JJ's Wargames on Tour - South Island, New Zealand, Part Two.

 

This post picks up from where I left off in the previous one, looking at Carolyn’s and my trip around South Island, New Zealand, the first part of which can be found in the link below, in which I have tried to capture the key highlights of our eight week tour through the island and to depict why NZ will always hold very special memories for both of us.

JJ's Wargames on Tour- South Island, New Zealand, Part One

In the last post we had arrived at Twizel, Point 4, and taken a scenic flight over Mount Cook to get ourselves better acquainted with the NZ Alpine region that really encapsulates much of South Island, before we headed off to our accommodation, where we based ourselves for a few days to explore the area further.

Map of our travels over four weeks through South Island with the
numbered areas designed to help follow our route and the places visited.
 - Courtesy of Backpack New Zealand
http://www.backpack-newzealand.com/

One of the key sites we were keen to see was the walk up the Hooker Valley Trail to the base of the glacier that extends down from Mount Cook, which we were hoping to see from another aspect, namely ground level, to really appreciate further the majesty of this mountain and its setting.

Glacial water is often thick with a cloudy deposit of rock dust ground down into it by the action of the ice, that can make the water in rivers and lakes appear an iridescent light blue in direct sun light.

On entering the valley and starting the walk up to the glacier, the low cloud hugging the lower valley sides suggested any sighting of Mount Cook that day was very unlikely and so I quickly turned my attention to enjoying the rest of this magnificent walk, including some of its local residents.

An Australasian Silver Eye or White Eye, Zesterops lateralis, made for a pleasant distraction on the Hooker Trail   

As well as bird song, our walk was accompanied by the distant rumble of avalanches going on in the mountains above, which had us stopping and looking up at the snow clad peaks that occasionally appeared amid the clouds in the direction of the thankfully distant sound.

The lake at the top of the Hooker Valley is a popular tourist magnet

The walk to the glacier was well worth it, with the lake below it full of large floating chunks of ice that had collapsed from its lower edge, and later, as the clouds parted, a sneaky peak of the summit of Mount Cook to reward our efforts.

The foot of the glacier could be clearly seen with a large chunk of ice in the water close by.

Mount Cook peaking through the clouds above the glacier in the Hooker Valley

After a very nice stay in Twizel we were off back to the coast, this time headed for Dunedin, but as usual planning to take in some other sites enroute which included the Moeraki Boulders on Koekohe beach.

The boulders on Koekohe beach weigh several tons and can be over 6 feet high and are in fact calcite cocreations formed 65 million years ago.

These boulders close to the dunes and in the water are an extraordinary sight and have to be seen close up to really appreciate their unique appearance.

According to Maori legend the boulders are gourds, washed ashore from the great voyaging canoe Araiteuru when it was wrecked upon landfall in New Zealand

We had a few days stay planned in Dunedin, Point 5, where we were keen to explore the architecture of this town in comparison to others we had visited in NZ conscious of the rather Scottish inheritance of the area with names of valleys and little villages around it instantly recognisable to anyone who has travelled north of the border in the UK.

Unlike Christchurch, Dunedin has managed to retain much of its 19th century Victorian architecture, being on the periphery of the major earthquake threat zone, and it was a real treat to take a guided tour around its collection of old buildings, for NZ that is, and compare the resemblance to home.

The Anglican cathedral of St Paul’s, has had a recent addition to the rear that includes a rather modern arched window, that we felt didn’t quite do justice to the original Victorian Gothic style of the original, seen here from the front, overlooking the octagon central place

The stunning Dunedin Railway Station was partially clad in scaffolding when we visited, but this revealed part shows the temple to modern 19th century travel possibilities it represented to previous generations.

Similar to Christchurch, the wall art seen around the town was very eyecatching.

These beautifully maintained Victorian terraces put many of our more poorly maintained UK housing stock to shame, but then these are considered very old in NZ.

Our accommodation during our stay at Dunedin was in the surf town of St Clair which provided an opportunity to watch the local kids practicing their skills as well as the local wildlife in the form of this female sea lion, seen below, who seemed to take great pleasure in catching this fish, then releasing it, slightly the worse for wear before tossing it back into the surf to go chasing after it again, rather like a cat playing with a mouse.

