A Morning on the Okarito Lagoon

 

We rented kayaks for the morning to explore the Okarito Lagoon.  It's apparently the only undisturbed Lagoon left in all of New Zealand.  There's a narrow channel going through the Lagoon but the rest is very shallow.  If you stray from the channel you'll get stuck so they've placed poles you follow.  

There were three couples who left at the same time.  The lone egret was hanging out at the harbour where we put in.

In the shallows we saw banded dotterel (lifer, endemic) and bar-tailed godwit (new for this trip but seen in Australia).  We didn't get closeup views, we'd just been told big shorebird = godwit, little shorebirds = banded dotterel.  But they were some of the surprisinhly very few shorebirds other than oystercatchers we saw on this trip.

Nice view of the Southern Alps  hiding behind those clouds:

A highlight of the morning was venturing up two small creeks leading into the Lagoon.  Gave us the African Queen vibe.

There were flocks of the usual forest birds in the trees

For a few minutes we chased a silly New Zealand scaup that kept running away in front of us.

Leo checking out the birds

Creekside vegetation

Another attempt at a selfie, wetland style

In the evening we ventured out again to the wetland trail and managed to call up a fernbird along with the usual woodland birds.  We got good looks at some pipipi and the tui and robins were their usual sociable selves.

South Island Robin

On to Okarito

Coastal vegetation at Bruce Bay

Another driving day along narrow winding roads with one lane bridges.  We came out on the coast at Bruce Bay and at the rest stop on the beach we found a coffee cart that sold ice cream. After a short walk on the beach I got the day's special homegrown rhubarb icecream, delicious!

The road goes by two glaciers Fox Glacier and Franz Joseph.  Both glaciers were covered in clouds but we did see the back side of Mt. Cook.

We stopped in the busy tourist town of Franz Joseph for a chicken pie and an enormous slice of quiche.  We debated driving 5 km to the glacier viewing point, but given the clouds, the crowds and tourbusses and the $5/hr parking fees (again I stress, New Zealand national parks do not charge entrance fees, we're just cheap) we decided against it.

Instead we drove on to our destination, the small town of Okarito (permanent population of 35) and checked in at the very well run community Holiday Park.  And inexpensive at $36 NZ.

We checked out the town

and reserved kayaks for the Okarito Lagoon the next day.  We wanted to reserve for another kiwi hunt but a sign on the shop said that the tour was filled for the next three days.

Okarito is an old goldrush town and there's a few old buildings remaining.

General Store

The old schoolhouse has been converted to a bunkhouse and it was full with volunteers who come every year to remove gorse from the Lagoon.

Schoolhouse on the right, war memorial on the left.

Just past the schoolhouse is a trail (ahem, track in New Zealandese) to a boardwalk on a marsh and then up the hill to the "trig"  (survey point at summit).

The marsh was quiet in the afternoon

but the hike up the hill was full of birdlife.  Maybe because the trees were in blossom.

Bellbirds were not only singing but also peeking out of the shrubbery.

Tui were feasting on blossoms.

This tree is referred to as the "Christmas tree" because of its red berries and evergreen foliage:

The robins were as bold as ever.

We met up with some hikers who told  us there were kea at the summit but when we got there they had moved on.  Nice views, though, of the ocean, the lagoon

and the town below.  On our return trip we saw yellow-crowned parakeets flying overhead (lifer!)

The Kayak rental guy told us that the marsh would be very birdy in the evening so we went back after dinner but it was still deadsville.

So we walked out to the beach

-and found a single photogenic great egret (kotuku, white heron) standing in the current.

Just as the sun was setting

We saw 5 Kea flying over to the campground where quite a crowd was gathering.

They put on quite a show for us, cavorting in the ??? trees and we finally got some closeup views.

They were not a nuisance however, and they run a pretty tight ship at the Okarito Campground - you'd probably get banned if you fed them.

Bird of the Day!

