Moody Mavora & Snowy Garston

Catch-up (early October 2019)

From the DOC camp at Cascade Creek on the Milford Road we returned to the NZMCA Park at Te Anau for a few days. After a week out of range, it was good to have cell phone & internet reception again before we headed to our next destination Mavora Lakes- one of our favourite South Island destinations- which is also out of range. 

The road to the lakes leaves the main highway about halfway between Te Anau & Mossburn and from there, there's 'just' 34kms of gravel to travel until you reach the lakes turnoff which is then followed by another 8kms of gravel to the lakes; past South Mavora and onto North Mavora Lake.

For the first 15kms or so we travel in an unseen grader's freshly scraped track. We not-so-quietly curse as clouds of dry dust billow out behind us. Sometimes you just can't win; another couple of days and the dust would have settled and the road would have been silky smooth. I guess dust is better than being rattled to death by the corrugations although we have them to contend with for the last half of the journey.

Never mind, our favourite camping spot is free which isn't really a surprise, only the hardy (or crazy) camp at the lakes at the tail end of winter when the weather swings between bitterly cold & freezing cold.   

North Mavora Lake & Mt Cerberus

That would be hardy people, crazy people or hardy crazy hunter people. There's a hunter's camp up the back of the plateau, tucked into and sheltered by the thick bush. There are a couple of pig dogs in a kennel beside a horse float and down in the horse paddock I can see two horses. 

As soon as they spot me, they gallop over to the fence for a chat & a pat and then follow me along the fence line hoping I have something tasty for them. I don't, there's just dry grass and more dry grass.   

I'm keen to cross the swingbridge and check out the bush for Robins/Toutouwai & Rifleman/Titiponamu...

...but all I manage to find is one lonely robin who watches me expectantly, hoping I'm going to scrape some leaf litter for him. Of course I oblige.

It really was bitterly cold. As night closes in, snow starts to fall and David is not impressed. He's turning into a fair weather fisherman. The snow doesn't amount to much and is gone by dawn. Thank God for our diesel heaters, we're kept toasty warm inside.

The next day I walk up to the plateau behind and disappear into the bush...

...there are a few more Robins up here but still no sign of any riflemen. In fact the bush is very quiet, perhaps it's just too cold for them and they've moved deeper into the bush seeking shelter.

I break apart a rotten log and several birds are very keen to see what I've unearthed. Although not so keen to share as they chase each other about trying to keep the spoils for themselves.

Several more 'crazy' people have arrived overnight, one parked up in the wide expanse of tussock on the lake shore below Mt Cerberus...

...and the other sheltering in the trees near the fire pits. 

David has been reluctant to get the inflatable boat out, it has been very cold & windy, and the forecast is for more wind and heavy snow. We'd also had some unsettling news from family on the way in that had us distracted and with no cellphone reception, we'd started to worry that we really should be in range. 

So when we woke the next morning, and with the weather no better, we made the decision to head on out.  

We'll leave Mavora Lakes for the summer this time. 

South Mavora Lake & the road out

We decided to head to the NZMCA Lowburn Park at Cromwell, somewhere where we could settle for a few days and re-plan our next few weeks. We needed to stay around the lower half of the South Island in case our Southland family needed us to head back to Winton to look after the house & cat if they were suddenly called away.

On the way to Cromwell we stopped for a night at one of our favourite (and 'secret') freedom camping sites near Garston.

Brightwater & Castle Hill, Garston

Although we missed the 'Closed due to Lambing' sign on the way in, seeing it on the passenger side of the road the next morning on our way out. Oops! We'd both been reading the trout fishery sign on the driver's side instead.  We also didn't see any sheep until the next morning, they must have been hiding under the willows at the far end of the paddock.

But we did see the neighbours walking their goats. The goats were having a great time too, snatching mouthfuls of grass, running to catch up, kicking up their feet and racing ahead of the others. 

It was once again bitterly cold overnight, our diesel heaters working overtime until we went to bed. We very rarely need to leave them on overnight due to the van's insulation and our winter bedding.

