A little about Auckland that I just read in US News & World Report magazine – Auckland was rated the 5th best city in the world in which to live. No US cities made even the top 20. May explain the high housing costs.
On Monday March 5th, we hopped a bus to downtown – love those buses – to see one of my PhD advisors, Martin. Met up with him at the Art Museum and had a good time catching up with each other’s lives. Of course, we had to tour the museum to see all the beautiful paintings. On part of the museum has many works of an artist named Goldie (can’t recall the first name). He painted a lot of the Maori people’s portraits and they are something to see. It was customary for Maori men to have tattoos all over their bodies, to include their faces. The tattoo pattern told that person’s personal story and their family lineage. While we may think of them as disfiguring or threatening, to the Maori they were just the normal way of telling who you were. Women had fewer tattoos, but often had a Moku, which was a tattooing of the chin and lips. No need for lipstick, as black lips seemed to be the norm. The paintings are so lifelike (which is how I prefer art to be – I’m not a fan of abstract art) that you think they are photographs. There are other artworks in the museum of English origin and pakeha (European) impressions of NZ.
That evening several friends came by and we had a pleasant visit. We all sang a happy birthday to Elaine.
Tuesday, March 6th: we spent the day relaxing around home and getting packed for our South Island trip. Elaine went to the chemist (Pharmacy) to pick up some meds for her cold. While there we saw a display of some medicine which was touted as effective as it had been “tested on Australians.” We got quite laugh out of that, as if Australians were some form of lab creatures on which a medicine’s effectiveness could be gauged.
We arrived in plenty of time at the airport for our 5 PM flight to Dunedin by way of Christchurch. As it was summer in NZ, it was still light for nearly all of the flight and we were treated to a birds eye view of NZ, a very wrinkled with mountains land. This part of NZ is in the very south of South Island. Except for Milford Sound (see next week’s slutigram), I had not been to any of these places in my prior visits to NZ, so it was exciting to plan this trip and more exciting to take this trip. It was much cooler in Dunedin that we had been accustomed to in Auckland and we were glad that we had brought some warm clothing along. The land in south Island around Dunedin is so hilly that the airport is about 30 minutes outside the city (one of the few flat places to locate). I had reserved 2 nights at a backpackers hotel in Dunedin. The Manor House turned out to be a beautiful 1920s house which had been converted to a backpackers hotel. While most of the tenants were in their early 20s, we did not feel out of place, as we were touring just as they were. However, we only ran into Americans one time during our South Island venture, as they seem to prefer the high priced hotels. Backpacker’s hotels have private rooms and if you really want to reduce cost, you can stay in dormitory style rooms, where 4 or 5 people share a room. We opted for the private room. There are always shared kitchens, usually fully furnished and with freezers and refrigerators in which to store your foodstuffs. We have never had a problem with anyone taking our food. Washers and dryers are available as is Internet. The biggest plus about staying in a backpackers is the people that you meet in the kitchen or lounge. During our south Island stay, we met people at backpackers and campgrounds from Germany, Israel, Czech Republic, Australia, England and probably some other places. Another advantage is that the buildings are usually near the downtown area, well within walking distance. We found a nice cozy pub and enjoyed some of Dunedin’s famous Speight’s beer – a dark red beer. (for the kiwis – yes I know Speight’s is no longer brewed in Dunedin, but it originally came from there). Then off to bed.
Wednesday March 7th, a dreary, misty morning. Quite like the weather in Scotland, where the first settlers of Dunedin originated. The accent in Dunedin is different than the rest of NZ due to this. We walked downtown and visited a few souvenir shops – saw kaleidoscopes from Kerikeri, North Island (where we bought one from the artisan). The mark up in price made us grateful that we bought direct. From there we walked to the Otago Museum where we were enthralled by the exhibits on the Maori people and culture and the various other Pacific Island cultures. New Zealand museums are a real treat. It seems that every town has its own museum and if you make the trip, see a few of these places to gain an understanding of both the history and culture of the place you are visiting. This museum also has one of the best exhibits on Antarctica that we have seen. Lots of videos and hands-on experiences.
