Around the Ponds & Lakes- Mackenzie Country

Catch-up

It was a cold calm day at the canals when I decided to walk to the far end of Wairepo Arm to check out the reflections. I set off wrapped up warm, day pack on my back and wearing gumboots due to the soggy ground underfoot (aka Wellington boots for my overseas readers). I should have worn my tramping boots in hindsight but I thought I'd only be going for a short walk.

I followed the fisherman's track along the edge of the pond, I've walked it numerous times when I'm birding but I usually drive the 3kms to the far end when I'm looking for reflection photos because according to Murphy's Law, a breeze will kick in ruffling the smooth water just as I get there if I walk.

Today there's not enough overhead light to give clear reflections but the winter colours of the poplars & willows are nearly as stunning as the autumn colours. Because I'm walking I also disturb the waterfowl resting on the pond edge and they fly or motor off in alarm crashing through the water breaking up any reflections that are there.

I pass a stand of  alder samplings and try some creative blur shots with the bare trunks. This is done 'in camera' not with processing afterwards. To achieve creative blur in your photos slow the shutter speed down (this one is 1/50sec) and then as you push your shutter button, quickly move your camera up and down. Play with settings until you get the desired effect, it's fun to see what you can produce. I enjoy doing this with colourful flower beds too.

I cross over the main highway to Kelland Pond, another body of water with a lot of birdlife that feeds into Wairepo Arm and on to the canals. I'm thinking that it'll be frozen like it was on another visit and it is, but only just.

And funnily enough I find the same ice patterns as before. Ice is attached to the reeds a few inches above the water level. This happens when the demand for electricity increases and the power stations draw off more water; the pond level drops leaving these unusual frozen patterns.

I cross back over the road and as I reach the end of the Arm I can see that it's also starting to freeze over at a stream outlet. I decide to take a look along the dirt track that runs up the otherside of the pond.

It's dark and spooky in here and the swamp that's feeding the frozen stream is also mostly frozen.

I carry on along the track a little way and then decide to walk back to camp on this side of the pond.

I know from a past visit that there are a couple of calm little backwaters tucked into the trees on this side but in the end they too aren't providing me with any good reflections. 

Here's a photo from the previous visit-

By now I realise that wearing my gumboots was a bad idea; after 4kms my feet are starting to ache from slopping about inside with no support. I also know that it's about 6kms to get back to camp from this side as you have to drive/walk up to the power station to cross back over to the camp side of the canal. I put my camera away and press on up the track for another couple of kilometres and then call David up to come and rescue me. It's not long before I see the ute inching it's way around a far corner and then it appears in front of me. A welcome sight for my weary feet.

David stops opposite the camp so I can take a photo from this angle and then we take our time getting back up the track to the power station, it's heavily corrugated and not a nice experience, no wonder not too many vehicles fish on this side of the canal.

David wanted to check out the camp at Lake Benmore while we were at the canals. We've stayed here out of season before and although we had fog for 3 days solid we still enjoyed our time. This time though, it was quite depressing. I think because it is later in winter and very cold. 

David enjoys lake fishing from the dinghy much more than the canals so we decided we'd come back again in early summer when the weather is a little warmer. 

We drove down the road a little further and stopped high above the lake. The colour of the water and the stillness was breathtaking (or maybe that was the cold air).

Further on I spotted this lone willow on a point, of course I had to get a few shots of it...

...and then have a little play processing it later (it's called artistic license).

We hadn't stopped in Lake Tekapo on the way to the canals so while David was fishing I drove back up the road stopping along the way at all my favourite spots.

The beautiful turquoise waters of Lake Pukaki-

Irishman Creek Station's letterbox located on the main highway is a popular subject for passing tourists and photographers to photograph. I think I have a photo of it for every season now including another winter one where it's surrounded by snow.

A visit to Tekapo isn't complete without a short side trip down the Tekapo Canal to one of my favourite locations- Patterson Ponds.

Patterson Ponds are a series of small ponds surrounded by willows and birches which are located in the Tekapo River basin below the canal road and alongside the Tekapo River.

Once again I have photos of the ponds in every season, autumn is probably the most spectacular but in the winter the ponds are frozen and the ice a milky blue.

It is rumoured that large Brown Trout live in the ponds and while we've seen a few small trout swimming about we've never seen the big one.

