Although my visa for Australia is good for 1
year, for some reason I have to leave every 3 months. When I asked the immigration office if I had
to leave for a specific length of time, they said no, just step out and back
in. Uh, that’s not really possible when
there is no other country touching your border.
New Zealand here I come!
I landed in Christchurch; deciding to tour South
Island first. I found a hostel near the
city center (with private rooms) and enjoyed getting to know the other
travelers as well as the super friendly staff.
Its listed at 19 Bristol Street on Airbnb and stayed there each time I was in the city. This was to be the case every single place I
stayed. I know hostels are a cheap way
to travel, but at my age, I just can’t see sleeping on bunkbeds with a room full
of people more than half my age. That
being said, in New Zealand, most hostels have the option of a private room with
shared kitchen and bathrooms. I would
guess the average price per night was somewhere around $30USD. A far cry
from the $75 average I probably spend in most of Europe. Christchurch experienced a 6.2 earthquake in
2011 and it is still rebuilding. The
city center was hit pretty hard and there are still some heavily damaged
building awaiting demolition. In the
immediate aftermath, most business re-opened out of cargo containers. Today, there are only two remaining; a Greek
restaurant and a Ben and Jerry’s. As new
buildings were built, the street art scene took off. There are some fantastic murals covering
entire building sides all over the city center.
There are also sculptures dotted here and there. It’s a pretty small city center and very
walkable. There is a tourist tram whose
live commentary combines history with local interest tidbits.
I was in town for just a few days and did all
the tourist stuff; the botanic garden, (more like a beautiful city park with
lots of birds) a short boat ride on the Avon river, (very short, with the boats
pushed along with people in costume, like a mini Venice experience) and Gondola
ride up the side of a mountain, with views of the surrounding countryside all
the way to the ocean.
After a few days in Christchurch, I rented a
car so I could properly tour the island.
I headed north to the tiny town of Waiau. There really wasn’t anything there, it was
just a central point to explore the area.
Kaikoura is a coastal town, known for its wildlife including seals and
whales. I didn’t do the whale tour, but
I did hike out to the fur seal colony.
The coastline is fantastic, with snow dusting the mountain tops, green
fields, and a rocky coast, sometimes all in one picture. On the trail I passed a breeding colony of
the pied shag, or cormorant. The
breeding ground was off limits but there were a pair on some nearby rocks that
let me get quite close. They have
beautiful faces with bright blue and yellow patches around their eyes.
The seals were hanging out on the rocks,
sunning themselves on the warm day.
There were a few babies which of course everyone was focused on. What was amazing was how good they were at
climbing. They were on a particularly
rocky portion of the beach, with huge rocks and some pretty sharp edges. One baby in particular looked like he was a
professional rock climber, the way he scrambled up a sheer rock face.
Hanmer Springs in a tiny resort town, famous
for its thermal pool and spa. Who
wouldn’t like to spend the day soaking in a variety of thermal pools? You have a choice of a lazy river, a giant
jacuzzi complete with water jets, a lap pool, several secluded rock pools, and
a handful of other spas. There was even
a giant slide, which I skipped. I was at
a similar spa in Costa Rica and went on the water slide - it was a
death-defying experience. The slide went
so fast, I was literally airborne more than half the time and when I hit the
water at the end, I hit so hard I lost a contact lens and was half blind for
the rest of the day. Nope, no waterslide
for me!
As I was coming out of the spa, I had to look
twice at the small park across the way. No,
my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, there was a group of people leading llamas
on leashes. I had seen something about a
llama farm on a tourist brochure, but seriously, taking them for a walk in the
park? Wonder how much they paid for that
unique experience? Bravo to the farm
owners who figured out a way make some extra money.
I found a small lavender farm as I was driving
around, sadly, they were not in bloom so there wasn’t much going on. These farms or gardens are all over NZ, but I
guess they bloom starting in October.
Too bad, I just love the smell and of course all the beautiful
butterflies they attract.
After Waiau I headed north to Picton on the Marlborough
sound at the north tip of South Island. The
road between Waiau and Picton, Hwy 1, had some spectacular views of the
mountains and the sea. The drive was
only about 3 hours, but it took me closer to 5 because I kept stopping to take
in the view.
There are several small islands in Marlborough
sound which are predator free bird sanctuaries. Before people came to New Zealand 800 years
ago, the entire country was predator free, that’s why they have so many
flightless birds. Captain Cook was the
British Explorer who discovered and was the first to circumnavigate New Zealand
somewhere around 1770. He accidentally
introduced the first predators to the area including rats, possums, and sloats
(they look like weasels). The native
birds, which were flightless and ground nesting didn’t stand a chance.
