From Bluff to Dunedin

Catch-up; November 2019- We were still in Southland but about to depart for Otago.

On a beautiful Southland spring day I packed up a lunch and we headed from our base in Winton to Bluff for the day. We've visited Bluff several times in the past, usually with the family and once to Bluff Oyster Festival (now that was an experience and a half, a weather bomb hit us) but there were a couple of places I wanted to check out that we hadn't visited before. But first things first; the mandatory drive up to Lookout Point where as expected, the 360 degree views were spectacular.

Looking west over the old Ocean Beach Freezing Works, Flat Hill Wind Farm and on to Hump Ridge & the Cameron Mountains in Fiordland National Park.

Looking south to Rakiura/Stewart Island which is just 37km away across Foveaux Strait and from there on it's just open ocean until you hit Antarctica.

North-east across Bluff Harbour is the aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point...

and directly below the lookout is Bluff township.

And after a visit to the lookout, our next stop is Stirling Point of course. And even though I already have photos, I took some more of the sign post, the anchor chain sculpture and the sign for the Start/Finish of the Te Araroa Trail, the trail that we have criss-crossed many, many times during our travels from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South. 

One of the places I wanted to visit was Omaui, a tiny seaside settlement at the entrance to the New River Estuary, the estuary that has Invercargill city at it's head. Omaui is also opposite Sandy Point Domain and is 'infamous' because they once wanted to ban cats from the settlement which is surrounded by a reserve. 

Omaui is at the top centre, in the photo above, just below the white sand of Oreti Beach. David backed the ute up to the edge of the beach and we sat on the tail gate having lunch overlooking the ocean and watching families enjoying the sun near the entrance to the estuary.

From Omaui we headed back towards Invercargill before turning right and heading off across the Awarua Plains on a dead straight piece of road that went on and on until finally crossing the Awarua Estuary. Where are we going? Have the power lines given it away?

We were heading to the Tiwai Aluminium Smelter. Sadly not to visit though, just to the gates to say we've been there, done that....got the photo! The smelter is rarely opened to the public, the last time was back in 2011 to celebrate it's 40th birthday. Our Winton family were lucky enough to attend, taking one of the buses that toured the plant, including driving through the monster sized warehouse, the size of five rugby fields (from memory). 

And here's one last photo from Southland. They don't mince words down there, they tell it like it is (free chicken manure). Seen on the main road into Invercargill.

We said goodbye to Winton and the family in mid-November and headed east towards the coast; we had a very important event to attend in a few days. We made a pit-stop in Clinton on the way through, and across the road from where we stopped, I spied these scruffy little dogs in a window, jumping about & barking loudly. They were looking out for their owner who was seeing someone off in a nearby car. For the rest of the day the songs 'How much is that doggy in the window' did laps inside my head.

We stopped at Balclutha for the night, at the South Otago A&P Showgrounds CAP; it's $10 a night for NZMCA Members. The weather was cold and miserable.

The next day we moved onto the NZMCA park at Woodhaugh in Dunedin for the night. It was lovely to get to Dunedin early enough to be able to head out on the Otago Peninsula for a tiki-tour during the afternoon. 

Hoopers Inlet

Once again we're covering familiar ground, we headed to Portobello along the bottom road (taking double the time due to major road works) and then up and over to the south side of the peninsula, around Hoopers Inlet...

A new boat shed replaces one of the two iconic sheds that were
 destroyed in a storm a couple of years ago

...to the end of the road and Allans Beach.  A short track crosses farmland, passing through dunes...

...lined with yellow lupins filling the air with a divine perfume. 

The track ends on a beautiful ocean beach. But we're not here for the beach today.

Allans Beach is also a well known home to a number of sea lions and if you're lucky Hoiho/Yellow Eyed Penguins. Sea lions haul themselves out onto the beach to rest and relax, they laze about on the warm sand in between feeding expeditions back at sea or, if you're a male, chasing females or other males away. Females also arrive to give birth, they usually hide well up into the dunes and away from the beach and the marauding males.

Sure enough there's a male resting right where the track exits onto the beach. On one of my previous visits to Allans Beach there was a very large agitated female blocking the track to the beach and I had to fight my way over the dunes and through the marram grass to avoid her. This guy doesn't even open his eyes as we pass. 

