Northbound along the Pacific Coast

An update post on our whereabouts; we’re moving quite quickly up the east coast heading for the top of the South Island at the moment.

Can you believe it? I didn’t take any photos while we were parked for 5 nights at Weedons in Christchurch. Probably because other than the day we arrived it was cold and wet for most of the time. I also spent alot of time catching up on photos and blog posts and didn’t want to add to the pile!
 
Typical Murphy’s Law though, the weather cleared as we hitched up to head out of Christchurch.We thought we might head to the NZMCA Park at Parnassus but it looked a little lonely & forlorn as we drove by, so we carried on, heading for Kaikoura.

Here’s us parked at the NZMCA Park which is beside the Kaikoura racecourse, it’s not the most photogenic site at ground level surrounded by loose boxes and open stalls but take the stairway up behind and the views are fabulous out over South Bay. The walkway crosses farmland behind and ends up in town, not on the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway as I found out the last time we stopped here (there are plenty of links to click on in this post- they are the posts from our last visits)

We left the van hitched to the ute for the night, we often do that if we’re just staying overnight, it saves a little time in the morning. That was until I decided I should nip around the corner and out to Kean Point to check out the seals and especially the seal pups. There’s always adult or teenage seals at the point, lounging about in the carpark and over the boardwalk…

…and at this time of the year there are plenty of super cute seal pups wandering about or sleeping under the bushes. This slick little wet guy was keen to check me out and waddled along the bottom of the wall until he came to the steps which he then bounded up. He then decided to explore a puddle in the carpark and when I moved in to take a photo he mock charged me. He then charged a few others that approached him, he was having fun, he’d follow people along the road and when they stopped to say hello he’d charge them. Little tyke.

Then he decided to follow me up another stairway to where his playmates were sleeping under the bushes on a bank. He climbed over the concrete wall beside the steps, they are quite agile considering how awkward they look moving about and then made a nuisance of himself by clambering over the sleeping beauties. They didn’t seem to mind and either rolled over or curled back up to continue sleeping. Doesn’t the pup on the left look odd with it’s neck resting on a branch, he’s obviously had some good meals from Mum.

Other seals from the colony rested on the rock stacks beside the car park with the snow covered Kaikoura Range as a backdrop.

As I was driving back home I noticed the setting sun was causing some dark rays reaching down to the horizon out at sea. At first I thought it might have been my eyes and the angle I was looking through the glass of the car window. I pulled over to take some photos. These are called crepuscular rays, rays that stream through gaps in the clouds that are columns of sunlit air separated by darker cloud-shadowed regions. So in fact the darker lines aren’t the rays, they’re the cloud shadow, the lighter areas beside them are the rays.

The next day we stopped at a number of places of interest north of Kaikoura, the first was to check a rocky point where I’d seen dozens of Spotted Shags/Parekareka nesting the last time we passed by. There were just half a dozen early birds (cool- double entendre ;)) preparing their nests in the best spots; the deepest ledge on the vertical rock face.

I wonder how many chicks tumble over the edge and into the ocean below each season, last time I was here there were nests tucked into some very precarious spots on the wall above this prized ledge.

And of course the next stop had to be at Ohau Point to see the seal pup nursery at the waterfall. The last time we called here there were 50-60 pups clambering up the stream to the waterfall and swimming in the pool at the foot of the falls but it’s getting late in the season now and while there were dozens of bigger pups sunning themselves and sleeping on the rocks beside the sea there were only half a dozen smaller pups up near the waterfall and just one lone little guy swirling and flipping under the falls. This pair were keeping each other company near the stream, the one on the left wasn’t worried about me but his friend kept a wary eye(or two) on my movements.

So that’s what they mean about having eyes in the back of your head! And as you can see, they have HUGE eyes.

There’s a freedom camping area on the seaward side of the main highway at Paparoa Point, there’s also a seal colony nearby that ponged to high heaven and masses of tiny flies that had settled over the back of this caravan whose owners were certainly going to get a shock when they came home from exploring.

Our next stop over is at one our favourite places along the Marlborough/Canterbury coastline; the rugged and windswept Ward Beach. The camping area is part of a farm and is beside the Ward Reserve. An area has been cleared and fenced right above the beach and as long as you’re CSC (certified self-contained) and pay a donation to the farm owners, you’re welcome to stay.

There’s a garden of painted stones from visitors past and a pile of sturdy walking sticks at the gate. You’ll need a stick if you go for a walk, the beach is deep gravel and takes a bit of energy to walk over.

But its well worth a walk up the beach towards Cape Campbell where there are some huge limestone rock formations and a seal colony. We didn’t venture up there this time, I took this photo back in February….roll on summer!

