Yesterday Tom and I drove to Green Island, a couple of miles northeast of Coburg, so that I could help with a 7:15 a.m.  bird walk during an all-day event organized by the McKenzie River Trust, a non-profit land trust.   This annual event is called the Living River Celebration.

Willamette River

Ladybugs on Cowparsnips (?)

Green Island is a 1,100-acre island located at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette Rivers. It was purchased from the Green family who had owned and farmed the land for 70 years. Restoration efforts are geared toward returning the land to its former riparian habitat and flood plain characteristics. During high water it is truly an island while otherwise being accessible to the public via a narrow, culverted roadway just a few times a year. http://mckenzieriver.org/protected-lands/owned-properties/green-island/

Cinnabar moth caterpillars -imported years ago to eat invasive tansy ragwort

Forked horned buck with a good view.

This was my third time on the island and I’m still getting to know it. With the mixture of forest, grasslands, shrubs and ample water it provides wonderful habitat for birds and other wildlife. On my first visit I discovered a den of striped skunks in a shaded area under some Big Leaf Maples. During an evening meeting a week or so ago some of us saw an otter in one of the old gravel ponds that is being rehabilitated.

Yesterday we were a group of about a dozen people of mixed ages but all interested in spotting birds. The two REAL experts in the group carried spotting scopes enabling close-up views of those birds that sat still long enough to be focused upon. Even those with binoculars appreciated this addition.

A side channel

Beaver path down into a small side channel

A tree that was planted across from the beaver path. Probably one happy beaver.

We walked about mile and-a-half in three hours. Not only did we see, and hear, a variety of birds but we also were able to see signs of local wildlife and identify a number of plants.

The plane in the sky.

As we neared the end of our walk we stopped to visit with Phillip Bayles who demonstrated his Styrofoam and plywood airplane that he has been using to take photos for various land use agencies. Bayles is a classical musician (conductor, composer, keyboards, founder of Eugene opera, etc.) who enjoyed  his electric rear-engine plane with its high definition video camera.

Phil Bayles and his plane

One reason I mention Bayles is that moments after viewing his demonstration we saw a pileated woodpecker, a lazuli bunting and a tanager in some fir trees. If we hadn’t stopped, these birds might not have been there when we passed.

Madia

This event also offered tree climbing, the opportunity to try out kayaks and canoes, a number of information stations (organizations, water and electric company, etc.), live music, more walks, and food and drink for sale.

We were back in Auckland for a couple of days before heading home. This extra time made a nice break from being scheduled because of our tour although it also meant we had to figure out things on our own. Fortunately we had spent a couple of days in the Auckland area before the trip started so knew our way around.

We stayed two nights in a rather expensive motel whose room had some idiosyncrasies. Turning the lights on required that one first put the room key (card) into a slot. The coffee pot was a mystery as well until we were told it sits on a little independent burner and one pushes a lever down to make it heat. Our room was small compared to those we’d been staying in during our travels. A sign on the mirror told patrons that the smoke detectors were very sensitive and to keep the bathroom door closed at all times “whilst” showering.

On the plane from Dunedin to Auckland we had found that all food and beverages cost $3-$4 minimum. Tom had squirreled away some food from various places during our trip and had a box of juice and crackers and cheese from the big box lunch we’d had on Ulva Island plus a muffin, and these snacks kept us going until dinner time.

The next day we rode to the airport in the motel van that picks people up there (motel administrators don’t really like to have you use it this way but……) and bought round-trip bus tickets at $32 each to go to downtown Auckland. We met a Moari couple on the bus who had a 7-week-old baby boy with them and they said they had older children at home. They told us about a Christmas parade that would begin at 2 p.m. in Auckland and we decided to go. People were lining up at 11 a.m. The parade started half an hour late and we got there half an hour early. It was a wonderful parade though with lots of variety and perfect for children–music, balloons, bagpipes, floats—all with a Christmas theme. There were thousands of people there and we were somewhat appalled at the amount of garbage in the streets afterwards but there weren’t enough places provided to dispose of trash.

We had dinner at the motel restaurant at 7:00 and met a really nice British couple at the next table. We learned they’d been traveling in a self-contained van that had a wood-burning stove. They own a small boat in England and live where there’s a canal.

The next day we went into Auckland again and decided to take a ferry to Devonport Island (where the Maori couple lived). It turned out that Devonport Island hasn’t been an island for years. It used to be a high-tide island and at low tide horses and buggies would go across
 a little strip of land. There used to be three small volcanic cones forming the island but the top was taken off one of them to create fill. Half of the fill is a golf course now.

