Glaciers and odd birds

At Nelson Lakes Nat’l Park we climb into the stratosphere. If the world weren’t so round we could’ve seen as far as the USA!




At Hakitika Gorge we suspect a dye trick. This is our first glimpse of the brilliant, aqua glacial water from the Southern Alps.



The weka is making sure we don’t get out of line. These flightless birds are bold and fearless and silly.






Two huge glaciers, Franz Josef and Fox, push downward to coastal rain forest from high in the Southern Alps. We accidentally climb over the barrier fence at each one and walk over rocky moraine for about a mile to the toe, out of which flows a torrent of melt-water. In case anyone wonders who’s in charge: Mother Nature or mankind….


This Russian has been traveling around the world since 2000. His goal is to be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first deaf mute to circle the globe by motorcycle.



We have been told that Fiordland Tufted Penguins live south of Haast, but who would imagine we’d actually see one, yellow eyebrows and all? This fellow is escaping the heat of the sunny shore by working his way up a forested stream.



In Wanaka we step into an MC Escherish illusionary experience: Puzzling World. Things are definitely not what they seem (or ARE they?) as our perceptions are twisted and knotted.

East of the Southern Alps the mountainous terrain becomes very arid. Trees and ferns are replaced by low tusssock grass, so we can see for many miles. Heading to Fiordland, we stop to walk up a rise to a stunning overlook. The track continues. We decide to walk to the next rise. Then the next. Then the next. Till there are no more….

North end of South Island

We drop off our rental car in Wellington, take the 3-hour ferry to NZ’s South Island, pick up a different car, and head northwest, continuing to tramp the countryside day after day from Marlborough Sounds to the northernmost point at Cape Farewell. It’s glorious!

In this region there seems to be considerable environmental interest, concern about all the chemicals on crops, genetic engineering of foods promoted by the US, efforts to conserve water, etc. In Nelson we go to the well-known and wonderful open-air Saturday Market for fine produce.
In Tasman we stop at the Jester House Café. Its “light earth” wall-construction is similar to straw bale, they have composting toilets inside, a meandering sculpture garden outside, and a stream full of eels that we are invited to feed!

The tiny town of Collingwood on Golden Bay proclaims itself as NZ’s first town to be plastic shopping bag free. And everywhere we go there is scenery to take our breath away, from seas and estuaries to mountains and rain forests.

A major treat is the surreally landscaped, totally un-peopled (except for us) Wharariki Beach where we happen upon a fur seal colony shortly after dawn. Or maybe it’s the day-care center: there are about 10 babies and 2 adults. We approach closer and closer without alarming them. The 2 adults even go off into the sea for a swim and bodysurf (really!) while the children frolic in a small pool at our feet.

Did you know that you can just click on any photo here to enlarge it?

North Island photos

A sampling of our tramps and visits

Relief is an aesthetic pleasure in the public toilets of the small outback town of Kawakawa. Perhaps the most photographed in NZ, these were created by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.













Hiking along the beach, through a striking stone arch, then along the high mountain’s breath-catching edge at Whangarei. Passable only at low tide.



There’s Art in our lunch spot, nestled in the arm of a tree on the northern tip of the Cormandel Peninsula overlooking the Pacific.







This name beats Blood’s Seafood in Vermont!







After rain, we are lucky to get a clear view for our climb on Mt. Taranaki, a currently snoozing volcano.







After an hour boat ride (thanks Ted and Marilyn!) up the Whanganui River and a 45 minute tramp we encounter the Bridge to Nowhere. After WWI, steep-mountain jungle land was given to ex-soldiers for farming. That’s a thank you?? The road was never built, and the land was abandoned.












Launching the boat by tractor for our trip out to the nature reserve on Kapiti Island. Many endangered birds on the edge of extinction from alien predators are protected here. Note: there are NO indigenous mammals in NZ except for a couple types of bats. Introduced possums, stoats, ferrets, rodents and rabbits are killing and destroying habitat for the birds, many of which are flightless (including the wingless kiwi).

If your rights have been a little too respected lately, you can have your toes stepped on here.