Later that morning, we met up with Jimmy Halliday, a university student at Otago University in Dunedin. Jimmy is the nephew of a stamp collector friend of mine from Auckland. Jimmy also collects stamps and I have been sending him USA stamps for several years, but had never met him. We got along famously and spent a few hours touring the city, with Jimmy as our guide. He found a nice Japanese noodle restaurant, where we enjoyed sushi and other nameless treats. Of course, we HAD TO stop in the local stamp collector store and looked at stamps. I picked up a sales list and found some NZ stamps that I needed for my collection. Our last stop on our guided tour was the railway station in Dunedin. This building is an architectural artwork, not a dirty old building in the bad part of town, like many in USA.
After parting with Jimmy, we picked up our rental car for the week. Using the Internet, I found something like Rent-a-Wreck (actually the name was Pegasus Car Rental), where you can rent an older car, rather than a brand new one like Hertz, Avis, etc. the price was low and the car was clean and ran well. As we had several hours of daylight left and now had wheels, we drove north along the Pacific coastline to the Moeraki boulders, a site that I have wanted to see since I first became obsessed with NZ. These are large round (4 to 6 ft) boulders which lie along the beach, some in the water and others still emerging from the coast line bluffs. They just appear unreal. Had a lovely meal at the backpackers and visited with other tourists to talk of what we have seen and where we place to go.
Thursday, March 8th: We leave Dunedin heading south. Our first stop was just outside the city at Tunnel Beach, where some stunningly beautiful seascapes and rock formations can be seen. To get to the beach, you descend a very steep trail for about 20 minutes (40 minutes going up) going through sheep paddocks. A tunnel was dug through the limestone to get to the beach, otherwise you have a 30 ft cliff that bars you from the beach.
The story goes that a local farmer wanted his daughter to have beach access and dug this tunnel for her. I didn’t believe that story for a second. I would guess the truth to be that before roads connected the farms to towns, the tunnel served as a means for the farmer to move his sheep to the beach in order that they could be loaded onto boats for transport to the city. We saw another tunnel beach at Waikawau on North Island (week 5) and the purpose of this tunnel was just that. Whatever the story may be, the scenery was exceptional and worth the climb back up. Elaine & I firmed up some flabby American legs during our time in NZ and this climb would have been much harder had we not had 2 weeks of time in NZ before this. The sun broke through the clouds and we had several sunny days ahead of us.
We stopped for tea and scones at the Black swan tearooms to enjoy morning tea.
We also stopped at the South Otago Hotel in Balclutha for a mid-afternoon Speight’s beer. As I mentioned before, these hotels are good places to stop for a drink and meal when traveling.
Driving through the countryside we were treated to many views of rolling lands, forests, flowers of all types and glimpses of the surf. We left the security and smoothness of the paved road for an 8 km drive to Nugget Point where we walked up a trail to a lighthouse that overlooks a point and several small islettes (nuggets) and broad rocky flats. The rocky flats were loaded with fur seals, sea lions and southern elephant seals – said to be the only place in NZ where these 3 species co-exist. Glad I had my binoculars and telephoto camera. Oh the sun was shining and the views were stunning.
After this we motored south to Cannibal Bay, which entailed more gravel roads. We encountered a family of 3 sea lions asleep on the beach. Daddy, Momma and baby sea lion. Daddy was about 8 ft long and very heavy looking. They were total unconcerned with our presence (they are protected animals in NZ) and we were able to get quite close to them. The fur looks so rich and warm.
This area of South Island is known as the Catlin coast and has many scenic stopping points. We could have driven from Dunedin to Invercargill in about 2.5 hours on the main road. We chose to take the Catlin Coast and spent about 2 days getting to Invercargill (city of about 72,000) to see many (but not nearly all) of the sites.
Our next stop was a trail to Purakaunui falls, a step falls set in the bush. A 10-minute bush trail takes you to the falls.