When we got to the other side we got on a little bus for a tour of part of the area (the ferry boat and the tour were a package deal–$35 per person). The guide gave a brief history and pointed out places of interest. Most of the homes were historic houses with delicate hand-carved “lacework” (gingerbread) along the edges of the roofs. Many had corrugated steel roofs. We saw a starling going into one of these.

The wood of the original houses was kauri and had few knots. It lasts a long time. Owners can change the inside of the homes but not the outside because of being in a historic district. Devonport was established as a boat-building community and also had a number of masons. The town has a naval museum. Some of the buildings on the north facing slopes are worth millions. The climate is mild. People open windows for cooling sea breezes. Buildings are painted every 15-20 years. Children learn to sail as part of elementary school classes in Devonport and there are four elementary schools serving children 5-10 years of age.

These hills were used by Moari for defense. In the late 1700s one tribe defeated another from one of them. The original name of Devonport was Flagstaff. During the “Russian Scare” (a time in the 1880s when the New Zealand populace was afraid Russian was going to invade) they put a canon on one of the cones and used the other for communications. Flags would be raised identifying incoming ships and the length of time it was expected to take for the ship’s arrival. At least one of the canons was the kind that is located in a hole and then raised up to be used. We went up on the fortification hill, Mt. Victoria—where underground structures, a bunker etc. date from the Russian Scare time.

The top of Mt. Victoria is decorated with colorful, large, red and white mushrooms, which are actually vents for the water reservoir located in the original crater of this little volcano. The Signalman’s quarters is used for writing workshops.

Volcanic material has been used for various walls that were built with picks and shovels. One side of Devonport is much warmer than the other and they can grow lemons and grapefruit. The town can get as much as 50 inches of rain a year. Water sinks rapidly into the volcanic material. The most recent eruption was on Rangitoto Island, which we could see off the coast. This island is about 6,700 years old and last erupted 200 years ago.

Big Bay contains 47 islands. Ships coming in need pilot boats because the passage is narrow. The Royal New Zealand Navy has a base here. Devonport is like a suburb of Auckland
with may people who live here commuting to Auckland for work.

The beach areas on Devonport Island are called the Queen’s Beach as there is public access to all beaches. On Cheltenham Beach the tide goes out hundreds of yards. In the old days there were dressing rooms on the beach and they had to be moved back and forth as the tide went out and came in. It was a popular swimming area then. The original building still stands and is the only house actually on the beach.

The United States and New Zealand had cooperative efforts here in WWII. There was a jointly owned hospital. The barracks are just now being removed.

Back in Auckland we stopped at a store we had seen the day before, when it was closed, and purchased some hats. We bought subway sandwiches and took them back to the motel to have for dinner. By skipping dinner we pretty much paid for the ferry and bus tour. After dinner I did laundry, which was only $2 for the washer and $2 for the dryer.

It had been a nice day, overcast a lot, some sun, and a few sprinkles.

To be concluded

Riding the ferryboat from Stewart Island back to the South Island I entertained myself by reading, and jotting down, information posted on the boat for passengers to peruse. Additional information that I have looked up appears in italics.

1. Stewart Island is New Zealand’s ultimate ecotourism destination.

2. Stewart Island Experience and its parent company, Real Journeys, are recognized as one of the New Zealand tourism industry’s highest achievers on conservation matters.

3. 85% of the land mass is protected within Rakiura National Park.

4. Population of Stewart Island is about 400.

5. Fuel efficiency on ferries increased by 5-6% using a new non-toxic siloco pre (a sealant) based anti-fouling product on hulls.

6. New generation “tiger” propellers increased efficiency by 6-7%.

7. Recycling on ferries is standard procedure.

8. The ferry company has contributed $40,000 over the past five years to assist the Department of Conservation in studying the rare Stewart Island gecko. The Harlequin Gecko became known to science in 1981 and is one of the world’s most endangered-
 (probably the southernmost member of the gecko family worldwide).

9. Heavily discounted rates are given to scientific and conservation groups.

10. Picnic lunches are $17.

11. Rakiura National Park was established in 2002 and is New Zealand’s 14th national park. It consists of 157,000 hectacres—85% of the island.

12. Rakiura is the Maori name for Stewart Island. It translates as “Land of the Glowing Skies”.

13. Tiawai Point Aluminum smelter produces 340,000 tons of the highest grade with an export value of $1 billion. (I was a bit shocked to learn this) According to Wikipedia this is the only aluminum smelter in New Zealand and one of the 20 largest smelters in the world. Most of the ore comes from Australia and the finished product goes mostly to Japan. It is believed that a primary reason for locating the smelter in New Zealand is because the Manapouri Power Station and the smelter were constructed at the same time as a joint project. The smelter uses about one third of the total power of the South island and 15% of the total power of the entire country. The present cost per kilowatt hour is one quarter of the price charged to the domestic consumer. It does rank in the top 5%, worldwide, for having low carbon dioxide emissions. 20% of the company is owned by Sumitomo Chemical Company of Japan. “It is one of two companies in the world that produces ultra high aluminum and the only one using electricity generated from renewable resources.” The company blames high cost of electricity (transmission costs) for its recent downturns.

