Week 8 - 15th Nov

Coronet Peak Ski Field – Coronet Pk, Arrowtown
Sunday Nov 15th, 2009
The drive up to the Coronet Ski Field is a short drive away from our campsite and the road is quite steep and narrow. I wouldn’t want to drive up it in the winter I’m sure. Alan and I drove to the chalet. The vertical is small only about 600 feet. It was quite cold on this sunny morning and it was snowing!

Our next stop was down the ski field at Skipper’s Creek. It seems that this area (Skippers Creek) started as a gold rush in the 1800’s. We would like to see what is there but the road says narrow, slips (washouts) but the all important information says “rental car insurance may be invalid past this point”. We park and walk a short part of the road. It is blustery and cold so we return and warm up in the car.

There is snow in the air so we decide to return to the valley floor where it is warmer.
Down at the bottom we drive to Arrowtown and walk to the river. There are cars everywhere and we are not sure why, but once at the river we find out. Many people are panning for gold in the river’s edge. It seems this river, the Arrow River, still releases significant quantities of gold, so many pan for gold on the weekend.

One fellow we talked to had a small film canister with nearly the bottom filled. One flat teaspoon he says equals 1 oz and pays $1500.00 NZ dollars. He keeps going and so do we.

Further up the river we find a group having lunch and also panning for gold. They have not had any luck and are done for the day.

Near the car park is a historic Chinese town. The Chinese immigrants were early settlers during the gold rush in the 1860’s. Many died trying and many of those that went home with gold, returned back to live out their lives in New Zealand.

After dinner we walk around to see a different view of the Shotover River. Instead of a steep gorge, it is a wide river bed of gravel that winds and heads toward Lake Wakatipu.

Week 8 - 11, 12th & Fri. 13th Nov.

Queenstown
Saturday Nov 14th

Toured the downtown and had great coffee at the Vudu Café. Shopped for gifts and walked the wharf, watching the speed boats and the steamer boat on the lake. Walked through the market. We thought it was a vegetable/fruit market, but it was an art market. Watched the steamer leave the harbour. There were gale force winds, branches all over the roads, large sandy whirlwinds and then of course driving rain by later day. Stopped at the Shotover Gorge bridge and then walked down to see the boats at the shore. The gorge is beautiful with large rock sides and turquoise water.
Shotover Gorge, river, and bridge, surrounding mountains,

Wanaka, Queenstown, Arrowtown, Lake Hayes walk
Friday Nov 13th, 2009

We are off to Queenstown. On the way out of town we stop in at Puzzle World to see the puzzles on display. There is a large maze inside that is made with wooden sides. Great place for kids.

On the way to Queenstown the road winds through the barren desert landscape with sheer cliffs and tumble weeds in the hills. It climbs and climbs till we are at the peak and now we can see the valley below.

At the Crow Range Summit Pass, 1076 m above sea level, the road heads straight down to Queenstown with the last 10 kms as switchbacks along the mountain. There are many sheer drops off the side that are quite unnerving to look at. Our trusty GPS takes us right to the Shotover River where we plan on spending a few nights.

Tonight we are given this adorable cabin with a queen bed, a small table with two chairs, two bedside tables and all in the shape of a little cabin in the mountains. We unpack and find the kitchen available, so we make lunch. We pass over the Shotover Gorge to get to the lodgings.

After lunch we are off on a tramp to the Hayes Lake Walkway. This turns out to be a nice gravel walk around Hayes Lake with a walking time of 2 to 3 hours. We do it in 2 and thoroughly enjoy the walk, the scenery and the beautiful mountain fed lake. One side of the lake is steep hillside with lots of ups and downs, while the other side of the lake is a trail in front of some beautiful homes. Many have decks that look over the lake and one particular home has some interesting sculptures sitting all over the deck, very neat.

On the way back we drive through the small town of Arrowtown. What a pretty place. This is a historic community with beautiful streets and old buildings. We wander around the town and stop for lollies.

At dinner we meet Raymond, Yili and their daughter Shaoli. They join us for dinner and then breakfast the next day. We had a great chat with them.

Knights Point, Ships Creek, Haast, Thunder Creek, Blue Pools, Wanaka
Thursday Nov 12th, 2009

This morning the drive along the road to Fox Glacier is very straight, and this is very unusual for this part of the country. After doing the twists and turns of the rest of the island Alan is glad for the nice relaxing change.

