Lake Tekapo

November 28-29th Lake Tekapo

For the last 2 days, I have taken in the nature & simple beauty of this spot. There is not a great deal to do in Lake Tekapo, & I like that! With no grocery store or ATM it is not a hotspot. Yesterday I went for a hike along Mt John, one of the nearby hills encircling Lake Tekapo. This 3 hour walk started with clouds & lifted to a super sunny, hot day within less than an hour. Even the scruffy merino sheep were hot & searching for any bit of shade they could find. Not much to be had, with no trees or even much tussock grass to scurry under. I walked my way on the trail scattered with sheep & horse droppings from the treks that take place along the path. It was so quiet, just the sounds of birds & sheep & the subtle slapping of waves down along the shoreline. After climbing the steepest part, the panoramic views from the landings & summit were truly breathtaking. With perfectly clear skies, not a cloud to be found I could see the whole range of Southern Alps, even Mt Cook. Lake Alexandria, to the left of Lake Tekapo, is stark black in comparison to Lake Tekapo, as it is a fresh water lake. Motuakik Island felt up close with its large trees & greenery. My Mt John panoramic included: Lake Alexandria, Lake McGregor, Cass River Delta, Motuaiki Island, Mt Sealy, Mt Sefton, Braemar Dome, Forks River, Mt Stevenson, Gammack Range, Cass Valley, Hall Range, Mistake Peak, Mt Sibbald, Mt Erebus, Godley Valley, Mt Chevalier, Macualay, Valley, The Thumb, the 2 Thumbs Range, Rouhd Hill Ski Field & Richmond Ridge. I took a break, & a lemon, lime & bitters up at the Mt John Observatory Café before heading back down the other pine tree forest side. & Yeah, I went for another swim in Lake Tekapo!! I also revisited the Church of the Good Shepherd for more photos, & check out the Collie Shepherd statue, giving thanks to the great dog that does such hard work for all the shepherds in the region. Oh & more lupins………. And the sun setting colours on the surrounding hills, totally looks like the Lonely Planet NZ cover. Then it was off to the Mt John Earth & Sky Observatory tour. Unfortunately, no photos to prove it (as they wouldn’t turn out) but we were bundled up in puffy coats & shuttled up the mountain. We learned about how the town & all the observatory only use these red low pressure sodium bulb lights as they give off less scattered light than traditional bulbs & therefore all the researchers on Mt John to be more effective in learning about the night’s sky. Now the guides were super informative, & used many different ridiculously high definition telescopes to show us constellations, planets, nebulas. satellites & crazy other astronomy facts & features. All I could picture were all those great science geeks finding the job of their dreams! The Mt John observatory is the largest in the southern hemisphere, with 2 massive telescopes (1m & 1.8m lenses) that allow some fantastic research findings for the University of Pennsylvania & Canterbury University in Christchurch. Currently the lab is manned by 3 Japanese & Alan Killmore (sp?) & his wife live up there permanently & are the leading astronomer gurus of all of NZ. I was able to clearly see……. The Southern Cross, the Pointer Stars, Orion, Cannus Major & Cannus Minor, Jupier & 4 of its moons, & soooooo much more. It was interesting to note so much in the Southern sky that us northern folk may not have seen before. The Northern sky I am use to was in fact, upside down now in my southern location…… how cool. Definitely a fun time with the use of these telescopes……………. But part of me was really longing for a dock on a lake as that is where some of my best star gazing moments have occurred. 



As for today, it is a read my book in the shade, catch up on blog & e-mails….. & stay out of the sun since it is super hot here with hardly any shade or relief. I already have a great walking tan going, tank top, shorts & shoe lines.



Love & miss you all



On to Mt Cook tomorrow for more hiking!

 



Dunedin

November 24-26th Dunedin

My impressions of Dunedin: very cool Victorian architecture (Gothic, Renaissance, all the good 1800s). Some buildings are better kept up than others. For instance, the Stafford Gables (the YHA I am staying in) is an old hospital & I love exploring the 5 staircases, many alcoves & hidden terraces. It would be fun to live in one of these old buildings.

Dunedin – is a university town, due to the ‘free’ tuition it is still a young feeling city, with an artistic & chic vibe. A pretty good bar & restaurant scene too, to cater to all the young ins.

On my days here in Dunedin so far, I have caught up with my good friend, Fredriek & we wandered down to the other end of town along Princes & Georges Streets, through the Octagon, passed the University of Otago & the Otago Museum to end up at the huge Botanic Gardens on the most sunniest of days. After the Rose Garden, Rhodendron Hall, the Aviary, Lovelock Bush & a hike through the terraces we spent the rest of the afternoon sunning & reading our books, enjoying each other’s company. An all together excellent day.

