Geothermal activity at Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo

We stayed at a commercial site last night, compared to a DoC site which is self managed with an honesty box for payment). I was amused by a sign pinned up, left over from New Year Celebrations, it really sums up the laid back attitude to life which the Kiwis have, and their enormous tolerance. Instead of ' No drinking' or ' Alcohol Forbidden', it said ' Extreme drunken behaviour will not be tolerated', I loved the 'extreme' there. It also said, ' Please keep bad language to a minimum'.
We are having to make a few decisions now, aware that we only have three weeks left, so today we took a main road and drove 340 kms north in about four hours, rather than meandering along the back roads. That enabled us to bypass some parts we had seen before as we first made our way down to Wellington, and miss out some 'non-scenic' bits. First, however, we had a lovely rode from the campsite to pick up the main road. We curved our way up to 500 mts, losing above the overnight cloud which lingered in the valleys below us. Who said that the South Island had a monopoly on scenery!
Once in Lake Taupo we went to see the Geothermal Power Station and managed to get there soon after the flood gates had been opened and the rapids were in flood. The highlight of the afternoon has to be the visit to the 'Craters of the Moon' area though. It is an expanse of geothermal activity, with steam rising up in plumes through the scrub and bubbling pools of boiling mud. It was amazing.

Kenepuru Head

Elaine Bay

Tuesday 26 February

Picton to Wellington Ferry
We decided to stay another night at Kenepuru Head. It was a choice between having another lovely evening in an idyllic camping spot or moving on to something new. The journey to Picton in the morning wasn't an issue as the ferry was at 14.00 and we could easily make it from almost anywhere in the Marlborough Sounds.
We had a lovely evening and were thrilled to see a pair of Spoonbills arrive in the encroaching water at the head of the fiord as the tide came in. We watched the sweeping action they made with their 'spoonbills', catching supper on the fresh supply of seafood arriving on the tide.
Yesterday we took the car to a road connection point with the Queen Charlotte Track and did a circular walk in part of it. We were at Punga Cove which is mostly given over to a very upmarket (and expensive) holiday resort, reminiscent of the safari lodges in Tanzania. There were cabins, high on stilts, looking out over the bay and surrounded by forest. On the walk around Punga Cove we were yet again reminded of both Tanzania and Guatemala. The track wound through tall tree ferns, so like palms. Creepers made their way up the tall trunks of trees, forcing their way upward through the canopy to find some daylight. This is temperate rainforest, something I have never seen before. To me the word 'rainforest' means tropical, I didn't appreciate that a temperate rainforest would be just as thick and dense, with so many creeks and pools of water. The ground beneath our feet was wet in places, as if it had rained the night before, which we knew it hadn't.
Last night the Spoonbills were joined by some Cranes, dipping with their long beaks as the Spoonbills swept with theirs. There were also so many other birds we couldn't identify, all taking advantage as the incoming tide produced a fresh supply of food. It came in quite slowly at first, with ample time for the waders to get their meal, before a sudden rush filled the bay. This was a signal for the birds who fed on the wing to congregate, skimming the surface of the water and occasionally diving in.
Fiordland is heralded as the place which everyone must visit on the South Island. It is unique, but I have found the Marlborough Sounds much more appealing. I suppose the weather makes a difference, and evidently we have been lucky in this country with such an unpredictable climate, it has been warm and sunny. The evenings and early mornings are very cold. Last night we had to retreat into the car about 22.30, it was too cold sitting outside, and we both woke up, cold, during the night. It was only 7C at 07.30 this morning.