14. Rapuke Island, one of the southernmost islands, had seven Maori villages in the 1800s and was home to most of the Maori population in the Southland.

15. Muttonbird is another name for the Sooty Shearwater. (The Sooty Shearwater migrates very long distances and nests in tunnels which in order to avoid gulls they visit only at night to feed the young.)

At 9:00 p.m. a fire alarm sounded and a pre-recorded voice told us to evacuate.

November 28th and it had been another long day. We met just before 8 a.m. and rode in the motel van from our motel on Stewart Island to the ferryboat. A bunch of school children were also catching the boat–3rd or 4th grade–who had visited at least one night and were going home. The trip took about an hour. No cars on these ferries, just people.

Then we got on a green bus that would take us to the airport to get the luggage we’d left and where we’d get our own van. The bus driver made one special stop. He went up a side street, beeping his horn as we passed a residence then turning around to stop in front of Bill’s house. Bill, who was all dressed up, was quite old and, using a cane, could take only tiny steps. The driver walked up to Bill’s doorstep and very, very slowly walked with him to the bus. There was kind of a collective sigh from the passengers as we waited although one person said, “I guess some day we will be at that stage.” When they reached the bus the driver told him “lift your right foot up”, etc. for the two steps. Bill was apparently a  frequent rider. Then, finally, off we went.

At the airport, we got our stored bags, transferred them to the van, and drove to find a café to get sandwiches and a drink to have later for lunch.

Back in the freedom of our van we drove toward the southeast corner of the South Island, to the Catlins area. Along a river we saw many little houses, tiny, some that had been in families for generations. People stay there when they are white-fish netting and the buildings are a regulated size. At Curio Bay one may see yellow-eyed penguins but we didn’t see any when we stopped there. A large area of exposed rock along the beach included petrified wood. Eons ago this was a lush tropical forest. Volcanic eruptions produced silicates that preserved the wood. Today this is considered an “extensive wave platform.”

It was cold and windy and hail pelted us as we came back up the stairs from the beach. Flax grew in dense thickets along the top of the bluffs. As we headed toward a shelter to eat lunch we passed by a sea lion— way up there! It had its head hidden in some shrubs but entire body exposed, probably thinking if it couldn’t see us no one could see it. After lunch we drove another long distance going past the Catlins Coastal Rain Forest Park. A truck loaded with bales of wool went past us.

We took a short coffee break at Owaka “place of the canoe”, a little town just after a lake where we had seen many black swans and a couple of spoonbills. Along the main street in Owaka was a teapot collection decorating someone’s yard, which added a bit of whimsy.

Another side trip in this area included hiking up to Nugget Point Lighthouse where we could see New Zealand Fur Seals and an occasional albatross. The Nuggets are a series of nearby rocky islets. The lighthouse is out on a rugged point where the waves break dramatically, coming from two directions. Two different kinds of seaweed were evident here as well.

Our final stop, before going to the Cargill Hotel in Dunedin, was at Cannibal Bay where we got close to some New Zealand sea lions, probably the world’s rarest sea lion. They are very large and one is warned to not get too close because they can move rapidly when annoyed, up to 20 miles per hour. Tom got a little closer to one (pictured) than perhaps he should have and
it reared up from its prone position to look directly at him while both Derek and I were yelling, “Tom get back!” He did back up and the seal lion relaxed. Whew!

At the Cargill Hotel, room 115 was our landing spot for the night. Rooms were around a nice courtyard filled with flowers. At dinner we were able to enjoy, those f us who love them, bagpipes played by a kilted bagpiper, who was accompanied by another bearded and kilt-clad fellow, playing for a group celebrating a haggis. Haggis is a Scottish dish (containing meats, spices and oatmeal) celebrated by Robert Burns in his Address to a Haggis, and a celebration includes Scotch whiskey and recitation of Burns’ poetry. Cultural events are often celebrated with a haggis. In the olden days the meat included the cleaned stomach of a sheep stuffed with the other ingredients before cooking!

So here in Dunedin we celebrated Thanksgiving with some of us having salmon for dinner. A small piece of cake with a candle on it was brought out for Derek, and words of praise spoken, to thank him for the good time we had all had on this trip.

