltons diggings behind me is now a large open field surrounded by hills covered with the scars of gold sluicing. From the discovery of gold in December 1863 the township population rose to 3,000 by January 1864, peaked in the early 1870s at 4,000 with 40 stores and 25 hotels. However the gold ran out by 1874 leaving a population of 90.

The diggings remains as they are today.

My final challenge for the Rail Trail was a visit to the Poolburn Viaduct and Tunnels (for the fourth time). I drove up the Ida Valley to park on a remote gravel road miles off the beaten track but immediately below the railway embankment close to the viaduct. Lexie and I had camped there overnight years ago during our first visit.

Set up for camping on 8 March 2006.

Resting after our climb to the railway embankment (beyond the top right of photo) and the walk to the tunnels on 9 March 2006.

The view of today’s van parked on the stream side in the same spot as in 2006. Floods over the last 19 years have changed the stream banks somewhat.

After all the effort of the climb I could not resist photographing my achievement in reaching again the viaduct and tunnels (you saw similar pictures during last year’s trip.)

This is a stunning piece of engineering built over 3 years from 1901 by 300 workers.

And Poolburn Tunnel No 1 is also extremely well crafted.

The stone and brick work is immaculate.

The 4km return trip (1 hour 20 minutes climbing and walking) was really hard work in 30 degree temperatures, so I was ready for a shower and rest up when I reached the Alexandra Holiday Park at 3.30pm to conclude the day.

Friday 14 February:

No walks today – this had to be a rest day. Overnight I investigated Doubtful Sound Tours and found the earliest one available is next Wednesday 19 February. So I thought I may as well spend the weekend in Wanaka before travelling down to Te Anau early next week. On the way to Wanaka through Cromwell I stopped for a view of the Clyde Dam.

This sculpture near the Dam overlook is of the Karearea (NZ Falcon) a protected species which is found in Central Otago. Lexie and I saw one flying around above the Poolburn Gorge during our March 2006 walk.

The dam operates daily tours (late afternoon and evening) so I will try for one when back through here in a couple of weeks on my way to the West Coast.

At Wanaka I got the second last powered site in the Top 10 Holiday Park, as Wanaka hosts an Iron Man (and Woman no doubt) Challenge Wanaka event tomorrow, and the place is buzzing.

Saturday 15 February:

Yesterday Alexandra topped NZ temperatures at 31 degrees.  This morning promised another scorcher as I headed 30 minutes and 2 km down to the waterfront to watch the Iron Man activity. This is a top notch international event, and at 7.45 swimmers were still completing the water stage while leaders were off on their 90 km bike run (three 30 km laps with turn-around at the waterfront).

Heading in from the last section of the swim.

Running to the cycle changeover area.

The stiff climb out of town on the 30 km leg out along the Glendhu Bay Road.

The turnaround in town. We were warned that incoming cyclists could be doing up to 40k/hr and we needed to be clear enough to avoid anyone sliding off the turn across into us.

After hiking back the 2 km and 30 minute walk to camp, I then drove 10 km out of town to the airport where the Transport and Toy Museum is located. The museum contains the lifelong collection of one man, businessman Gerald Rhodes. It is huge.

There are loads of outdoor exhibits (such as this Vulcan Bomber and UK tank), but four large buildings contain the bulk of cars, trucks, earthmoving machines, aeroplanes and toys.

This view in Building 1 shows how different types of exhibits are mixed up, such as cars and toys. There are 100s of thousands of toy kits and models (a tiny fraction shown here in the cabinets at top right corner) throughout the first two buildings. 

Building 4 shows how an aeroplane (Air NZ Fokker Friendship) and cars (squashed door to door) are mixed together. There are items from all over the world ——-

—– including the USSR with this 1968 MIG 21.

Well, it has been another busy week, so tomorrow, Sunday, I will relax lakeside before heading to Southland on Monday for another adventurous week.

Sunday 2 February:

I spent the morning at the Christchurch Botanical Gardens which although it was a grey and overcast day was full of families and tourists, particularly Chinese folk.

The “Chugger” train ride (which chuffed just like a steam engine) had queues of parents and kids waiting their turn for a spin around the gardens.

Roses, dahlias and rhododendrons were in full bloom.

And I found a full grown tulip tree in the grounds. Do you remember my last year’s visit to Hundertwasser country in Kawakawa and Whangarei and mentioning that he wished to be buried on his property in the “Garden of the Happy Dead” with a tulip tree planted over him to be sustained by the humus from his composting body? His tree started as a small sapling in an open paddock and is now 24 years old, and a sizeable tree in a dense forest.