Freedom camping is allowed beside the ponds and I notice that the road has possibly been graveled and graded (it's still about 2kms long though) and a toilet block installed at the beginning of the ponds, you can see it dead centre in the panoramic photo up above.

I didn't walk down to the ponds this time, just paused on the canal road above. This is looking back over the ponds towards Lake Tekapo with Two Thumb Range in the background.

Finished at the ponds I drove back up the canal road and down to Lake Tekapo where I lasted all of 2 minutes sitting on a bench seat, eating my lunch overlooking the lake. It was bitterly cold!

Next stop is the (in)famous Church of the Good Shepherd which, as is the norm, was swarming with tourists.

It's such a shame that there is now a fence and gates (locked overnight) surrounding the church, although I was pleased to see that the fence had been erected a good distance away from the church...

...so you can still get clean shots of the church if you wait patiently for a break in visitors!

Down below the church a forest of stone cairns (aka rock graffiti) are taking over the foreshore. I suppressed the urge to knock them off their pedestals.

The lake's turquoise blue is very intense in the quieter shallower bays on the east side of the lake.

I drove around to check on the NZMCA Park; one of the reasons we didn't stop here was it was closed for maintenance over winter. Many of the inner circle of large pine trees have been felled, this will open the space up and let in a lot more sunshine.

I stopped back in town to buy a coffee and noticed a lot of black suits and security guards walking around near the new $11 million Dark Sky Project building on the waterfront. The Governor General and Mana Whenua were due to open and bless the building.

They must have heard I was going to be in town, I was also here for the opening of the footbridge by Dame Jenny Shipley in 2015.

On the way home I stopped off at a view point overlooking the freedom camping area on a point that juts out into Lake Pukaki. There were already a few settled in for the night.

With no signs of fish or another hoar frost due anytime soon we decided to carry on south, stopping at the entrance to the Ahuriri Valley on our way. At the far end of the road is where we woke up to -16c and a hoar frost, it's where the photo was taken that's on back of the 5th-wheeler and this is the first time we've come back past since. We'll be coming back in the summer next time. 

Then it was up and over the Lindis Pass and into my favourite province of all, Central Otago (aka Central to locals and wannabe locals) 

Glacier Country- Fox Glacier

Catch-up, back to the Coast 

The day after our arrival at Franz Josef, the rain started and it rained solid for the next 10 days give or take the odd morning or afternoon when we managed to do a bit of exploring. First on the list was a trip back over the Omoeroa Saddle, on the winding and narrow main highway back to Fox Glacier to check the glacier out, just in case that incoming rough weather foiled our attempt later in our stay. 

Fox Glacier Village

The road to the glacier leaves the main highway just south of the village and follows the Fox River about 5kms up the valley to a large carpark.

We say hello to the friendly DOC Ranger who fills in the daily update board for the glacier. Today we can get to within 450 metres of the glacier and it's an hour long walk, about 3.5km return, according to my tracking app.

From the carpark the track drops down into the old glacier/river bed and weaves its way across and up a vast gravel plain. You can get an idea of the huge expanse of the glacier valley by keeping an eye out for people in the photos, some are mere dots on the landscape.

There are warnings everywhere; falling rocks, falling ice, slippery surfaces, flooding- this is an active glacier valley and an alpine environment that has rapidly changing weather patterns. 

From a vantage point early in the walk, the top of Fox Glacier can be seen, the terminal face is tucked around the edge of the mountain, front left.

After a number of  tourist deaths on and near both Fox & Franz Josef Glaciers, the warning signs now state the cold hard facts. Cross the barriers and you could die.

The elevation in the valley isn't actually that high at around 300mtrs but it's amazing how cold it becomes the further we move towards the glacier. Back at the carpark people are in short sleeves, some even wearing shorts and sandals. I think many would get caught out not realizing how cold it will be closer to the glacier. 

Can you see the people (specks) on the rise ahead of us? (click on the photo to enlarge)

Looking back down the valley with the sheer sided walls of the mountains that line the south side of the valley. Thousands of  years ago Fox Glacier filled this valley and flowed out towards the coast some 30kms away. You'll recall that Lake Matheson is a kettle lake left behind as the glacier withdrew.

The track cuts in close to Fox River and the terminal face is now in clear view....and those little specks on the track aren't getting any bigger.