At 9:00 p.m. a fire alarm went off and a voice told us to evacuate. Tom wasn’t in the room and I had just read a description beside the alarm on the wall that instructed inhabitants to push a button beside the now blinking light if your shower had been steamy or you’d forgotten there was no smoking in the room—that button would shut the alarm off. I had done neither the steam nor the smoke but kept pushing the button before deciding it must be an overall alarm and exiting the room. I joined the other denizens of the hotel in the dark in front—some of our group in pajamas, some who had simply thrown on a robe as they’d been about to get in the shower, some still in street clothes. There was much milling about, talking and laughing, along with an undertone of worry as a fire engine pulled up making the situation a bit more serious. It was a false alarm though as someone, not one of us, had let a bathroom area get too steamy and the alarm had gone off. That was the story anyway.

Before the fire alarm, Tom and I realized we had the wrong information for our flight home and with Genny’s help, Tom figured out that we needed to leave for the airport at the same time as everyone else the next morning. Otherwise we would have missed our flight!

At breakfast, Genny asked Derek whether this had been his most exciting trip that he had led and he acknowledged that it probably had been: attacked by a falcon, the narrow escape on the airplane, and the fire alarm. He may possibly have thought to himself “and all of you Americans”.

At the airport, two couples left on one airline, we were on another and the guides on yet another although heading for different destinations. Our flight to Auckland was delayed an hour. Once aboard the plane we discovered that the girl sitting next to Tom was a hocky player flying north to play a game that weekend. She helped me put my carryon bag in the overhead before Tom got there. She told us that after high school she might like to go to Canada and wanted to study physical therapy. The flight north was quite lovely- we were above solid clouds for quite a while but when flying lower could see islands, bays, a long edge of coast and snowy mountains. We had made reservations for two nights in Auckland to have some free time before flying home.

To be continued

November 27, 2014

Breakfast in our room this morning and then we met a few minutes before 8:00 out in front of the motel to walk about half a mile to the boat dock with the rain blowing sideways from the strong wind. Our boat was the Aurora. There were eight of us on the boat plus another passenger who was from Wellington.

Our captain was very friendly and knowledgeable, but between my hearing and his accent I missed a few of his stories. The sun came out right at the time we saw crested penguins along the shore, four of them standing on the rocks. Then clouds would come in and then sunlight again. We had mostly good weather the whole day, although windy. I wore long underwear, my new pants and rain pants over those. On top I had a long-sleeved shirt, a sweater, my fleece jacket and Tom’s rain jacket (because mine leaked).

When we were further out, the captain tossed cod overboard and the albatrosses came swarming: white tops, Salvin’s (gray neck and head), Southern Royal and Northern Royal; a skua, white-fronted terns, red-billed gulls, and more. We saw a few fur seals up on the rocks and pulled into one cove where shags were nesting in the trees along the shore.

Then we went into a cove with a small sandy beach and little dock and all f us got out. A shelter there had a big sign about invasive species. This was Ulva Island, part of Rakiura National Park, “Undisturbed podocarp”(conifer) forest. There have never been predators except for rats and these have been eliminated.  We ran our boots over a brush as we disembarked.

There is a history of Maori living here. Maori used to come to the island to strip the bark from the totara trees to use for storing mutton birds (sooty shearwaters). Kakas also will strip bark from the totara looking for grubs and sap. It is believed that some of the Maori activity occurred 100-200 years ago. A post office was established here at Post Office Bay and a flag raised when the mail was delivered so that scattered settlers could come from other areas along the inlet to get their mail.

We walked to the other side of the island where there was a much nicer beach and it was more protected. There were big cypress trees and radiata (Monterey) pines that had trunks several feet in diameter. The cones were large and needles short. We ate sack lunches in the shelter. These box lunches were big: a sandwich, fruit, nuts, brownie, juice, etc. There was a cylindrical outhouse just behind the shelter—no toilet paper but painted a cheerful, bright, sunny yellow inside and green outside.

Then we hiked about a mile through dense forest where we saw totara trees. Birds we observed in this forest included a brown creeper and robins (very tame) and a tomtit on the beech area (black and white). Before lunch we also saw yellow-eyed penguins swimming near where terns were very active.

Back at the shelter we returned to the dock area and got into a little “water taxi” driven by a man from Australia. It was tiny-just holding all of us. The boat had a 200-hp engine and off we went, rolling through the choppy seas and back to the dock at Half Moon Bay.

We ate dinner at the hotel again. Last night I had beer-battered blue cod, and lemon meringue pie for dessert. Tonight I tried the venison kebobs and salad. It was okay –but needed the accompanying yogurt sauce. Dessert for me was a small berry Sunday. I wasn’t having alcohol that night but Taryn came in with a large bottle of beer and insisted on pouring me some “Wild Buck”; not much though so I was fine with that.