So, a captive on the ferry, I have time to put in a few thoughts about recent experiences. I think something I will always remember is the conversations with inhabitants of Christchurch, not in the city itself, but people we have met on campsites. The couple living in a trailer-park two years on, the couple the incessant number of continuing earthquakes had forced to look for somewhere else to live. The woman who worked in a school telling how all communications were lost. Parents who didn't arrive to collect their frightened children, not knowing whether those parents were dead, injured, or just couldn't get there. Teachers who slept overnight in the school, comforting and supporting the children and not knowing what to tell them. The woman whose first action when she goes into any building is to check where the exits are and look around for a suitable place to shelter in case there is another after-shock. People whose houses are in a restricted zone, they can't occupy them, they are still living in temporary accommodation not knowing, two years later, whether they will ever be able to return to their family home or will have to abandon it, take whatever the insurance company will pay them and start again elsewhere.
I don't think I could live in New Zealand, my Northern Hemisphere skin couldn't cope with the lack of ozone layer. In this climate it seems to be really warm only of you are in the sun, and when I am in the sun my skin burns. My northern hemisphere sun cream doesn't seem to work, I have two tubes of Kiwi stuff and the only one that seems to work on my face is the thick white stuff the Australian cricketers use, so I'm looking a bit like a guest at a Halloween Party.

Sunday 24 February

Kenepuru Head, Marlborough Sounds
We are camped at the head of Kenepuru Sound, so far from the sea that it feels more like a lake. It is a branch of the Pelorus Sound, and is more than 20 kilometres long. From the point where it branches off the Pelorus Sound there is another 30 kms to go before open sea. So in a roundabout way, the water flowing to the head of the fiord has a 50km journey from the Cook Straits to get here. When we arrived at about 12 midday there was quite  bit of water at the head of the fiord. Over the course of the afternoon the tide slowly went out and the water drained away until by 4ish we were able to walk on mud flats to the actual head and could have walked over to the other side of the fiord if we had wanted. All the birds swooping and diving over the water had disappeared. Now at 5.30 the water is starting to flow back in, it will be very interesting to see how full the head of the fiord is at high tide, such a difference in levels.
We left rather busy Elaine Bay this morning and drove round to take a look at the eastern branch of the fiord system. To our surprise the DoC sites here were much less full, we drove to the final one in the run to find only 2 other groups of people there, and discovered that one of those was the volunteer onsite 'hosts', we decided to stay. The site is being upgraded and had new flush toilets and an undercover area for cooking is being built.
We have had a very lazy afternoon, sitting in warm sunshine, looking out over the fiord, and it's changing tide levels, and reading. I have finished my biography of Patrick Leigh Fermor and have enjoyed it so much that I will buy it as a 'proper' book when I get home. I have found that e-reading a book which requires extensive use of footnotes and references is clumsy. I also wanted frequently to flick back a few pages to remind myself of a detail. I shall enjoy reading it again.
The scenery in the eastern branch of the Marlborough Sounds doesn't seem as striking as the more westerly, but that could just be that I have become accustomed to it all and the impact has worn off. It is still amazing though. We are undecided about what to do tomorrow, which will be our last night on the South Island, we have a ferry booked for 14.00 Tuesday afternoon. We could stay here for another lazy day or make our way slowly back to be closer to Picton. We'll probably wait until the morning and see what the sandflies are like tonight!