Sometime during the early hours of the morning I heard the familiar gentle splatter of snow on the roof. I silently hoped we'd be snowed in for a few days but on opening the door the next morning there was just a thin layer covering the ground. 

Never mind, it was still a wonderful sight and a winter wonderland 'Out There'. I love waking to snow, being 'johnny-on-the-spot' and able to step outside in my dressing gown & gumboots to take photos, all within 5 minutes of getting out of bed.

The Mataura River had turned a dirty brown, rain has obviously fallen in the back country.

Here's the stock bridge the afternoon before the snow fall (this bridge is my favourite piece of farm equipment in all of New Zealand) 

Thick cloud gave way to blue sky...

... and the snow started to disappear before my eyes.

And by the time we were ready to pull out the snow had gone and dark clouds had rolled back in.

Around Camp- Kerr Bay, Lake Rotoiti

We, once again, had a lovely time at the Nelson Lakes although it was extremely busy with all the comings and goings of  tourists, campers and people attending the Classic Boat Show which was held over the weekend while we were there.

I wonder how many people travel with a huge garden umbrella and deck chair in the back? He made a great subject for me though.

I don’t think this little Bush Robin can read, "Hey mister, the ‘Robin’ section is next door" (Kaka is a native parrot- and a noisy one at that).

Once all the overnighter campers had left the site in the morning, the birds came out to check over the campsite. The robin (toutouwai) to see if David had any spare bacon fat, a Silvereye (tauhou) feeding on the hebe next to our van and a weka that skulked through camp checking for leftovers and disappearing quick as a wink if he sighted anyone. Which is very unlike a weka indeed, they are usually cadging food.

And down on the waterfront was my little mate, the Mandarin Duck who was keeping company with another rare & endangered visitor to the Lakes, the Black Billed Gull. DOC has had to erect signs asking people to stop feeding the gulls bread (not good for their health) and also to stop throwing stones at them. A small flock took up residence at the lake in December and people seem to think they are just your regular old gull (not that people should throw stones at them either!)

The Kaka section of DOC’s Kerr Bay campground has 12 unpowered sites & is usually for sleeper vans and tents but with the Boat Show on over the weekend it filled up with caravans & motorhomes instead. With no larger sites available for the length of our stay (8 nights) we tucked up into a corner with plenty of room for tents & vans later in the week. That was after convincing the DOC lady that our footprint wasn’t any bigger than a caravan, awning & car…..

….or even a large tent, sailing boat & car!

Unfortunately for the boat show, the weekend was a disaster. The rain started on Friday evening and was torrential overnight and for most of Saturday. It dawned fine on Sunday but it wasn’t long before the rain set in again. It was such a shame for them as most of the activities were either cancelled or were shortened versions. I did manage to get quite a few great photos of the some of the boats and I’ll post a blog when I have them uploaded.

There are definitely some different & unusual mobile homes about and plenty with heaps of character. I love this little caravan; given it’s size I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s not a toilet roll in the front window!

David went fishing a number of times but failed to catch one single trout which was a bit frustrating for him, although he said he enjoyed the trying. If he hadn’t have seen a trout rise and grab a bumblebee off the surface he would have convinced himself there were no fish in the lake!

On one of his trips I got him to drop me off halfway up the lake so I could walk the Lakehead track back to camp. I didn’t want to walk the whole length (8kms) and thought the half way mark would be about right. As it turned out it was 6kms back home which was fine although it was a pretty boring track. It did have lots of birdsong but the birds were all up high and other than a couple of rock slides to cross it was just a well worn mossy track through lovely bush with the odd ‘lakehead peep’ and gravel beach to visit.

Once the boat show was over the Kaka campsite returned to it’s usual purpose; an overnight camp site for the passing parade of people on the move. The Kaka site is on a large grassed area on a slight slope. We had one of the flatter sites and still had to double our leveling blocks on one side. Campers in tents or sleeper vans didn’t have that luxury and often had to re-position their tents or cars trying to find a level position.

I know people choose how to travel but I’m not so sure they know exactly what travelling in a sleeper van or with a small tent involves, especially at this time of the year when the mornings are damp & chilly. It may sound romantic and it may save money but it's not my idea of fun.

