Driving Day to Arthur's Pass

 

Waimakariri River Valley

We drove north from Okarito to Hokitika where we stopped for coffee and a slice and to use the wifi in their very nice modern library and to find an atm.  Hokitika was the setting for The Luminaries,  the Booker prize winning novel by Canadian-New Zealander¹1 Eleanor Catton about the New Zealand goldrush.  Unfortunately I can't remember much about the book because it is surely the most boring Booker prize winning novel ever written.  I struggled through all 832 pages of it because Leo gave it to me for Christmas (okay I might have skipped a few pages).  Do not recommend.

Nowadays Hokitika is a pretty big town for the west coast with a big wide main street.

And a clock tower in the centre of the roundabout

I left my tablet in the library and had to run back and pick it up where I left it in the toilet! Luckily it was right where I left it.

Hokitika is quite touristy and there were lots of wool stores specializing in merino and possum (!) wool. Not only that but New Zealand supermarkets often have a frozen dogfood section.  Here in Hokitika I noticed a big pack of possum (!) dogfood.  I knew they were poisoning the (invasive) possums but they must also be trapping and/or hunting themtrapping and/or hunting them. 

We continued north, then turned east and up the Taramakau River Valley.  Eventually we drove up into the narrow winding ascent of Arthur's Pass with several construction delays.  We stopped in Arthur's Pass Village to visit the information centre to ask about hikes and the best places to find blue ducks,  rock wrens, and orange-fronted parakeets. 

 You can camp in the parking lot by the info centre but that didn't sound like fun so I'd already booked 2 nights at Hawden Valley Shelter Campsite.  The ranger informed us that yes you could see blue ducks and parakeets in the Hawden Valley but you'd have to hike 18km return up the Hawden River with multiple river crossings to find them. Maybe not.

I didn't realize when I booked but Hawden Shelter is a 30 minute drive down from the Pass.  We came to this beautiful wide river valley (Waimakariri River)

It looked like the perfect setting for a herd of bison, or elk or antelope.  But this is mammalless New Zealand so it was empty.

We crossed the river and followed gravel roads to our campground.  The place was deserted except for a few cars parked for the Hawden Valley Track.  We found a great site

with this fabulous view up the valley:

No sooner had we settled in when we heard some screeching and saw a big bird fly into the tree next to our site. I thought for sure the infamous nuisance Kea had arrived to steal our supper.  I stead it was this guy:

New Zealand Falcon, lifer and Bird of the Day!

He stuck around for a good while, and Leo got some close ups.

We ate supper but the sandflies were coming in by the millions so we went for a long walk to escape them.

Note pants tucked in socks to protect my ankles from the sandflies

We walked over to the start of the Hawden Hut track but soon came to the first river crossing. It was not shallow, so probably a good call not to hike the trail.  We continued to walk until sunset when we returned to the van and moved it away from the trees in an attempt to escape the sandflies.

Then we fled into the van which was now filled with the evil flies.  We turned on our headlamps and systematically squished them by the hundreds as they were attracted to the light.  Finally we could fall asleep.

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