Things are drawing to a close. Tomorrow we take the ferry boat back to the mainland and then drive to Dunedan. Sometimes on a day I’ve been ready to go home but always something interesting has happened and I’ve been glad I was here.

The right wing of the small airplane pointed nearly straight down toward the wet, green trees. All that existed in that brief moment of potential death was the wing of the plane—in brilliant detail–and a foot or so below the tip of the wing, the intense greenness of the trees. Not my whole life flashing before my eyes, not the plane, not my fellow passengers, not the buffeting wind or the rain, just the sharply outlined wing and the trees, like a still shot inserted into the middle of a movie.

Just as suddenly as the plane had tipped, the pilot righted it and a moment later we landed at the airport to the sound of our relieved applause. Such was our introduction to Stewart Island.

The day had started out calmly. We left our motel at Te Anau and went to a conservation area where we saw a male merganser on a lake and a blue duck in an enclosure. Other birds that could be seen here included the Morepork Owl, a bit difficult to see in its shelter but nice to see an example of the only surviving owl species in New Zealand. It is also sometimes called the Tasmanian spotted owl. This small owl eats insects, small rodents and birds and hunts in the forests. Apparently barn owls have migrated to New Zealand from Australia but they are not a forest hunter. The name Morepork comes from the sound of its call.

From there we traveled along the edge of Lake Manapouri, a very large lake with beaches and islands, that was the focus of a major environmental dispute a few years ago. The government was going to raise the level of the dam considerably. People protested and a low dam was put in instead. This protest is known as the Manapouri Dispute and now there is a group called Guardians of Manapouri to watch over the care of this lake. Most of New Zealand’s electricity is from hydropower.

We ate lunch in the little town of Riverton, along the Jacobs River Estuary, where I had vegetable soup and garlic bread and Tom a sandwich. The town was established as a fishing village and has a small harbor, although farming is becoming more important. Dolphins can sometimes be seen feeding in the estuary. We passed through the town of Tuatapere, which was established as a lumbering town and still has one small mill. Tuatapere, located near the Waiau River, was quite close to the epicenter of the 2009 7.8 earthquake but suffered little damage.

A stop at the Invercavgill Museum enabled us to see the tuataras, ancient lizards that are being hand-raised in outdoor enclosures. “They were once found all over New Zealand but now are found only on 32 offshore islands. They are the only surviving members of the order Sphenodontia, which was well represented by many species during the age of the dinosaurs, some 200 million years ago. All species except for the tuatara declined and eventually became extinct about 60 million years ago.” (Department of Conservation online publication). The creatures are successfully breeding and one (Henry) is believed to be 100 years old. Other exhibits here include Maori culture, birds, and an art gallery.

We learned that it was too windy for the planned Kiwi sighting trip that was expected on Stewart Island that night. The flightless Kiwi forage on the beaches after dark. We also learned that it was too windy for the ferry to take us to Stewart Island so had to do a last minute change of plans. We rushed back down the highway from the ferry terminal to the airport in Invercavgill and dashed inside with all of our luggage. There we hurriedly sorted out essentials for two days and left the bulk of our belongings in airport security. We could take one small bag and a small backpack each. An eight-passenger, two-engine (propellers) plane was waiting for us and we ran outside to climb in. Taryn rode in the co-pilot’s seat. Tom and I squeezed into the very back two seats with Shane and Derek in front of us. The others sat between them and the pilot.

There was a lovely view across the land and the white-capped ocean as we gained altitude. It was a little bumpy but not bad until that wind-shear stopped our hearts as we were descending to the Stewart Island airport. We were all smiling and talking and very wired afterwards. The pilot rushed off to bring one more load of passengers before weather conditions worsened.

A small van from the Bay Motel in Oban took us from the airport. Oban, with a population of 400, is the only settlement on Stewart Island (the third largest island in New Zealand) and is a fishing village. Our room had a wonderful view of Halfmoon Bay and there was a long balcony running clear across the front units.

Suddenly we realized we were being watched. Kakas! These large parrots, closely related to the Kea, but more arboreal, were looking in our window and asking to be fed. You are not supposed to feed them but it’s hard to resist, particularly for people like us who wanted pictures. Tom got some nuts out and when we looked down the balcony we could see Shane and Genny also feeding them and taking pictures. At one time five of these birds were jockeying for a good spot. Eventually we had to close the curtains so they would think no one was home. They have a spoon shaped, bristly edged tongue useful for lapping up honeydew or nectar from flowers of flax and rata. They also remove strips of bark to get sap. Kakas are primarily a cavity nesting bird and vulnerable to predation by possums and stoats. Attempts are being made to control these predators in the Halfmoon Bay area through use of fences. The Kaka’s name can also be pronounced as “kaykay” rather than “kahkah”.