There are about 53 species which are now
extinct, 15 of which have been wiped out since 1850. 3 were so recent there are actual color
photographs of them like the South Island snipe which died out when rats
invaded the last island refuge.
Currently there are several islands where rare birds are making a
comeback and there is quite the effort to keep the islands predator free. Boats are not allowed to stay at the dock for
more than a few minutes and there are live traps everywhere.
I really wanted to visit some of the islands,
so I booked an all-day tour for two of them. Motuara was
our first stop. It has been predator
free since 1992 and is now a kind of bird nursery. One such bird is the rowi kiwi, found only on
one part of South Island. There are
fewer than 500 left, having been nearly wiped out by sloats. Eggs are gathered and hatched in captivity
and the chicks are released onto Motuara island. Once they are old enough to defend themselves
against sloats they are returned to their original location. Since kiwi are nocturnal we didn’t see any of
them, but we did see other rare birds, including the saddleback. In 1964 they were on the brink of extinction
with only 36 in the world. They now are
making a comeback mainly on predator free islands and sanctuaries.
Motuara island was the main destination and
included a guided hike to the top of a mountain. Not being a fan of climbing I opted to stay
at the bottom where there was a viewing platform for a water feature where
all
the birds came to bathe and drink. The
birds were totally unafraid of people and were very photogenic.
My next stop (I was the only one getting off) was
Blumine Island, about 830 acres, mostly hills.
In 2008 Blumine was deemed predator free, as the other islands, due to
an eradication project by the Department of Conservation. The island had no dock, so the boat got me
close and I waded in. There was a sail boat in the harbor and I met the owner
who was mountain biking. I watched with
a bit of amusement as he loaded his bike in his tiny dingy and made his way
back to the sail boat. There was barely
room for him and the bike and I wondered if he would make it.
There is an extremely rare bird on the island called
the orange-fronted kakariki, a small parrot.
Bird watchers from all over the world come here to photograph it, its
that rare. I did see one, briefly, but
wasn’t fast enough to get a picture. I
didn’t get to the island till early afternoon and the birds were not as
active. The boat captain showed me a
crude map where they though the birds were nesting. Once I got on land, the map didn’t really
make sense to me. I had a nice time hiking
around, and I found plenty of birds including a very friendly weka. This flightless bird is about the size of a
chicken and are totally unafraid of people.
I’ve seen them elsewhere, it’s a pretty common bird. This one decided he would share my grapes,
regardless if I liked it or not. He
pecked my leg and untied my shoe when I wasn’t feeding him fast enough. It did make for some great pictures!
Later in the day a boat pulled up and dropped
of three professional bird watchers from Holland, all looking for the
kakariki. They had a better map and I
discovered that I wasn’t supposed to be hiking around, they were right there by
the beach. We each saw them, no idea if
we all saw the same bird or different, but none of us got a picture, so I didn’t
feel too bad.
While going out to the islands and back we saw
plenty of wildlife in the harbor. The
hector dolphin is the world’s smallest and most rare dolphin and is found only
in New Zealand. They are easy to
identify with its rounded dorsal fin. We
were lucky enough to see several of them as they came pretty close to the
boat. We also saw some shags, or
cormorants, as well as several other sea birds.
There is some really good hiking in the area,
unfortunately, I didn’t pick the best one.
I wanted to do part of the Queen Charlotte track, a 71km trail that was
advertised as “…leading through beautiful lush native bush along the ridgeline
of hills between the sounds, offering amazing views either side”. The best way to do the hike is to take one
of the boats that drop you off at point A and pick you up at point B. I decided I didn’t want to go to that much
trouble and expense, so I found a trail closer to town that I though would also
offer great harbour views. Not so much. It was straight up and down, through dense
vegetation, and only offered the occasional harbour view, which of course were
still beautiful. While it was a good
hike, I left wishing I had coughed up the money and done it properly.
Link to Christchurch photos - https://photos.app.goo.gl/Mm4g5U6s4bocpk46A
Link to Hamner and Kaikaura - https://photos.app.goo.gl/YgyAEvpQ63w3nNZs7
Link to Picton photos - https://photos.app.goo.gl/S8GrwMiGDCdDDBsf8
Link to my photography website where you can purchase photos -
https://throughlisaslens.zenfolio.com
I am loving your blog and pictures.
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