It looks pretty benign here as we pass another warning sign, but this is where the river surge flows after heavy rain or when the terminal face calves sending torrents of water and icebergs down the river.

We finally reach the bottom of the climb up to the lookout, it's steep, rocky and slippery underfoot. And if to taunt us, on this quite tough, gut-busting climb, there are signs all the way up saying no stopping for 400mtrs. Like that's going to happen. Not. I'll rather take my chances with a wayward boulder than have my lungs burst.

Not far now David, one foot in front of the other; slowly, slowly does it.

And how the heck did he get up here before us! Tricked were you? 

And there in all it's glory, is Fox Glacier. Well in fact, not all it's glory because it's 13km long and reaches up and around the corner over the top of the deep crevasses. Glaciers constantly advance and retreat depending on the snow gathered in the upper catchment area and the ice melting in the lower part. Both Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers were generally advancing from 1985 until 2009, they are currently in a retreating phase.

The glacier terminal face is constantly moving in this highly changeable environment. We can hear a distant rumble and cracking sound as a few chunks of ice drop of the side and fall into the river below. 

It's hard to get some perspective so I found a photo on the web which has people in it at the face, you can now see how tiny they are. This is where two tourists (brothers) were killed when they ignored the signs and barriers, and climbed down to check the face out. They were buried under an ice fall when the glacier calved blocks of ice the size of small cars.

Higher up the glacier, and where it flows around the corner, deep crevasses have opened up. I love the colour of the glacier, the soft aqua of solid ice and the steel gray of the moraine as it's pushed down and aside by the flow. It reminds me of soft whipped icecream. And as much as I love it, David dislikes it, he thinks it looks dirty is always disappointed when we see a glacier. I think he's been watching too much TV, he thinks it should be pristine white, crisp, clean and smooth!

Thoroughly disillusioned he heads back down the track (he wasn't really, it just suits my photo!) 

There's a steady trickle of people walking the track but not so many as to make it feel like Piccadilly Station. I bet in the summer the track would have a solid row of 'ants' moving back and forward across it.

And one last photo of the glacier as we make our way back to the carpark- I can't get enough of this amazing and majestic landscape. In this photo you can see people at the lookout, tiny black dots (click on the photo to enlarge). Fox (and Franz Josef) Glacier move at approximately 10 times the speed of other valley glaciers around the world. This is due to the funnel shape of the valley and the huge nevé, the snow accumulation area at the top of the glacier. Fox's nevé is 36 square kms, larger than the whole of Christchurch city.

And here is another photo from the web, Fox Glacier in 2006, just 10 years ago and you can see how far the glacier has retreated in just that short time. The waterfall you can see at the top right is in fact out of my picture above, just the bottom of the waterfall can be seen on the right.

We stop half way down the access road to check out the swingbridge that crosses the Fox River. The 70m suspension bridge was built in 1929 to provide access for the many visitors who walked up the valley from the Fox village, a walk that took them most of the day.

The road on the south side of the river wasn't constructed until the late 1930s, and then visitors still had to cross the bridge and walk to the terminal face. The north side road (the one we arrived on) wasn't built until the mid 1940s.

It was getting late but we drove over to the south side of the river and up that road to check out a couple of walks and to if there was a view from further away. The signs at the beginning of the road said 'No Campervans', but we know how many choose to ignore them so this barrier a little further on should stop them in their tracks. And there's even a turning bay just before the barrier so those who think they are smarter than the average bear can turn around.

The lush vibrant rainforest forms a living tunnel as the road gets narrower and we climb along the base of the mountains that form the glacier valley.

We stop to check out a warm spring on the side of the road; it's bubbling up ever so slightly in the back corner and trickling down a rock face leaving a stained sulphur trail behind and the water is luke warm. I wonder if anyone has tried bathing in here, it'd be a tight fit.

Our next stop is at a small lookout and through a gap in the trees I see another familiar sight from my stamp collecting days...

                                

 

We have a good view of the top of the glacier, which we couldn't see from the north side of the river, and Douglas Peak (3077m) behind.

We carried on to the carpark at the end of the road where we stopped for a cup of tea but decided to leave the Chalet Lookout Walk for another time, the temperature was dropping fast and it was time to head back to Franz Josef before the road over the saddle iced up. 

Two days later the Fox Glacier walk closed for a number of days due to flooding and a big rock fall. 

Here's the blog on Franz Josef Glacier should you want to compare.

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