Cat and mouse, sea lion style off St Clair, Dunedin

On the other side of town at Carey's Bay, near Port Chalmers, Carolyn and I found what seemed the nearest most accurate of English style pubs in NZ, the Carey's Bay Historic Hotel, established in 1874  with great food and English style ales on draught, rather than the more traditional pale ales and lagers that tend to be the preferred style of brewing.

We frequented this very nice 'watering hole' a couple of nights, during our stay and felt very much at home.

From Dunedin, the plan took us further south to the town of Invercargill, Point 6, for an overnight stop before catching a boat at the port of Bluff over to Stuart Island, Point 7, where we had arranged an overnight stay to see yet more of New Zealand wildlife not easily seen on the mainland in the wild, which included one of the NZ species of parrot, the Kaka, the smallest of the penguins, the Blue Penguin and of course New Zealand's national emblem, the unique Kiwi.

On our way to Invercargill, we again stopped of to visit Curio Bay which is home to one of the rarest penguins, the Yellow Eyed Penguin or Hoiho and also has a very curious and also very rare feature in the form of fossilised trees dating from the Jurassic period when a forest of petrified tree trunks was rapidly preserved through a process of silification that allows their remains to be seen to this day, lying across the beach.

The trees proved a more likely feature of Curio Bay to be spotted that the very elusive penguins that spend much of their day at sea, to return late in the evening to regurgitate their catch to the young birds in their burrows.

However the signs about the beach said that one might catch a glimpse of a few birds still guarding their burrows in the daytime, but to be careful not to get too close and disturb them.

After about thirty minutes of fruitless scanning of the beach, I was all for pressing on to Invercargill and a well earned dinner, and had turned back towards the beach steps, leaving Carolyn still looking intently at the dunes at the back of the beach, when I heard a rather sharp call, and Carolyn exclaim that she could see something moving in the shadows of the overhanging scrub.

I immediately raised the telephoto on the camera in the direction of the moving object and immediately realised what the shape was that was retiring in short hops into the interior of the scrub covering the dunes.

A Yellow Eyed Penguin, Megadyptes antipodes, making a rapid retreat to cover, not before I managed to catch a glimpse with the camera.

These are very difficult birds to see in daylight, in the wild and kudos to Carolyn for having the patience and eyesight to allow me to catch these shots of the bird.

The next day we were up bright and early to catch the boat to Stuart Island and our eagerly expected safari, that started that afternoon with a walk into the bush and across several beaches, followed by a boat trip to another location to do a night walk with flashlights and night sights in an attempt to see the elusive, nocturnal Kiwi.

The high speed catamaran over to Stuart Island was quick and offered another opportunity to see the amazing bird and sea life on our short hop across

Oban on Stuart Island was our base for our short stay.

The South Sea Hotel, Oban, Stuart Island proved to be a very comfortable billet for our one night, with some great food on offer as well.

The boat trip in the afternoon proved very fruitful with sightings of Blue Penguins in the water, Australasian Gannet, which are rare in these waters so a thrill to spot, together with the Stuart Island Robin a sub species of the South Island Robin.

Blue Penguins, Eudyptula minor, enjoying the waters off Stuart Island

A rare sight off the Island was this Australasian Gannet, Morus serrator. These birds are magnificent to be seen stooping and diving into the sea with their wings swept back as they plummet down in pursuit of fish.

The water was teeming with marine life of all shapes and sizes reflecting well on the maintainance of this very special marine and nature reserve

The Stuart Island Robin, australis rakiura, very happy to come up close and inspect the visitors to his part of the beach.

While making our way across several beaches we had to keep a wary eye out for the resident sea lions that frequent them and can be a little bit cantankerous if disturbed, which you most definitely don't want to do, with these creatures being very large, having a remarkable turn of speed over short distances and a mouth full of sharp teeth and numerous bugs that can badly infect any wound that a sufferer survives.

During our night march we spotted two of these rather intimidating creatures with the night sight on one of the beaches we crossed which saw as move very close to the water in 'Indian file', moving rapidly but as quietly as we could - 'all good fun and what japes!'

A large sea lion that had to be manoeuvred around.

Don't let the slumbering appearance fool you, these chaps have to be treated with great respect.