Tulip trees are a native “whitewood” from North America. Not sure I would wish to be buried under this one.

Sunday after lunch I started off on Route 72, the Inland Scenic Route where the Canterbury Plains borders the Southern Alps, with first stop at Oxford and the Ashley Gorge Holiday Park. I had time to visit Williams Flat Reserve that afternoon and take in the Fairy House bush walk up to the Gorge Lookout.

Ashley Gorge from the lookout.

There were over a dozen of these “houses” on trees adjacent to the walking track, each with a pithy saying contributed by locals. Opening the door on this one and —–

—– this is what was revealed. Another example was from Dave of the Oxford Mens’ Shed who wrote in his “house” that “It always amazes me how exercise and extra-fries sound alike”.

Monday 3 February:

A brilliant sunny day with a 1 hour forest loop walk over the river from the camping ground.

There were some pretty steep steps to climb up into the forest above the river (hiking poles invaluable) —–

—–but there were great views, such as here across to Williams Flat Reserve with the motorhome the only vehicle at 8am ——

—- and later a view of the Ashley River cutting through the plains farmland. I met three locals doing the forest loop, one of whom said they have an underground counter on the track entrance which recorded 10,000 walkers last year (around 27 per day on average).

The next river gorge on Route 72 was the Waimakariri.

River access at the bridge provided great opportunity for canoeing enthusiasts.

And finally for the day it was the Rakaia Gorge where two bridges spanned across to and from an island in the middle of the gorge outlet.

Bridge 1 was a sort of upside-down steel truss —-

—– while Bridge 2, a few metres across the island, was a conventional concrete arch.

Tuesday 4 February:

This was an engineering visit – the Lake Coleridge Power Station, constructed in 1914 to serve Christchurch City growth. I backtracked over the Rakaia Gorge and travelled up the left bank of the river to Coleridge Village and the power station.

It always amazes me how every time you stop at the side of the road with a mob of sheep grazing happily away in an adjacent paddock, as soon as they see the camera, they all turn with a quizzical look to have a group photo taken.

The power station has 6 turbines with the outlet from turbine 4 shown here.

A dual tunnel system 2.2km long feeds lake water to two surge chambers 176 metres above the turbine intakes.

Looking down the feed pipelines from the location of the surge chambers. This view is similar  to that taken from a helicopter and featured in the 1987 Beacons TV series Part 4 episode relating to the engineering use of water.

Back on Route 72 the rain had set in, so a rest stop was in order at Staveley cafe, famous for its varieties of sausage rolls.

The café today – the Topp Twins lived along the road from the café in years past. I stocked up on sausage rolls.

A few km up a side road from the café was a series of forest walking tracks built and maintained by the Mount Somers Walkways Society. I took off in the rain to visit the Sharplin Falls, a I hour return walk with several zig-zag climbs and descents.

The first bridge 20 minutes up the track.

Second bridge at the foot of the falls 35 minutes up the track.

The falls are a series of cascades dropping down through the valley. It was a 25 minute walk from the falls viewing platform back down to the parking area.

Wednesday 5 February:

After overnighting at Geraldine I backtracked up country to Peel Forest where on the Acland Estate there is the Anglican Church of the Holy Innocents where Ngio Marsh is buried in the graveyard. Lexie and I visited it twice in past years, so this was a trip down memory lane.

The Holy Innocents name comes from the fact that the location in years past was the resting place for three children of the district who died very young.

The Acland homestead viewed from the gravel access road to the church.

At Geraldine there are two vehicle museums come heritage centres.

The Roger Mahan Heritage Centre exhibited the collection of one man assembled over a lifetime of contracting success in earthmoving as well as owning and operating Milburn Lime Company.

The Military Museum was opened in November 2023 by a local man who had 14 years in the NZ territorial army service during which he collected odd bits of military equipment which he stored on his farm. After being given a host of Vietnam military pieces by a guy from Waimate he decided to pool all this material into formal collection. This has now expanded substantially as donations of equipment rolled in when other ex-military folk heard what he was doing. Everything has been beautifully restored, and excellently presented.

Wednesday afternoon on my way to Oamaru I detoured up to Duntroon to visit the second of two Maori rock drawing sites which I missed out on in 2024.

These drawings are within a large limestone overhang high above the road up a steep track.

These pre-European symbols are thought to represent sea creatures.

But some drawings of sailing ships indicate post-European contact, drawn by people far from the sea.