We took photos, had some hot tea, and then it was time to walk to dinner.

Milford Sound is actually a fiord, formed from glacial action, rather than a sound, which is wider and more like a bay. Sounds are often formed by seas filling river valleys. The 14-mile Sound (fiord) is named after Milford Haven in Wales.

The photos we see of Milford Sound show tall, sunlit cliffs extending into the sky, reflections on glass-smooth water, and smiling tourists with cameras. The reality of the Sound is that the mean annual rainfall here is 268 inches 182 days of the year and it’s considered one of the wettest inhabited places in the world and the wettest in New Zealand. This means, of course, that the excited tourists with cameras—us—can also be taking photos of a much more mystical nature although no less beautiful.

We went out on a fairly large ship—dark blue, with several masts and no sails. The captain gave a pretty good educational narrative on an “as needed” basis as we went along. There were people of all nationalities on board and a few couples who were very smoochy, honeymooners maybe. Rain, wind and spray from waterfalls doesn’t strike romance to most of our hearts I think so that was my explanation for their closeness. That and perhaps a desire to stay warm and maybe let the other person block the spray! I stayed out on the upper deck nearly the entire time, going inside for about 10 minutes toward the end as I was getting wet and cold and really craved a cup of hot tea. Tom was already there. Once I’d warmed up for a few minutes I went back out but stayed under an overhang on the deck where it wasn’t so wet.

Milford Sound is almost impossible to describe. It’s so big, like the Grand Canyon of fiords. One waterfall of 800 meters, for instance, seemed much shorter because of the height of the rock around it. Some of these sheer cliffs rise well over 4,000 feet above the water and extend far below. Tannic acid from the trees stains the top layer of water, and plants and animals normally found at greater depths may be near the surface. The soil, where it exists, is very thin and only 20% of the trees are actually in soil. If a solid tree loosens it can take down a whole batch with their intertwined roots—almost like an avalanche, leaving a bare, rock slope. It can take hundreds of years before the patch of forest is re-established. We could see several places with a cluster of trees at the bottom of a long, barren slope. The predominate tree is beech.

There were a couple of blue penguins visible on the return trip but I didn’t see them. I did see some crested penguins on the way out and a few young fur seals as well as numerous gulls. Waterfalls form quickly here with rain and disappear quickly after rains stop. There are five or six permanent waterfalls. The others come and go. The captain pulled in very close to one waterfall on the outward trip. He showed us one that follows a fault line clear up to the top of the cliff and said it changed after the last earthquake. He also pointed out differences in height of the surrounding cliffs showing where previous valley floors matched each other across the fiord.

We went out of the Sound and into the Tasman Sea just a short distance. Here swells were much bigger and there was more wind. I was glad I’d taken anti-nausea pills that morning! Wonderful to be on the top deck with wind carrying the rain into your face as you balance with the swells. Over to the left, before we turned around, we could see a lighthouse well above sea level that we were told has had waves hitting it during big storms.

Going back toward the docks the captain brought the ship in very close to another waterfall and drenched people on the left side of the boat. It was so dramatic that I was torn between trying to keep my camera dry and snapping just one more photo. We were out about two hours.

It’s difficult to describe the experience although I found the trip almost mystical, the low clouds, towering cliffs and ribbons of cascading white water lending an air of unreality. It was travel in black and white and varying shades of gray. Sunshine, still water and reflections would have been beautiful but this was not a Disneyland trip. It was Milford Sound and one could imagine what the scene might be like in winter.

When we got back to the dock we stopped for lunch. There were some young people asleep in a lobby area who looked as if they might have been backpackers who’d gotten drenched.

On the way back down the highway we stopped at the Gorge parking lot (where the Kea were) and some of us walked in the pouring rain to a place where water has ground huge potholes by swirling boulders against the rocks—it was very loud with the sound of the rushing stream. I got soaked despite my rain gear. Later, when we got to the other side of the tunnel, some, including Tom,  went looking for rock wrens in the rain. Taryn, Genny and I stayed in the van. They were gone at least 20 minutes. Taryn fed two more keas bits of apple. They didn’t find any wrens on their excursion. Note the patches of snow and waterfalls next to the tunnel.

We went back to the motel, dried off some clothes and other gear and put clothes in the washing machine before going to dinner at six. Great to be warm and dry, filled with the day’s memories and a delicious meal!

Raining! So nice yesterday but a different story when we got up this morning. First overcast, then raining off and on and then RAINING. Milford Sound day.

