We backtrack just a few miles to Monro Beach trail, a walk out through the forest to a remote beach where Fiordland Created Penguin nests (not this time of year, darn). We are early enough to be first on the trail for the day. Brilliant sunlight sets the very top of the canopy ablaze. We walk through the cool, still, night air that has been captured under the tunnel-like understory. The scent that greets us just screams, “the world feels alive”. Not just the plants and not just the birds. This place, it lives and breathes in its own fantastic way. Amazing. We burst out onto the beach and just as dramatic as the blazing sun are the masses of sand flies. Oh my gosh. We dawdle just long enough to finally wet our toes in the surf and grab pictures of the rock-strewn coast. Then we scurry off back into the shelter of the forest and leave the beach to the voracious flies. No penguins by the way.
Next stop is Matheson Lake in Fox Glacier. Normally it is a quiet walk around a refection lake that showcases Mt Cook. It is an odd walk today. Clouds have rolled in so no mountain reflection. The odder part, they are working on a trail that climbs above the lake and helicopters are ferrying tons of rock by hopper-load from the flats near the lake to the trail route rising above it. Wow, very noisy and it goes on for hours. Any other day, an impressive serene walk. We overnight here in Fox Glacier. Maybe it will be clearer tomorrow for a good walk to the glacier. Let’s hope.

Roaring Billy Day After

First, we just have to check out what The Roaring Billy Falls look like a day after the rain. It is absolutely amazing.

Roaring Billy during the rain

Where there were dozens of waterfalls there are one or two. Where the river roared past us, a peaceful flow is contained by the gravel braids. Check out the “rain swollen” and “day later” versions of Roaring Billy. Have to see it to believe it.
We detour a bit south to Jackson Bay a sleepy little fishing “town” about 45 KM south of Haast. No beach, just a long, working wharf and a cute little diner, the Craypot. We take a few to soak in the view then its back toward Haast. Along the way we find a quiet spot to wander out on the beach. The surf is rolling and sand stirred well out into the Tasman Sea. We catch a few pictures but opt not to put our toes in just now. Moving on we check out a lovely quiet interdunal lake at Ship Creek. The walk includes a viewing platform with a nice view of the ranks of dunes that run down the coastline reflecting the retreat of the sea over the ages. The road follows the coast with great views of the driftwood strewn beaches. This is a beautiful coastline. Further north we pull inland and overnight at a Dept of Conservation Campground, Paringa Lake. It is a lovely campground with only 12 sites along the little lake shore. But; The DOC does not manage usage even with reservations required. By the end of the evening there are over 50 campervans squeezed into the little cove. Good thing the lake didn’t come up. People had to move to let each other out! Folks are well behaved and all settles down by 9:30 or so. It is an awful impact on that area though. NZ DOC has a lot of work to do to get a handle on the heavy tourism on this coast. We head out early.

The rain came as forecast. The well behaved, meandering, braided Haast River of yesterday is now a broad channel sweeping past below camp. By 11 AM or so the rain finally slows to a manageable drizzle with intermittent heavier showers. We head off prepared to don rain gear at various scenic stops. They were certainly right about waterfalls. Everywhere we look water cascades down shear mountain cliffs. Rivers, creeks, and streams are all vastly swollen. It is amazing. The ground rumbles in response to the raging torrents. Ok Mother Nature, I am impressed again. We end our day in the quiet burg of Haast. Rangers suggest we hold off for hikes until waters subside along trails. OK by us. We take an early dinner at The Hard Antler Restaurant, blue cod fish and chips and a falafel sandwich. I try a glass of Oyster Bay Pinot Noir which I very much enjoy. There are showers and laundry then a bit of email, and blog catch up. It has been another good day.