Saturday 23 February

Elaine Bay, Marlborough Sounds
The superlatives have all been surpassed today. We are back in the fiords, but this time in the top north east part of the South Island, so it's warm, it isn't raining and so far there aren't so many sandflies.
We spent last night on a Holiday Park Campsite in Nelson and the least said the better. Definitely our worst camping experience so far. The site was vast, the facilities excellent, but there were so many 'Don't do this' and 'Don't do that' notices I did wonder what you could do. It was in the flight path of the airport. We camped fairly close to the amenities complex as there was a BBQ there we wanted to use. The floodlights in and around it were kept on all night, shining straight into the back of our van. The volume of the radio station which was on permanently, like Musac, in the toilet block, seemed to be turned up after 10 p.m., rather than down.
We drove once again through beautiful forests and then branched off on the long road out to French Pass, at the tip of one of the peninsulas. I don't really know how to describe them, the whole area is a mass of waterways, inlets, small islands. French Pass is the most remote one and when we got there the campsite was full. It's a DoC site and you are advised to book during holiday periods. We hadn't really appreciated that it was a weekend, with a good weather forecast, so obviously it filled up with weekenders yesterday evening. There was just one very small pitch left, it sloped in two different corrections and we couldn't have got the van onto it comfortably. So we had an ice-cream and decided to go back to another DoC site we had passed on the way out, also tucked into a bay off a side road. We parked on the top of a headland as we left to finish our ice-creams and look back at the view. When we tried to pull away the wheels spun and sunk us even deeper into loose gravel. After many valiant attempts by John to get us out it was obvious we would need help, so I started walking back to the campsite to see if I could find a couple of strong blokes to give us a push. I soon flagged down a young couple in a truck and told them what had happened, they agreed to help and I jumped in the back of the truck. They managed to lift the back of the car while John drove it out. We waved our farewells and thanked them profusely.
So we didn't get to stay at French Pass, which was a lovely spot, but very crowded on this weekend. However the journey there and back was enough compensation. The road, partly sealed but mostly gravel, was cut out of a cliff side and hung precariously over a vertical drop into the sea, with no vegetation which would hinder a fall. I feel I am achieving quite a lot this trip. A few years ago I just couldn't have sat through the trip without 'ooing' and 'aahing' at every twist and turn. The scenery reached heights we haven't seen before, green forested mountains plunging into deep blue sea, bright sunlight flickering on ripples in the water and reflecting back the many shapes and forms. Every where we looked there were branches in the network of interconnected waterways.
Elaine Bay was not so crowded when we arrived, although it has filled up this evening, but still not as packed as French Pass. We walked around the headland, through forests which had a definite tropical feel to them, to another bay, called Pikawakawa. The Maori names here also lend a magical property to places. Now we are sitting quietly by the van, the sun has disappeared behind the mountains but across the bay the last rays are picking out the colours in the headland, the waves are lapping on the shore a few metres away. This is good, really really good.

Farewell Spit

Totaranui

Pelorus Bridge

Thursday 21 February

Puponga, Cape Farewell
How good can it get! Another fabulous day. We have just completed a 12 km walk around as much of Farewell Spit as has public access, the rest is a protected bird breeding sanctuary. We walked out one way on the estuary side, past mud flats with lots of wading birds, then through some spectacular dunes to the exposed Ocean side. The tide was low and there was miles and miles of beautiful golden sand, interspersed by large areas of water. We walked back along hard sand, the waves lapping the shore and the blue sea beyond.
We left Totaranui early this morning, very wet. It didn't rain but the overnight dew was so great that the side awning which we had left up had a puddle in it. We managed to bundle everything onto the car, keeping the wet stuff away from our clothes and bedding. We just didn't expect it to be so damp and as well as the awning had left table and chairs out.
We have driven further up the coast, back over the perilous road and then to the most northerly point of the South Island, Cape Farewell. We have checked into a small campsite, it looks as is it used to be a back garden. We took a look at the larger Holiday Park, but decided it was not for us, too many Motor Homes.
Tomorrow we are headed for Nelson and a Holiday Park before setting off to the Marlborough Sounds (fiords) for our last three nights before heading back to the North Island. Those last three nights will be on simple DoC sites down tracks in parts of the fiord system so we will stop off on Nelson for shopping and a hot shower first.

