Travels with haRVy

The beach at Westport all to ourselves, including FREE camping!

Our drive up the West Coast continued to Westport and a bit beyond so we could take a hike along the Charming Creek Walkway. This gentle hike along the Ngakawau Gorge follows the narrow gauge railroad route formerly used for hauling timber and coal.

You literally hike between the narrow gauge rails (what’s left of them)

A few historic artifacts, like these coal cars, add interest to this hike.

As do a couple of tunnels…

…and a swing bridge over the river. Long ago the tracks crossed here too.

Small waterfall along the way.

Love old rusty stuff.

We turned back at this larger waterfall after a river side picnic lunch.

We drove back down to Westport and bid the West Coast farewell as we turned inland to head back across the top of the island.

Tight one lane section of highway along the Buller Gorge.

I took an early morning hike from our campground at the former town site of Lyell.

Forest graveyard from 1870 – 1890s.

We took another short detour to view the Maruia Falls that were created by the Murchison earthquake of 1929.

Here we are camped in the driveway of British friends Terry and Di in Nelson. We met them only briefly some 17 years ago in the Adirondacks, but they welcomed us warmly. Thank you!

Terry gave us an informative tour of Nelson.

And we took him to lunch at The Anchor on the marina.

We have enjoyed remarkably good weather for most of our trip so far with just a day or two of showers and not much wind to speak of. The West Coast of NZ is notoriously wet and, as if on cue, it began to rain right before we reached the coastal highway at Haast. It continued to rain through the next day and night and into the next morning. Because we didn’t want to miss any scenery we laid low for an entire day at our campsite at Lake Paringa.

Skies beginning to clear at Lake Paringa.

Luckily it didn’t rain hard enough for this sign near our campsite to be a concern.

We came upon this pile of rocks at Bruce Bay.

Many had interesting messages left by previous tourists.

I’m sure many feel the way this couple did. We are grateful to have as much time as we do to explore this diverse country. Still not nearly enough though.

Bruce Bay was voted one of NZs top ten beaches.

Interesting to see the toe of Fox Glacier just a few miles from the sea.

The sun was shining full again as we settled in to camp at Okorito. This small village is now home to around 30 permanent residents, but it was once a gold mining boom town.

Reportedly the oldest surviving building of its type on the West Coast.

Great shot of James and Eva Donovan.

Wonder what goes on in Albert’s hut.

My Albert contemplating the Tasman Sea.

The rare kiwi bird is known to live in this area. We did not see one.

This mosaic labyrinth was created by the members of the Hari Hari community.

Some of the tiles included personal messages.

The Great Coast Road is sometimes like driving through a fern tunnel.

Quite challenging to drive as many of the roads here are – narrow and winding.

Driving here takes intense concentration…

especially on the numerous one-lane bridges.

Nice reward at days end: sunset at Hoktikita Beach.

Early the next morning Mt. Cook was visible from the beach. This area is known for this unusual view, but we only got this one glimpse due to constant cloud cover. (I know it is nearly impossible to see in the photo, but I had to try.)

More narrow bridges. This one is even shared with trains!

More slow curves – it takes forever to get anywhere here…

but the scenery is worth it.

Can’t put a road any closer to the ocean than this!

Reminds me of the Northern California – Oregon coast.

The day we drove through Queenstown, the adventure capital of NZ, things were really hoppin’. There were para-gliders on the lake, parachutists in the air, jet boats on the river, bungee jumpers on the bridge, and much more. What a frenzy of activity, none of which we were interested in (must be getting old, eh?). We continued on for the beautiful drive to the small town of Glenorchy.  Our campsite was beyond the town at the end of the road.

The next morning the nearby peaks had a new dusting of snow.

Our next stop was in Arrowtown, a charming but touristy gold rush town. I got up really early to take these photos without cars and people.

Former miner’s cabins now house small businesses.

More heritage buildings with afternoon tourists.

Many of Arrowtown’s early gold miners were adventurous Chinese, and the remains of their very separate village lie by the river.

I really liked these novel advertising “vehicles.”

Our brief visit to Wanaka featured a visit to Cinema Paradiso for their homemade ice cream.

An entire town celebrates Albert’s 70th year!

Heading up the shore of Lake Hawea.

The rough dusty road to our next campsite.

A few of the local residents (bovine and ruminant) tried to impede our progress.

The reward for our efforts – a remote lakeside campsite.

Yet another beautiful, but challenging, drive took us over Haast Pass. Along the way we took a few short hikes to the Blue Pools,

Fantail Falls,

Some mighty cascades (not how small that person looks),

And Thunder Creek Falls, before finally reaching the West Coast.  

Before heading to Manipouri and Doubtful Sound (prior post that I just had to get published first), we did a little more cruising along the Southland coast.

Yet another amazing beach with nobody on it! They are seemingly endless here.

Bluff, the most southern port town in NZ. Famous for oysters, which I can attest to being most delicious! Much meatier and less slimy than the New England variety.

Only 15,008 kilometers from home!

A beautiful garden oasis created in an abandoned lignite pit.

ATV cowboys heading cattle down the highway.

Now there’s a reassuring sign as we head to another remote freedom campsite.

Even though we were not going to take a boat cruise on Milford Sound, we heard the drive up there was worth the time, which it proved to be.

Oh joy, another narrow winding road. Glad I’m with a good driver!

Mirror Lakes were certainly reflective for us that day.

Can you tell this photo is actually upside-down?