Thursday 6 February:

It was a really wet morning travelling from Oamaru to Dunedin, but the rain cleared after I arrived at 9.30. I then checked around the railway station to see what all-day parking was available for my Taieri Gorge rail trip on Saturday.

The Station is one of NZ’s most iconic buildings and is still a fully functioning railway station.

It also houses the Otago Arts Society studio and gallery as well as a sports museum and a Cobb and Co restaurant (remember these from the 1960s and 70s?).

The tile work throughout the main foyer and stairwell is unique —–

—– as is the stained glass work.

The rest of the day was a visit to Taiaroa Heads at the end of the Peninsula and the Royal Albatross Centre. When Lexie and I first visited there over 45 years ago it consisted of a parking lot and walking track with a climb to an outdoor viewing area behind a board fence. Now it is a huge complex with excellent historical and wildlife displays, and access to a viewing building by guided tour at $60/adult (50% discount for Gold Card holders).

There were 4 nesting pairs in residence with this bird egg sitting while its partner was out for a couple of days gathering food. They then will swap over for the next couple of days.

[Last season’s web-cam photo.] Once the chick is hatched and puts on weight it takes two parents fishing daily to feed both themselves and the ravenous youngster. These birds breed here and once the new family member grows strong they all fly east to Argentina returning a year or so later via South Africa and the Southern Ocean to breed again.

Two of the four nests are visible in the grass below the viewing building. Taiaroa Head is also at the entrance for shipping into Port Chalmers.

Friday 7 February:

I spent the day exploring the city centre with a three hour trip mid-day out to Glenfalloch on the Portobello Road to visit the gardens and have lunch at their restaurant.

The refurbishment of George Street’s pedestrian conversion included (I was told) this $600,000 see-saw complex which had ratepayers flabbergasted!!

The entrance path to the Glenfalloch Restaurant passed by a sculpture which was easy to photo as it was not darting around like the live ones I chased during last year’s travels.

The 30 acres of gardens occupy a deep valley and stream to the side of the homestead (originally built in 1872 and renovated in 1920) with loads of trees lining the slopes and several tracks from easy to difficult threading their way throughout the valley.

In the city there was First Church and the Octagon on my after lunch visit list.

First Church was closed while renovations are carried out ——–

—— while in the Octagon this 2021 sculpture is a “doorway to different dimensions” based on the doorway to the Otakou Marae where Southern Tribes signed the Treaty on 13 June 1840.

Saturday 8 February:

Taieri Gorge Railway today, leaving in brilliant sunshine at 9.30am for a 5 hour return trip to Pukerangi (about 2/3^rd of the way to Middlemarch). There were 10 tunnels and maybe 20 bridges including the renown Wingatui Viaduct.

The Gorge is really rugged – in this shot the railway is in the top left-hand corner where a scree slope heads down toward the river.

Entering one of the tunnels after crossing a viaduct.

The Wingatui Viaduct.

Taieri River in view as we cross a viaduct over a side stream.

And a leg-stretch stop at Hindon where this sculpture of dog Sue acknowledges the contribution that Collies have made to farming activity in Central Otago over the last 150 years.

So, quite a busy week.

Sunday 26 January:

I left Kaikoura on a really sunny day and started photographing the art work on the reconstructed SH1 concrete retaining walls built in 2016 after the Kaikoura Earthquake.

This protection wall to a railway tunnel entrance encompassed Maori artwork as did other walls alongside the road.

Once again while stopping for photos the Coastal Pacific came thundering into view.

There are two fare classes on this train, the top class (in the black and white carriage above) has formal dining and waiter-waitress meal and bar service included in the fare. The “peasant” class (behind the b/w carriage) can purchase takeaway meals and drinks from a separate café to have at their seats.

The tourists in the observation car got a good view of me as they passed by.

There are two sets of double road tunnels on this part of the highway (not to mention the 20 railway tunnels on this section of the rail route).

I messaged Zayell Johnston (the Canadian walker guy) on Facebook to ask how he managed walking through these tunnels, and he replied that he went through at 6am (no traffic), otherwise he might have had to run (there is absolutely no clearance for a cyclist or walker in these road tunnels).

This trip I am again doing side road visits to areas Lexie and I never visited over the years, though passing these many times. Today it was to the coast at Nape Nape south and east of Cheviot. This involved a side road to the Hurunui River mouth, then cross country gravel roads to Nape Nape Reserve on the coast.

The coastal view south from the Hurunui River mouth (the small patch of blue water in the left centre of this photo). It turned out that Nape Nape is right at the foot of those white cliffs on the horizon.

