12 March 2024

More Old Mens' Mountain Follys - Up the Waimakariri.

 One day at home after the 2024 cycling adventure in Northland - and then off to Christchurch for another return to the Mountains and the old mates.

Jim met me at airport and we took off to Mandeville where we picked up Mike from the long suffering and humane Lyn and travelled up to the Wilson "Rough Creek Shambles" hut at Arthur's Pass. Not too much of a shambles these days and still with a good supply of firewood.

A Little of the RCS Firewood Supply

All the lies were in full swing and next morning we slowly made our way up the Waimakariri from Klondyke Corner in fine weather. There were six walking sticks shared among the three of us and the pace was sedately. We arrived at Anti-Crow hut in time for a late lunch. Later in the afternoon the sprightly Peter Gough (of Mt Cook, Caroline Face fame) and his wife, in their seventies, called in for a yarn on their way up to Barker hut.

Our next day involved getting up to the Crow Valley hut and this was aided by a leisurely lunch and brew-up. We were joined briefly by a solo German youth on his way down valley. He was relieved to find that the smokey smell was not the AP National Park turning into an inferno. The hut was empty and we slumbered peacefully until the next dawn. 

The Mountains of Our Early Youth - Looking Sad

Big Valley or Older Men Shrinking?

Another fine day dawned and Jim and I wandered further up the valley to examine the floral state of the valley and, sadly, the state of the Crow glacier above on Mt Rolleston.  Yes, the glaciers are shrinking. Towards evening a young German couple called in on their way down valley after traversing Mt Avalanche. They too were relieved to find out that the three geriatrics were not burning down the NP with their outdoor brew-ups. They decided to camp outdoors in their new tent (oh, to be that young) and enjoy the ambiance of our campfire - ready made for them. And not be disturbed by the clumping of elderly men emptying their bladders all night.

Leaving the Anti-Crow Hut

Head of the Crow Valley

Crow Glacier About to Become Extinct

Another Campfire

Alive and Well

Crow Hut

Memories were re-lived the following day as we dawdled down valley under the ridges of our youth. These mountains about us were certainly the heydays of our youthful years. But they looked impossibly far away now. We stopped at the grassy Wamak flats where we interviewed a friendly tomtit and brewed yet another cuppa.  What-a-life!

Eight Walking Sticks

Wobbling Along a Bush Path

"Than you for turning the log over for me."

Finally we made it to the car - picked up the young German couple who had passed us in the lower Waimak - returned to the Pass - and told Hughie that he could now do his best. He obliged but not before we had made short work of a tree that had fallen conveniently close to the RCS. And so to Christchurch - and Hamilton for me. But not after another get-to-gether for me in Christchurch with brother John and sister Katie. More lies and reminiscences. And plans for next years adventures too.

Wet Day at the RCS - after the Woodsplitting

A sequel was an item in the Arthur's Pass Newsletter where Jim is known - I was delighted to be described as spritely!

  • At the other end of the tramping time scale, Jim Wilson and 2 of his good climbing mates, ventured as far as Crow hut last week. At ages of 89, 87 and a spritely 86, they broke all time records on the return trip from Crow hut to Klondyke corner.

I think the author intended time records for slowness (as indicated in the first phrase)! I thought the real hero was the 89 year old.

Another Boil-up in the Crow Valley

Cycling across Northland (NZ) and Back 2024

 I'd always wanted to cycle the 'Twin Coasts Cycle Trail' as the ride is called. When Doug Arcus asked if I was interested in coming on a tour he had booked on - I didn't linger long about getting a leave pass from home. So off we went. 

Our tour was with Northland Experiences and it was a bit more than just a cycling journey - they mixed in side trips, both biking and walking as well as several stops and talks of historical interest. The name and theme was "Cook to Kupe" - but also covered the early history of New Zealand. My initial thought was that it was more than I had wanted to do, but, not so, it was thoroughly enjoyable, educational and excellent value for money. Everything was supplied - including the bikes.

Aussies Impressed by the Flagship of the NZ Navy

We were a small group of ten - four Aussies and six Kiwis. We got on well and, as you might imagine, we all managed to give and receive the usual trans-Tasman banter - with good humour. Our guide was Jack who looked after us well and, along with other guides along the way, gave us excellent local and historical information.

Northland Countryside along the Cycleway

The tour started from Kerikeri with a visit to Waitangi and we were dropping off at Kaikohe at the start of the trail down to Horeke at the top of the Hokianga. This was a delightful evening in an colonial style refurbished kauri-built house, with delightful hosts. The next day we cycled up to the Wairere Boulder track for a walk of the circuit there. Wonderful stone boulder valley from the volcanic era.

