The Rest of our Second Day in Kaikoura

 

After our morning nap we drove out to a prime birding spot common to most regions of the world, the local sewage lagoon (not to outshine that other birding hotspot, the municipal dump).

Fun fact:  Those cruise passengers who recently died of  hanta virus are believed to have contracted it while birding in a Peruvian dump!

We had to walk down a train track and then peer through a wire fence to bag a few new birds today.

Australasian Shoveler (lifer)

Grey Teal (seen in Australia)

Eurasian Coot (seen with mallard).  Also seen in Australia

And a few other waterfowl:

Black Swan

New Zealand Scaup

This may be a Grey duck (Pacific black duck) but it also may be a hybrid with a mallard. Certainly it was hanging out with the mallards

Grey duck?

Later in the day we drove out to the Mount Ffyfe Forest Walk.  It was a nice country drive.  We got stopped twice while herds of dairy cows were crossing the road for the milking.  They were long waits with over 100 cows.

We climbed a style and crossed a field

Albatross Experience

 We got up early to take the albatross tour, so early we had trouble finding the tour office in the dark.  It was touch and go whether we'd be able to go out after yesterday's bad weather but we got the all clear.

We drove to the put in to find our boat perched on a trailer. A tracker towed it to the beach with us in it then launched the boat.

We took off just as the sun was coming up.  Our pilot drove  us out about 15 minutes to a fishing boat that already had seabirds following it.  

 

Our pilot threw out some bait and 

Feeding frenzy!

Our boat was quite small so we were able to sit out on the back deck and almost reach out and touch the birds.

This wandering albatross was the top of the food chain.

The northern giant petrels (lifer, we saw Southern giant petrels in Chile) were very aggressive and the wandering albatross occasionally had to give a petrol a nip to maintain the pecking order.  We enjoyed watching the antics of the giant petrels.

Northern giant petrol and wandering albatross going after the bait

Other petrelsshowed up including northern and southern royal petrels, white-capped albatross and this Salvin's albatross:

The bird with mottled plumage next to the wandering albatross is a cape petrel (lifer):

Close-up of a giant petrel:

Acting goofy:

These are white-chinned petrels (lifers):

In this close-up you can see the white chin.

Later we cruised by a fur seal colony. We also went looking for yellow-eyed penguins, but no luck there as they are now mounting.  

Other birds seen: Australasian gannet, kelp and silver gulls, 

By the end of the tour the effects of the Gravol were wearing off so we headed back to the campground for a nap.

Kaikoura

Our next destination was Kaikoura.  From Waipara we headed north, stopping at the next town, Cheviot, for gas and have a snack at the Cheviot tearooms.

Leo hadvthe down under favorite, lamington cake and I had a very sweet coffee walnut slice (about 1/2 icing so very sweet).

Then it was on up Highway 1 past cattle and sheep farms, up into the hills and then following the windy coast and through tunnels for 2 hours.  We checked in at the Kaikoura Top Ten Holiday Park.

Kaikwoura was a bustling tourist town and the campground was full of locals and internationals for the weekend.

It's just a short walk from the campground to the centre of town

Invasive but pretty lupines

And the beach is just across the main street.

We walked down to the Albatross Experience office to reserve an albatross boat tour.  We stopped for a tea in their bright cafe.

Meanwhile the weather was getting stormier.

A Japanese couple were trying to change a flat tire in the weather so Leo helped with the tire while another fellow helped them contact their rental company with the aid of  Google Translate.

The Miami Beach of New Zealand

Back at the campground people's tents were flying around. Leo helped a couple take theirs down.  They moved it in close to a hedge. Later in the evening we walked down to the beach.

The beach was very loose cobble and hard to walk on.

Let's call this silver gull (red-billed gull) the Bird of the Day!

Otira Valley Hike and on to Waipara in the Rain

 

We got up at 7 a.m. and drove back past Arthur's Pass Village up to Otira Valley. We were the first to the trailhead, no wonder, it was cold and misty and foreboding rain.

This was our last chance to see a rock wren but there wasn't much birdlife happening on this frigid morning.

It took about an hour to reach the bridge and the end of the established trail where the rock wrens were reputed to hang out. Of course we saw nothing.

On the way back down it started to rain but we made it back to the car before getting too wet.

Lots of pretty unidentified alpine vegetation

We then continued west back to the coast where the plan was to head north to Greymouth and continue up the coast to Westport and a prime birding spot called Cape Foulwind.  That didn't seem like the best idea in this stormy weather.

The weather forecast was for rainy weather for the next week so we changed our plans and decided to head to the east coast where the weather looked more favorable.

More attractive foliage, Otira Valley

It continued to rain all the way to Greymouth where we stopped for lunch at Blanchy's Cafe and Bakery.  

Chicken bagel and a caramel cookie slice at Blanchy's, a popular Greymouth lunch spot.

Coming out of Greymouth we encountered at least 5 pairs of pukekos acting silly on the side of the road. They can't help it, big feet!  Bird of the Day! Then we turned east and took the Lewis Pass route to the town of Reefton, and old mining town turned very cute tourist town, where we stopped at the Broadway Tearooms and Bakery for a tea and goody. 

We continued on the winding roads up the pass and over to the east side of the island.  It all looked like it would be very scenic except for the bad weather and the hidden mountains.  We arrived at Waipara in the pouring rain at 4:30 pm and checked into the Waipara Sleepers, a funky backpackers with railcars converted to sleeping units and a few campervan spots.

It had everything we needed, showers, a heated kitchen, and best of all, no sandflies.

Arthur's Pass National Park

 Searching for rock wrens, we got up early and drove back up the Pass to hike up the Temple Basin Track.  It's a ski hill and a steep hike up to the chalet.

It's fall in New Zealand so wildflowers were not at their peak but there were still some blooms.

I couldn't find the names of any of them.

We were a little early for birds we just heard a few peeps at the trailhead.  We were the only people hiking up but eventually we ran into people hiking down who'd stayed at the hut overnight.  A ranger we met hiking down told us there'd been New Zealand pipits and keas seen at the hut recently.

Taking a break

A high school biology class had stayed overnight an we met two girls who were very impressed we'd made it up in 2 hours at our age.  They were hoping to see Kea but no luck.

Hikers hut in the background

While we were talking we spotted some pipits and after that they were everywhere.

Enjoying the views

We waited for the class to leave and then  hiked back down to a bridge where rock wren were often seen but no luck. 

Leo did get some good shots here of pipits though.

New Zealand pipit, not the fanciest bird, but endemic, a lifer and Bird of the Day!

We drove back to the village for lunch at Arthur's Pass cafe and store.  There's pictures all over the place of keas hanging out on the patio but we never saw a one here over several days.  Still a good spot for a latte and lamb and kumara or a chicken and cranberry pie.

After lunch we decided to hike the short 1 km track to the devil's punchbowl in the afternoon heat.  We  seriously underestimated how tired we were from our first hike.

It was a very busy hike, very steep with lots of stairs.  

Clearly over it

On a positive note, we ran into a mixed flock of gerigone, fantails, Rifleman, silvereyes and tomtits.

Right at eye level so Leo was able to get some photos of pipipi.

Back to the cafe for a reviving latte and a slice and we headed back to our campsite with a few stops for short hikes.

We walked a short distance along the Waimakariri River on the O'Malley track where Leo got this shot of a tomtit.

A view back toward the highway Bridge over the Waimakariri River:

Lovely forest.

We stopped along the river to take in the views.

We stopped in an open area for supper, hoping to avoid the dreaded sandflies but they soon found us.

So back at camp we went for another long hike until dusk and then had a murderfest of flies so we could go to sleep in the van.