Driving to Haast

 

Viewpoint on Lake Wanaka

The next morning we drove north towards Haast on the west coast of the island.  We drove along two large lakes, Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka and then up over the Haast Pass.  This was reputed blue duck and and rock wren territory so we stopped at every river pullout to check but no luck.

No blue ducks at the Blue River

We hiked into the Blue Pools on the Blue River through really beautiful red beach forest

So did every other tourist driving over the Haast Pass.

Really big tree ferns.

 

Saw this bush with unusual blue berries:

We crossed the suspension bridge

and arrived at the ponds.

The pools were really really blue.  There were lots of people swimming in the pools despite the picture above.  On the way back a woman spotted a rifleman

Actually a riflewoman (female)

And we got some great closeup views.

Further down the road was a trail to Thunder Creek Falls.

And later we stopped at the Haast River to check out Roaring Billy Falls.

We were so unimpressed we didn't take a picture, but the Haast River was quite beautiful.

A tour boat on the Haast River near Rocking Billy Falls

Shortly thereafter we arrived at Haast and checked into the Haast Lodge, a combination rv park, motel and hostel.  We did our laundry and hung out in the kitchen/lounge that was housed in a huge barn like structure.

Later we walked through town (very small) and 

Fun times in Haast

partway down the Kokako track through another beautiful beech forest.

On the Kokako Track

We came along a mixed flock of sivereyes, gray gerigones, fantails and at least one rifleman.

Silvereye

Travel Day to the Otago Region

We took off the next day, retracing our steps to drive on to our next destination.  A few kilometers down the road we stopped at Mirror Lakes.

The lakes are more like small ponds cut off from the main channel of Eglington River.

There were New Zealand scaup in the ponds.

The elevated walkways leading to the ponds passed through beech forest

with the usual forest birds, including this tui showing off his fancy feathered neckpiece.

Bird of the Day!

We saw a Kea, again not harassing anyone in the parking lot, but flying overhead.

We also saw this orchid growing on a branch. It looked like the same orchid our kiwi  hunting guide on Stewart Island plucked to let us smell.

It was a very popular short stop for tour busses on their way to Milford Sound.

I always like a bit of well-designed tourist infrastructure:

Fern shaped benches

We continued on our way, stopping to take a picture of Red Tussock Conservation Area.  This is what the drier parts of New Zealand looked like before it was all coverted to sheep and cattle farms.

Red Tussock Conservation Area

We passed a few red deer (close relative of elk) farms so when we stopped for lunch at the Bracken Hall cafe

I had to have a venison pie.  These were the best pies we ate in New Zealand with more meat than gravy, and they were indeed made from locally grown ingredients.

Leo's Thai chicken pie was also excellent.

I have to say it wasn't until the afternoon that we found a public garbage can to get rid of our trash from two day's of camping. New Zealand Conservation campgrounds do not provide garbage cans and even the gas station we stopped at had a narrow opening to prevent you from depositing anything bigger than a pop can.

We drove on toward Queenstown, stopping along Wakatipu 

several times to enjoy the views and

take the requisite selfie.

We didn't stop in Queenstown.  The main roundabout into town was under construction and was a major traffic jam not improved by the gas station we stopped at having its entrance directly onto the roundabout.  

The Otago region east of Queenstown is the driest part of the South Island and it reminded us of the Kamloops area or the Okanagan with dry scrubby slopes and many vineyards.  

We drove by the original bungy jumping bridge; its in a spectacular location in the Kawarau gorge.  It's also a location spot for the Lord of the Rings. 

We stopped at Lowburn Waterpark on Lake Dunstan near Cromwell.  

Okanagan South

 This photo makes it look like we had it all to ourselves; in fact it was packed with locals for the weekend.  It was free but a municipal employee came by and checked every vehicle to make sure they were certified as self contained (fixed toilet).

It was a hot afternoon, we were grateful for our tree shade. Leo went for a run and then a swim.  Leo also chatted with a visiting Californian who had actually run into a nuisance Kea that was going after his windshield wipers.  

Fun fact:  New Zealand actor Sam Neill owns a vineyard nearby and he was just recently in the news protesting a proposed goldmine in the region.