I had rain pants in my daypack but didn’t put them on. Should have. But I was mostly warm on top: shirt, vest, fleece jacket, rain jacket and hat. The road we took to Milford Sound had been closed by snow two weeks ago.

We went through Eglinton Valley, a glacial valley associated with stories of farmers and ranchers coming to the area in the late 1800s and crossing the river 16 times to get there. It is a long, green valley rimmed with jagged, snowy peaks, some over 6,000 feet in elevation. I tried taking pictures through the windows, hoping a few would show the drama of the terrain and the waterfalls cascading down the cliffs. State Highway 94 parallels much of the Eglinton River, which runs into Lake Te Anau on the east side. This is one of the few valleys in Fiordland National Park with road access. The forests are mostly beech.

2014 saw a heavy production of beech tree seeds and a subsequent rise in populations of possums, stoats and rats. So the Department of Conservation used aerial dispersal of the poison bait 1080 as well as setting traps to help protect the kaka (bird), the short-tailed bats, mohua and other forest birds from these predators.

Before reaching Homer Tunnel we pulled off and took a short walk along a boardwalk beneath the trees to Mirror Lake, a very small lake with amazingly clear reflections. 

Homer Tunnel is very long (1.2 kl –3/4 mile) and was built by hand during the Depression, beginning in 1935, by men with wheelbarrows and shovels. Because of safety issues within the tunnel and avalanches in the area, plus delays due to WWII, it wasn’t opened until 1954. Traffic is one-way with a traffic light and minutes to be waited posted. Patches of snow were still around the tunnel. In 2012 a proposal for a 7-mile, two-lane tunnel directly from Queenstown to Milford Sound through parklands aroused defenders of the parks and was rejected in 2013 as being environmentally unsound and destructive.

At the other end of the tunnel there was a parking lot where a bus and some cars were parked and people were taking pictures of Keas, very large mountain parrots. Two, quite tame, were eating bread or fruit. They call “kea” when flying from one valley to another. This is the only true alpine parrot in the world and is native only to the South Island. They are a highly intelligent, very social and adaptable creature. Keas are omnivorous and have, at times, been seen slitting open the backs of sheep and eating the sheep’s fat. The birds nest on the ground in burrows among tree roots. For many years there was a bounty on them because of the sheep attacks but populations plummeted and today they are a protected species, although killings of the birds still occur.

Derek said he was camping one time without a tent and woke up to one Kea nibbling on his earlobe and another nibbling on his boots. These are the parrots that will destroy windshield wipers and other rubber things, much to the annoyance of the vehicle owners.

To be continued

After visiting the beech tree forest in Mt. Aspiring National Park and witnessing the falcon attack, we headed back to the small town of Glenorchy where we stopped at a little cafe and  ordered sandwiches to go.  The place was fairly busy and our sudden lunch order no doubt threw them a bit off schedule. While we were waiting, some of us wandered about outside and looked at a monument that listed the names of all from that village who had died in WW I and included an additional plaque listing those who had perished in WW II. There was a rhododendron blooming next to it. It was almost two o’clock big the time we were eating. My sandwich was huge and I couldn’t finish it. Then we went back through Queenstown and took a road toward “Remarkable Ski Area”.

I thought this meant it was a remarkable place to ski but have since discovered it’s the name of a mountain range, The Remarkables. “The mountains were named The Remarkables by Alexander Garview in 1857-58, allegedly because they are one of only two mountain ranges in the world which run directly north and south. An alternate explanation for the name given by locals is that early Queenstown settlers, upon seeing the mountain range during sunset one evening, named them The Remarkables to describe the sight.” (Wikipedia)

We saw a number of deer ranches along the way although, despite the varied scenery, nearly everyone slept for a while. We stopped briefly at a Wilderness Scientific Reserve, a rather desolate looking, undeveloped place where there were very small primitive pine trees, part of the original foliage from eons ago. The trees don’t have cones, just nubby berry-like things more like a juniper. The branchlets are covered with scale-like leaves. These are called Bog Pines but grow in extreme environments from this well-drained, rocky soil to
wet bogs, from near sea level on the South Island to montane and subalpine. The ground cover here was a gray-green moss, called wooly moss. An information board mentioned a
wild fuchsia growing here that is fed upon by the caterpillars of a daylight moth. The moth pollinates the fuchsia blossoms.

I asked Derek about the tall bunches of grass that danced gracefully in the wind on the hillsides and flats in this area. He said they were red tussock grass. Sheep don’t like this when it’s large so non-native grasses have been planted throughout New Zealand for the benefit of the sheep. But they are trying to create a preserve where the grass, which gets two-to-three feet high, can grow naturally. We later saw a motel in a town that was called the Red Tussock Motel and was painted almost the same color.