Wednesday 20 February

Totaranui, Abel Tasman NP
A second fabulous DoC camp. We left Kaikoura yesterday morning on the coast road northwards. It was a lovely drive, the coast line was rugged, with small bays and rocky promontories and often isolated rocks jutting up from the sea. After Blenheim we turned inland, through Havelock for the DoC campsite at Pelorus Bridge.  It was spectacular, far and away the best campsite we have stayed on, it was a bit reminiscent of Clippesby Hall, but much more so. All the pitches were in little bays surrounded by high tree and bush. It's usually booked out during the school holidays but we arrived early and there was no-one there. We choose a pitch looking down on the river on a tree encircled ledge. It was amazingly plush for a DoC site, not only a basic kitchen, but also hot showers. We took a walk through the bush, much of it looking out over the Pelorus River, to the site of two waterfalls. There were one or two sandflies but not enough to cause a problem. I didn't write up anything last night because it was just so nice sitting looking out over the river, soaking up the sun and being really warm.
It was cool when we woke up this morning though, and damp.
Today we have had a wonderful drive through Nelson and then further northwards, turning off the SH60 to head east into the Abel Tasman National Park, and the coast at Totaranui. At first the road followed the coast which is obviously a bit holiday/tourist area, lots of Motor Camps and Backpacker Hostels. Then at Riwaka the road turned westwards, up and over a spur of the Arthur Mountain Range. Like lots of things in New Zealand it was a condensed version of  other things we have done, by that I mean condensed and concentrated so more intense; the climb up and the drop down from 900 metres was steeper, the bends were tighter. It was 'awesome'! We then continued north to Takaka and took an easterly side road to Totaranui. The first bit of the road was sealed but there had been a terrific amount of erosion. On the left hand side there was a vertical drop down into the sea and in many places  all of the left hand side of the road had disappeared. This was marked by some netting on poles and a sign advising that it was single carriageway. It was a relief to get onto the gravel road which stretched for a further 12 kms until we reached the campsite at Totaranui. It is large, indeed enormous and so popular in the summer holidays that an application has to be Mae for a place in August, and pitches are allocated by lottery for the period of 16 December to 10 February. Today on 20 February it's not crowded at all, although there are quite a lot of people, not many big Motor Homes though, guess they don't like that access road! I wasn't too keen on the left hand side of a car! It's pretty basic, a couple of toilets, cold showers and a tap for potable water, just a larger version of many DoC campsites. The setting is lovely, tucked into the Awaroa Bay, a curve of golden sand and blue sea. No-one swimming though, so I guess it's cold in The Tasman Sea. We walked along the beach and a couple of water taxis put in, several backpackers got off, I believe you can come all the way here from Nelson by water taxi, what a lovely way to sea the coast.
I am happy, it's warm and sunny, in fact we have put the side awning up to create shade, the first time for about three weeks, and here we are sitting underneath it drinking beer. There are fire pots, one of the attractions of the site, so tonight we can cook steak and sweet potatoes with salad, our standard Southern Africa fare.

Time this afternoon for a few thoughts about New Zealand.
Maori - I now realise it is a description of all the inhabitants of these islands when the first explorers/colonialists arrived. Ignorantly I had thought that both islands were inhabited by a single nation, called Maori. I now realise that as in all the parts of Africa which have been colonised there were many tribes, mostly of Polonesian descent, who waged their own wars over land and ownership. Those tribal affiliations seem to perpetuate today, with different groups of Maori people being referred to by their tribal name.
The South Island is about half the size of the U.K. but less than 1 million people live here. That number is insufficient to provide the resources through taxation to maintain the infrastructure, I believe, I have to check that out. It's just what I have picked up. Evidently the wages here are low, we spoke to a retired couple earlier and their state pension was a bit more than we get in the U.K., so I'm not sure of the comparison there. The cost of living is definitely higher, we are finding this an expensive grip. Again, we spoke to someone who said that a recent TV programme looked at a standard shopping basket across the world and New Zealand was more expensive than London. We have been told that there is a dramatic exodus to Australia where wages are higher and the cost of living lower. Just the cost of rebuilding Christchurch must be phenomenal. The maintenance of  all the National Parks by the state funded DoC must be so expensive, they must get some income from the extensive logging, but how does it compare? We have found the infrastructure to be very good, well maintained, a lot of road maintenance and sign posting.