SH 6 hugs the shores of Lake Wanaka then Lake Hawea up against rolling fields and mountain ridges. The wind howls the length of the lakes especially strong in the narrow pass between them. Kent concentrates, I enjoy the view, and we take lots of picture breaks. Our destination today is a short hike to the Blue Pools at the confluence of the Blue River and the Makorora. There is rain in the morning forecast so we plan to wait it out where the view is nice so we have more reasonable weather for the most scenic section of 6 over the ridge through Mt Aspiring National Park to the west shore plus; rain is really a bonus, the mountain section is known for its many waterfalls that only get better and more numerous with rain.
We settle into camp then head out to the Pools. Lush forest is almost getting old hat, isn’t awful how quickly we take things for granted, still we enjoy the walk. We hear birds lost in the thick vegetation and even see a few including our first brightly colored rain-forest bird, a yellow crowned parakeet. He is very quiet but poses nicely.
The pools are a lovely clear blue. We still have a bit of energy so continue on the moss draped track toward the headwaters of the Young River. We give out before we actually get there but still enjoy about a 6-mile walk. Clouds are thickening and the mist moving lower down the mountains as we finish up dinner, locally made sausages, and head off to bed.

We take the mountain route. It is a bit extra challenge for Kent but the views are wonderful. Check out this cool old establishment, The Cardrona Hotel. It looks like a perfect weekend getaway with gardens and outdoor dining plus a cozy bar finished with rough hewn lumber and stone fireplace. Nice.
Cardrona Distillery – rose hip gin – the proprietor of the Inn gift shop says it is smooth”. Never heard of gin described that way so I guess I will need to find a place to try it. You know how there are shoe trees and places where people throw shoes up to hang on overhead wires? Well here at the source distillery there is a bra fence. Same idea, I guess….
Over night at the Outlet Holiday Park – hot shower and a quiet spot overlooking Lake Wanaka

Tour books say check out Hayes Lake so we swing by enroute to Arrowtown. There is sculling practice happening and we spy a very cute Coot, then off we go to explore an historic Chinese settlement where they tell the story of gold miners from China and their roll in the NZ history. Once we get our history fix, we stroll the main street and find some pretty good pizza with eggplant, fresh basil, mozzarella, and Spec and I another of those Cloudy Apple Ciders. We are really very full but as we head back to the van I can’t pass up the ice cream. They have the one flavor claimed to be quintessential NZ, Hokey Pokey. It is vanilla ice cream with crunchy bits of honey comb. We share a scoop made by a local creamery, Deep South. Delicious.

We just blasted through town yesterday heading out to camp for the night. Traffic in town was awful – turns out the NZ Open is here this weekend. Ack! We decide we shouldn’t completely skip town and Sunday morning might be a little quieter so we run in for a few hours and check it out this morning. First stop “Cookie Time” home of the Cookie Muncher who looks much like a red Cookie Monster. Kent orders “best of both worlds” a scoop of ice cream of his choice plus a scoop of cookie dough of his choice. He is in seventh heaven with a dish of salted caramel ice cream and chocolate chip cookie dough. I sampled, it is pretty spectacular. I go for a couple warm from the oven cookies, white chocolate macadamia and chocolate chip. Very well done, Cookie Time. I must admit that I wasn’t overly impressed with their packaged cookies from the grocery store but fresh from the shop I don’t know if I have had any better – other than homemade of course.
We stroll to the water front and in just a few blocks I find Patagonia Chocolates – one of those must try places but we keep it light, one afghan cookie which is claimed to be a NZ favorite. It is a crunchie chocolate cookie with choc icing and walnuts. Ok, now I have tried it but for me it is nothing to write home about.
Got my souvenir fix, T shirts. We pick up a few groceries – Otago Pinot Noir, pinot gris, a local Whittaker milk chocolate bar, and bread. You know, the essentials.

Today is jetboat day on the glacially fed Dart River. The total trip actually involves a bus ride including time on the gravel bars of the braided Dart River (more on that later), a bit of a bush walk through dense forest of the Aspiring National Park, then a jetboat ride on the Dart. We are traveling with Dart Boat Adventures.
Kent and I caught a shuttle from camp, 12 mile delta just outside of Queenstown, to Glenorchy for the start of our adventure. We get tickets and spray jackets and climb on board this odd-looking bus. It sets high with steep steps and is very boxy looking. It is comfy inside and off we go
The ride out is filled with trivia about the history of this area and a bit about the geology. We enter Mt. Aspiring National Park through what sort of feels like the back door since it involves driving up river on gravel bars of the actual river bed. Pretty cool. Our bush walk gets an inauspicious start as the guide lets us know that there is free sand fly repellant available for the taking at the trail head. Hmmm. We did take some. The coolest thing, the Lance tree. It has evolved to actually change the texture of its leaves as it gets taller. When small, leaves are sparse and tough and pointy but once full grown and out of reach of ground birds it gets fuller and the leaves more pliable and soft. We see a lot of huge red and black beech trees (not much like beech trees we know from the US). Some are said to be 500 to 900 years old. We come across an oversized chair out among the trees. The claim is that it is a prop from The Hobbit. No telling, but we posed in it anyway.