After crossing the Hurunui suspension bridge it was 30km of gravel road to the coast at Nape Nape.

But, I then hit the coast and did a right turn to follow a gravel track to the Reserve, but no-go with the motorhome (I did not trust the “high clearance” claim) – so a good walk was the order of the day.

I got to 1½ km and decided not to go all the way to the bush line at the reserve (beyond the white 4WD ute in the distance), but as you can see, I was almost at the edge of those white cliffs.

So it was on to Glenmark Reserve at Waipara to freedom camp for the night, arriving in brilliant sunshine to relax with a drink under the awning.

There was eventually a line of 10 campers set up for the night here.

I had just finished my drink (green tumbler in the doorway) when there was a loud burst of thunder in the distance behind me and soon the sky darkened and two thunderstorms took out the rest of the day.

The Coastal Pacific came past 7pm on its return journey to Christchurch, just visible through the pouring rain.

Monday 27 January:

I took off early from Glenmark and drove in steady rain to Christchurch and on through the Lyttelton Tunnel to visit the township. It was busy with a huge cruise ship in town.

The ship was the Royal Princess. As I explored the main street of Lyttelton locals greeted me and asked if I was from the cruise liner (??). After more rain the sun suddenly came out and the rest of the day was hot and fine.

There was loads of street art in Lyttelton, but this statue of a husky sled dog commemorated the fact that both Shackleton and Scott departed the port after resupplying for their Antarctic expeditions.

I then took the Evans Pass road over the hills into Sumner, but on stopping to view the Foreshore Esplanade noticed a half flat rear left tyre. So I called the AA and they sent a patrol guy out to change the wheel. I then went back into town and arranged to purchase two new tyres for the rear wheels (they were well worn after 10 years) and booked in with Bridgestone Tyres near my Holiday Park for 8am Tuesday morning.

Tuesday 28 January:

It only took an hour from 8am to 9am to get new tyres fitted leaving me a full day to explore Christchurch. The “grotty” spare wheel was returned to its storage area under the van after the new tyres were fitted.

So I headed for the Gondola Summit at Heathcote for the middle part of the day.

The view south and west takes you all the way to the Southern Alps, but real hazy conditions obscured the distant mountains.

However, the view of Lyttleton was clear (the cruise ship had sailed overnight).

Late afternoon I visited “The Tannery” where the industrial buildings had been redeveloped into a specialised shopping area. “Penny Black” (on the left) was a good place for afternoon tea.

They served old fashion “high tea” here, but I resisted the temptation and went for an iced chocolate (“would you like cream and ice-cream with that?”)

Wednesday 29 January:

The bus into city central from Papanui (where I was staying at the Tasman Holiday Park) was free with my Gold Card. However, Christchurch residents can use a Metro Card which allows them a $2.00 fare to anywhere throughout the city. They only need to tag on, and if the journey is short or long the price is the same (no need to tag off). They can make as many transfers as they like within an hour of tagging on. Most buses are now electric with incredible acceleration away from pickup stops, and fast smooth runs into the city – I was most impressed.

An “All Day” tram ticket took me on a circuit of 18 stops around the CBD enabling on/off access to loads of attractions.

The Riverside Market reminded me of Melbourne and Adelaide markets, with a narrow access alley and extensive food and drink stalls and eating places.

Mischief Cellar Door and Wine Bar was next door to Bellbird Bakery.

Chinese New Year decorations were a Market feature at this time.

However, my favourite refreshment place was “She Chocolaterie”.

It was the World Buskers Festival this week in Christchurch, with this act outside the Market entrance adjacent to the Cashel Street Bridge of Remembrance.

Another significant visit was accessed via Stop 16 on the tram route – “Quake City”.

The excellent displays covered the earthquakes of 4 September 2010 and especially the disastrous quake of 23 February 2011 (when 1,000s of homes and inner city buildings collapsed, resulting in 185 deaths and 156,745 insurance claims). The spire of the Christchurch Cathedral toppled, bringing down the Spire Cross above. This is on loan to “Quake City” until the Cathedral Restoration project wants it back to refurbish and reinstall.

So, from “Quake City” it was a two stop trip through Regent Street to Cathedral Station (Stop 1 on the tram circuit).

Regent Street is famous as it has “mirror image” buildings down its length.

Each side has an identical façade, with cafes everywhere, and the tram track passing down the centre (pedestrians – watch out!!). 

Thursday 30 January:

The Margaret Mahy Family Playground on the banks of the River Avon near the Edmonds Rotunda was just that, for kids and adults together.