Kaikora

Monday 18 February

Kaikora
This is our second night here. We left Christchurch yesterday morning in a light drizzle and drove through varying degrees of rain, in some places very heavy. It is so unfortunate as we came through the part of the coast known as the Alpine Pacific. As with Catlins Coast the visibility was not good so we did not see so much of the scenery. Even in the rain and low cloud it was obvious that the Alpine description was apt. The road wound between forested canyons, round and round and up and down. On arrival on Kaikora it was still raining, we looked at a couple of informal beach side campsites but because of the weather decided to go on to the tried and trusted Kiwi, even though we suspected in would be crowded. It is probably the nicest Kiwi site we have stayed on, it,s small and divided into hedged grassy areas. We got a pitch in a very nice place, tucked away in a corner. We spent a comfortable evening in the warm kitchen drinking wine and playing cards.
We woke to a beautiful sunny day and for the first time since Te Anau didn't get straight on the road, we decided to stay here for another night. We had a car reorganisation and tidy and did some washing before going a couple of km down the road to visit The Maori Leap Cave. As limestone caves goes it was not spectacular, but extremely interesting because of it's size and our ability to be so close to everything. We were the only people on the 'tour' and our guide was the guardian of the cave, a gentleman even older than ourselves. It soon became apparent to him that we knew a bit about limestone and flint, the history and the geology, so the 40 minute tour became a discussion and lasted 65 minutes. It was extremely enjoyable.
Back to the campsite for a beer and a spot of lunch, then off on the main event of the day, a walk around the Peninsular. This was excellent, the coast here is beautiful, limestone deposits close to the surface creating a wonder world of nays and inlets, with seals and shear waters and many other birds. We stopped at a roadside BBQ hut for grilled crayfish with rice and salad. We were making our way along the road for the last boring 3 kms to get back to the campsite when a woman on a car called over to ask of we would like a loft into town. We were so grateful, we had just walked 12 kms.
It has been warmer today, I wore shorts, however it is still cool out of the sun. Further north tomorrow, so here's hoping.

Christchurch

The full impact of post earthquake devastation didn't really hit me until I saw it for myself am

Thursday 14 February

Oamaru, North Otago
We left the campsite on the Otago Peninsula this morning. We liked that area and could easily have spent another day there, but the campsite was very cramped. It's understandable as there isn't much flat land to spare, but we could have almost held hands with the people in the van pitched next to us. We thought about moving to another campsite, but that would have been off the Peninsular, the other side of Dunedin. We are also starting to give some thought to how the rest of the time on the South Island might be spent, we would like to get a ferry back to the North Island by the 27th at the latest. We could in fact have travelled much further today, but Oamaru looked like an interesting place. Maybe it's not as interesting as I thought, there are some fine Victorian buildings and a beautiful park, but not much else. The campsite is good though, with plenty of space.
We have booked another trip for this evening, to two Penguin colonies. First to the Yellow eyed Penguin, which is under threat as an endangered species, in fact there is a problem at the moment as many have been found dead at this time when they should be breeding. As far as we know the reason is unknown at the moment, but maybe a viral infection is involved. Then on to a colony of Blue Penguins, the smallest known Penguin. I think that both of these may be unique to New Zealand. Then tomorrow we will head inland and a bit further north, to Lake Tekapo, via the course of the Waitaki River and it's hydro-electricity dams.
I am still surprised at how 'not-warm' it is here. If I equate it to the same latitude in the northern hemisphere, we are close to Cornwall in mid August. We are both wearing fleecy tops. I took mine off for a few moments and only had on a T-shirt over a vest, when the sun came out. As soon as the sun disappeared on went my top again. I haven't worn shorts for over 2 weeks. Nobody seems surprised, they seem to think they are having a good summer here. Maybe it's the almost permanent winds. After the two both trips, to Milford and Doubtful Sounds, my face was horribly wind-burnt. We stood up on the top deck for both trips, even in drizzling rain, making the most of the fantastic views. We are going further inland tomorrow, but also higher, maybe... maybe not....