I’ve been half-heartedly trying to catch the Aurora Australis (aka the Southern Lights) while we’ve been travelling the south but I either miss the night they play with spectacular colours for all to see with the naked eye or I forget to look to see what the prediction is when we are in a good viewing area. A couple of times I’ve found out too late or we’ve been parked in town or behind a hill or it’s way too cold or there’s no water for a reflection. Now that we’re moving north it’s getting harder to find the right area, I kicked myself last Saturday night (well actually Sunday morning) when we were parked at Kakanui on the cliff edge with a perfect view south and the lights put on a fantastic show…..while I slept on. I forgot all about it.

So I thought I might pick up a little of the lights from Ward beach if the call went out that the solar activity was increasing. So I set up the camera and waited….and waited. My activity alerts headed in the wrong direction, it was all quite on the southern front. I did get a few shots of the Milky Way and a little colour from around the edge of the huge hill in front of me but I’m thinking they are the light glare from Christchurch.

Now I’ll just have to wait until we’re back in down South to try again. I did do a shoot while we were in Winton, I drove around to the sports field on the edge of town where it was nice and dark, set my gear up and waited in the freezing cold with snow all around me. I didn’t last long, the first shots showed me that I had a two bloody power lines straight through the centre of the photo. Memo to ones self- check the view out before it gets dark.

Finally, after numerous visits to Ward Beach, we got to see the bulldozer launch the crayfishing boat off the beach. Every other stop the sea has been too rough. So when I heard a loud rumble early this morning I shot out of bed, threw on some clothes and grabbed my camera. The boats are stored in shed back up the road and the bulldozers are kept near where we’re parked.

Now you can see how loose the gravel is, and how hard the bulldozer has to work to tow the boat through.

The boat is backed into the water on the quiet side of the small bay and released from the cradle, it great to see it’s a cat (catamaran), perfect for the rough seas and a stable platform while they’re lifting and setting the cray pots (Ok Shellie, you’re not selling boats now)…

…the skipper then waits for the driver to park the ‘dozer….

…and board before they roar off up the coast.

We left before they returned and, not that they would have showed us, but I wonder what their catch was like. We stopped at one of the crayfish stalls on the main road north of Kaikoura the other day just to see how much they were charging. I nearly fell over, $78, SEVENTY EIGHT DOLLARS for the tiniest of crays a cray that looked more like a large prawn than a crayfish. And with two rental motorhomes and around six tourists eating a pile of crayfish on the table beside the stall they obviously have no trouble selling them.

We're now parked at another favourite of ours on the coast; the DOC Camp at Marfells Beach, just south of Seddon and beside the Grassmere Salt Lakes. Oh, it's a tough life...

Back to the Maniototo posts soon….

Spitting Spotted Shags

Well they don’t actually spit, they barf. They throw up a big pile of stones and nobody knows why for sure.

Hundreds of Spotted Shags (Parekareka), congregate en mass every winter morning just before sunrise on Golden Bay’s Tata Beach, and only on this beach.

I include a disclaimer here- my early photos were taken in virtual darkness, a long exposure & a little bit of processing has made them brighter but the downside of that is the photos are not as sharp as they could be.  Here's how it looked when the shags first started arriving.

Tata Beach is not far from Pohara, nestled between Ligar Bay & the Wainui headland on the way to the Abel Tasman Park. And because I forgot all about this strange natural phenomenon when we were staying at Pohara I have now twice made the 40 minute journey to the beach from Collingwood. This has involved getting up at 4:30am and being ready to leave just after 5am. (It was lovely to have company on the second trip, Diane, one of our camp neighbours was very keen to see this intriguing activity too.)

The beach is in total darkness when I arrive but with the aid of my head torch I make my way along a path that runs in front of the holiday homes. I’m looking for the third sand ladder (my contact has told me that this is the best position to witness the arrivals) I clamber down the ladder, the dune underneath has partly washed away, and sit patiently waiting for dawn. The beach is deserted and the air cold & still, the sea is calm & I can hear the gentle lapping of waves onto the golden sand. It all looks so peaceful, & well, normal. I’m thinking “have I got the right beach?” “what if they don’t arrive?”, “do they come every day”, “surely this beach is no different to a hundred others” “why here?”.

And then as the first shafts of light brighten the sky, they start arriving. Silhouettes of shags fly in, individual birds at first, small groups of twos & fours.

Then six, ten and more, all silently winging in from their roost at nearby Tata Islands, 1km offshore. At first there is little sound but as the numbers increase so does the noise; they grunt & croak greetings to each other and there’s the constant noise of flapping wings on water.