Mother and daughter racing each other to the top of the communal slide.

And kids are always fascinated with water.

It is quite remarkable that many older special structures like the Rotunda survived the earthquakes with minimal damage.

The rest of Thursday I spent at Ferrymead Heritage Park.

At weekends the Park is busy with tram and train rides. Today it was very quiet as can be seen by the view of Main Street below.

At one stage there only seemed to be me and a group of 5 Chinese young people around. They are here for 2 weeks touring. They spoke excellent English.

There were several large buildings displaying motor vehicles (as above), plus tractors, plus farm machinery, plus fire engines (from all over the South Island, including Invercargill).

Friday 31 January:

Orana Wildlife Park was established 1970 on 80 hectares of land on the outskirts of Christchurch and opened in 1976 with 28 animals. It now has 45 species of animals and birds and receives 95% of its income from gate takings. I spent a full day there and walked for miles. The animals have loads of area in free range settings. I was quite impressed given the free range zoos we have been to overseas.

Animals range from the small —–

—- to the tall ——

—– to the really heavy (at 2 tonne).

Saturday 1 February:

Last full day in Christchurch before heading south, and as it was to be possibly a wet one I kept the indoor Air Force Museum of New Zealand as the final day out for the week.

This rather spectacular mural greets you in the entrance atrium. The text at the base of the mural reads “Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward the sun and left the vivid air signed with their honour” is from a poem by Stephen Spender entitled “The Truly Great”.

Displays ranged from this replica of the Bleriot which was the first plane to cross the English Channel from France to England ——-

—— to this twin pilot Skyhawk —–

—- to this DC3 VIP aircraft which the Queen used during her 1953 tour, to dozens of military aircraft and the stories of men, women and machines.

On my way south tomorrow, and probably freedom camping on the Canterbury Plains.

Saturday 18 January:

This first week of travels covers 8 days Saturday 18 to Saturday 25 January. Subsequent weeks cover Sundays to Saturdays inclusive, except for a couple of six-day weeks at the end of the trip.

Today I travelled from home in Bethlehem, Tauranga, through Rotorua to the Aratiatia Rapids freedom camping parking area, arriving at lunchtime and waiting to view the 2pm and 4pm water releases. from the dam gates into the rapids.

Gates commencing to open and discharge into the pool below the dam.

Flow at “full bore”.

The viewing crowd on the bridge above the discharge pool (taken from the upper viewing area). At the bottom of the picture you can see several viewers at the middle viewing area.

Downstream view from the bridge of the rapids below the discharge pool. In the far distance the middle viewing area is visible just above the last rapid. The upper viewing area is below the tall tree on the horizon.

Close-up from the bridge of viewers at the middle viewing area.

Sunday 19 January::

On the way to Mt Ruapehu I stopped off at the Te Porere Redoubt where Te Kooti held his last stand against 500 colonial troops on 4 October 1869. During the battle 41 people were killed, but Te Kooti avoided capture and escaped.

The lower of the two redoubts defended by the Māori (taken from an elevated viewing point). The redoubts at this location are the best preserved of any Māori battle sites in the country.

The clouds parted for a short time enabling a glimpse of Mt Ruapehu from the redoubt.

I arrived at Whakapapa Ski Field at 10am and after a walk to one of the Lord of the Rings film locations took the Sky Waka up to the Chalet at 2020m above sea-level

It was quite misty during the Sky Waka gondola ride up.

Gondolas arriving/departing at/from the terminus at the Chalet.

Café dining area within the Chalet complex.

From the viewing deck at the Chalet you can see way down to the ski field HQ and parking area (the whitish patch half way between my right cheek and the gondola tower).

Close-up view from the Chalet deck down to the parking area

Outdoor dining area at 11.30am. It was burgers or salads on their very limited menu (with cabinet food for those not wanting a “full” meal).

Monday 20 January:

This morning I awoke at Waiouru to sunrise touching Mt Ruapehu.

Eastern side of the mountain at 6.30am from my freedom camping spot behind the Army Museum.

The day’s travel took me to walks at Bruce Park south of Hunterville and Pryces Rahui 10km up a side road from Rata. Then through Bulls to Sanson.

Tuesday 21 January:

Sanson Domain was my Monday overnight stop.

Another sunrise, this time from the Sanson Domain.

Then into Himatangi Beach where this concrete roundhouse was unusual.

And that evening a foreshore walk at Eastbourne following an excellent dinner at Sea Salt.

Wednesday 22 January:

Wellington to Picton ferry crossing on the Kaitaki involved check-in from 6.30am.