Saturday 16 February

Christchurch
I suppose the impact of events never really hits you until you se them for yourself. The devastation in Christchurch is indescribable. The series of earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 when 186 people died has left the centre of the city a mass of rubble. I spoke to a Kiwi couple from Christchurch when we were at Alexandra and they told me that the heartache just goes on and on, as almost every week it is decided that it will not be able to save yet another historic building, it is too unsafe to repair and it will have to be demolished. We saw that for ourselves, some building clad in scaffolding and supports, while menacing machinery nibbled away at the destruction of others. However in the very centre a project has been set up called 'Re: Start, it opened yesterday. It was buzzing, lots of small stalls and food kiosks. We decided to eat there and had a very good Gyros from Dimitri's Souvlaki van. We are on a commercial Kiwi site tonight, so hot shower and done some washing.

Friday 15 February

Lake McGregor, McKenzie Country, in the vicinity of Lake Tekapo
It's nice to be properly camping again. We are on a sort-of campsite on the shores of Lake McGregor. I say sort-of because there is a long-drop toilet here, but not much level ground. As we sleep actually in the car rather than putting a tent up it's a lot more comfortable if we are on level ground.
We saw 4 yellow eyed penguins last night and hundreds of blue penguins. Two of the yellow penguins were chicks on a high ledge in the cliff face, waiting for the parent birds to come a shore and feed them. We saw two adult birds getting out of the water preparing for the hard climb up the cliff face, heavy with their food filled stomachs ready for regurgitation into the mouths of their chicks. The blue penguins came a shore in groups (called rafts) and hurried off to their nesting areas. As we returned to the camp site in the bus we saw stray birds on and beside the road making their way to unlikely nests under old buildings.
Back on the road this morning we turned inland to more glorious mountain scenery. We stopped off a couple of times to wonder at the construction techniques involved in the building of two of the hydro-electric dams across the Waitaki River, at Kurow and at Lake Benmore. The first one at Kurow was the last one to be built without the aid of mechanical equipment, just men, picks and shovels. The enormous dam at Lake Benmore has a 100 metre high earth barrier and water from four different lakes is fed into it.
We continued through Twizel, built originally as a settlement to house the men and their families as they worked on the construction of the dams, now a smallish town which serves the tourist industry associated with Mt Cook. It was a glorious sunny day, but there was a cap of cloud lingering on it's summit, which I think is very usual. Still I got a photo of most of it.
We had decided that Lake Tekapo would be a good place to overnight, but were a bit appalled at the description of the commercial Campsite and there aren't any DoC sites in the area. However the RG mentioned a DoC type site about 10 kms outside Lake Tepako, by a Lake McGregor. We weren't sure we were in the right place as there was no clear information about how to find it, and no sign posting from the road. We had nearly given up when we fell upon it, an idyllic setting on the shore of the lake, but very rough and uneven on quite a slope. There is a long drop and water from the lake. Even here we were surprised and a bit disappointed when a couple of large motor homes turned up, but it's mostly tents and people sleeping in their cars like us.
We sat down by the lake for the afternoon, reading, drinking beer and watching the birds. We saw Crested Grebe, Coots, Black Swans, and a finch-type bird, a bit like a chaffinch, I'll have to look it up.
When we camp in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe we usually try to avoid caravan sites, if possible seeking out tent only camps or at least ones which segregate the tents from the caravans, and we have encountered very few of these beasts of Motor Homes. There is of course the anecdotal moment when one turned up at Breck Farm, the most unspoilt of all our local campsites. John was heard to say 'whatever is that monstrosity doing here!' Only to learn that ot was friends of tje person standing next to him and coming to join our group. Even in Southern Africa we never felt overwhelmed by Motor Homes, most people tented, quite a few had trailer tents, but they were still tents. It doesn't seem to be just tourists in the Motor Homes here, there are lots of New Zealanders using them too. I can only think it's the inclement weather and the heavy rainfall. The Motor Homes Parks, which is what they are called, are exactly that, often like large Car Parks but with amazing facilities. However it does make camping a very different experience.

Benmore Dam