As they arrive they drop into the surf and start diving for stones. After each dive they surface and flap their wings noisily, before diving again. Soon they waddle up onto the beach where they extend their necks and ‘spasm’ their throats to regurgitate the stones into a pile on the sand.

A few red-billed gulls wander in amongst the shags, scavenging for whatever else has come up with the stones.

Scientists don't really know why they throw up the stones. It’s thought that perhaps the birds need to swallow the stones to help cleanse their guts of parasitic worms. The coarser sand at Tata Beach may provide just the right sized pebbles, unlike the finer sand at other nearby beaches.

Once they have got rid of the stones some of them waddle up the beach to the driftwood and dried seaweed, they’re collecting nest material and will fly back to the islands with it. They look so comical and remind me of penguins.

They also squabble with each other as some try to steal twigs and seaweed. Others try to drag great clumps of weed or matted vegetation away but fail to get off the ground when they try to fly.

Many stay near the waterline and begin their morning preening, feathers are carefully pulled, separated & tweaked, wings spread and shaken to help them dry and then heads tucked in for 40 winks!

Spot the odd man out? A Pied Shag wonders what all the fuss is about……

…..the party must be up here.

With so many birds arriving and leaving it’s hard to count the numbers but it’s been reported that there are sometimes as few as 100 birds and at other times there has been a few thousand (5000 being the most ever counted). On both of my morning visits (5 days apart), I would estimate there were between 300-500 birds.

From NZ Birds Online- Adult breeding birds have small black spots on the pale silver-grey and brown back and wings, pale grey-blue underparts, and black thighs, rump and tail. A distinctive curved broad white stripe runs from above the eye down both sides of the neck, separating the black lines of the throat, pale silver-grey and brown back, and long neck to the base of the wing.

White filoplumes grow diagonally from the black neck and thighs, and a distinctive black, decurved, double crest grows erect on the forehead and nape. Bare facial skin between the eye and bill turns green-blue before the breeding season. The eye ring is blue, the iris dark brown. and the long, slender, hooked bill orange-brown. Non-breeding adults are duller, lack crests, have a neck stripe obscured by dark feathers, yellowish facial skin, and paler underparts. Immatures are paler and browner, and lack distinct head or neck markings.

And then they were gone.

Well almost…. this shag wandered about aimlessly, he seemed to be thinking "where's everybody gone?" Perhaps he slept in.

By sunrise, and in less than an hour they have finished their strange ritual & fly off, individually & in groups, out to sea to feed or back to the Tata Island cliffs. All that remains of their presence are hundreds of piles of little stones. Tomorrow morning, cleaned by the tide, they'll be ready to be swallowed again.

Nugget Point Lighthouse

Nugget Point welcoming committee-

Nugget Point is one of the most iconic landforms on the Otago coast and I must say it is very spectacular. Located at the northern end of the Catlins & down the road from Kaka Point this steep & dramatic headland has a lighthouse at its tip and is surrounded by rocky islets which are known as "The Nuggets".

A 20 minute walk along an easy track takes you to the lighthouse & viewing platform. Just a short distance from the car park this lookout gives great seascape views looking north and also overlooks a steep cliff with beautiful rocky inlets below. Spread out on the rocks & swimming in amongst the kelp are dozens of seals.

The flat rocky platform to the left is also a seal crèche and looking carefully with the binoculars we could see many tiny seal pups, some playing in the pools, one even suckling. The plaintive cries, which sound very child like, reached up to us on the platform. The rock stacks have many different resting seabirds.

The 10-metre Nugget Point lighthouse stands 76 metres above sea level on a point close to the "Nugget" rocks. First lit in 1870, the lighthouse was automated in 1988. I couldn't decide which photos to post so you get a selection!

To the right of the lighthouse in the photo below, you can see part of the viewing platform, the bit that extends out over open air.

The wave eroded "Nuggets" as seen from the viewing platform in front of the lighthouse are quite spectacular.

The south side of Nugget Point-

While standing on the platform dozens of spotted shags flew past at eye level on their way to their feeding grounds.

Below is the part of the platform that overhangs open air, the grill in the floor allows you to see down to the rocky shoreline far below. This is looking south down towards Cannibal Bay, Surat Bay & far away Jack's Bay. The cries & barks of more seals reached us high up on the platform and unless you had binoculars you would be unable to see that the rocks below also are covered in seals basking in the sun.

The bull kelp around these rocks reminded me of piupiu (a Maori skirt-like garment) The kelp moved gracefully back & forward in the gentle swell & the contrast between the rich copper colour of the kelp & deep blue of the water was amazing.