On some down time between guided walks we headed over to nearby Golden Bay and did a bit of spotting on our own which rewarded us with sights of a pair of fantails feeding a fledgling, and the incredible Kaka coming close in to feast on some flower blossoms close to the road.

Everywhere you go in New Zealand you will see traps, designed to destroy non-native, invasive mammals such as rats, possums, hedgehogs, rabbits and public enemy number one, the stoat, all connected in one way or another to the loss of native bird life and for which NZ aims to be pest-free by 2050.

Two Fantails, Rhipidura fuliginosa, drew my attention as they are such fun to see, but on this occasion they were very busy feeding a rather hungry fledgling that I spotted in a nearby hedge.

A fledgling Fantail eagerly awaiting the next meal

The Kaka, Nestor meridionalis, has been greatly reduced by stoat predation, with females often killed on the nest while incubating eggs. Fortunately measures taken are starting to secure the present population of these stunning parrots

They use their powerful bills to rip off tree bark in pursuit of insect larvae and huhu grubs and use their brush-tipped tongues to drink nectar from Pohutukawa and Rata trees, as well as the honeydew from the trunks of beech trees.

I attempted to get some pictures of our night Kiwi expedition, but frankly, the idea, now I'm writing this post, after experiencing the challenges of spotting these birds at night, let alone attempting to get a picture of them, seems ridiculous, and I soon settled in to just enjoying the experience of seeing the two adults we saw, burst out onto the path, with me catching a glimpse of their rears together with two large feet pounding away into the dark.

Not only that but we got to get close up to a young bird hiding among the fern and hoping we hadn't spotted it, before we doused our lights and moved on, probably very much to the young bird's relief.

We also saw Kiwi's held in a couple of authorised captive reserves where you can see them in specifically maintained darkened pens, that also restrict camera and phone-camera use, as the lights can easily disturb these sensitive creatures, so to remind you of what we are talking about, I have included the pictures of the stuffed examples in the Wellington Museum.

There are now five recognised separate species of Kiwi, New Zealand's national symbol, and the smallest of the ratites, or flightless birds, that include the Emu and Ostridge illustrating much larger members of the family. Because the Kiwi has its nostrils right in the tip of its very long beak, it does in fact class as having one of the shortest beaks in the bird world, scientifically speaking.

The next day we made our way back to Bluff and headed over to the southern most point in NZ if you exclude the outlying islands, for a picture next to the famous sign post indicating the limits of civilisation in the Southern Hemisphere.

Like the centre of New Zealand the most southerly point is not without controversy, but it makes for a good picture.

From Bluff we drove north-west to Te Anau, Point 8, alongside the very large and very deep lake of that name to head into Fiordland specifically to take in two of the natural wonders of the world, Milford Sound together with its less visited but equally spectacular neighbour, Doubtful Sound, both of which are not 'Sounds' in the strictest definition, that is not wide stretches of open seawater within the confines of the land nor do they encompass very large islands, so are more precisely fiords or fjords.

The journey up to Milford Sound was leisurely enough to take in the majesty of the surrounding mountains, not to mention the odd mirror-lake and another New Zealand's species of parrot, the highly intelligent, court-jester, Kea, Nestor notablis, renowned for its ability to find ways of removing important pieces of vehicles, including aerials, window-seals and the rubber from wiper blades.

The alpine parrot or Kea, Nestor notablis is the world's only alpine parrot and feeds mainly on alpine vegetation, including fruits, shrubs and snowberries.

One of the key characteristics of both Milford and Doubtful Sound are the numerous waterfalls to be seen plummeting down the sides of the sheer drops from the surrounding mountains clad in trees that seem to grow out of the rock right down to the water line.

The many waterfalls also give a clue as to this being one of the wettest parts of the world with average rainfall of 48 inches a year and receiving rain 182 days in an average year.

Both sounds are to be seen from the water by accessing the various boat trips that take visitors along their length to the open sea and back, with the trip to Milford entirely along the road link via the remarkable Homer Tunnel through the surrounding mountains, finished in 1953 and forming a choke point to the many tourist busses going back and forth along the route.

The trip to Doubtful was a little more convoluted via another boat trip across Lake Manapouri, followed by a bus to the boat across the sound.