Awaiting boarding call.

The crossing of Cook Strait was so smooth I was hardly aware of the ship’s motion, with the horizon out the forward lounge window not moving relative to the windowsill level. The last hour of the voyage I spent outdoors watching the boat traffic while cruising down the Sound.

Crossing tracks with the Aratere as we headed into Picton for a noon arrival.

This rather smart French boutique cruise ship, the “Le Jacques Cartier” docked after us at Picton.

Following Sea Salt dining in Eastbourne last evening, it was Seabreeze Café and Bar in Picton for lunch after the Cook Strait crossing.

Thursday 23 January:

The DoC camp at Marfells Beach, east of the Lake Grasmere saltworks, was crowded with holiday makers, mainly in caravans and motorhomes. The view from my camp spot looked out across the sea with the bottom of the North Island from Cape Terawhiti on the west to Cape Palliser on the east just visible on the horizon.

7.30am was a good time for a beach walk with everyone else in camp seeming to sleep in – not a soul in sight.

This trip south I am once more taking side roads to unexplored places, and this day it was Wards Beach south and east of Seddon.

The gravel beach provides access for large commercial crayfishing boats launched via Caterpillar tractor and trailer units.

Why such large machines for this task? The gravel is very loose, and heavy wide track machines are needed to negotiate trailers over the gravel surfaces.

Ward Beach is also known for its “Boulders” scattered along the foreshore. These ancient (65 million years old) concretions were uplifted with the beach some 2.5 to 3 m during the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake. Some boulders are round (although much smaller than those at Moeraki further south) but the large ones have unusual shapes as above.

Thursday lunch was at The Store at Kekerengu on the coast 60km north of Kaikoura.

The Store restaurant and café is on a rise with great views of the foreshore and is a busy stopover for many travelers between Blenheim and Kaikoura. It also provides forest and beachside camping sites for overnighting.

This was the late afternoon overview of the beach from the rear window of the motorhome, with thundering surf breaking onto the beach gravels.

Friday 24 January:

It was a cool and light drizzly day to start with as I travelled south toward Kaikoura. The hills were covered in cloud, so I abandoned my plan for a walk on the Forest Trail up Mount Fyfe, and instead took the 3 to 4 km return paved walkway encompassing the Ohau Point seal colony. Fortunately the temperatures were cool, and the atmosphere non-odorous. On hot days the smell (aroma; stench; whatever) from the seals can be overpowering.

The promenade walkway extends more than sa km past the point in the distance. Its construction came about when the highway and railway had to be reconstructed 2016 to 2017 following the Kaikoura earthquake. The main parking area for seal viewing is on the right, and most people just use a few metres of the walkway at the carpark for seal viewing. I was in no hurry, so spent 1 hour 20 minutes walking  the length of the walkway and back again.

There were 100s of seals and seal pups along the foreshore, lazily sleeping or for the smaller pups playing together in rock pools.

The walkway beyond the seal area was traversed by me and a lady jogger. Parts of it maybe had never been walked before me. But it also gave access to the extensive rusty steel art work attached to the new retaining walls between reconstructed road and rail works.

It is impossible to take in the detail of the art work travelling at speed along the road. Walking the new promenade provided excellent viewing access.

I thus had loads of time to photograph many metres of Maori designs (though momentarily distracted by the Coastal Pacific thundering by on its way from Christchurch to Picton).

As the Coastal pacific disappeared into one of the many tunnels on this line, I noticed a lone walker approaching me. I recognised him as the walker I had passed twice yesterday while on route from Blenheim to Kekerengu, and once again this morning some 15km south of Kekerengu. He was walking on the right hand side of the road as I passed, so I knew he was not hitchhiking. This time he was using the promenade.

We stopped for a yarn. His name is Zayell Johnston, from Canada. He is walking NZ on SH1 from Cape Reinga to Bluff, expecting to arrive in Bluff by 14 February. He has already walked across Canada and after NZ he will circumnavigate Australia by road. He records his daily progress via recording number of steps (Zayell logged 11.8 million steps during a 9-month, 9,000-kilometre trek across Canada) as well as Go-Pro videos and Facebook posts. He has 500 followers on Facebook, and some videos can attract a couple of thousand views. He expected to reach Kaikoura around 5pm and needs to stock up with water and food supplies. {Google his name on the internet and lots of stuff with pictures and video comes up.)

I passed him again later in the morning as I headed for 2 nights in Kaikoura. He never accepts lifts from passers-by – walking the whole way is his objective.

