Heading towards Arthur's Pass, just across the Waimakariri River.
After breakfast, we reloaded the bus with all our baggage and headed up the road through Arthur’s Pass. The weather, which had been fine the past two days (and was to be good at the Lodge today), was closing in a bit as we climbed up into the pass and drove under the clouds. It never rained more than a drizzle as we crossed the pass and descended into the valley on the other side. I took the opportunity to ride shotgun with Nicky and was using the new camera to take snaps out the front of the bus. The western side of the island is much wetter and supported a temperate rain forest prior to the arrival of man (specifically the Europeans in the 1800’s - the Maori who arrived around 1000 didn’t clear-cut the forests). The forest persists on the sides of the ridges, while dairy farming occupies the valley floor.
We reached our first destination of Hokitika at about 1030 so Nicky dropped us off to explore the town. Hokitika is the center of the green stone region and the Maori have the rights to its extraction, as they have used it almost since they arrived in New Zealand. Due to this concentration of jade artistry and craft, it has attracted a broad arts and crafts community and as a result become a popular tourist destination. Jonathan and I walked back to a coppersmith, unfortunately closed, as I was looking to add the hangings on our deck wall. We meandered through town, stopping at a bookstore, and ATM, and several crafts shops before stopping at the restaurant recommended by Nicky.
Heading towards Arthur's Pass, just across the Waimakariri River.
The clouds hung persistantly over the Southern Alps, and drizzled on our trek through the pass to the West coast.
An avalanche shed over the road, and a waterfall that is carried over the road via a sluice-like construct.
The Tasman Sea - We walked a bit on the beach in Hokitika before walking back into town to explore.
After lunch, we continued south on highway 6 eventually reaching the village of Harihari. The weather and clouds hung closely around the mountains and none of the famous peaks were visible. However, along the coast, including Hokitika, it was bright and sunny. In Harihari, we turned westward towards the coast and sun. After 20 km, about half on gravel roads, we reached the trailhead of this afternoon’s walk.
The Hari Hari Track is a coastal loop that followed the Wanganui River to the Tasman Sea. Our path was used the off-road vehicles used by the fishermen who had the riverbed lined with huts for the whitebait season. Whitebait is a variety of trout that spawns in the river; the larvae are washed to the sea, and return. It’s on the return trip where they are a bit longer than a toothpick when the fishermen seek them out. When captured, they are transparent. When cooked (Jonathan sampled them in Hokitika) they turn white, and you eat the whole entire fish, entrails, eyes, and all.
The huts ranged from the rudimentary canvas sided to the sophisticated corrugated iron with satellite dish.
As the path veered inland, the huts were left behind, leaving us in the coastal forest. This area had been extensively logged, but there was a single rimu tree that had not been cut and stood with its venerable branches covered with secondary growth. We passed through flax, which was pushing up their flower stalks, although it was a bit early for them to bloom. We came out to a lagoon at low tide with a forest covered hill of glacial moraine at the mouth of the Wanganui River which had a lookout (Doughboy Lookout) at the top. We had been told by a couple of photographers we passed on the trail (Andy Dennis and Craig Pottom) that the lookout was closed. When we crossed over to the base of the hill, the stairs were blocked with a do not enter sign. So we walked southward - directly into a stiff southerly wind from Antarctica - along the beach for about a mile to the mouth of the Poerua River where we turned back inland. The river had cut a path across the beach almost to the northernmost edge of the mouth, so there wasn’t any beach for us to walk along (all of it being on the south side of the river mouth). So we were obliged to pick our way among the rocks until we reached the trail that led inland alongside the Poerua River.
We came across some more “baches”, although these seemed much more permanent than the ones along the banks of the first river - there was even laundry hung out on the lines today.
From these dwellings the path rose up into the rainforest that covered the hillside. The forest was thick and moist and very green. Unfortunately for our photographic endeavors, the bright sunlight filtering through the upper canopy produced a pattern of light and shadow that, while exceptionally beautiful, defeats digital photography.
We stopped at a marker that marked the end/beginning of a rail line used by the loggers to transport the logs inland to the mill at Harihari. While reading the placard, a bold New Zealand robin landed on top of the sign and regarded us for almost a full minute. She flitted to a couple of adjacent bushes to continue her inspection of us before flying off into the forest. I tried to get a photo, but as I was trying to move slow enough not to startle the robin, it flew off before I was ready to snap the shot.
The railroad path led us back to the car park and our bus. Retracing our steps to highway 6, we turned south to continue on to Fox Glacier. The road traveled across farming plains before rising to cross a ridge that was the moraine walls of the ancient glacier. We repeated this pattern until we pulled into the town of Fox Glacier and the Te Weheka Inn.
The start of the Hari Hari Coastal Track.
Whitebait fishing on the river.
I had to tweak (hard) the shadow on this photo to show the wood pidgeon.
A kidney fern.
Nicky leads us down the walk through a marshy area.
Flax lined the pathway on either side of the wooden walk.
The hill, Mt Oneone, is glacial moraine, and has an observation deck on top.
Coming down onto the beach - Jim, Pat, and Jonathan.
Tom and Nicky walking southward.
The turbulent water of the Poerua flowing into the ocean.
A fracture pattern on one of the boulders at the river's mouth.
The Poerua River had cut a northerly path which forced us to climb over the boulders to get to the trail.
Pat and Jim taking in the view, as the Poerua River flows into the sea.
Jonathan mugging by the trail post.
The forest trail back to the bus was deeply shaded.
These tall trees are the remnants of the coastal plain forest. Most of the native trees are very slow growers.
Cabbage Tree - these are related to Joshua Tree (yucca and agaves).
They can grow quite high.
Jonathan and Tom are listening to Nicky. The straight path behind them was once a railroad track.
The gravel road from the car park back to Highway 6.
Highway 6 - passing pastureland and approaching a moraine wall.
The Franz Josef Glacier as we drove by it.
Sunset that evening was quite colorful.