Sheltering from the Wind

Real-time

This is just an update post to let you know we have finally finished our mega beach hop south along the east coast. We left Ngawi on the Cape Palliser road this morning, heading for some shelter because of the gale force winds that have been forecast for the next couple of days and we found an amazing POP #5142 (for those that are desperate to find out where we are!).

This is Waiorongomai Station, and it's on the western side of Lake Wairarapa, tucked in below the Rimutaka Forest Park. A beautiful large grassed area surrounded by very mature native trees and the Oreore Stream which is not too far away. There's a 4.5km DOC walk up the stream bed to the Waiorongomai Hut which is located in the forest park- we may do this walk tomorrow but the stream is actually running quite high and it looks like we have to cross it a few times on the way which is a bit of a deterrent. 

Camping here in CSC vehicles is through the goodwill of the station owners and unfortunately dogs are not allowed. We had to maneuver a little under some of the overhanging trees- this was more to save the tyres from getting muddy on a couple of the tracks but we made it through and now we're parked up with the place to ourselves surrounded by blue sky, bird song and a few strong wind gusts.

It feels strange to be back in the bush after all the coastal scenery we've had the last three weeks. And don't worry, I'll be back to finish off the beach blogs soon. 

I can't add a map- the internet connection here is borderline so I'll do it when we have a stronger signal.

Up The River Without a Paddle

We're back at the summit again! We've just walked Blowhard Bush which is only up the road a short distance so it was opportune to post another blog! 

We decided to explore up river one sunny afternoon, David taking his spinning rod as we weren’t too sure how rough the going was once we got to the river, he didn’t want to risk breaking his fly rod if we had to pass through any undergrowth. I took my camera (no kidding) hoping to see some birdlife and to check out the butterflies & insects along the river bank.

There is a route to Cameron Hut along the river bed which takes 4-5 hours and involves 30 river crossings (I now know it would take us at least 7-8 hours with all the fluffing about we both do, checking for trout-him & photo shooting-me). If the river is in flood or if you don’t fancy clambering over river boulders and slipping & sliding over the rocks each time you cross the river, the longer route up and over Mt Kuripapango takes 5-6 hours. We weren’t going to Cameron Hut but I wanted to at least walk around the small oxbow I had seen from up on Mt Kuripapango.
We walked the kilometre or so from the campsite to the Cameron Carpark and then down the track alongside the river that I’d walked a few days before. This time I stopped to shoot the small concrete structure beside the flying fox over the river.

And once at the end of the track I took a photo looking down the river. I still don’t know what the flying fox is for but I did see a flood measurement pole on the edge of the river, maybe there’s a sensor here that reads the river level and going by the height (above my head) of the debris I saw caught in the trees nearby I think a flood would be an impressive sight roaring through here.

At the end of track there was a nice gravel beach and beautiful crystal clear, deep, emerald green pools- just perfect for swimming in. Until David spotted a couple of trout circling. This was where I’d seen the fisherman the other day. David decided we’d walk as far as we were going to go and then he’d fish on the way home.

We crossed over to the other side, this was the easiest crossing by far although it was still quite swift in the middle. We followed the edge of the river up stream, carefully stepping & picking our way over the rocks and boulders the whole way. David was also checking all the time for likely trout pools and feeding positions.

I could hear a few birds in the bush and up high on the cliffs on the other side of the river but there weren’t any to be seen close by. But the insect & bug life more than made up for it. The rocks ahead of me came alive with movement as we approached, grasshoppers of all colours, shapes and sizes sprung from rock to rock or disappeared down the gaps to escape my approach.

It wasn’t until I got down low for a closer inspection and a better shot that I realised these tiny hoppers were locked in a romantic embrace. No wonder they hadn’t sprung into action as I moved closer, they were fully involved in their own bit of action. But I pushed my luck by getting in their face with my lens, just as I moved my eye to the viewfinder the female sprung off carrying her amorous passenger with her.

It’s amazing how much life there was in and around the rocks; I need to research some of these, they aren’t in my bug book. Along with the grasshoppers of different colour variations, there were Boulder Copper butterflies, a red wasp type insect, maybe a ichnemonid of some sort(?) and a green flathead, actually a green flatbody too; maybe a  praying mantis or perhaps a katydid. I missed the focus on his eyes which was a pity.

More insects; the ever present & noisy cicada, an unidentified beetle, a female Boulder Copper, that red wasp again and a male Boulder Copper with his lovely purple inserts.