The next day, back on my own as Fredrieck has moved on to Lake Tekapo, I wandered by some of the old buildings like the Union Bank (now a stripclub), the Otago Provincial Council Chambers, the Cargill Monument, Bank of NZ, Garrison Hall, Commerce Buildings, War Memorial & Cenotaph, Otago Settler’s Museum (unfortunately currently under renovations), passed the police station, Dunedin prison & over to the majestic Railway Station. Most of these buildings were built in the early 1900s. The Railway station is NZ’s most photographed building & is said to look somewhat like a gingerbread house. Then it was up to the Otago Museum, which although small in comparison to the Auckland Museum & Te Papa in Wellington I really enjoyed the section ‘Southern Land, Southern People’ focusing on the Otago region. It was then back downtown, popping into Knox Church, one of the many churches built in the 1870s.

But I must say the highlight of my days here was visiting the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. Hmmmmm From the wall of Crunchie bars, to the overwhelming smell as we entering the ‘conch’ room where different types of chocolate are made, it was a great smelling adventure. With our hairnets in place, we learned about the chocolate making process, how different products are made & what specifically happens at the Dunedin location. Pretty cool stuff & of course got lots of Cadbury chocolates along the way. To top off the tour there is a huge purple silo that use to store milk but no houses several enormous vats that now create a huge chocolate waterfall….. insert chocolate covered goodness here!! Oh yummy day!

My last day (& really one day too many probably) in Dunedin was spent wandering the Octagon, perusing the market, taking in a coffee on the outdoor patio café & laughing at the hundreds of school kids participating in a road safety campaign run through traffic to get to their buses (something tells me the message didn’t quite hit home). It was also a great spot to people watch, one of my favourite things to do for sure…. This time it was watching the bus shuttles drop off Holland America cruise ship old folk into the downtown core to wander the streets of Dunedin. A great, lazy, sunny day in Dunedin.

My nights here are spent watching old chick flicks from the 1990’s: Far & Away, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Titanic….. oh the good times.

Sorry there are not many photos, the weather is a little lousy, cloudy & rainy days. That & something about trying to take photos of churches & old buildings just isn’t as appealing as picturesque mountains, greenery & native wildlife haha.

Off to Lake Tekapo on Saturday

 

Dunedin to Lake Tekapo

November 27th Dunedin to Lake Tekapo

With a dreary day send off, we left Dunedin but not before walking up the steepest street in the world. Baldwin Street definitely left the calves burning & for some meant they needed to have a smoke break! Haha Off from Dunedin, winding our way through ………. Wait for it……. Sheep farms & Fresian cow farms (dairy cows supplying all that milk to the Cadbury chocolate factory!). We travelled our way back to the east coast stopping at the Moeraki boulders. Amazingly round boulder rocks that appeared to be washed that way by the water but in fact were land based (some still noted in the sand cliffs). What lovely waves, wind & sun to go along with boulder hopping! We then carried on through towns of Hampden, Herbert, Kehane & Alma before stopping in Oamaru for a grocery stop. In Oamaru most of the old buildings are this stark white, built from Oamaru white stone. This stone was shipped all over the country for buildings in the early 1900’s. We needed to stalk up as Lake Tekapo & Mt Cook do not have grocery stores or ATMs for that matter . Continuing on our way, we meet up with the Waitaki River, another of the lakes that are this indescribable blue from glacial silt from the Pukaki glacier being reflected upon. Hopefully, the pictures do it justice as the water is bluer than the sky (more of this to come in!) Waitaki River has several hydroelectric dams along it, as one of NZ’s main sources of energy, definitely some of the cleanest. Aviemore Dam was quite clear from our quick photo stop as we stood amongst the windblown tussock grasses. We also passed Lake Benmore with Benmore dam being the largest dam in the country. As we head back into mountain country, this region is known as MacKenzie country, named after a Scotsman, James MacKenzie who basically liked to steal other people’s sheep & get money for it when reselling to others or for meat purposes. Eventually he got caught, attempted to escape from jail in Christchurch several times but was pardoned & went to his old sheep stealing ways & was shipped off to Australia (to live with many other convicts at the time ;). He never knew the area was named after him…… now that is a kiwi story of how to name the land. We passed through Otematata & Omarama, where we saw many glider planes being towed behind small planes. These gliders have no engine & can apparently travel up to 100km. Oh & this is where lupin country begins. All sorts of colours, heights, pockets everywhere!!. Not native to NZ, brought over for the wives of some of the shepherds to enhance their gardens……. & went a little too happy with the seeds! As we came into Lake Pukaki…… BAM!..... vibrant blue lake with Mt Cook & the Southern Alps range… Must admit it made me want to jump in it! We then traveled on to Lake Tekapo, our final destination for this lag, stopping at the Church of the Good Shepherd. This small, maybe 10 pews in total church was built in the 1900’s as a place for shepherds to repent their sins to the sheep…….. weird, but that is what is written in the stone dedication. The window behind the pulpit has a fantastic view of the Southern Alps in the background. After the hostel drop off, I reconnected with my friend, Fredriek, for a walk down to the ‘beach’. I use the term ‘beach’ loosely as it is just rocks, no sand to be found there. Due to the extreme hot sun, tiredness & groggy feeling of the day on the bus, I carefully waded my way out along the sharp, slippery rocks into the 8 degrees Celsius blue waters of Lake Tekapo for a crisp swim. Think first swim of the year in May in Lake Huron or when the ice has just melted off Twin Lakes for the first water ski of the season . Refreshing, invigorating, definitely worth it & of course, that means the Canadian girl is crazy! As I was in the water I could see the white clouds engulfing the nearby hills & grey skies coming from the south about to combine for some rain. Pretty cool to see it coming together from the viewpoint of the lake.

