Our final days in New Zealand

Back on North Island we pay tribute to the Kiwi Carrot Capital, Okahune. It doesn’t bring us luck, though, when we go to the volcanic Tongariro National Park. After waiting out a day of rain, we attempt the famous Tongariro Crossing. Actually this mountainous tramp is so famous that it’s a little like the Chilkoot Trail during the Klondike Gold Rush where you couldn’t get out of line for fear of not being able to break back in. Nevertheless…we give it a go the following morning. As we climb up to the saddle, the temperature drops, the wind picks up lustily, and we are enveloped in clouds. Why are we doing this? For the stunning views? So we give it up (we’re not the only ones).

Whirinaki Forest Park and Te Urewera National Park with its Lake Waikaremoana (you think we’re making these names up, don’t you?) have stunning native podocarp forests with colossal trees. We don’t dare pause for more than a few minutes, though, or we, too, may be covered in moss and ferns.


Out on the East Cape we tramp to Cook’s Cove on Tolaga Bay. About halfway (after the UP part) we take this photo before hiking down to weathered sandstone formations on the Pacific.





On the way we encounter several feral goats. Check out the horns on this fellow!






Incidentally, here’s a catchy name for a mountain in NZ: Taumatawhaketangihangakoauauotameteapokaiwhenuakitanatahu. Do not try to pronounce it or you may have to be hospitalized.

By now we’ve spent time in every one of NZ’s nat’l parks and traveled to the most northerly, westerly, and southerly points. So here’s the easternmost, with its lighthouse, the first in the world to see dawn each day because of its proximity to the International Date Line. We look through the ground-level window to see a Fresnel lens stored there! (2nd or 3rd order, for those who care.)

How often have you seen cows lazing on a beach? It’s a first for us, too.

We spend our final few days before returning to Auckland and the airport experiencing Maori hospitality at this enchanting spot, nestled in among boulders and huge, twisted puhutekawa trees.

Farewell, Aotearoa, you’ve been more than wonderful. Next up: OZ!

From the Mountains to the Sea

Zigging back across New Zealand, we seek out the eastern side of mighty Mt Cook and more glaciers. Did we mention that glaciers in the South Alps move much faster than in other parts of the world? The mountains here are so steep that the ice travels downward at an average rate of a meter per day (as opposed to, say, Alaska or the Swiss Alps at a few inches per day). That’s fun for the viewer because if you spend more than a few seconds gawking at the power and majesty of it all, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see some sort of avalanche.

Leaving the area we encounter a New Zealand traffic jam: hundreds of sheep being herded down the road. Protocol says to just drive slowly on through them. Mostly they veer out of the way, but look out. Individuals suddenly remember they forgot their purses and turn back to retrieve them.

We veer off course ourselves for a quick side trip to Antarctica, not that far from NZ. Here you see our rental vehicle and basic accommodations. Too cold, though, especially when the wind kicks up! Not too chilly for the diminutive blue penguins, though.

In Kaikoura we go to meet the dolphins. Well! This is no resort show with trained animals. Our boat, holding about 12 people, motors far off the coast. Suddenly there are hundreds of dusky dolphins leaping about. We slide into the water in wet suits and snorkels, and these playful animals swirl around us, clearly in charge of the fun. We are lucky in our timing. Gale force winds and rain (snow in the visible mountains) kick up as we are returning.

Here are a couple of benign-looking fur seals chatting about brands of shampoo. Later we meet their ill-tempered counterparts as we round a rocky outcrop. One is low, the other high on a ledge, effectively blocking our passage unless we care to swim. There is a knock-you-over aroma of fishy urine. As we attempt to sidle by, they issue growls of warning with an impressive show of teeth. Okay, okay, back we go to explore other options. These guys are called fur seals, but actually they’re sea lions, which is noteworthy because sea lions can actually move quite swiftly and adroitly on land. Ultimately we perform impressive climbing feats as we scale a narrow rocky ledge, clinging to clumps of grass, to pass above them. Sorry, no photos….

And so we close our time on South Island. A couple of days later we board the ferry for Wellington, along with a double tractor-trailer truck of cows who are not at all sure it’s a good idea. Probably on their way to a barbeque.

We leave you now with
this very sensible message.

The Far South

In Fiordland Nat’l Park we travel by boat into glacially-carved Milford Sound one day, then Doubtful Sound the next. Cruising among the precipitous mountains, we are joined by dolphins both days. A group races with our boat, swimming faster and faster as we accelerate. After the dolphins leave, our captain congratulates everyone on snapping fine photos of water. He’s right. You had to be there.

Heading for the southern tip of the island we pause to watch herding dogs at work and to help the farmer shear a sheep. This is really sheep country, with large flocks dotting the hillsides, sometimes surprising themselves with an unexpected escape into the road. “Help help, we’re outside the fence; what shall we do?!!” Sheep are not the brightest of constellations….

Did you know that penguins come in several varieties? Neither did we, but we’re learning. Yellow-eyed penguins are endangered and reclusive. And climbers! They nest in steep hillsides, going out to sea each morning and returning each evening to their waiting chicks. We watch from a “hide.” We have photos, but we’d have to write: “See that white speck there? That’s a penguin halfway up the mountain.” The next night we watch blue penguins returning from a day at sea in churning packs of about twenty. In the shallows they pop upright like corks, then waddle inland. We count roughly 70 total. Later, as we walk back uphill, a quarter- to a half-mile in, we suddenly see three penguins directly ahead of us, heading into the bushes to their nests. Shortly afterward there’s another, solo, flustered by our presence. S/he works vigorously to enter the tall grass, and then we hear a lively penguin discussion going on about the “terrifying near miss with the humans.”

This is nesting time for the endangered albatross. They have a wingspan of about ten feet. Note the bird on the nest with a chick.




And of course, the ever-popular sea lions. We even see pups, including this one having lunch on Mama. (Fur seals are actually sea lions, too. Capt James Cook, who laid claim to most of NZ for England, misnamed quite a few things – including sand flies, which are actually voracious black flies with an itch that doesn’t quit!)

We hike out to a remote, windswept cape and find a sign announcing the southernmost point of the South Island. We’re lucky we aren’t blown off to Antarctica!