The waterfalls on Milford Sound are particularly impressive and a huge draw for the numerous tourists that visit each year.

Our boat heads down Milford Sound towards the sea.

Milford Sound or Piopiotahi was described by Rudyard Kipling as the eighth wonder of the world and it seems since then just about every superlative has been used to describe this incredible place, so I think I will just let the pictures do the talking.

Doubtful Sound so named after Captain Cook approached the opening to it from the sea and then turning away from it after considering it ‘a bit tight’ and thus naming it ‘Doubtful Harbour”.

It is the deepest and second longest of Fiordland’s sounds, and on the day we visited gave us a very rare day of sunshine and no rain, as at Milford the day before, but in the case of Doubtful, it meant our captain felt emboldened to take our boat into open sea as we turned in the mouth of the sound, taking advantage of the very calm conditions.

Doubtful Sound unlike Milford gets a lot less visitors and to my mind makes this place extra special as we were the only boat on the water as we cruised its length and then the skipper asked everyone to be silent as he turned the engines off and we were treated to drifting along the sound getting the HM Bark Endevour experience that Cook and his crew must have experienced back in 1779.

Doubtful Sound viewed from the crest of the headland that we traversed by bus from Lake Manapouri.

As well as offering the chance to visit a very unspoilt part of the world, the Fiordland area has some other amazing attractions particularly if you are interested in the unique bird life on New Zealand.

The flightless Takahe, Porphyrio hochstetteri, is the world’s largest members of the rail family of birds, and until as recently as 1948 was thought to have become extinct until its rediscovery by Dr Geoffrey Orwell in the Murchison Mountains, where they are now fully protected, with injured birds, as seen here, brought into captive programs to play a part in reproducing and allowing yet more birds to be released back into the wild.

The present wild population is just 120 birds, with their numbers still relatively restricted by stoat predation.

I had only ever seen pictures of these incredibly rare birds until I got to photograph these captive breeders seen in my photos, a truly memorable experience for me.

The Takahe with young as seen below were such a thrill to see and its great that these rare birds are getting a second chance to reestablish themselves on South Island. 

From Te Anau we progressed north to our next stop, Queenstown, Point 10, the capital for thrill seekers around the world, and New Zealand’s fastest growing towns with property prices indicating as ever that its all about location, location, location.

Our accommodation was right next to Lake Wakatipu, the long thin ‘Z’ shaped lake upon the banks of which the town lies and we enjoyed magnificent views out over it towards the north-south range of mountains, The Remarkables.

European settlement in this area began in the 1860’s with the surrounding land being parcelled out effectively to two people, William Gilbert Rees and Nicholas von Tunzelmann who finding themselves unsure of which of them had rights to which side of the lake agreed to flip a coin for it, with Rees getting the rub of the coin, ending up with the side that had all the gold reserves.

With the discovery of gold in the Arrow River in 1862, the town and its population grew along with other settlements close by such as the village of Arrowtown, and its collection of old workers cottages that housed the Chinese worker community of that period, and with names of streets in Queenstown such as Camp Street harking back to those early frontier days.

The view from our apartment overlooking Lake Wakatipu during our stay in Queenstown

Queenstown waterfront is a great place to go in the evening for dining out, which we enjoyed during our stay

The Post Office is but one of a group of historic buildings in Arrowtown recalling the gold rush times

During our stay we took time to visit the Kiwi Park in Queenstown, ostensibly to see the North Island Brown Kiwi's in their darkened enclosure but also some other interesting NZ creatures that we had missed up until then.

The Ruru, Ninox novaeseelandiae or Morepork, after the bird's curious sounding call, is NZ's only remaining owl. Up to this point, my only encounter with these birds was to hear their call at night.

New Zealand Falcon Falco novaeseelandiae or Karearea is NZ's only falcon and difficult to see in the wild, with my few sightings quite away away to get a decent picture as seen here in the Kiwi Park enclosure.

The Tuatara, seen below, is another of those remarkable unique creatures that NZ seems to boast of in abundance. 

Despite its appearance, this is not just another lizard, but a very distinct group and has its lineage going back to the Jurassic period, so a real life dinosaur in many respects.