 

Catlins Coaster

November 23rd – Te Anau – Catlins Coaster – Dunedin

After a super early start & a shuttle bus that smiled & waved at me as I waited for it (a quick, somewhat assertive call to the Magic folk) & I was on my way from Te Anau passed deer, cattle & sheep in the fields on to a bus switch spot in Mossburn. On through towns of Winton, Waikiwi to Invercargill to hang out at the Southland Museum & Gardens & I site awaiting the Catlins Coaster bus. By the way, Invercargill is about to be inundated with motorcycle enthusiasts as this is the big Burt Munro Indian Motorcycle bike races weekend (pretty cool stuff!) Once Brian, our driver for the day, & his trainee, Josh found all 8 of us we were off. Very cool informative, guy next door type guys. Brian explained in great, humour filled detail the places we went, the wildlife we saw & the native trees & flora we saw along the way. For instance, the white bait fishing season & the huts along rivers we passed. Oh the description of the Eucalyptus Gum trees, Cabbage trees, Rimu, Southern Rata, Kamahi, & Mati along Lake Wilkie was an interesting biology lesson in itself.

Today, I saw the Great Southern Ocean which stretches all the way to the Antarctic Ice flows & the Pacific Ocean along the peninsula. I learned, although it does make sense when you think about it, that the winds along this part of NZ are all westerly winds, meaning it is often cold. These winds also sculpt the trees to grow in that direction, especially when pelted with sea salt spray (such is the case at Waipapa Point & Lighthouse). Waipapa Point with Lighthouse was erected back in the 1830’s after a horrible shipwreck of the Tararua lost 131 people only 500m offshore, one of the survivors had to walk for days, borrow a horse in order to ride in to the most local postshop to give word of the wreck. Out at Waipapa point we were able to walk down to the beach & see up close (like less than 10m away) sea lions bathing in the sun & sand. Very funny creature.

This was way more rich, green farmland COVERED with thousands of sheep, some recently sheared, some with some wool growth back & some who look like they have never been sheared.

Oh & I forgot to mention but the pictures do show just what a gorgeous, sunny blue sky filled day it was 

Places we passed along the way included:

Fortrose – an old whaling town for Southern Right & Humpback whales

Porpoise Bay – saw no porpoise or hector dolphins which are native to the area but enjoyed the roaring waves on the beach & the crushing of the surf along the rock breakpoints making for an awesome lunch spot

Curio Bay – cliffs walk down to the 170-180 million year old petrified forest encased in rock. The yellow-eyed penguins call this stretch home & we were lucky enough to see several hop up on the rocks & waddle/jump their way back up to their nests along the tree shoreline.

Waikawa – harbor for crayfishermen

Niagara Falls – yes, Brian did make us stop here & make me pose for a photo beside what is barely a trickle of water once he knew I was Canadian.



Lake Wilkie – a small lake that over thousands of years will cease to exist due to the continual growth of the Catlins Rainforest around it.

Tautuku Beach – amazing viewpoint of the lines of waves rushing in & the green cliffs in the distance dropping into the clear blue sea.

Lost Gypsy Gallery in Papatowai– small quirky shop with handmade games, puzzles & trinkets of all kinds

Purakanui Falls

Owaka – slowly reviving after the sawmill closure back in 2002

Cannibal Bay

Tunnel Hill – old railway south from Dunedin

Nugget Point & Lighthouse – green steep cliffs with roaring waves, a pod of 3 seals followed us out as we walked to the lighthouse, windswept seaweed pooling along the Nugget Rock with squawking gulls. We stood in the penguin (Maori – hoiho) hide & watch the penguins as they preened themselves before climbing the cliffs to their nests.

Balclutha – along the Clutha River, the largest in all of NZ.



Long, fun filled day & now in Dunedin at the YHA, an old hospital built in the early 1900s. Very cool building & look forward to exploring Dunedin in the next couple days.