Further down the beach I find a female (females are usually cream in colour) resting in the warm sand.

She opens an eye, closes it and continues on snoozing. In case you're wondering, I have my telephoto lens on and I'm at least 15 metres from her.

We carry on down the beach and we think we see another sea lion at the far end but decide to leave that one alone. We turn and head back to the track. A lot of tourists visit the local beaches to check for sea lions and often leave thinking there are none about. 

Can you see the female in the photo on the left below? She looks just like a piece of driftwood, same colour too (that tiny speck centre left, up near the dunes). You can sometimes locate where they are if you see the distinctive tracks they leave in the sand as they've waddled up the beach (and not always in a straight line from water to the dunes either).

From the beach we head home along the top road to avoid the roadworks, stopping to take in the view out over Hoopers Inlet to Allans Beach in the distance.

Then there's another stop further along when the east side of the peninsula and Otago Harbour comes into view before we head back to Woodhaugh and home. 

Footbridges and Fine Sands- Part 2

Continued on from Part 1

I did the next road trip by myself, David had had enough of winding roads and sandy beaches. I wanted to visit the Pataua footbridge, this one is a lot shorter across the water than the Whananaki bridge but the distance by road to the opposite side is much longer at 50kms compared with 13kms.

It was once again a 20km long winding narrow road out to the coast to visit Pataua North and I had a bit of a laugh when I pulled into the boat ramp carpark; a lovely new ramp and carpark too.

A white Ford Ranger pulled in right alongside me; I had seen it following me in the mirror for much of the way, catching up and then dropping away and disappearing out of sight. I kept thinking, when it caught me up, that I must pull over and let it pass but then it would drop away again. And there were very few places to pull over too.

It turned out to be my niece & her boyfriend, they'd decided to take the dog for a run at the beach, a beach they hadn't visited in years. I must have lit a spark when I told her mother earlier in the day where I was going. They headed off to the beach but I decided to check out the bridge first.

The holiday settlement of Pataua North is located on a golden sand beach of Ngunguru Bay while Pataua South is across the footbridge on the edge of the sheltered waters of the Pataua River & estuary. Pataua South can be reached by road via the Whangarei Heads but the footbridge gives residents and holiday makers access to the best of both worlds. 

On the south side of the estuary outlet into the bay is the cone shaped Pataua Island known locally as Pataua Mountain, only it's not really a mountain or an island just a small hill which was once a Maori pa site.

I walked across the bridge, through the small reserve and along the edge of the estuary past a few of the holiday homes...

...including this one with these stunning metal sculptures in the front garden...

...and then back to the bridge...

...where I crossed back over...

...stopping to watch a kayaker battled the out going tide and a windy chop as he paddled his way under the bridge and back to the boat ramp.

I should have headed over to the beach to see my niece but the cacophony of  screeches, squawks and other bird chatter coming from a flock of Red Billed Gulls/Tarapunga grabbed my attention. 

Three rocks, right alongside the new boat ramp were covered in nesting, resting, fighting and copulating gulls! 

I wonder if the locals knew these rocks were a rookery for gulls when they planned the ramp, which was now also a resting spot for gulls and covered in poop.

I spent ages watching the goings on, checking for eggs and chicks and locating some of the odd places that birds had decided to nest.

Some had been relegated to the stalls, teetering on the side of the rock, just above the tide and fighting to retain their nest material....not only from falling over the edge but from being stolen by other birds.

This gull had the right idea, hidden away from all the fighting and activity. I even saw one bird drop into the middle of the astelia where I'm sure there were more nests.

It took me awhile to locate some chicks, it seemed that most of the nests still held eggs. It was a hot day and this gull stood over the chicks keeping them in the shade but letting the light breeze cool them down.

The parent then climbed off and fed a thin liquid to both chicks, they looked to have only recently hatched, the egg shells were pushed over the nest edge and still largely intact (don't forget to click on the photos to enlarge them).

I finally managed to pull myself away from the life & times of Gull City and drove around to the beach to find my niece loading the dog into the ute and about to head home, oops! 

