TriptotheSouthIsland2021

  Wednesday 31st March - On the road to Haast It was a beautiful morning this morning when we set off for Haast, and it stayed like that all the way. The scenery got more and more awesome as we went - hills became mountains, lakes were serene and the wind had died away. This is Lake Hawea! We followed the Mataroroa River for quite a way up to the Blue Pools:- Here is the Matarora River on its way to the sea. On the way we met a herd of cows. They really didn't care about us much:- When we got to the Haast River it had enormous flat river beds. The hills rose up from them vertically! We found an amazing "shop" at Haast that had everything in it - a cafe with nice seating and a good food cabinet, a mini-supermarket, an Internet section for $2 a session and a friendly girl behind the counter:- The Camp site at Haast River Motels and Holiday Park,  not far away, is  more of a motel really with the caravan park out the back. The receptionist was very helpful. She took us on a ...

Tuesday 30th March - Lake Wanaka Today was a slow day catching up after the big drive yesterday! This morning we went looking for the iSite to get information about the West Coast towns but they couldn't offer us anything!! So we then tried to do the Point Eely walk because it was about ten minutes out and ten minutes back, but it was under reconstruction! We went back and had lunch! This time we went to the other side of the Lake to walk up to the Waterfall Creek. It was a lovely afternoon walk along an easy path bordered by Lombardy Poplars and expensive homes with private views of the lake! On the way back we saw this tree in the middle of the Lake that had been a fence post about 30 years ago:-

Monday 29th March - Ettrick and Wanaka  Today we had a long drive to Wanaka - about 5 or 6 hours, but the weather made it possible as it was sunny and warm all the way. On the way we came across "Ettrick", which in the Borders in Scotland is where my branch of the Laidlaws come from!:- We just had to stop and ask if anyone in the café knew how it came by its name:- On the way we passed big sculptured hills reminiscent of Ettrick Valley: One lady suggested that we stopped at the next town - Roxburgh - and ask at the Library cum iSite Centre, which we did. This is not the iSite Centre which was in a boring building. This one across the road was much better: The Librarian was very interested and keen to help. We got information about a few books that could be of interest eg:- From there we drove on to passed the Clyde Dam and on to Wanaka and found the Lakeview Holiday Park only five minutes from the lake itself:- Here is an evening shot of Lake Wanaka from the Camp Ground:-

 Sunday March 28th - The Petrified Forest Today we decide to visit the Petrified Forest just below the Curio Bay campsite. It was being "guarded" by a DOC volunteer who spent 6 hours a day watching the Hoiho Penguin site as they are an endangered species. They also remind people to not get too close to their site. Thjere is a really good audio-visual display in the reception area of the Campground office called "The Gateway". It provides a lot of information about the creation of the Petrified Forest as below:- This forest was created about 170 million years ago by a volcanic eruption on Gondwanaland. Torrential rain after the eruption washed a huge flood of silica ash down the volcano which swamped and felled the forest. The silica meant that the buried forest petrified relatively quickly, rather than rotted away. Once New Zealand separated from the rest of Gondwanaland it sank. Then later it rose again and the ocean eroded the softer sandstone away and left the mu...

  Saturday 27th March - Slope Point This morning, amongst other things, was the laundry day. It is amazing how quickly one collects "washing" over a few days while travelling. That is what our morning was dedicated to. After lunch we were off to Slope Point while the weather behaved itself. It was only about a twenty minute drive and we were at the car park. We donned jackets and beanies, not becuase the weather dictated it, but just in case. Here we at the start of the walk down to the beacon:- It took about 20 minutes to walk down to the actual point through all the grazing sheep who paid us no attention whatsoever: The Point itself is about a hundred feet above the sea and with no barrier between "you" and the drop to the ocean below. Here is a video of the same spot - mesmerising:- The Point itself has a beacon there to warn shipping:- Right beside the beacon there was a sign pointing out that this plsce was about exactly halfway between the South Pole and the E...

 Friday 26th March - Drive to Curio Bay In the morning Bev Crawford from Hamilton appeared out of the blue from Owaka where she had been staying while visiting The Catlins. After she left we said goodbye to John and Susan at the McClay's farm-stay and headed off down the Waikawa Road to Curio Bay. A lovely drive through rolling farmland and then primeval Native Bush. We stopped at Florence Hill lookout down to Curio Bay:- We went through Waikawa and 7km later found ourselves in Curioscape campground. It was a brand new building with a café and museum as well as the campground reception. We were allocated powered site 7 in amongst the flax bushes:- I can push my way through the flax at the back and I am right on the edge of the sea - tide's out:- After dinner, just before dusk, we went down the track to the Penguin Colony and found a lady watching. We would never have spotted them without her help as they were far down the cliff. They were pretty noisy though. This photo j...

 Thursday 25th March - Owaka - Friendly People We met three lots of friendly people in Owaka:- 1. Coralie and Gordon McClay the owners of the farm where we went to stay with our caravan. She came and talked to us every afternoon. Her two boys were very open and friendly. Andrew the older one (10) went and got a map from their house to show us how to get to Surat Bay and sat and explained it all. At the end he gave us the map. Luke their younger son (nearly 9) cut up a piece of 4 x 2 for the jockey wheel of our caravan as we had lost it in the drive from Oamaru. We paid him $3 - he was happy. Coralie asked all the campers up to the Farmhouse on Thursday for supper at 8:00pm where we had a great old chat! Coralie let me use the Farmhouse shower when she was away in Dunedin. She showed me where to put the house key when I had finished. 2. The mechanic at the garage who stopped what he was doing to go into the garage shop, which was closed, to get me a roll of duck tape to repair ...

 Thursday 25th March - Pounawera, Sudat Bay and Sea Lions Today was a misty drizzly day, but with no wind.  This morning we got an email from Bev Crawford to say that she was at Surat Bay near Owaka.  So this morning we set out trying to find Pounawera and Surat Bay without Google and nearly gave up, but found it eventually:-   It got its name from the wreck of the Surat in 1874:- We left a message  at the office of the BackPackers for Bev:- ... and then went for a walk along the beach which was beautiful:- and found to our surprise a Sea Lion lyin' down on the beach:- Here is a video of it:- It was a beautiful place:- We then drove back to the little village of Pounawera which was beautiful in an unspoilt way and found a path:- On the way we saw Spoonbills camped out on an islet in the middle of the estuary:- .. up to an old scow "Portland" that had been used earlier to work in shallow waters and now abandoned - sadly:-