Walking in the bush is an experience in green. I remember my first visit to NZ in 1972 and one of the things that stood out in my mind then and still does now is the hundreds of shades of green that one sees in NZ. Most of the time in the bush you are in the shade, as sunlight does not make it through the several canopies of vegetation. However, if an old tree has fallen, shafts of sunlight illuminate the greens – an when you are near rivers and streams, the sun also finds it way to the ground. NZ has plenty of rainfall and the number of waterfalls that we saw during our time on South Island (8 days) would be in the hundreds – that’s right, hundreds.
Our travels for the day were enough, so we found a campground at Paptowai and set up our new tent for the first time. Thankfully, all the pieces were there and with only minor puzzlement, we had shelter from the elements. Campgrounds are excellent in NZ. They have hot showers, clean bathrooms with flush toilets, and kitchen facilities to include stoves, toasters, freezers, refrigerators and usually pots, pans, flatware, cups, glasses and dishes. So unlike American campgrounds, where you often have nothing but a filthy long drop latrine, maybe a shower, maybe not, and a water tap. That night the weather turned cold, got down to 7 degrees Celsius (46 F). Unfortunately, our air mattress leaked and we had to pump it up every few hours. A little aside, when we returned to USA I found a brand new queen size air mattress that we had bought. However, we had forgot to toss the leaky one out and this was the one we ended up having with us in NZ. While it was very cold out, the skies were clear and the stars were blazing. The sudden drop from daytime temps extracted dew by the bucket and everything on the outside of the tent was drenched. Wonderfully, inside the tent it was nice and dry.
Friday March 9th: Elaine arose tired as the cold and my snoring had made for a fitful repose. After breakfast, we just placed the soaking wet tent in the back seat after shaking it out a bit. Then onward a short way to a beach where we were treated to a solitary crested penguin sitting on a rock just watching the ocean. We were told that it was molting and looking at my photo of it, I see a patch of new feathers surrounded by older ones.
Later in the morning we took a walk in Tantuku Scenic Reserve in the hopes of seeing some rare swamp bird – who was not cooperating that day. Thus not swamp bird, but a nice walk through the bush first and then across swamp on a raised boardwalk. We did see many other birds on the walk – so that was a plus. While not colorful, their songs are varied and delightful. Down the road a bit, we came upon an historic logging site that gave a narration of the logging industry of this area. Interesting. As usual, I found some delicious ripe blackberries to make the stop even more worthwhile.
Probably the highlight of that day’s scenery was a hike to Cathedral Caves. To get to the caves a very long and very steep trail through the bush is necessary. The trail ends at a pristine sandy beach. From there it is only a short walk to the caves. Waves have eroded the stone over the ages to create 2 (could be more) high arched caves that join together about 200 ft inside the caves. Cathedral Caves can only be accessed at low tide, as the waves are still doing their work at other times and it would be quite dangerous and stupid to try to explore the caves with waves bashing one around wouldn’t it? We had hit the timing perfectly – it was low tide. The caves are maybe 40 ft tall and the bottom is covered with smooth sand. This was the first place where we encountered the dreaded sand fly. Sand flies, or black flies, are small gnat like creatures that love to suck the blood out of Don Sluti and other unfortunates who encounter them. Fortunately, I had my repellent with me and was shielded from them after a few itchy bites. The trail back to the car was steep and took a bit longer than going down. By now, our legs were used to being used like a goats and the trail did not pose a great barrier.
We stopped at a roadside fish and chips stand staffed by a very rough looking woman who was covered in scars and tattoos. But she sure did make good fish and chips. We decided to picnic at our next stop.
Our final stop on the Catlin Coast was Curio Bay, an area that was forested 180 million years ago when the forest was covered with mud and the wood became preserved, then petrified. There are also some amazing kelp beds that swirl and lunge up and down with the waves. This kelp can grow to great lengths and are mesmerizing to watch. Oh no, I forgot my bug repellent in the car and the dreaded sand flies swarmed me. Using one hand to eat my fish and chips and the other to continuously swat sand flies, I managed to complete my meal. In the vain hope that they would only bother you if you stood still, I began a fast walk on the rock plateau – no joy, the flies still all over me. In defeat, I walked at a very brisk pace back to the car – now filled with sand flies. How do they get inside? However, with repellent, windows down and 60 MPH, they soon were behind us. I would not make the mistake of leaving the repellent out of arms reach again.