We cross the river again just up past the rapids and work our way around the inside edge of the oxbow, the boulders are getting bigger and our way is blocked often by water. The rocks are very slippery and while David has a walking pole I haven’t, so he finds me a suitable manuka stick with a good grip at the top and a fork on the bottom so it can locate as I check for depth and rock movement before stepping forward. I make sure my camera strap is around my neck just in case I take a tumble into the water.

Famous last words as I get my foot caught between rocks underwater and fall forward whacking my kneecap on another rock, with one arm disappearing beneath the water up to my shoulder and the other one stretching high holding my camera clear. Close call but no harm done- and all David could say was ‘How’s the camera?’

There are lots of beautiful Bush Giant dragonflies flying around looking & sounding like mini helicopters and one lands on a rock just in front of us. He must be tired as he doesn’t move when David puts his hand near so I can get a size comparison shot. I failed to notice he had a few legs missing until I uploaded the photos. No wonder he was tired.

One more crossing ahead of us and this one through thigh deep, swift flowing water over lots of slippery boulders. We umm & ahh about the route to take through them and I lead the way a little up stream of where we initially think we’ll cross. We’re now moving up the other side of the oxbow with Mt Kurikapango and the ridge I walked along ahead of us.

Off in the distance we see four tiny figures approaching from the other side of the river (top right). We call out greetings as they pass and I ask where they’ve been. They’ve done the circuit to Cameron Hut, up and over the top, staying at the hut overnight and then making their way down river today. I think one of them thought we were trying to get to the hut also as he was very keen to point out that there were over 30 river crossings and sections of unmarked track along the way. I reassured him we weren’t going anywhere near that far and in fact would just be going to the point ahead of us.

Shortly after, they disappeared into the bush beneath rocky cliffs of the finger of land that the oxbow formed around. It was then that I realised a track cut off the corner, we’d have to look for that on the way back so we didn’t have to fight our way over the boulders and along side the rapids again.

In the sandy soil along the river margin the prolific flowering Ragwort, a major pest, grows in abundance and while it might be a pest spreading it’s seeds far & wide it obviously provides a lot of food for the locals- a female Common Copper butterfly, a beady eyed fly of some sort, a Kowhai Moth caterpillar, a bumbling bumble bee and a first for me, a Magpie Moth. Yes a day flying moth.

We get to the point and where the river takes a sharp turn out of the oxbow and heads upstream for quite a distance in a near straight line. It’s taken us over 2 hours & three crossings to get this far and if David wants to fish on the way back it’ll be another 2-3 hours before we get home- I can’t imagine doing 30 crossings! This is the oxbow from high up Mt Kuripapango, we walked a little further off to the right. That hill in the centre looks pretty small but is in fact rather high with steep rocky cliffs nearly all the way around it.

We find a large boulder each to sit on while we have some lunch and then David heads off to have a fish while I take a swim. There are plenty of deep clear pools (away from the fisherman) and the water is quite warm considering we’re up in the mountains.The only problem with this idyllic setting are the persistent sandflies; thousands of the little buggers swarming around my face and legs and especially around my ankles and exposed areas on my feet.

I know I’m going to pay the price for the next few days no matter how much bug spray I squirt over me. I knew I needed the stronger stuff- it’s sitting in the shoe box back at base. Here, the only option is to keep on the move- they’re slow fliers, or find a breeze- they don’t like wind- but it’s a still & calm afternoon. Next best thing is to immerse yourself in water. Right up to your nostrils- and they still flit about around your eyes. I’ve become very adept at the ‘Aussie Wave’.

David has no luck and I’ve had enough of swimming & rock hopping trying to dodge the pesky sandflies so we decide to head for home. We cross back over and find the beginning of the track where the guys disappeared into the bush. There’s no markings indicating the start other than an overgrown dirt track underfoot. We saw muddy deer prints at the waters edge further on and it’s possible they use this track too. The track weaves it way through the thick bush and luckily we can see where the guys have moved through earlier on as there are broken twigs and flattened grasses. In places the undergrowth thins out and the track is easier to follow. It’s here that I have my very first sighting of a very elusive bird, but you’ll have to wait for another post to hear about that!

The track finally breaks out on the other side of the inside curve, we’ve cut off rock hopping and wading right around the inside edge. We missed the entrance on the way up because we were exploring along the water’s edge but I can now see there’s a rock cairn and a tiny pink ribbon tied to a branch marking the track entrance (marking unmarked tracks if that makes sense). Perfect and we’re now near another spot David had picked out to fish; a deep narrow swift section of river that exits the curve along a rock face. Hmm...he looks rather wet don’t you think? My lips are sealed! 