Saturday 25 January:

A fine morning provided opportunity to explore the Mount Fyffe Forest Walk. It was a 25-minute drive from town ending in a carpark at the end of a steep gravel road.

The entrance stile at the start of the walkway with Kaikoura Bay way in the distance.

The track into the forest was very steep, reminding me of the tough climb I had on the last section of Rangitoto – it was hard work. The 2.5km round trip was cited as a 1 hour 45 minute walk, the time no doubt factoring in the slow going on the uphill sections. I only took a 50 minute return trip on part of the track.

The forest had a great variety of trees, ferns, vines and creepers, but this fungal growth was the most interesting feature I came across. There was only this one tree on which it was growing – no sign of it anywhere else around.

I then returned to Kaikoura and parked at the Seal Colony Point way out through town to the open coast. During the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake the shoreline rose 2 to 3 metres, and the tidal pools which attracted seals right up to the carpark were no more – the seals just migrated around the coast. I took a 45 minute foreshore return walk to the new seal habitat. They lazily lounged on flat rocky areas above high tide line, well away from the track.

The bay with the new seal habitat. In the past Lexie and I took the clifftop walk looking down on this area. The foreshore track is very rough in places due to earthquake movements.

Anyway I got my seal photos – lazy days for them.

I got both these walks in before lunch, but there was no way the seagulls give you any privacy while eating. They flocked around and all over the camper vans in particular in the carpark, this guy looking down through the skylight to see what my sandwich contained!!

Tomorrow, Sunday 26 January, I begin my journey to Christchurch, stopping overnight at my favorite freedom camping site on the way, the Glenmark Domain.

Saturday 4 May

Saturday’s visit to the International Antarctic Centre at Christchurch Airport was most educational. In addition to NZ’s Antarctic research programme Christchurch is the base for supporting other countries research groups including the USA, Republic of Korea, Italy, and China (it resupplies the Chinese icebreaker “Snow Dragon” at Lyttelton). There are 34 research stations in Antarctica, a majority being based on the Antarctic Peninsula south of the tip of South America.

The carpark leads to the Main Entrance, passing a group of Hagglund transporters on the way.

Front view of these “standby” Hagglunds.

There were two Hagglunds on duty Saturday, with my ride in the black one. These all-terrain articulated vehicles were developed by the Swedish military in 1974 and are particularly suited to ice and snow conditions as in Antarctica, as well as being used all over the world by military and commercial operators. The 15 minute ride offered to visitors is over an exceedingly bumpy obstacle course, but great fun as passengers get tossed up and down and sideways.

The last two obstacles are a steep hill dropping into a “swamp”.

Climbing out of the swamp – driver on the right of the picture (left hand drive), front passenger on the left. I travelled in the articulated section behind the driver section.

In addition to the outdoor Hagglund transporter ride the Centre’s main indoor visitor attractions are an Antarctic storm room, the penguin rescue project, a husky display, a general display area, a climate theatre, and a 4D theatre experience.

I did not venture into the Storm Room (pre-storm temperature minus 8 degrees centigrade) where visitors are provided with special footwear protectors and quilted over-jackets. The “storm” consists of blasting frozen air into the room from 0kph at start up to 45kph final speed and dropping the temperature via wind chill to minus 24 degrees centigrade. 

Monitor showing close to maximum wind speed.

I was able to watch the room monitor safely from outside the storm room as it revved up to its maximum cold level (well on the way to it as recorded here). There were over 20 people in the room during the storm event I watched, and you could see the blast of the wind flapping their clothing vigorously.

They have 19 Little Blue “rescue” penguins in their Penguin Welfare Centre, all with some sort of injury. Little Blues are the world’s smallest penguin, but are not one of the penguin groups that live in Antarctica.

The hasky handler gave a very good historical background to the use of huskies in Antarctica.

Later, visitors could go to the Husky Zone and handle the dogs. Dog teams were last used in Antarctica by the British in 1994, being replaced by motorised vehicles and helicopters.

There were good films on in two theatres as well as TV presentations at many locations in the general display areas. The 4D experience was in a special theatre that had seats which moved up-down in following the 3D images of boats in stormy seas, or bumping with a jerking motion into icebergs. The back of the seat facing you would spray your face (and 3D glasses) with water as well as blast wind storms onto you, and even wet us as a seal spat right in our face as it lunged at the camera. A final scene had artificial snow coming down from the ceiling over us as we watched a huge congregation of penguins enduring a snow storm.

Sunday 5 May

Sunday was a travel and rest day as I drove to Kaikoura to spend a couple of nights.