These creatures have a much lower body temperature than other lizards, and though happy to bask in the sun are nocturnal creatures and active in temperatures as low as 5 degrees centigrade and seeing temperatures greater than 28 degrees-c likely to prove fatal.

Another curious feature is the inclusion of a third eye on the top of the head, visible in the young Tuatara but covered by scales in the mature adult, with its use uncertain, this coupled with its extraordinary longevity with estimates based on captive specimens of anything between 60 to 100 plus years.

The amazing Tuatara on display in the Queenstown Kiwi Park.

Oh did I mention thrill seeking? Queenstown caters for all folks keen to throw themselves off of mountains on gliders, down rivers on rafts and jet boats, up mountains on bikes and of course off bridges on bungee ropes where this particular activity was invented.

Oh and no, I didn’t take the offer of having a go!

Of course you can’t go far in New Zealand and particularly South Island without finding a film set located in a given area, with Queenstown particularly popular with film makers including Peter Jackson who spent a lot of time around the town compiling some of the most memorable scenes from Lord of the Rings.

We had a lot of fun touring around the Deer Park, just opposite our apartment and along Lake Wakatipu identifying some of these now classic views and comparing them with the film, some of which I have illustrated below, and an activity that reveals the craft of the film maker, able to make a setting look quite different from how it actually appears in reality.

Aragorn’s fall after battling the Warg rider. There is in fact no drop into a river valley but a gentle slope overlooking Queenstown, carefully kept out of shot in the film.

The cliff on which the Warg scout appeared and jumped on to Hama as he looked up to see his grizzly fate.

The exit from the Paths of the Dead encounter for Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli as they look down to see the arriving Corsair ships below

Retreat of the refugees from Rohan to Helms Deep, pictured in front of The Remarkables. This is a relatively small mere, made to look much larger by using children to make up the back end of the file as the view scans to the background.

We travelled further up the lake shore to visit the scene used to portray Sam giving Gollum a cooking lesson and the ambush of the Oliphunts by the men of Gondor commanded by Captain Faramir, as seen below.

The woods close to the shore of the lake were used to portray Lothlorian in Lord of the Rings, and Peter Jackson returned during the filming of the Hobbit to portray the house of Beorn the Skin Changer, note the tree marking the spot.

We thoroughly enjoyed our few days in Queenstown but it was soon time to resume our travels, this time making our way out towards the West Coast and the little town of Franz Josef, Point 10, named by the explorer and geologist Julius van Haast in 1865 in honour of the Austrian Emperor.

The town is a popular base for tourists to explore the nearby Franz Josef glacier for which we had arranged a helihike up to, whilst allowing for any weather interference with those plans by staying an extra day to allow for jumping on another helicopter, weather permitting.

Unfortunately the weather was not kind and so we made alternate plans which included a visit to the unique, and I know I use the word a lot for New Zealand, but there we are, breeding sanctuary for the stunning White Herons at Whateroa, the only such place in NZ and a perfect time to visit, with young birds in the nest for the herons, shags and Royal Spoonbills.

When the White Heron comes into breeding season, they sport amazing white plumes on their backs, as seen in the picture below, and their bills turn black, with the former addition of feathers nearly leading to their extinction in the mid 19th century as they were hunted remorselessly for the fashion in ladies hats, reducing the population in NZ to just four breeding pairs until steps were taken to protect the birds and this nesting area in particular.

The White Heron, Arden modesto. The NZ population is small, with only one breeding location on the banks of the River Waitangiroto in Westland. 

Royal Spoonbills, Platalea regia now making a strong comeback in NZ since 1975 when numbers were quite low. These birds are stunning to see wading in shallow water and swinging their spatulate bills from side to side, filtering small invertebrates and fish.

A fledgling heron begging for food from an adult that has just returned to the nest.

A Little Shag, Phalacrocorax melanoleucos, regurgitates food to a fledgling that has inserted its head into the parent bird’s beak to take its feed.

The hide set up specifically to allow visitors to photograph the breeding area without disturbing the birds also allowed me to get a great close up of another classic NZ bird, the Bellbird Anthornis melanura, seen here feeding on nectar from the flowers of the Flax.