Thankfully I didn’t find this guys alive mate while I was exploring, this is (or was) a huge spider, it’s legs were as long as my little finger and I think they used to belong to a nursery web spider.

We made our way slowly back along the remainder of the river; David finally hooking some fish- two getting off and landing one which was returned to fight another day. Unfortunately I only heard David’s yells, I was busy looking for bugs and finding another track that cut off the next corner. It came out right beside the last(first) crossing. I made my way back around the corner to see what all the yelling was about missing the release.

Here’s the map of the area again and this time I’ve put a cross at the end of the oxbow, this was as far as we walked. The ‘You Are Here’ sign is at the Cameron Carpark, we walked from camp to the carpark and then along the little black line until reaching the river then following that upstream. You can see the Cameron Hut quite a bit further up stream tucked into the river valley. The guys we’d seen had tramped over the top following the yellow broken line along the ridges then dropping down to the hut and home back along the river.

We had a fabulous afternoon in the great outdoors and even though the camp was over run with people we only saw the four guys all day. We finally got back home around 6pm worn out and very tired with aching feet from all the rock hopping & boulder climbing. And with itchy ankles from those pesky sandflies- I’ve been paying the price ever since- ‘do not itch, do not itch’ has been ringing in my ears day & night.

Kuripapango Lakes

We're back at the summit, David needed to phone a couple of people so I took the opportunity of posting another couple of blogs- it's been overcast & drizzly the last couple of days so I've had plenty of time to write blogs.

Also known as The Lakes, the Twin Lakes or the Kaweka Lakes, these two tiny lakes with the many names were formed thousands of years ago after a massive slip from Mt Kuripapango filled the valley and blocked the path of two streams. Only the slightly larger western lake (8 hectares) has an outflow- a small underground stream, although the smaller eastern lake (5 hectares) occasionally overflows into the bigger lake.

The Lakes are about a 15km drive away from camp, back along the main road towards Napier and then down a forestry road for 7-8 kms. At the moment the more direct route is closed due to logging operations in the commercial Kaweka Pine Forest. There are numerous walks and tramping tracks from the trail head up and over the Kaweka Ranges. And not too far from the carpark, another one of HB’s three main rivers, the Tutaekuri flows by. You’ll remember this was the river that I reminisced about on the Otatara Pa blog.

I am loving all the new DOC sign boards around the countryside, detailed information on the area with maps, good indications of the degree of difficulty each track is and with reasonably accurate walking times.

The Lakes walk is about an hour long and other than a couple of downhills- one through the old pine forest at the beginning and the other, a sharp incline down to the western lake at the end- it’s all pretty easy walking. The summer growth of ferns and bracken crowd the track in places but it’s lovely to be back in the bush and have the whole place to ourselves!

The bush is alive with the deafening sounds of cicadas, they are clicking and chirping from every advantage point along the way and lifting up from the ground, where I’m sure they have been sunbathing, as we approach. These are native Chorus Cicadas- Kihikihi and the males have beautifully sparkling copper coloured wings and dark green patterned bodies.

In amongst the flying cicadas are a number of slow flying & noisy Bush Giant dragonflies- Kakapowai, who are using the cleared track as a flight path for their next hunting mission, whirring up and down the open area and landing occasionally on a nearby trunk or in one case, the peak of David’s cap. Dragonflies are voracious hunters, taking their prey on the wing. Prey includes flies, cicadas (no surprise there), wasps & butterflies. The Bush Giant dragonfly is about 82cm long and the larva live in long, mud, peat or clay tunnels for about six years before emerging as an adult. They’re also known as the devil’s darning needle. What a beautiful creature!

There are many tiny native (and a few introduced) flowers blooming along the way. There are over 280 native plant species in and around the lakes, many uncommon and nationally significant. I was on the lookout for the native hooded orchid but didn’t manage to find any.

There were masses of tiny, usually pink or white, flowers that could be easily missed by the average walker. They’re often hidden under the leaves of the bush or just so tiny they disappear amongst the many shades of green. I’m still learning some of names, the top & middle left are Snowberries, the middle right is Eyebright and I should know the bottom groundcover as it used to grow throughout my large native garden back in Tauranga. It’s Panakenake a creeping herb. It’s loves damp conditions, one of the reason it grew prolifically around our pool overflow.

Another native that I had in my garden was the Kiokio fern with it’s beautiful copper coloured new fronds. Although I believe mine was the common Kiokio whereas this is the mountain kiokio- I can’t see the difference.

We finally reach the top of the track down to the larger lake and which we can see through the trees. The smaller lake is on the far side and out of view.