Monday 6 May

On Monday I walked from South Bay up the Cliff Trail to connect with the shearwater colony behind the predator free fence I visited on 13 March when I climbed up from the seal colony at Point Kean on the end of the peninsula.

Kaikoura from the Reservoir Lookout on Monday 6 May. There was too much haze from the ocean to get a clear view of the snow on the Seaward Kaikoura Range in the far distance.

South Bay viewed from the cliff top walk.

The predator control fence protecting the Huttons Shearwater Colony from rats and stoats.

A coastal view from the South Bay to Point Kean Walkway.

So, the walk up took an hour with stops for photos, and back (mainly downhill) it took 30 minutes.

Tuesday 7 May

This day turned out fine but cool after rain overnight, so it was on to Kekerengu for lunch at The Store and overnight camping above the surf beach.

Leaving Kaikoura I found a rural mailbox that reflected the Whale Watch theme associated with the tourist industry. This reminded me of the Hurunui Valley mailbox I saw on Monday.

Yes, it is a mailbox – farmers often get big parcels!

And before I reached Kekerengu I stopped off to investigate a heritage area associated with development of bridges over the Clarence River. The first bridge constructed in 1883 had two of its five spans washed out to sea in 1923 by a huge flood. It took 2 years to complete repair work which included three extra spans to widen the floodway under the bridge.

The current bridge replaced the 1925 bridge in 1975. You can see the railway bridge on the horizon beyond the span over which the car is travelling.

The railway bridge has a picket fence wind break on the up-river side to protect trains from the gale-force winds that can roar down the Clarence River valley.

The Heritage area was busy with birdlife, and a fantail followed me around as I explored imploring me to take his picture.

The Store is a busy coastal restaurant about an hour from Blenheim, and where Lexie and I usually timed to stop for a meal, and over the years freedom camped between railway and beach many times during our travels south. However The Store has now taken over and fenced the whole area and charges for overnight camping, which is fine. They provide coin operated showers in a new toilet and ablution block.

The Store at Kekerengu.

The camping area at Kekerengu with the van on the beachfront at the left, and the railway line behind the fence on the right. The remains of a railway siding are in thee right centre of the photo. In years past we freedom camped in the exact spot the van is in here, but no longer. However, The Store only charged me $12.60 for the night.

Tuesday seemed to be fantail day – they could not leave me alone and insisted I take their picture. There were over half a dozen darting around the beach debris as I walked the sand and gravel areas below the van.

OK – I gave in. Here is the close-up this guy wanted me to take. Tuesday has become the day of the fantails.

Wednesday 8 May

Wednesday morning’s sunrise welcomed in a cold but bright day.

Looking east from my Kekerengu foreshore campsite, the rising sun still below the horizon, but catching the top of the clouds out at sea.

Into Blenheim for the day had me passing miles of vineyards full of autumn colour with the February/March harvest well and truly over.

Close-up of a roadside vineyard is just after Lake Grassmere.

Roadside view across the valley just before Seddon provides an expansive view of Yealands Vineyards covering most of the land back to the hills.

In Blenheim the Taylor River walkways were flooded in places after heavy rain last week.

Thursday 9 May

This was my last sightseeing day on tour in the South Island. I spent it in Picton visiting the Edwin Fox Museum and the Edwin Fox remains The ship was a derelict hulk in Shakespeare Bay in January 1985 when we filmed it for the Beacons series with me talking to camera about how it was on ships like this that early migrant engineers travelled to New Zealand in the 1800s. In the 1960s a Preservation Society was formed and they purchased the hulk for 1/- (one shilling). However it was not until 1987 that they had raised enough funds and gained Harbour Board approval to move the remains (which were able to be floated) into a purpose made dry dock.

The Edwin Fox, built in India in 1853, pictured in this painting in full sail.

The ship hulk is now in a sheltered dry-dock, the aim being to “preserve” what remains, not restore to near original condition.

Surprisingly the lower hull was in very good condition when they came to move the ship from Shakespeare Bay, and divers were able to mend several holes and enable the hulk to be floated and towed round to a permanent purpose built dry dock.

So I leave the South Island on Friday 10^th via the Interislander to Wellington, sailing 2:15pm, arriving 5:45pm.

Thursday’s 2:15pm sailing of Kaitaki heading out from Picton. Tomorrow I will be on this ship.

Finale

And so, this highly successful trip comes to an end, with several thousand photos of places and storyboards on file to pour over in coming days and years as I relive the fabulous memories of my days in the South Island, March to May 2024.