Heaphy and West Coast

The Heaphy Track starts out of Collingwood in Golden Bay and heads up and over Perry Saddle, which is the watershed divide, with everything beyond flowing to the West Coast and the Tasman Sea. I spent the first night at Perry Saddle Hut. The next day, I experienced the tussocks landscape for the first time - red/orange/yellow streaked native bunchgrasses stretching out over the horizon. Beautiful and reminded me of western Colorado a bit. In between the expanses of the tussocks, there were pockets of trees, where upon entering, you feel as though you've stumbled back a few million years. Ancient-looking ferns, mosses, "podocarp" forests - dinasaurs wouldn't be out of place here.

Platform walkway leading to a swing bridge crossing one of the streams along the Heaphy Track.

After traversing the tussocks, a long day at 27 km, I spent the night at James MacKay hut, which is on a ridge that looks down at the Heaphy River watershed, including the mouth of the river where it meets the Tasman Sea. That would be the last night - Heaphy hut at the mouth of the river. But at Mackay, a huge storm blew in in the evening and stayed for much of the night. Perfect timing! After living in western CO, I expect storms to last about five minutes, but indeed, which was not the case here. It just kept going and going. Actually I had trouble falling asleep with all the ruckus - imagine that! The next day dawned misty and threatened of more rain, but it never materialized. But it was absolutely gorgeous walking through native forests softly draped in mist.

The West Coast near the Heaphy River outlet. The brown water at the foreground is from the heavily tannined freshwater before it is integrated into the sea.

Spectacularly rugged and remote, this section of the West Coast.

Eventually the Heaphy was completed, with the last day being one of my favorites for scenery. The track just follows the coast til the Kohaihai Shelter. I got picked up by shuttle and spent the night in Westport, which wasn't much to write home about. Then I made my way by bus down the coast to Fox Glacier.

Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki.

Mt. Tasman in the evening light.

Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook (right), the latter the tallest peak in NZ. "Cloud Piercer", I think it's called, for good reason. The village of Fox Glacier in the foreground. I was walking back towards "town" after walking to Lake Matheson.

Nelson and Abel Tasman

Abel Tasman coastline

I went tramping on the Abel Tasman Coast Walk last week and it was superb! When you talk to people about NZ, you often hear Abel Tasman mentioned, for good reason: golden sands eroded from granite, clear green-blue coves and bays, spectacular rivers, waterfalls, seals...amazing beauty. I was out there for five days, and sampled all four of the huts along the track. It was sunny pretty much the whole time, though nights were cold. Some of the huts had wood stoves, which made for lovely warm evenings, chatting with fellow trampers. I met kiwis, Australians, Germans, and even an American on this trip. Got great tramping advice for NZ and Australia. I was dreading the crowds on this walk, which I hear can be really bad. But this walk highlights why I love shoulder season! The huts were only 1/3 to 1/2 full, and everybody had elbow room. I wouldn't want to do it in summer when the huts are all packed and everyone's jammed in together!

A typical gorgeous cove and beach in Abel Tasman NP.

New Zealand seal at Separation Point.

A Nelson evening.

I spent a couple of days in the charming town of Nelson before and after the Abel Tasman and had a really good time walking around and getting to know this sunny corner of NZ. Apparently it's got the best weather of the country. I managed to time my visit perfectly to coincide with the Nelson Int'l Film Festival, so I took advantage of it and saw a really cool film called Encounters at the End of the World, a documentary about Antarctica, focusing on McMurdo Station, the people there, and why they were there, and several of the ongoing scientific studies. One of the studies was on the Waddell seals, whose milk has got the highest fat content of mammals at 40 percent fat! Scientists are looking at the milk with the idea of using the knowledge for human weight control/dieting. I also went to a couple of farmers markets, getting fennel bulb, kale, apples, and fresh peanut butter - so those at home have no need to worry that I'm eating well!

Pub in Mapua! The owners are from Calif. I can't wait to talk to them to hear their connection to Cal. Go Bears! (this pub name and icon might be a copyright infringement!)

I am currently staying near the village of Mapua (30 mins from Nelson) doing another wwoofing week with Ann and Bob Phillips of Acredale. They've got a beautiful coastal property that I get to apply mulch to. :) I am really enjoying myself in their company and feel completely at home and at ease. I even made a loaf of bread in their breadmaker - my first successful loaf! They are growing many types of fruit and nut trees, berries, and vegetables on their small acreage. Some of these I've never heard of before, such as the tamarillos, shown below. This fruit is often cooked in desserts.

Tamarillos.

The view from my bedroom window this morning (9/22/09) after a night of rain.

Ann and Bob are woodworking artists and these are their products.

WWOOFing and food

Treated myself to a lunch of green lipped mussels in a thai coconut broth one day in a cafe in Picton.

This past week I've been working on a small flower farm in the Marlborough Region of the South Island, in the middle of wine country. It's in the beautiful Wairua River valley... I've been sorting flowers by colour (hard to handle them cause they're so delicate), washing pots (900 to be exact) for new flowers, sweeping greenhouse floors, weeding (LOTS of weeding), planting veggie seedlings in the garden, planting christmas lilies, and a few other little things. It's peaceful here. I work in the mornings and have the afternoons free to walk or bike around wine country. I like walking by the river. Went wine tasting yesterday - it was lovely.

I leave Saturday for Nelson for tramping.

Made chocolate pudding (more like cake) and had it with ice cream. delicious. That gerbera, that's the type of flower I sorted the other day.

Due to popular demand, I've posted photos of food. When I eat, I don't normally think to pull out the camera...:)

Keep sunshine inside of you and you won't ever have to worry about the weather...

...so says a guide in Fjordland NP, which ges 8 meters (!) of rain a year. That's like...lots of inches. 24 feet x 12. So, sunshine on the inside. Very good advice on all levels. Especially when you're hiking in NZ. I got to do a little bit of warming myself up on the inside the past few days, the several times it rained.
So I just got back from three days of hiking the Queen Charlotte Track, a 71km trail that follows the length of Queen Charlotte Sound. I had some beautiful sunny weather and some rain and lots of mud. Here are some things I saw.


Ship Cove, the beginning of my hike on the Queen Charlotte Track.
Captain James Cook and his crew spent 101 days in this little cove total during their 10 year exploration of the Pacific.

A temperamental morning in the Marlborough Sounds.

"De Brett's on de hill"


-awesome backpackers I stayed at on Portage Bay, Kenepuru Sound (to the west of Queen Charlotte Sound).





The mood of the Sounds changes rapidly, from clear and sunny to dark and howling...

Close to a full moon over Endeavour Inlet

Gorgeous rainbow over Resolution Bay...what a spectacular sight to see coming up to a saddle!