Sea, Sun, Sand, Six Weeks

Catch-up

We've just spent the last six weeks 'wintering' over at a South Pacific tropical island paradise. Well... that's not quite right. This stunning beach is in the South Pacific and it is on an island (the South Island) and it is paradise but it's most definitely not tropical! 

It's hard to believe that this is a winter scene from New Zealand isn't it?  This is Kaiteriteri, a small seaside resort in the Tasman region at the top of the South Island. 

Kaiteriteri is just a short winding road from Motueka, just under an hour from Nelson and just a few golden sand bays from the stunning Abel Tasman National Park.

For some it will also be hard to believe that this is the same Kaiteriteri that they visit over the summer months. 

In summer Kaiteriteri heaves with activity; the campground holds over 2000 people and this perfect little crescent of golden sand is wall to wall people; people sunbathing, swimming, walking, boating, fishing or just relaxing and enjoying their summer holidays. 

We've stayed at Kaiteriteri before, back in 2014 for four weeks, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And as we'd done most of the walks in the area, including part of the Abel Tasman Great Walk and visited many of the attractions we were looking forward to just relaxing in the warm winter sun and recharging our batteries.

Back in 2014, we had a front row seat to the ever changing scenery, and very few neighbours- in fact some nights we were the only ones there. 

2014, Kaiteriteri

The Kaiteriteri Camp did have a cheaper rate for long term stays but most vans were heading to the Bethany Camp at the back of the estuary, where the rates were cheaper still.

Things were changing though, a new office building with caretaker accommodation above was in the process of being built and a new shop and holiday accommodation block across the driveway were in the wings. Now all completed, it was a big surprise when we came around the corner to see this huge building on the beachfront. Huge for little old Kaiteri, that is. 

And with the new changes, came new parking restrictions- no long term vans on the front two rows, these were kept for casual visitors. Which is fair enough, but it would have been nice to have had the front row again. Although that probably wouldn't have happened because with the new changes came new cheaper winter rates and many more vans wintering over in the front camp. 

We were happy enough though, we found ourselves a quiet spot in the sun towards the middle of the camp and settled in. 

It still took a couple of weeks for the itchy feet to settle though and we paid week by week...just in case we got the sudden urge to get out of there. This wasn't helped by the weather and while most of the photos show lovely blue sky that's because I made sure to take them on sunny blue sky days only.

I was listening to a farming programme the other week and they were reporting on the weather for the Nelson/Tasman area during the month of August. Apparently it had rained on 28 of the 31 days and we arrived on the 2nd! It is hard to believe though, but then again it often rained during the night while the day was fine. From all accounts it's been a bad winter in many places.

We weren't the only ones who were fed up with the constant rain- this little guy with his waterlogged tail feathers sat on our post to dry out numerous times. He's also sit under the van with his friends waiting for the rain to stop.

We thoroughly enjoyed watching the abundant bird life at Kaiteriteri, a flock of over 35 California Quail roamed through the camp on a regular basis, calling and chuffing to each other as they sprinted through the grass and across the roads.

California Quail- Male (L), Female(R) 

They are such characters to watch, one pair in particular became very friendly. I enticed birds over to the van by throwing out wild bird seed- sparrows, chaffinches, greenfinches, goldfinches came to feed. Some of the quail came too, just a few during the first few days and then more and more. My pair would come running as soon as I called to them (chook-chook-chook) and once the sparrows and finches had finished all the good seed, they'd search out seed left behind and then move in closer for a secret handful or two. Early in the morning I'd hear them chatting to each other under the van.

We put a metal spike in the tree just outside our dining window and I added citrus halves to it for the Silvereyes/Tauhou. It was lovely to watch them at such close quarters- of course they couldn't see us through the dark tint. Mr Jack Sparrow thinks he's missing out on something here. Sparrows can't hover or hang upside down like silvereyes so the orange is relatively safe from them facing this way.

Kereru/NZ Wood Pigeons were regular visitors to the camp, bumbling, flapping and balancing their way through trees on the thinest of branches looking for the freshest of leaf bud. This one makes a raid on the new leaves of a kowhai sapling.

Tui sung, cackled and squawked as they raced back and forward through the camp chasing each other out of the flowering cherry trees. 