Fox glacier is not that far away, so we quickly pass by as the weather is overcast and you can barely see the mountains.

Below Fox, our next stop is Knights Point which happens to be a nice lookout over the Tasman Sea and an overview of the coast. The road for this next part has been very twist and windy and makes up for our straight stretch between the glaciers. The sign at the roadside stop says Knights Point was the last stretch of road to be completed in this area, which was 1965. It seems that this particular piece of road was the most difficult due to high hills, unstable ground causing rock slides, high rainfall, and flood prone creeks.

Down the road we come to a flat stretch called the Coastal Plain. Here we find a stopover point called Ships Creek and as the name would suggest possibly an old ship. We stop to look for the ship but there is no ship. Apparently this ship sank off of the Australian coast and over the years it drifted to NZ. These are rocks piled on the sea side, by visitors.

Here we find a lazy beach and a nice tree covered path walk. The trail winds to an inland lake called Mataketake Lake. It is caught here behind the dunes and is slowly being reclaimed by the land. From here, the steep stretch of rock that we have just completed opens on to a 50 km flat plain and the landscape stretches 7 km inland. A real tropical wetland.

After our stop for a beach walk, we carry on down the 50 km’s till we reach Haast. Here we cross a long one lane bridge that is unusual. It has in the middle of the bridge two separate passing bays. This bridge is over the Haast River and it is a beautiful. On the other side is the town of Haast, well actually it is a whistle stop as we saw no town.

Thunder Falls is a lovely spot along the road. We walk to the waterfall through a forest of natural trees. At this point the Thunder River ends in Thunder Falls as it cascades 28 metres down to join the Haast River. Just around the corner, the Haast River creates a gorge just up the road. The sky is a crystal clear blue and the water cascading through the river is also a beautiful blue too.

Our next stop is the Blue Pools. Where the Makarora and Blue Rivers meet form these blue pools. Both rivers are fed by azure glacier waters. At the bottom of the walk we find both rivers and these great suspension bridges. One takes you across the Makarora River and the second suspends you over the blue pools on the Blue River. It is a beautiful sight.

The mountains we have been driving through have been beautiful, but they are changing and are now more majestic, barren and become more like what we saw in the Lord of the Rings. Could this be the area that we saw in the movie?

At one point on our trip there is a road sign for cows ahead. A famer is herding his cattle along the road about 1 km, on his ATV with a dog to help. Alan manages to navigate the car through the middle.

The valley opens out to this immense lake called Lake Wanaka. The mountainous country side turns barren and brown, similar to the landscape that we see when we drive through Kamloops, BC. At the top the view is spectacular and we are officially at the divide between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea.

We book into a Backpackers lodge in the town of Wanaka. This place is not as nice as most spots. We have a problem with the internet and they suggest we go into the parking lot by the backpackers in town.

After supper we decide to drive into town to see the Paradisimo Cinema. Alan has read up on it and from what we understand the Paradisimo Cinema is a retro theater with funky couches, a Morris Minor car, in the theatre, and they have a real intermission so that the patrons can come out from the movie and buy all kinds of restaurant goodies. This all sounds too good to be true, so, rather than miss out on it off we go.

Tomorrow we are heading to Queenstown.



Pancake rocks, Blowholes walk, Hokitika, Franz Joseph Glacier
Wednesday Nov 11th, 2009
Morning arrives and we have the usual breakfast of a grapefruit, orange and kiwi with peanut butter toast. Today we are heading down the coast to see the Pancake rocks. This little white cat kept trying to come into our room. Alan had to rescue it off the roof...it got up but wouldn't get down.

On the way down south the rain begins and we see the coast through the rain. About 60 km south of Westport we come to the Pancake rocks and blow holes. These are limestone formations formed under the sea 35 million years ago. Over the past 100, 000 yrs, the land has uplifted and through weathering by the wind, sea and rain has created this amazing formation of layered limestone. They are lovely.

The pancake trail winds in a circular pattern over a small bridge, up the pancake rocks, down some innovative pancake stairs, and back to the trails beginning. It is a delight and we thoroughly enjoy the walk. I particularly liked the stair cases build in rock.

As we carry on down the highway, we stop several times along the road to take pictures of the scenery of the wild west coast. When we get to Greymouth the sky looks dark. We carry on down the road and take a few more pictures of the sea shore.