The Bellbird is endemic to New Zealand and widely distributed, really noticeable for their melodic singing and their ability to imitate other sounds.

Whilst kicking our heels in Franz Josef and confirming that we would definitely not be flying, we again headed off to Lake Matheson near the Fox Glacier and in which, on a clear day, you can get spectacular mirror images of Mount Cook and its neighbours reflected in its still waters.

A little bit of a breeze didn’t quite allow a perfect reflection of Mount Cook in the waters of Lake Matheson.

Walking the circumference of the lake also gave a chance to get acquainted with some other residents of the surrounding woodland.

A South Island male Tomtit, Petroica macrocephala, was particularly curios to join us on our walk along the banks of Lake Matheson, coming very close and happy to sit on a branch to have his portrait taken.

In the next shot I was able to capture his classic yellow tinged breast feathers that differentiate the South Islander from his North Island cousin.

The New Zealand Pigeon or Kereru, Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae is NZ’s only endemic species of pigeon, with this very large bird with its very small head very important to the native woodland, being responsible for distributing seeds of several tree species from the fruits it consumes.

Before moving on up the West Coast we determined to at least get a view of the base of the Franz Josef glacier by taking the short walk up the nearby valley that allowed enough of a break in the clouds clinging to the slopes to capture a glimpse of this natural wonder as helicopters were making the occasional reconnaissance flight.

The rain forest seen here in the valley leading to the Franz Josef Glacier is typical of the that seen all along the West Coast and one of the key reasons I found this area to be my most favourite part of New Zealand.

Braided rivers, covered in shingle and scree created by mountains glaciers and their action in breaking down the rocks, form a consistent feature of rivers in New Zealand.

This was as close as we could get to the Franz Josef glacier that, like many of NZ ice flow,  is seemingly in retreat these days, but still a magnificent sight even through a telephoto lens.

I have to say that the West Coast of South Island was perhaps my most favourite place in the whole of New Zealand, primarily because of its undeveloped splendour with much of its temperate rainforest still very much in situ having been one of the last areas to be settled and with the mountainous terrain making it difficult to clear enough vegetation to allow pasture creation for cattle.

This is reflected by the forest often covering the slopes right down to the edge of the road, as you drive alongside stunning coast lines and beaches fronting up to the Tasman Sea.

In addition the forests are teeming with wildlife, some of it not welcome, if the road-kill victims littering roadside are anything to go by, but we both thoroughly enjoyed our travels in the area as we made our way up to Greymouth, Point 11, to base ourselves whilst we explored this final area before catching the Transalpine Railway back across the mountains and down into the Canterbury Plain to Christchurch in time for Christmas.

The gloriously maintained Empire Hotel in the Gold Rush town of Ross

The area around Greymouth and the town itself is beholden to mining of one sort another, starting with the gold rush of the 1860’s, bringing population growth and prosperity before gold was replaced by ‘King Coal’ with, at one stage, ten mines in the area producing 8 million tonnes of coal but a tragic number of mining disasters recorded on the town memorial to its many mining tragedies that affected families in the area, with the last major loss of life in November 2010 at the Pine River Mine where an explosion resulted in the trapping and eventual death of 29 miners.

The other major resource that occurs in the area is the famous pounamu an incredibly hard green stone and form of jade, used by the Maori to make weapons, but valued as much today for its value as jewellery, often seen carved into intricate shapes based on Maori designs and some of which Carolyn purchased as a keepsake to remind us of our time here.

This gold-miner’s cottage has been restored to the look of typical houses for the mid to late 19th century and is open to the public.

Indicative of the early gold rush period of the era was the little town of Ross, we happened to stop off in whilst needing to make a call of nature, only to find ourselves parked up in this time warp and deciding to stop for lunch.

First settled in 1865 the town is very conscious of its history with some wonderful period buildings to be seen including a typical miner’s cottage of the period, town gaol, Empire Hotel and a historic centre displaying artefacts from the era, including a replica of a massive hunk of gold discovered in the diggings nearby and sent off to King George V who had it melted down and turned into serviette rings!

I was not aware until I saw the picture below in the history display that a certain Samuel Mitchel, Captain of the Foretop on HMS Harrier and recipient of the Victoria Cross for gallantry at the Battle of Gate Pa became a resident of Ross, on leaving the navy in 1865.