Some found an even sweeter source of nectar; tiny droplets of honeydew which are excreted by the beech scale insect and found on the blackened trunks of the beech trees (it looks very similar to sooty mould). Honeydew plays a vital role in the food supply for a range of native bird and insect species. The honeydew droplets have a high sugar content and are an important energy source for birds over winter. This tui is balancing with his tail while sucking up the tiny droplets.

And last but not least, the Western Weka, a number of them live the bush surrounding the camp, we'd hear them calling often but I only spotted them a few times out in the open. They'd come out from the bush checking for grubs in the leaf litter along the edge. We also heard Morepork/Ruru, our native owl, calling to each other every night and all through the night. And we were lucky enough to see a NZ Falcon/Karearea several times.

But sadly I missed the most elusive and secretive bird of all; the Banded Rail. A pair live in the salt plants on the edge of the estuary just beside the boat trailer park. I visited the area dozens of times; sunrise, sunset,  low tide, high tide, half tide, wet weather, sunny weather, walking, stalking and in the ute through the window, all with no luck. 

But I did see Mother Duck and her nine ducklings...

In the end we had a lovely six weeks at Kaiteriteri, as each week rolled around we'd comment that we'd be off at the end of the following week. Then that week would arrive and we'd stay another until finally, it really was time to move on. We made new friends and caught up with old ones, we had a lot of laughs and a few dinners at the pub. We caught up on chores and computer work and we relaxed and enjoyed our own company. We didn't leave the camp much at all but we did do a couple of very interesting walks; blogs on those to follow.

Marble Hill & A Long Walk- Lewis Pass

Catch-up

Typical! The weather came right the day we left Hanmer Springs. There are Stop/Go lights and a tight single lane road along the edge of the cliff before we reach the historic Waiau Ferry Bridge on the way back to the main road (remember I took a photo of the bridge from the river bed the other day?). 

They've been doing rock blasting above the road after a major fire a year or so ago. We didn't quite make the green light and because I knew the traffic ahead of us had to get over the bridge before the other queue headed our way, I knew I had heaps of time to sprint across the road to the lookout and take some photos looking up and down the river.

It's not long after we're back on SH7 and heading west on the 'Alternative Route' through Lewis Pass that we come across the scorched landscape from another large fire. This one covered over 30 hectares and closed the road for a couple of days last March. Twelve helicopters, 14 ground crews, two bulldozers and a digger were involved in battling the fire. 

Since the Kaikoura earthquake last November, the Alternative Route from Picton to Christchurch- which is made up of several state highways- has had a huge increase in traffic and much of it is plagued by roadworks, stop/go traffic control, hundreds of trucks and plenty of nasty crashes. The most recent NZTA traffic figures showed the average daily heavy traffic through St Arnaud jumped from 41 heavy vehicles (before the 'quake) to 542 afterwards, an increase of 1216 percent. 

Luckily we were travelling on a Saturday afternoon and we had a pleasant run through Lewis Pass with just a few speed restriction sections and some light snow falling off the trees overhead at the top of the Pass.

We stopped for lunch at St James Walkway picnic area, a very popular rest stop on the Pass and where a very pretty mountain tarn and nature walk are hidden in the tussock just over the rise from the carpark. 

And just like all the other frozen ponds and lakes we've found on our travels, people just can't resist the urge to throw rocks at the ice.

Our next stop is at the Marble Hill DOC Camp for a night or two, it's just down the road from the Walkway. With a narrow entrance and a few sites in under the beech forest the camp then opens up into a very large site with plenty of areas to park.

Not long after we arrived, Gayle & Paul, who we'd met at Hanmer, also pulled in in their fifth-wheeler and set up camp. I went exploring and when I got back David was having a of cup of tea and a chinwag with them. The residents of the caravan kept toasty warm with their potbelly fire chuffing away- they needed it overnight, it was very cold and frosty.

The Maruia River passes along the back of the camp before being funneled into a very narrow channel through the rocks; it then flows out again into a wide gravel river bed. The channel is aptly named the Sluice Box.

And I timed it just right, checking it out just as the sun was heading for the horizon and shining brightly in through the small gap in the bush where the river exited the Sluice Box.

There's another interesting feature near the camp too; a concrete wall that monitors any movement in the alpine fault line. Great! We're parked on top of it! Just as well no movement has been detected since it was installed in 1964.