Then we headed toward Te Anau and Milford Sound. We stopped that night at the Kingsgate Hotel right next to Te Anau Lake. The lake’s name was originally Te-Anau-au, Maroi for “The Cave of Swirling Water.” Three large fiords form arms to the lake, the only inland fiords in New Zealand. Several rivers flow into it and one, the Waiau, flows out. Most of the lake is within Fiordland National Park. One point of interest here that we didn’t see was the Glowworm Caves, which are accessed by taking a boat across the lake. These limestone caves have waterfalls and rivers and one area has cave walls covered with glowworms. Several hiking tracks begin here at the lake.

Dinner that night was very good. There weren’t many people eating at six so it was pretty quiet. I had lamb, potatoes, green beans, applesauce, salad, beer and dessert. We had our own reserved table and served ourselves, cafeteria style.

After dinner Tom and I walked along the lake on a paved path. I took photos and we looked at birds. Derek came by in time to point out a Dunnock or Hedge Sparrow we’d been trying to spot. And of course there were Tui, which we saw frequently on our trip. They’re about the size of our robin, dark with white throat puffs, and have a variety of songs. A small float plane rested on the lake and a couple of sailboats. During dinner we had seen five or six little sailboats from our table, a couple of them having red or blue sails. There was a beautiful sunset and it was hard to stop taking pictures.

The next day we were scheduled to eat breakfast at 6:00 and leave for Milford Sound at 7:00.

 After leaving Arrowtown and going through Queenstown we drove along Lake Wakatipu, a finger lake formed 15,000 years ago by retreating glaciers. The lake is very narrow, long (84 km-52 miles), and deep (339 meters—1,112 feet) with mountains rising straight up from its edges. So dramatically lovely. We stopped several times along the highway to take photos. Maori legends say the lake was a giant, Matau, who burned to death in his sleep after abducting the daughter of a chief. The heat from the flames burned a hole in the rocks and melted ice and snow, which filled the lake. The level of the lake fluctuates five inches every 25 minutes and the legend says that the heart of the giant, which can never be destroyed is the small island (Hidden Island) and still beating. Scientists say the fluctuations are caused by atmospheric conditions.

Queenstown has been running a paddlewheel ship, “The Lady of the Lake”, on Wakapitu since 1912 although we didn’t see it.

Not far past the little town of Glenorchy, at the north end of Lake Wakatipu, we entered Mt. Aspiring National Park. We parked in a small parking lot which was equipped with an outhouse and one faucet and surrounded on  three sides by meadows that were being planted with small trees. Some treks in this large park can take days. I would love to be able to backpack into the interior. Along some trails it’s possible to stay in huts. http://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/routeburn-track/ This link shows examples of the kinds of hikes one can make in Mt. Aspiring National Park. In researching this I noticed that some huts shown on a trail (trek) map show up to 50 bunks (!) although most are much smaller.

Our pathway was across a swaying suspension bridge over the small Dart River and into a red beech forest. This beech is native to New Zealand. In years when the trees produce bumper crops of seeds, rat and mouse populations explode. This, in turn, creates a large population of stoats, which prey upon the rodents. When the rodent population drops after this population burst then the stoats prey on native birds and their eggs, including the kiwi, as well as upon bats and snails. Stoats are invasive members of the weasel family and were originally introduced to control rabbits and hares.

http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-plants/beech-forest/

The beech forest was heavily shaded and the moss-covered ground saturated from recent rains. We edged along large puddles while constantly searching the trees for birds. Some of us were also intrigued by ferns and other plants on the forest floor. In some places there were holes in trees that would be great for cavity nesting birds but predators have greatly reduced the populations of these species. We did see several of the Australian robins (which are black and white) and a yellow hammer.

Time was running out on us so we turned back. Derek, minus his usual red knit cap or broad-brimmed Australian type hat, was in the lead. Suddenly the rest of us saw a large bird swoop down and fly just above his head, disappearing into the trees on the other side. Derek, who hadn’t seen it coming, turned and told us we should look out, he’d just been attacked. We laughed. After crossing the bridge into the sunlit parking lot we realized that yes, indeed, he had been attacked. The New Zealand Falcon had drawn blood, going through his head of thick curly hair to the scalp. It must have had a nest nearby. Taryn got out the first aide kit, put antiseptic on the wound and we were soon on our way again.

New Zealand has just two hawk species, the harrier and this falcon. We were all thrilled, of course, to have our introduction to the falcon be so dramatic. I’m not sure Derek was quite so enthusiastic.