At Hokitika we tour the town, definitely a jade tourist trap. We ask one of the local shop owners if we are the lucky owners of some beach jade we picked this up yesterday at Cape Foulwind. To our disappointment, we have found good examples of lever rock (i.e. lever behind on the beach) and serpentine (it can also be left on the beach). So our great finds aren’t jade after all but we had fun looking for it.

Just before we head out of town, we take a quick drive through some of the back streets. On one street we find a store called Traditional Jade and wander in to have a look. The fellow is very informative and shows us his jade pile in the back. We ask lots of questions and he tells us lots of good information but I am sure we are not experts yet. We thank him and say our goodbyes then carry on.

In the evening we stopped at Franz Joseph Glacier. Great hike out to it. Out there was a Kea bird, quite a large native parrot. I found its burrow in the ground…away from where the tourists were feeding it.
Tomorrow we are off to Wanaka and the movies…the theatre has couches!

Week 8 - 9th & 10th Nov.

Leaving Pohara Beach, Drive to Westport
Monday Nov 9th, 2009

We are up early this morning as today we are going to drive to Westport. We quickly pack our gear and head off to breakfast.

We keep seeing these large purple flowering trees... quite beautiful.

During our coffee an American fellow stops in and chats for a while. He is here for three months and is a painter. His name is John Torina and you can see his paintings at johntorina@hotmail.com. He took us over to show us his paintings. He kept them under a blue tarp leaning against a picknic table. His paintings are beautiful and he has quite a few on the go. He plans on completing about 12 paintings then is heading back to the USA.

Part way to Marble Mountain, we stop to purchase homemade salami. We carry on to Motueka and stop in for cake and flat whites. We also wander around the town and stop in to get some groceries. On the way out of town we stop at a road side booth and purchase fresh asparagus.

The trusty GPS is taking us to Tapawera for lunch where we enjoy our cold chicken, salad, kiwi fruit, kiwi juice and a few chips. There is a small museum in Tapawera and we look at the building and the pictures then head on down the highway. At the Buller Gorge, we stop to see the suspension bridge. The gorge is beautiful and we stop frequently to view the gorge, take pictures and see the sights. We finally arrive in Westport by six in the evening.

The room is very nice and we decide to stay. We cook our supper of toast, ham, cheese and eggs with fresh asparagus. It is delicious.

The beach is beautiful and the tide is out. Alan and I walk the beach for an hour before turning in.

Seal Colony, Taraunga Beach, Westport, Lighthouse & Beach
Tuesday 10th November.

To get to the seal colony you have to drive windy roads down the coast past the Holcim Cement Plant and on to Tauranga Bay. All along the road and onto the pathways we kept seeing this brown bird called the Wekea. It is referred to as a bush chicken. On the rocks below the seals congregate on the rocks below. The lookout is sufficiently high enough that you can see the colony but high enough to prevent disturbing it.

The older male seals are sleeping on the rocks, the younger babies were feeding and young female seals were frolicking in the water amongst the kelp.

As usual we take a gravel road not knowing where it is going. We turn towards the beach at Tauranga bay and leave the car on the roads edge to check out the beach. To our surprise there is a tractor running down the beach with a large group of horses behind. It is difficult to get a good view so we jump in the car and drive further down the road toward the end of the beach. There is a track to the beach leading from the farm where I think the horses have come from. Alan and I climb through the deep sand to watch for the horses.

The farmer is still trotting the horses up and down the beach and we watch for a long time. After we have decided he is not going to quickly exit the beach we head back to the car. We have a few good pictures. I think they are some sort of race horses.

Just as we are about to leave, we can hear a tractor in the distance. Then up and over the dunes comes the farmer with his horses. He stops just at the road where we are parked, so of course I have to go and chat with the farmer. They are trotters being exercised. The farmer explains the sand and water builds up their stamina and he can exercise more horses at once this way. He explained that they also practice with the sulky on the beach and in the water.

On the way back, we stop to see the local lighthouse at Cape Foulwind… what a name! Apparently Captain Cook named this area because the weather was foul and it was difficult to land a boat.

Later in the evening, when the tide was going out, Alan and I return to Cape Foulwind and walk down to the lighthouse beach. The stones are all rounded, most are egg shaped and the size of a loaf and a half of bread. Quite a pretty beach.

I thought this firewood was stacked in an interesting mannter!

We chatted with this fisherman who was fishing Whitebait.
Tomorrow we are heading to Franz Joseph Glacier.