West Coast Wilderness Trail & the Whio

Real-time

While at Lake Kaniere, and with David giving fishing a miss for the day, we decided to check out our favourite Whio/Blue Ducks at the Kawhaka Intake which is fairly close as the crow flies from the lake but a good 40kms by road. We have to head back to Hokitika before heading north and then back inland on the Old Christchurch Road. We took a shortcut once we reached Kaniere village, along a forest track and over Blue Spur and down the Arahura River valley which is lined with dairy farms.

Then it was 16kms up the Old Christchurch Rd before we turn onto a familiar track (another 10kms further on and the road exits on to SH73, the Otira Highway to Arthurs Pass). This must be our 3rd or 4th visit to this special part of the Coast.

A 5km track runs along the bank beside the deep, dark and seemingly still waters of the canal... 

...passing several small coves...

...and a couple of larger pools along the way. The white foam spreading out over the pond is natural and comes from an inlet waterfall where it's thick and frothy as it enters the canal.

At the end of the track is a carpark...

...and the Kawhaka Intake, the water used to generate power further downstream.

The canal road we've just travelled and the track that carries further on up the river and onto Lake Kaniere is part of the West Coast Wilderness Trail, a 139km multiday bike trail that is very popular and very scenic. When we first visited this area a couple of years ago, we had the area to ourselves, the next time we saw a few people on bikes, this time we saw a few dozen. The Kawhaka section is also a very popular day trail. 

The Kawhaka Creek splits in two on the other side of the dam wall; part of it entering the inlet holding tank (up above) before continuing on down the canal. The other half spills over the dam wall and continues on down the natural water course.

On the other side of the inlet and dam wall the river stretches off up the valley. It's here and along the early part of the canal that we've found the whio/blue ducks in the past. I thought we'd probably not see the ducks in the canal (where we'd seen them up close previously) because if they were breeding they would have a nest up the river. If they had ducklings there would be no way they could get into the canal as the adults fly there to feed.

We climbed to the top of the dam bank and scanned the river for the ducks including the rocky beach where they sometimes rest and the rapids further up the river. We were disappointed but it wasn't a surprise not to find them.

We walked back tho the ute and had some lunch overlooking the reservoir...

...before deciding to walk up the trail a couple of kilometres to where the track met the river once again and where we could see on our map, a walk-wire crossed the water. We thought we might be able to scan the river there for the whio. 

Along the way we were passed by several cyclists. The track was a once an old stage coach and supply route to the Waimea goldfields.

It was a surprise to find the bush covered track suddenly opened up wide to reveal a small ramshackle farm...

...complete with one friendly but lonely bull (I actually have no idea if he was friendly or not but I assume he was given that there was just a single electric(?) wire separating him from us. 

The small paddocks were littered with overgrown wrecks in typical West Coast style.

And high up on the hill across the river was a small 'off the grid' abode.

This is 'The Farm' of Mr Paul Sinclair and until the cycle trail opened he'd have lived a charmed but isolated life deep in the West Coast bush. Now he's set up a 'coffee cart' at his front gate where he can boil the billy while chatting to people who stop on their way past, he even has a chalkboard sign 'Sinclair is in'  

He also takes people on tours around his farm and the old Waimea water race and goldfield settlement. He has an old flying-fox for access over the river when it's in flood, the 'walk-wire' we'd seen on our map.  This is a man making the most of the opportunities that pass by his gate. He is also the local trapper, protecting and monitoring our Blue Ducks.

We had a look up and down the river but still didn't see an ducks. A few more cyclists passed by while we were looking. This section of the track looks to have been washed away and repaired recently. We headed back to the carpark...

...taking one last look up the river when we reached the dam wall. Wait.....is that...no, it can't be...

...two blue ducks chilling out on the rocky beach. I couldn't believe my eyes. There they were resting on the beach exactly where we'd seen them on one of our previous visits. They had arrived while we were walking up the river. They definitely weren't there the first time we looked but I still had to check the earlier photo (up near the top of this blog) just to be sure.

It was a thrill to see them again although it would have been better if they'd had ducklings with them or were in fact sitting on a nest somewhere. I wonder if they've lost their brood already or possibly haven't nested yet. I've sent a query to Hokitika DOC to find out. I waited for 20 minutes or so to see if they felt inclined to move closer but they stayed put. Which was fine, I have plenty of Whio photos.

We drove slowly back along the canal, admiring the reflections, checking for more bird life...

...and wondering at the close call the driver of the vehicle that ran off here had. 

Back on the road we stopped to let this gangly and dare I say it, slightly ugly, pukeko chick run across in front of us. I love his developing blue bib...

...and his extra big feet! (apologies for the slightly out-of-focus shots- he was running fast!) 

While we haven't ridden the West Coast Wilderness Trail, we've visited and walked in a number of the sections and I'd have to say that if I was looking at cycling one of the many trails around New Zealand then this one would be up near the top of my list. 

The scenery is spectacular from pristine wetlands near the coast to luxuriant bush and forested valleys ringed by snow capped mountains just a few kilometers inland. There's historic water races and reservoirs, crystal clear rivers and stunning lakes, along with old gold mining fields and settlements and many beautiful old rail bridges. And then of course there's the prolific birdlife.