The land began to flatten out and in a short time we were looking for a campground in Invercargill. Somehow, we were on a different road than we thought and ended up at a different campground than we intended, but after looking at their facilities, we decided that it doesn’t get much better than this. The bathroom and kitchen buildings seemed to be brand new. We were the only tenters at this camp, all the others were in motor homes (caravans for kiwis).
On the whole drive from Dunedin to Invercargill, we were treated to green hills and forested valleys, freshly sheared sheep were everywhere and the snowy white was a glorious contrast to the greens of the hillsides.
The tent went up in only a couple of minutes this time. Once we had housing settled, we drove to Bluff – the southern most town on South Island – which is the location where one catches the ferry to Stewart Island. We made our ferry reservations for the next day and were told the early ferry was full, but we could book a later one and be on the wait list for the early one – this we did. Back to town to buy supper fixings and get cleaned up. Dammitt!! I left my toilet kit at the last campground. No toothbrush, soap, shampoo, but that could be replaced. My contact lenses, prescription meds, retainers and favorite razor were lost – boo hoo. After phoning and emailing, the campground located my kit and mailed it back to me in Auckland. However, I did have to pick up a few supplies in the meantime.
We bundled up before bed as it reached 46 F again, but we slept much better for it. We decided to stay another night here.
Saturday March 10th: My birthday. Up early for the ferry boat. The drive to Bluff is down a 25 minute ride through flat scrub and marshland. When checking in for the ferry, Elaine asked to use a phone to call the Papatowai Campground about my toilet kit; the lady at the ferry said just use their phone. So accommodating and friendly. Too bad, the answer machine was all that came on – but I left a message to ask them to be on the look out for the errant toilet kit. The ferry lady also told us we could park for free rather than pay $7.50 for parking for the day. Even better, we got on the early ferry to Stewart Island. Birthday boy was very happy.
Stewart Island (Maori name is Rakiura) is abut the size of Oahu, 20 by 40 miles. It is totally covered in forest, with only 840 inhabitants who all live in the small seaport of Oban on Half Moon Bay, where the ferry goes. It takes about 1 hr to cross Foveaux Straight, said to be amongst the most treacherous water on the planet. Nobody told Foveaux Straight that on our crossing, as the water was nearly glass calm both going and coming back later that day. Sunny clear skies and calm waters, wow!
Our first stop was the local museum, we were the only tourists in the place when we got there. Most of the other people got off the ferry and either went to their jobs on the island, or went on some tours or rented kayaks, etc. Not us, it was off to the museum, to find out what was this place we were at? After that we opted for a bush walk, supposed to take an hour – we ended up taking 3 hours, as the scenery and bird life just needed more time.
Up and down steep hills, seeing the bush from tree top to trunk level, beautiful. Secluded bays and stillness pervaded this sanctuary of green and blue.
When the trail took us to tree top level, we actually got to see NZ birds. A Kaka (wild parrot) was busily cracking some sort of seed pod while we watched in awe;
the colorful Kereru (NZ wood pigeon) sat still and frozen thinking we could not see it if it did not move;
the energetic fan tail flitted quickly in front of us and above us,
and the kakahiri (a small wild parrot) would not cooperate in staying still for a photo. Stewart Island is a birder’s paradise. At night NZs national symbol the kiwi bird still roams free, while on the mainland stoats, possums and cats have driven the kiwi to local extinction – must have very tasty eggs. After this visual feast, we rested at Deep Bay and recharged ourselves in the warm sunlight.
Hiking back into Oban, we had a few hours before the last ferry and the semi-submersible glass bottom boat had room for 2 more tourists. We got to see what is under the water around Stewart Island, saw vast kelp beds and many different types of fishes. Kelp grows to twice the depth of the water in which it finds itself. Thus if the water is 40 ft deep at high tide, the kelp will grow to about 80 ft. I took a couple photos, but then said, just enjoy the view and forget about the photos. I have found that sometimes taking photos actually lessens enjoyment as you are missing the moment.
Took the last ferry of the day to Bluff.
Found a place to have dinner and then returned to camp. Not as cold, only got down to 53 F.
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