Most are only staying overnight as they move through the country trying to see as much as possible. Mornings involve wet tents and damp gear and if they've set up in the shade then the mornings are extra bleak. Laundry (when they can do it) does not dry in the hour before sunset- unless it’s your really small, smalls (oh how I wish). And three people, one car, one small tent and all their gear needs plenty of juggling to fit, although I see they have their priorities in order- beer, front of the row. And then again some people must do it just for the love of it- the older couple on their bikes, with just a small tent & a roll up squab to sleep on.

Monday after the boat show was a brilliantly fine and hot day, David went fishing once again but the lake was quite dirty after the rain. I met him over at West Bay for lunch and then he headed off again. West Bay was where we stayed for the unexpected rally last year, the camps were open now but there weren’t too many people in them. Most preferring to stay at Kerr Bay I suspect.

I drove down the road to check the bridge over the Buller River outlet, David had mentioned it was being replaced. I wonder if they’ll close the old one off completely, maybe it’ll be two one way bridges. What a shame if they do close the old bridge, another piece of history gone.

Nelson Lakes & in particular Kerr Bay is fast becoming one of our favourite spots. Hopefully the next time we’re passing through David manages to catch himself a trout.

We've now moved on to Murchison where there is a large NZMCA Park. Murchison is a small township with many cafes, it’s a half way point between the West Coast and the Nelson/Blenheim region and popular stop off point for travellers passing through, either for lunch, a rest or overnight. It’s also very close to the Lewis Pass junction and the route back to Christchurch. There have been at least 20+ NZMCA vans staying here the last 3 nights and I’m pretty sure we are contributing to the local economy extremely well.

The last two days have been extremely hot and each evening a violent thunderstorm has formed above the surrounding mountains. Luckily we've only heard the thunder & seen the lightening, the rain has kept to the hills.

The Birds of Cascade Creek

I finally managed to  get some reasonably decent shots of the rifleman- titiponaumu at Cascade Creek. These tiny little birds with heaps of character are fast becoming my favourites. There were a number of family groups that lived on the bush edge beside our camp at Cascade Creek, along with tomtits- miromiro & bush robin- toutouwai, so I was able to spend a few hours on various days tracking them and understanding their habits. Whenever, by chance, two family groups met on their respective territory boundaries they would let their guard down to chase each other away. Too fast for me to catch on the camera but they made me laugh as they'd fly right past me just a few inches away where usually they'd give me a wide berth hiding under the branches or running up the opposite side of the trunk to where I was.

Each group, usually a male, female & one or two juveniles had quite a small territory and they worked it from end to end checking under and along branches and climbing tree trunks in search of food. Occasionally they would scout around on the ground all the while keeping in touch with each with a high pitched peep. It was this peep that alerted me to their presence and although quite hard to spot if I kept still long enough I’d catch a movement. It was then easier to follow them through the branches.

So here are some of my better captures (shutter speed & ISO noise still caused a few issues on a some but I’m getting there);

Down by the river at the far end of the camp was an area where quite a number of motorhomes parked each night. One had stopped early and the couple had gone for a walk. I was sitting at the BBQ table (fighting off the sandflies) and waiting for the rifleman to move to a large tree above me. Instead they flew down to the recently arrived van and, like the rifleman at Mavora Lakes, started checking it over for dead bugs. The female made me smile when I saw her stretching tall to grab bugs off the end of the mudguard.

And just like the Mavora birds she also flew over to the fire pit to check out the cold embers.

And then out flew a gorgeous little tomtit, flitting about catching insects on the wing. He sat on the tip of a rock and launched himself off it everytime he spotted another tasty morsel and then fly across the road to land on the roadside weeds. Back & forward he flew in the late afternoon sun catching dinner.

Next to make an appearance right beside me was a tui. It flew into a bush and then jumped out and onto the ground chasing what looked like a small piece of paper. He threw it in the air a couple of times and chased it across the ground grabbing it again before finally realising he was being watched and flew off. It still looked like a bit of paper but I wonder whether it may have been a butterfly wing or something. Very weird.

 And of course I must not forget the friendliest of all the birds at Cascade Creek; the bush robin.