Westland (Nov 1-4)

On the road again

On Marlborough Anniversary Day our trash bag looked very lonely kerbside in the neighborhood. So after noting the November 1 holiday on our calendar, we put the little blue bag back into the garage and headed for the West Coast of New Zealand. Another lovely drive through rolling farmlands turned more dramatic as we approached Buller Gorge, where we spent $5 each to walk across the country's longest swing bridge. The walk also included use of their toilets which we would have paid $5 for without the bridge walk after the several hour drive.

At Westport we turned north toward Karamea, but rain and low clouds turned us around a little past Hector. We stopped long enough in Westport to visit Cape Foulwind Viewpoint, which could also be called Cape of Many Wekas. At the car park some people offered white bread, which the wekas eagerly grabbed and shared with their nearby chicks. Susan was surprised to see a fernbird in full view for several seconds at the bottom of the lighthouse trail.




Click here for larger images with captions.

We stopped for the night at Punakaiki Resort with a good view of the ocean and surrounded by ferns of all types. The main attraction in Punakaiki is Pancake Rocks, unusual formations, complete with blowholes at high tide when the sea is big. The sea was calm that night, but we did enjoy a very pretty sunset.

Sunset at Pancake Rocks

As we strolled all around the Pancake Rocks we saw many more weka, but the most interesting encounter was seeing one hop up into a Kiekie plant at the edge of our walkway. We watched from close by as the bird drank or ate from the large central flower, totally unconcerned that he had an audience.

While photographing a wet spiderweb glistening in the late afternoon light, another couple stopped to see what we were doing. Janice and Barry live near Motueka, and suggested we stop by when we head up north again. Coincidentally, Janice once lived in the small town of Seldovia, Alaska where we had traveled by boat (because you can't drive there) last summer and won a prize in their July 4th fireworks raffle.

Hoping for morning blowhole activity, we walked around Pancake Rocks again with no luck. Our walk for the morning was the Truman Track at Paparua National Park, which was a Lonely Planet best walk. It was a wonderful rainforest hike ending at a pretty little beach. Beautiful coastline continued to the south and at one pullout with beach access we stopped to stroll on the beach and take pictures. Susan learned to pay better attention while picking up rocks after being knocked off balance by the surf and taking a rather abrupt sit in the sand. Luckily Mike was looking the other way and there is no photographic evidence. After a quick change into dry clothing, we opted to drive a short distance east to Arthur's Pass. We had been to Arthur's Pass during a previous trip from Christchurch and were happy to be able to see this scenic drive coming from the West Coast. Susan found another great waterfall on the map, so we took a short hike to the beautiful and impressive Devil's Punchbowl. Soon another couple joined us -- the first American tourists we've met and they happened to be from Colorado.

Mike standing at the shore of Molloy Bay on Lake Brunner

We headed back out of the mountains via Lake Brunner so we could see Molloy Bay. Unfortunately, there was no signage for our photo op, but we did see a sign for Molloy Creek, which emptied into Molloy Bay in Lake Brunner.

On to Hokitika for two nights. When we went into town for dinner at Stumpers, we saw smoke and drove a couple of blocks toward it and found a home totally engulfed in flames with the local fire department trying to put it out. Very sad to watch. After a late dinner and a beer at Stumpers we headed back to our room and collapsed into bed.

Wednesday morning we drove the Kaniere loop, which included a hike to the stunning Hokitika Gorge with its glacier-fed waters bright blue, even under high cloud cover. Later down the road a two minute walk took us to Dorothy Falls, which was also gorgeous.  We drove around Lake Kaniere then south to Lake Mahinapua but were not lucky enough to see bitterns and white herons reported to be in the area. We did several other short bush walks including the Jum Michel over ancient sand dunes, the Bellbird Walk and the Mananui Bush Walk which went to the beach.

We were able to reserve a spot on the Friday Okarito Kiwi Tour (advance booking is essential as only 8 people are allowed per tour). Since we would be heading towards the popular "Glacier Country" and tourist traffic was increasing, we booked ahead 3 nights in Franz Joseph before relaxing over a light dinner at Cheese & Deli. A wonderful little cafe, its cheese room visible from the dining room through a glass door and large windows. After stocking up on some groceries and cranking through some laundry, we headed out at sunset to the Glow Worm Dell. Glow worms are found in many New Zealand caves, but the Hokitika dell is the largest outdoor area to view them, and probably one of the easiest to access, with only a 5 minute walk required. It was also free.

Thursday we planned for rain all day, and the metservice.com forecast was right on. We spent the morning checking out the town of "Hoki." First stop was the National Kiwi Center where as expected, we did see a kiwi, busily foraging under dim lights in his day and night flip-flopped (or should I say jandaled?) environment. We were told the second bird was at the "veet". "What?" Mike asked, but I understood she was saying veterinarian. I hope the little guy was just having a checkup.

Next was the giant long-finned eels  feeding, in which Mike had the pleasure of participating. The presenter was a good speaker, and provided an enthusiastic and knowledgeable overview of the long-living creatures. After the feeding, Mike got to touch them with wet hands and agreed with the peeled hard boiled egg description.

Hokitika is known for its Pounami, aka Jade or Greenstone, so we headed over to the Jade Factory to take their morning tour and saw all sorts of jadestone, carved jade and carvers at work. Popping our heads into shops along the main street, we finally came across the gallery of Juergen Schacke, the local fine art photographer whose attractive work we'd been seeing all over town. After a good chat about Germany, photography and tourists, we headed back to the kiwi house to have another look around and try to spot the Tuatara, which was still hidden and asleep earlier in the day. These endemic reptiles are the only surviving member of the order Sphenodontia and begin life with a third or parietal eye on top of the head. We then watched their kiwi video which told all about how citizens can help the kiwi by tracking and monitoring, and taking care in their community to preserve the adaptable little birds' habitat, before viewing the funny little bird once again on our way out.

Sock knitting machine

Last but not least, ok well maybe it was least, was a stop at the Sock Museum, which Mike oddly prefers to call the Sock Puppet Museum. Past a shop full of socks and other knitted products was a room full of antique sock knitting machines which the owner collects, refurbishes and sometimes resells. She also has a machine shop in which she makes new sock knitting machines selling for $2000 US. For some reason, most of her customers live in Michigan. When we showed interest in her gift shop, she was anxious to show us her unique socks, made on the antique sock machine, out of her unique blend of felted merino and possum. They *were* quite soft and since possums are overrunning the country, driving native birds towards extinction, we bought some.

The road from Hokitika to Franz Joseph seemed to be populated by Pukeko with a death wish. Luckily we avoided hitting any of the funny blue birds. Stopping only once at the notorious Bushman Cafe, we did not order possum of any sort, although our only seating option involved possum pelts. From the bold signs and cartoons posted everywhere, it would be hard to say if the cafe's owner hates possums or 1080 more. We got a good look at their Himalayan Tahr in a paddock just outside the cafe, where Susan got a bit wet-tahr in order to take his picture.