His citation read;

For his gallant conduct at the attack at Te Papa, Tauranga, on 28th of April last, in entering the Pah with Commander Hay, and when the Officer was mortally wounded, bringing him out, although ordered by Commander Hay to leave him, and seek his own safety. This man was at the time ‘Captain of the Fore-top’ of the “Harrier”, doing his duty as Captain’s Coxswain; and Commodore Sir William Wiseman brings his name to special attention for this act of gallantry.’

Samuel Mitchel VC, settled on the West Coast after his naval service concluded in 1865 working initially on the Ross Gold Fields, before purchasing some land to take up farming instead. He was drowned in 1894 crossing the River Mikonui, in full flood at the time, and was survived by his wife Agnes and their ten children. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Mitchell_(VC)

The Hokitika Gorge was another detour taken en route to Greymouth, ground out of the surrounding granite by the River Hokitika and displaying that amazing turquoise blue water loaded with ground down rock deposits from the nearby glaciers.

The walk made for a very nice distraction during our drive and the path along the river was accompanied by the hum of some rather large dragonflies also enjoying the gloriously warm weather.

Keen to get the full West Coast experience, we then stopped off at the West Coast Treetop Walk which gave us a chance to really experience the native temperate rain forest that characterises the area, but seeing the canopy close up for a change, created by the ancient Rimu and Kamahi trees that don’t mess about like European trees, and simply go straight up and don’t stop!

See what I mean about the trees? Absolutely jaw dropping. 

The view from the walkway at the West Coast Treetop Walk, looking towards Lake Mahinapua.
https://treetopsnz.com/book-now/

Once we got to Greymouth we were keen to explore the beautiful coastline along this area of South Island, characterised by rocky outcrops created by the action of the sea upon the layered rock strata to be seen in this area.

One such location that really exemplifies this curious geological feature are the famous Pancake Rocks and Blowholes to be seen at Dolomite Point near Punakaiki which along with the stunning scenery also offered us the chance to watch a White Fronted Tern colony busy feeding their new generation, together with the rarely seen Hector’s dolphins basking in the waters close by obviously taking advantage off the wealth in fish stocks that the terns were enjoying.

The White Fronted Tern, Sterna striata, were extremely busy flying too and from the colony trying to keep up with the demand from many hungry chicks.

Hector’s Dolphin, the smallest and the rarest dolphins to be seen in the world.

The Hector’s Dolphins were easily recognisable by their characteristic rounded dorsal fin, seen as they crested, only to disappear very quickly again, which meant several attempts with the camera at max telephoto, until I was able to capture one of them giving a glimpse of slightly more than just their fins.

Hector’s Dolphin, Cepholorhyncus hectori seen from the Pancake Rocks

Yet again the time seemed to fly by as our days were filled with so much to see and do that before we knew it, it was time to pack our bags, loose the hire car, and board the Greymouth to Christchurch Transalpine Express, one of the great rail journeys in the world taking five hours to make the 139 mile journey through the ‘Great Divide’ and the spine of mountains that partitions South Island.

Our journey took us over the 269 feet high Staircase Viaduct, as we ascended the Southern Alps through Arthur’s Pass before descending via the five mile long Otira tunnel.

We were able to leave our warm comfortable carriage and make our way to the viewing carriage at the back of the train, which was rather breezy and occasionally pelted with rain and a slight sleet as we got higher, but offering great opportunities to take pictures of the stunning scenery without any glass or Perspex to interfere with the shot.

The Transalpine Express made a perfect way to end our tour as we progressed back to Christchurch, very much in a festive mood, even if the weather didn’t quite correspond to our normal Xmas expectations.

Whilst in Christchurch we were glad we had booked up our restaurants well ahead of our return as many were closed and those that weren’t, fully booked, which meant that we enjoyed some fine meals on Xmas eve and Xmas day together with a punt on the River Avon, and a trip on the gondola up to Mount Cavendish to take in the view out over the city and the harbour of Lyttelton.

Our final visit to Christchurch concluded our visit to New Zealand and on the 27th December 2021 we boarded the plane to take us to the next part of our journey, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in time for New Year and yet more adventures to report on.

More anon

JJ