Down at lake level and David is off to set up his rod, there are lots of fish jumping all over the lake and plenty close into shore. They don’t look all that big and spit the hook quickly, everytime David throws something at them. These are small brown trout and are much smaller than their river cousins due to the cold water temperatures and lack of nutrients.

I go for a wander up to the lake head to see if there is any bird life, a couple of mother ducks with ducklings scarper off at full speed and a black backed seagull overhead, is all I found.

Along the way I do my bit for conservation, pulling out the pinus contorta (or wildling pine) seedlings growing on the lake edge. Going by the odd dried up seedling, I see someone else has been doing the same. Pinus contorta are spreading aggressively throughout New Zealand, smothering native bush and alpine grasslands and are a major pest. Originally chosen for their rapid growth in commercial forests and to control erosion elsewhere they soon escaped their confines to spread hundreds of thousands of seeds each year through our native forest and grasslands.

David’s still trying his luck when I get back so I wander off into the reeds to see what insects I can find.

There are dozens of Common Copper butterflies flying about feeding on the tiny white flowers- Eyebright & Panakenake- blooming in amongst the rocks and wetland grasses. I try to sneak up on them but they are pretty flighty and take off at the slightest movement or shadow.

There are plenty of bumblebees collecting nectar from these legume flowers.

And around the reeds are flying dozens and dozens of damselflies in various stages of copulation! Both Blue and Redcoat damselflies. I love the male’s big blue eyes in this shot & the way he is gripping the reed- holding on for dear life? Ol’ Blue Eyes maybe?

The focus is a little out on some of these- aside from the stiff wind that was blowing, it’s very hard to grab a focus point on something so small let alone when it’s being whipped about on the grass. The red one is the male, the brown the female. The two damselflies in the middle have formed what is called a ‘copulation wheel’ according to my insect book, interesting that his bits must be up the top end and hers down the bottom. Great how the male has grabbed the neck of the female, there ain’t no way she’s getting away!

My insect book is a little thin on it’s bugs but I think this is a Solider Fly of some sort on the left. It has an interesting looking tail end to it, like a tiny spanner to grab hold of something? On the right is a ‘worse for wear’ Red Admiral butterfly.

David has no luck so we sit on the bank and have a bite to eat before heading back, all the while the fish are taunting him, leaping into the air, doing backward flips and belly-flops right out in front of us.

Just before the end of the track we have our first encounter with another human being. A human being and his best friend happily wagging his tail at us. Another person who can’t read. Grrrrrr……..

Piwakawaka- Black Morph Fantail

Morph comes from the word metamorphosis, which is a Greek word meaning “a transforming”

While I was waiting for David to collect me at the end of the Kaikoura Coastal Walk I spotted a black fantail (piwakawaka). We’ve seen a few black fantails on our travels but most of them haven’t stayed still long enough for me to take some shots. This one was doing a little circuit of the bushes beside the walkway so I knew if I stayed still long enough he’d come back round and stop for a few moments before launching himself up into the air again chasing bugs & flies that were flying around in the late afternoon sun.

Black morph fantails are very rare in the North Island but make up about 5% of the South Island population. For readers who are unaware of the usual fantail colouring here is one I prepared earlier   I took this one in Napier last year.

And here is Kaikoura’s black fantail

Mavora Flora & Fauna

I found the plant life around Mavora especially fascinating, in particular the low profile alpine plants that grew on the tussock grassland plateau. I would suspect that most people would just see a scrubby dry expanse of green & bronze with tuffs of tussock here & there. But stop & explore down low and there's a myriad of tiny little ground cover plants with equally tiny flowers & berries. There is also plenty of dried rabbit poo and half dug holes everywhere but there must have been a major pest eradication programme happening because in all our time there I only saw two rabbits; one we startled when we stepped off the swingbridge & the other I saw way up the back of the campsite running about like a mad thing on the thick covered moss in the forest.

 

Unlike the drive through Nokomai Station & along the Nevis there were only a handful of Spear Grass at Mavora, this one in flower with some nasty looking spines protecting it.

 

 

This is our native bidi bidi, there were a number of small patches at the edge of the gravel tracks. The red was very bright in amongst the greens & browns of the grass. The little hooks on the end of the red spikes latched onto your socks without warning and then when you went to remove the flower ball it fell apart in your hand dispersing individual seeds with their own hooks on to everything within reach. A typical bidi bidi.

 

 

 

 

A montage of tiny alpine ground cover, the ones above look like mini pine trees. The tiny yellow spikes were a few millimetres high, they were obviously flower spikes of some sort. The more mature ones let loose a cloud of brown dust when you touched them. The single tiny red spikes in the fourth photo were flower spikes of some sort too.