The beach was deserted except for a family surfing near the mouth of the estuary. 

I walked around the point and back into the estuary and followed a sailor as he tacked back and forward up the estuary... 

...and then walked back through the holiday houses to the ute, spotting this letterbox on the way. A new take on the old microwave letterbox!

Out There on the Briny

Real-time (and I haven't forgotten, I've still to do a couple of blogs from Golden Bay)

We're still at the DOC Camp at Totaranui, Abel Tasman National Park and we're having a great time especially with the fine and sunny weather finally. David put the Takacat up not long after we arrived but unfortunately he's had a few problems with his back again and then when it came right, the wind got up (an offshore breeze) and he wasn't keen to disappear over the horizon with the chance of his bad back kicking in again. 

The 'Grand Entrance' as seen from the sea.

Eventually the stars aligned one afternoon so we headed off to explore a little of the coastline north of Totaranui.

We were bobbing about on the ocean waves while David pulled up the beach wheels when three Blue Cod (my fav fish) landed in the boat, literally. Lets just say there are some generous people about.

With dinner sorted we spent the next few hours exploring the tiny coves and rocky coastline.

In places the exposed bush has been sculptured by the elements.

Can you spot the Spotted Shag nests in the photo below?  Nearly dead centre, these ones were pretty stable on their small ledges, others we could see, were in some very precariously places. I wonder if there some sort of hierarchy amongst the colony or if it's first in, best site (a bit like motorhoming). 

The first bay north of Totaranui is Anapai Bay, it's accessed via the Abel Tasman Walk and there's a small camp site for tenters near the centre of the beach. Most walkers head on to the Whariwharangi Hut, a day's tramp from Totaranui but those that are taking their time on the walk and have tents, can stay here before moving on. We thought we might have lunch on the beach...

...but decided it was far too busy; with a loved up couple canoodling on a log at one end, someone having a swim and others just arriving on the beach in the middle and still more setting up camp or drying gear near the camp site.

We headed back towards Totaranui where we'd seen a couple of small coves...

...and pulled up onto our very own beach for lunch.  

Not only did we have our very own cove we also had our own miniature version of the Tonga Arches, granite rock formations sculptured by the sea. These were hidden from view as we approached from the sea and as there's no other access to the cove I doubt many would have seen them unless they landed here at low tide. The actual Tonga Arches are further south along the coast and part of Abel Tasman Park; many kayakers visit them, we saw them on our last visit when we took a boat tour up the coast. 

With the incoming tide quickly shrinking our beach we pushed off and headed back towards Totaranui, checking on a seal pup we'd seen on the way up and looking for more shags. 

It was a great surprise when David spotted a Reef Heron/Matuku Moana peeping out from behind some rocks. It's dark grey colour the perfect camouflage for its coastal habitat.

While there are only an estimated 300-500 Reef Herons in New Zealand they are regularly seen at sites they occur and have had a steady population for the last 40 years, although they are still on the 'Nationally Endangered' conservation list. 

There are two boat ramps at Totaranui, one you can see on the left, the other one is inside the estuary and can only be accessed at high tide. The entrance to the estuary is on the far right against the rocky cliff (don't forget to click the photos to enlarge) 

It's not quite high tide but being the little boat that we are, we ride the waves over the bar...

...and into the estuary...

...chasing hundreds of tiny whitebait ahead of us (although this is just a small school)!

The narrow channel sweeps around the edge of the sand and straight past the second ramp. As calm as it looks, we get caught in a small whirlpool just as the wind picks up and as I'm climbing out ahead of the ramp to go get the ute. The wind whips up a mini tornado of stinging sand and leaf litter and dumps it over us and the boat!

There are a number of whitebaiters fishing the incoming tide including a group of noisy Variable Oystercatchers who stand on the edge and chatter while David waits for me to bring the ute down to the water's edge. 

And while these photos show how calm it can be, here's a video I took of the water taxi picking up trampers during the wild weather we had when we first arrived at Totaranui. The usual pick-up is in the middle of the beach at the 'Grand Entrance', but this day the skipper sent the walkers down to the boat ramp to board where I happen to be out getting some fresh air; watch for the woman in the jandals!