Just a quick bus ride from the walk to the gravel bar the jetboats are loading on today. The river changes every day or even during a day so the loading site is different all the time. Our driver makes a route adjustment and quick as that, the wheels spin (all six of them) and we sink frame deep in the loose gravel so deep that the doors won’t clear to open. There is some head scratching, some pacing and a call for help, by radio of course since we are in the middle of nowhere. Boat drivers come to our aide and together manage to dig out enough gravel by the door that we can squeeze out. Just a little added excitement then a short walk down river to the boats. Ok, we are back on track and on board.
The ride is thrilling. Views are spectacular. The spray nearly freezing against the face. We make it nearly to the start of the river to an area where the waters are so rough and fast that slides and gravel rearrangement make further passage impossible. Downriver is great fun too as the driver throws in just enough spins and obstacle dodging to make it exciting. Oh yes, do it if you get a chance!
We have a little time in Glenorchy awaiting our bus ride back to camp. The excitement of the ride worked up an appetite. A bowl of fries and Mac’s Muddy Apple Cider hit the spot.

Initial planning had us spending several days here at the gate to Milford Sound but the road is still washed out with access only for tour bus caravans, no private vehicles. Milford Sound will have to wait for some other trip….We will just make it a day trip this time.
The Te Anau Bird Sanctuary is a fun stop. We get to see some very rare and difficult to spot in the wild critters. The Ruru owl, she is quietly perched and hard to find even in an enclosure. Bright green Antipodes Island parakeets are easy to spot but don’t sit still for long. Neary every species of bird I have seen in the wild seems to be black and white! The Kaka Parrots climb about and chew on everything. Grey ducks, they look a lot like mallards and unfortunately cross breed with introduced mallards, so the true grey duck species is rapidly declining. Takahe, a very rare and endangered ground bird. This pair fosters birds to be released into the wild in areas that have been cleared of predators. It is great to see animals we will likely miss out on in the wild. It is also a bit sad to know that no matter the country, man manages to mess us the natural balance and endanger dozens, even hundreds of species. Here in New Zealand the biggest blunder made by very early settlers seems to have been the introduction of the fluffy, adorable, tasty rabbit. It seems harmless enough but set in motion a whole series of increasingly unwise events. The rabbits being rabbits in a place of nearly limitless food multiplied to the point of nuisance. Ferrets were introduced to eat the rabbits. Ferret populations take off. More predators and the saga continues. Ultimately resident native birds, many ground dwellers and ground nesters, fall victim to the introduced predators and have paid the price for man’s experimentation. NZ is fighting hard to correct that. There are traps everywhere; many tended by citizen scientists and environmentalists. It is a mighty effort with mixed returns. Best success seems to be clearing remote islands of pests then moving endangered species to those protected enclaves. Not exactly restoring what has been damaged but at least saving some species.

The Kepler Track circles the mountainside above Manapouri Lake and is a perfect place for us to spend at least a bit of time on one of the famed Great walks. The full journey is 3 or 4 days walk with overnights in huts or campsites along the way. We settle for a day hike a little over 4 miles out to the first hut on Shallow Bay. It is a great start on a swinging bridge over the Waiau River. Switch backs carry us up into the lush forest where footfall sound alternately a hollow echo or no sound at all as we move across soil built of sphagnum moss and ages of fallen vegetation. Another suspension bridge, a balance testing log crossing over bog, a boardwalk view of a quiet bog-land pool, the beach front on the north end of lake Manapouri. It is a nice walk with very light traffic at first, growing a bit as we go into early afternoon. The Hut at Shallow Bay is decidedly unimpressive. Check out the pics. Still, probably a pleasant sight if you’d been walking all day with a heavy pack in foul weather. We head back to our cozy little campervan.