A brief hike through the bush took us to The Chasm.

Much more amazing than it looks in this photo.

One of many waterfalls along the road. NZ is loaded with them!

Aqua blue glacial water, much like we saw in Alaska.

Homer Tunnel – 3/4 of a mile through solid granite. Construction began in 1935, but it didn’t actual open to traffic until 1954.

The drive abounds in high peaks.

Bowen Falls on Milford Sound.

The iconic view of Mitre Peak (at left) on Milford Sound. Also the end of the road.

Free beach campsite on south end of Lake Wakatipu.

Even more beautiful the next morning.

Panoramic – click to view larger.

Drive up the long (84 km) eastern shore of Lake Wakatipu to Queenstown and on to Glenorchy.

Looks like Lord of the Rings territory to me…because it is! Very difficult to capture this dynamic landscape in photographs.

Anyone who has traveled here will recognize why the Maori name for Doubtful Sound, Patea, is so appropriate. Translated it means…”The place of silence.” There is a cloistered serenity within Doubtful Sound that contrasts with the highly publicized Milford Sound.

Getting our first glimpse of Doubtful Sound from Wilmot Pass.

At 421 metres deep, Doubtful is the deepest of the NZ fiords, and three times larger than Milford. It is long and winding with three distinct ‘arms’ and several outstanding waterfalls in the area from Deep Cove to the open ocean, a distance of around 40.4 kilometres.

Before getting to NZ, neither of us had ever heard of Doubtful Sound and the tour is much more extensive (and expensive) than the highly touted cruises on Milford Sound, so it took some time to research and decide.

You can drive to Milford Sound…not so for Doubtful. Our all-day tour began with a one hour boat ride across beautiful Lake Manipouri (above). We then boarded a motor-coach for a 45-minute drive over Wilmot Pass on the only NZ mainland road not connected to any others. Construction of the unsealed road took two years to climb up and over the 2,200 foot pass. It holds the record as the most expensive road ever built here.

We boarded the Patea Explorer in Deep Cove for our 3-hour cruise.

A bit of the gob-smacking (NZ slang) scenery en-route.

This chart shows how extensive the sound is.

Bottlenose dolphins swam off our bow for a time.

A couple of the dolphins surfed our boat wake too.

This extremely remove company harvests and ships crayfish to restaurants around the world.

We were incredibly lucky to have a sparkling sunny afternoon for our cruise. It reportedly rains 2 out of 3 days with an average total of over 21-feet falling each year!

The rainwater that runs off the steep mountains produces a permanent fresh water layer that floats on the heavier salty sea water underneath. This layer of freshwater is darkened by the mountain soil, which makes it difficult for the sunlight to penetrate, meaning that the salty clear water underneath is home to many species that would usually only be found in the deepest, darkest ocean layers. I found this fascinating.

Vertical wall faces with trees growing out of them surround the sound. The co-mingled roots are what hold the trees in place in just a few inches of soil. However, the scars in the photo below were caused by tree avalanches.

When Captain James Cook got close to the entrance of the sound in 1770, he decided on the name ‘Doubtful Harbor.’ That’s because, fearing he would not be able to sail the Endeavour back out, he resisted entering the inlet and instead continued on around the island.

When is a Sound not a Sound?

When it is a fiord. Early sealers and whalers renamed Cook’s harbour Doubtful Sound. As a post-glacier valley flooded by the sea, it should technically be called Doubtful Fiord. However, the second name has stuck.

Our day-long adventure ended back where it began, at our cozy Possum Lodge campsite in Manipouri.

Pearl Harbour in Manipouri.

We are now driving across the southern most part of the South Island, NZ. Dunedin is the largest city in the Southland and is mostly known for it’s Scottish heritage and the country’s oldest university.

The railway station is really quite something – inside and out.

The CBC (how Kiwis refer to their Central Business Districts) felt a little like Europe to me, with sidewalk cafes and such.

When Al saw the excellent marketing (above) of a local scenic train ride, he was keen to give it a go. While the Taieri Gorge Railway tour didn’t quite live up to expectations, we had a pleasant day onboard and met a very nice Kiwi gentleman who provided lots of good travel information. We hope to visit him at his home on the North Island next month.

A bit of the gorge.

The oldest wrought iron structure in NZ.

Nicely restored vintage train cars.

While in the area, we also toured the Otago Peninsula where we saw some magnificent Albatross flying near the Royal Albatross Centre. Sorry we didn’t get any photos, but our little Panasonic Lumix pocket camera wasn’t up to the task. The birds were wonderful to see though.

Taiaroa Head where we watched the Albatross.

Looking back towards Dunedin from the end of the Peninsula.

A bit further on we Freedom Camped at the Oceanview Reserve in Brighton where I caught this nice sunrise. I didn’t immediately recognize the tracks in the sand.

It didn’t take long for the mystery to be solved. Never seen this on a beach before!

The thing I liked best about this restored sod house was…

This open-door policy. A sweet little museum that is always open.

Lunch stop on our way to Nugget Point.

Approaching Nugget Point Lighthouse on foot.

Vistas from just beyond the lighthouse.

Lots of fur seals down there and beautiful blue water.

Short hike through dense bush near campground in Punawea.

This Punawea sunset lasted at least an hour.

You know you’re in New Zealand when sheep impede your progress on the highway. The number of sheep here is truly unbelievable.

Another walk through the bush. Check out those tree ferns.

That walk terminated at Purakaunui Falls. Follow the link for a much better photo of them.