With a brilliant day forecast (and a heavy -6c frost overnight) we decided we'd stay another night and do the walk to Lake Daniells, 8.5kms up the valley. I like having visual rewards at the end of a walk and on this one there were three; the lake, a hut and a jetty. 

The only negative was it was a there and back walk; we like loops so you don't have to cover the same ground again. Actually....that wasn't the only negative, 17kms is a long way! Would we make it, we've been a bit sloth like over winter and haven't done too many long walks. Oh well, the joints needed a workout, might as well throw us in the deep end.

There's a little story with the photo above- see those tyre tracks? They're leaving the spot where a rental motorhome pulled up to park for the night. Right beside us, not two meters away from our front door. All the space in the world and they wanted to park beside us! I sent them over to the bush, where they'd be nice and sheltered and their water pipes would also be less likely to freeze. Talk about insecure.

With a 17km walk ahead of us, the sun shining through the trees, we set off at a brisk pace...

...brisk being the operative word! Spot the icicles?

It was bloody freezing, made the more so because the sun quickly disappeared and it looked like it hadn't shone on the track side of the valley since last summer!

At the halfway mark ....well half of one way (don't you love the name of the bridge!), we had a serious discussion about whether to go on or turn around and head back, we'd have still done a 8km round trip. 

I told David if we went any further there was no turning around until we got to the lake, I wasn't going that far without the reward! So we pressed on...

Until finally we arrived beside the hut located in a tiny clearing...

...overlooking Lake Daniells

The 24 bunk Manson-Nicholls Memorial Hut is a very popular place to visit for families or people new to tramping. The hut is named after a tragic event that happened nearby during Easter 1974; four young trampers took shelter from a wild storm in the fishing club hut across the lake. Part of the hillside behind the hut slid down and onto them. Despite injuries one of the women managed to launch a rowboat and seek help from another hut across the lake. Sadly the other 3 trampers, including a husband & wife were trapped under the slip and died.

 A NZ Robin/Toutouwai kept us company while we had lunch at the picnic table...

...while a flock of Brown Creeper/Pipipi flitted about and chattered away in the nearby bush. Brown Creeper are only found in the South Island and although you'll hear them often, they're very hard to spot (and take a photo of) as they move very fast through the canopy foraging and calling for their mates to follow. 

Before too long, it was time to head for home, the joints were starting to cease up...not helped by the fact that I tripped over in a tussock covered hole (Calamity Jane strikes again). At least the landing was soft! 

David pressed on ahead of me, he focuses on covering the distance, watching one foot move in front of the other. Me? I'm always on the lookout for things to photograph like this beautiful crystal clear stream surrounded by moss-laden trees...

...which led me to look a little further on and spot two big fat rainbow trout trapped in a small shallow pool.

They'll have to wait for the next heavy rain before they can escape back to the lake. They went berserk when they spotted me, round and round trying to find an exit. I backed off before they did some damage.

And then there were more icicles (I told you it was cold) and various fungi of differing colours.

Eventually, with my legs and toes starting to complain loudly, I packed the camera away, caught David up and we pushed on, arriving back at the van with half an hour to spare. Gayle & Paul were sending out the search party if we hadn't arrived back by 4:30pm. Wasn't that nice of them. I can tell you we slept well that night but oh the aches and pains the next morning. It took a few days to recover.

We left Marble Hill the next morning and continued on along the Alternative Route. Being a Monday, there was now a fair bit of traffic and plenty of trucks. We had no problems though, pulling over regularly to let traffic past and not one of the truckies failed to toot their appreciation. 

We had a quick stop at Maruia Falls- how's that for a flotsam whirlpool off to the side.

The Maruia Falls were created by the 1929 Murchison Earthquake, the 'quake triggered a landslide which diverted the course of the river forcing it to cut a new channel over an old river bank. The river eroded the gravel below the bank which now forms the impressive Maruia Falls.

'Tickets please!' A very friendly robin checking out visitors to the Falls...checking to see if they might have any treats more likely.

Our next stop for a couple of nights was at the very familiar Murchison NZMCA Park, which is also now very busy park. We parked in our favourite spot just inside the gate....hmmm....not such a great move considering all the trucks that now overnight in Murchison. And head off at fve in the morning! To give them their dues they were pretty considerate, roaring into life and idling for a just a minute before pulling out. To be honest we were still recovering from our walk we hardly noticed them!