More bidi bidi flowers followed by tiny berries on a bush, fungi & a ground cover orange berry in the fourth photo; no wonder our birds are so small, these berries are pill sized. The fungi wasn't as colourful as what we saw in the Catlins but there was still many varieties along with many different shades of green moss & lichen.

I happened to be walking along the access road one afternoon when I got the fright of my life as a bird lifted off the fence right beside me and took off up the valley. As it flew I quickly registered that it was, of all things another NZ falcon -Karearea.  How exciting. I didn't have my camera ready but managed to grab a couple of shots as it disappeared. We saw or heard the falcon just about every day while we were at Mavora. At 7am most mornings it would circle high above us calling with it's distinctive call as it went. We saw it land high on the slope at the north end of the lake when we were out in the boat one day, we thought it may have a nest close by but we lost sight of it by the time we got close.

Another day we watched as it chased & had a aerial battle with a harrier hawk that had intruded into it's territory. David also saw it flying with & swooping around a black backed gull along the lake edge. It didn't seem to be battling with it, just cruising & checking the gull out. These photos aren't in focus but if you look closely at the one on the right that I've blown up, you'll see that he's turned his head & is looking at me.

 

Just on dusk one day David also spotted it land on a ridge not far from our campsite. He came racing back to get me & it was still there when we returned in the ute but it lifted before we could get close. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any close up shots of him but it was a thrill just to know that he was out there (no pun intended) around us everyday.

If you have been following my blog you'll remember that while in the Catlins, try as I might, I just could not get a good photo of our fast moving smallest native bird, the Rifleman- Titipounamu. At Mavora there were lots of Rifleman, well lots compared with elsewhere where we've seen them. But they were still proving to be elusive, I could hear their tiny high pitched peep as we moved through the bush but unless you caught sight of a movement you had no idea from where the noise was coming.

We were out on the boat one day, another calm day with the lake a millpond when we both spotted some movement in the water quite a way off to the side as we passed. At first it looked like a thistle "fairy" seed head and then like a fish was nipping it from down below making it move. Just a slight movement but enough for us to turn the boat around and take a closer look. As we approached we both realised at the same time that it was a tiny waterlogged bird floating on the surface; a Rifleman no less!  I quickly scooped it up in the net, it was just alive but died in my hand moments later. I massaged it's tiny breast and cupped it in my warm hands then wrapped it in the towel for awhile, willing it to take a breath, but sadly it was gone. So finally I had my close up photo of a Rifleman but definitely not the one I wanted. When we stopped later, I buried it on a stony beach, wrapped in some soft leaves with a tiny stone cross & some wild flowers on top.

Around camp & at regular intervals on any bush walk we did we'd hear the loud & familiar call of the Bush Robin- Toutouwai, and on many occasions they'd step out onto the path looking for stray insects that we disturbed along the way. These are the South Island Bush Robin (of course), they are virtually the same as the North Island Robin except that they have yellow tinged breast feathers. Robins are quite large & very cute, I'm going to sign off my Mavora posts with one on a very special little bird I made friends with but you'll have to wait a couple of days for that.

 

Once again David found the fishing hard going, this was the only one he managed to land & of course it went straight back in. Just before this though he had a monster on line....true, I saw it jump. Jump right off the hook & swim away!

 

And finally just before we left Mavora, I managed to get some reasonable Rifleman shots although I'm still not 100% happy with them. Rifleman are busy little blighters, they were moving in and out of the bush and sunny spots and I couldn't keep up with my camera setting changes. This was a family of rifleman (or should that be riflemen); male, female & two fledglings. I had gone out into the bush specifically targeting rifleman & trying hard not to get distracted by the nosey robins but although I heard and saw quite a few they were all too far away or in too dark a bush to get clear shots.

Female Rifleman

I was heading home through some trees where there is a camp area when I heard their familiar high pitched contact peep and there they all were racing up & down the trunks, along the grass, under the branches & of all things, climbing over & under a vehicle parked beside the wood BBQ. One disappeared up the exhaust pipe, another hung off a bit of string that was tied to the bumper. They ran up and down the grille and in and out of the headlights & mag wheels & all over the number plate picking off all the dead insects. 

 

Male Rifleman

Juvenile Rifleman

 

 

 

 

And after the vehicle they moved onto the BBQ, picking their way through the embers and running up the metal grille behind. Some seriously adapted habits there! But at least I got some shots to replace the ones of my dead little buddy.