Taken on a previous visit to the Whio

We're Not Quackers- Visiting the Whio Again

After finally finding the rare and endangered Blue Ducks/Whio in the back blocks of Hokitika we were keen to see them again after the first visit was nearly a wash out. We actually made another two visits to the hydro canal before we left the Coast, one was unexpected when we found ourselves just a few kilometres away at Jacksons where we were waiting for the rain to stop before crossing Arthurs Pass.

The canal road is about 5kms long and runs along the top of the canal bank, passing two large settling ponds along the way before we reach the inlet. This part of the road is also a section of the West Coast Wilderness Trail which starts in Greymouth and finishes(for now) in Ross- as an aside if any of you are keen cyclists this would be an awesome cycle trail to do through some stunning & isolated scenery. A section of the trail also passed us at Lake Kaniere and followed the water race down stream from that lake.

Once we reached the end, I scanned along the canal where we’d seen one of the ducks feeding on our last visit. No sign, so I thought I’d cross the gangway and climb to the top of the bank to see if they were up the actual river. As I got to the other side I heard a shout from above the roar of the water. It was David calling me back. He had spotted one of the ducks resting on the concrete wall across from the canal outlet. At first he thought it was a pigeon, it looked so small. The duck moved off and swam down the canal feeding as he went.

This is the intake for the canal, the wall where the duck was is on the left (you can see poop spots if you zoom in, he must rest there often) and the gangway is to the right. There’s a spillway under the walkway….

and water not directed into the intake flows over the wall and away down the normal river route.

David left me tracking the whio downstream while he went to get his rod out of the ute so he could try at catching the big brown trout he’d seen the other day- he had no luck and didn’t see a single sign of any fish this time.

I managed to get some more shots of the duck, this time without the pouring rain although it was still dark against the bank and under the overhanging plants.

Here’s a couple of shots that show the fleshy ‘lip’ at the end of the bill more clearly; as mentioned in my first Blue Duck post, it’s helps with scraping larvae off the rocks and protecting the bill.

I decided that this must be the male again, there was no sign of his partner, perhaps she was feeding up the river.

Once he reached the end of this short canal section he turned around and swam back up stream stopping to feed whenever he came across a rock.

I watched in amazement when he got back to the concrete ramp. (I was so amazed I forgot to adjust my camera settings for the bright light! A ‘bugger’ moment.) He hauled himself out of the water and waddled up the ramp, right up to the top right corner and jumped up onto the top of the wall. You can just see him in the back corner. He then walked along the wall, jumping over the pipe and continuing on until he reached the end. He then launched himself off, landing a few metres downstream in the white water where he bobbed about for a few moments and then disappeared to pop back up further down stream to feed again.

I watched him feeding for another 15 minutes or so before he climbed onto a rock, stretched his wings out and flew back up-stream over the inlet and over the bank at the back to land on the rock beach in the river proper. What a gorgeous bird and how lucky were we to find the ducks on both our visits (albeit only one the 2nd time)

Our next visit was 2 weeks later after we’d moved on to Greymouth, then to Lake Brunner and finally to Jacksons where we were waiting for the rain to stop. We did a bit of exploring around the area and when I mentioned to David that we were only about 10 kms from the canal at the other end of the road, we decided to visit the ducks one last time. After all the rain the West Coast had been having it was no surprise to see that the ponds and canal were very full, and the rocks that the duck had been feeding around were totally submerged under at least two foot of water. There was a large amount of water moving through the intake pen and outflow and the concrete ramp where David had spotted the duck on the last visit had nearly disappeared. There weren’t going to be any ducks in the canal today.

I crossed the gangway- scary with all the rushing water underneath- and climbed up to the top of the bank to look up the river. I had a hunch they might be on the beach where I’d seen the male on the previous visit. And sure enough right at the top point of the rocky beach I could see not one but two blue ducks dabbling about in the rocks (remember to click on the photo to see a larger version).

It was great to see the two ducks again although they were quite a distance from us. With the river in flood there was no way for us to cross and move up on them through the bush but that was fine, we’d seen both ducks and three sightings out of three visits was a pretty good success rate.

They spent quite some time feeding in the rocks before one of them decided to check out the other side.

How’s this for camouflage, he swam very fast through the turbulent water…..

……before climbing onto a rock on the other side and calling his partner across. They fed for a short time around these rocks before both swimming back to the beach again. Eventually they flew off up the river and out of sight.

We made our way back to the carpark satisfied and very pleased with our third Blue Duck encounter. I wonder what will happen when they have ducklings, their nest will likely be up the river as that seems to be where they head to after feeding in the canal. Which means the ducklings won’t be able to get to the canal until they can fly. I wonder if the parents will stay with the ducklings on the river or perhaps one of them will fly off to the canal for some me time…..

You might wonder why there's a screen shot of a 'Google Doddle' below- look closely. Big Brother is watching. I was googling something regarding the ducks a moment ago and when I saw the doodle I though 'hmmm....I wonder what famous person was born on my birthday?' I sure got one heck of a surprise to see my name appear when I hovered over it!