Wairere Boulder Stream

Sunset Over the Tasman

We Did Some Cycling

We then cycled down to Mangungu where we lunched and cycled down to the local pier where we caught the 'Ranui' over to Kohukohu, from whence we cycled inland about a 20 km circuit - finally catching the car ferry to Rawene - and then on to Omapare where we stayed at the Sands for two nights. That night we saw a brilliant sunset over the Tasman. On our day at Omapere we cycled a 25km country circuit, walked in to a waterfall, made friends with a friendly goat and an elephant, fell of our bikes at speed (well one did) and attended an excellent three screen film and an oral presentation on the story of Kupe's and the Maori gods at the Manea Cultural Centre at Opononi. Well worth a visit - by prior arrangement only.

Presentation at Manea - Footprints of Kupe

In the evening we were transported to the Waipoua forest where we walked in to see Te Matua Ngahere and Tane Mahuta - all the more moving for the cultural respect afforded them with chant and song.

Te Matua Ngahere 

On one of my previous visits Maori nose flute music emerged unexpectedly from the surrounding bush. Very moving, especially when we discovered the source of the sound - an elderly Maori in a wheelchair.


Friendly Northland Elephant

Friendly Northland Goat

On our last day we were transported up to Kaitoke and cycled down the old railway (now cycle trail) to Paihia. Our last day was spent at Russel and its environment where we were indulged with lots of the early pre-treaty history of the area - and a visit to Pompallier House site of one of the earliest printing presses and the local tannery. Some of us indulge ourselves with time at the two superb Waitangi Museums. These deserve much more time than we could commit.

Our Happy Group - Hokianga Entrance Behind
Photo credit - Jack

This tour is good value. It provides off the 'normal track' cycling and walking and lots of cultural input. All up, 135km of biking and about 20km of walking. Plus Extras.





Inland South Australia

Back in November last year Catherine and I (along with Margaret, her sister) decided to visit Adelaide and outback areas to the north. We started by staying with Pam, an Aussie friend from C's veterinary days. Pam, the perfect hostess, feted us about Adelaide (it really is a beautiful city) and took us out to the nearby Onkaparinga (remember the blankets!) National Park where we all enthused about the wild orchids which were in abundance.

Onkaparinga River near Pam's Place


Orchids in Onkaparinga NP


Finally we joined up with our tour with an evening on the southern coast of Adelaide. Next morning we headed north through Port Augusta ending the day at Wilpena Village and the next day walked into the Wilpena Pound itself - an impressive feature. The distances and structure are huge as we found out the next day when we visited Arkaroola where we gazed, via their astronomical telescopes into the universe - and the following morning when we toured the nearby ranges by 4WD. The geology and land structures were the feature of that day.

Outer Edge of Wilpena Pound

Arkaroola Area

Onwards we travelled - this time arriving at Maree, further west and at 30 degrees, (Celsius and damn near Latitude South 29.6). From here we took a plane flight over Lake Eyre - which was starting to dry-up again but was at an aesthetically impressive stage with patterns of colour and formations of islands, banks and shorelines. Throughout our journey there were flowers blooming at different stages and degrees - very beautiful.

Salty Edge of Lake Eyre

Another long day took us to Coober Pedy - at the end of the day though fields of Parakelia in flower. We stayed in an underground suite and next day toured the mine workings both above and below ground. The afternoon was one of the highlights of our journey when we visited the "drop off" - an area on the edge of the hills where all the colours of the earth are revealed - an artists paradise.

Artist's Paradise at the Drop-off

Our last day back to Adelaide was long with stops at Woomera and a winery for lunch. Large areas of cropping were a feature of the day. Finally a dinner and welcome rest in our original hotel.

Sturt's Desert Pea

Desert Rose

Pam, indeed, had not finished with us - more visits in town to catch up with other friends and to the orchids again which were in even greater profusion. Very good trip.

Spider Orchid

Thelimitra sp.

More trips to come! If we are spared.



Local Sniffing the Parakelia

14 March 2023

Old Gold Trails, Rivers and Lakes - Five Days Biking from Queenstown with Tuatara Tours

On the way from Hamilton to Queenstown I stopped off in Wellington and had a few hours with Byron - at Te Papa. Great. At Queenstown I made my way to Arrowtown where I had the chance to catch up with Max Adler - a friend of Byron's from thirty years back - good catch up.

Happy Tuatara Cyclists and Clutha (Nick fifth from right) - thanks Tuatara and Ben Liley for photo.

Next morning I took off with Nick Bray, our tour guide who gathered us all up and took us to Kelvin Heights where we sorted our bikes and took off along the side of Wakatipu, down the Kawarau, up the Shotover and over to Lake Hayes which we circumnavigated - then back to Arrowtown. The "Us" was Vicki and Harold, me, Wendy, together with Don and Pat, all from Hamilton; Katya (Napier), Mike and Anne from Ontario, Canada and Shane and Allison from Luggate (ex Kerikeri). We all got on famously and Nick was great - the food decadent to the extent that I was relieved when, rarely, there was just enough and none was wasted. A far cry from the subsistent menus we old mountain cobbers shout ourselves. For those of you who can't discern the contents of my breakfast plate below, they were - bacon, cake, fruit sauce, chocolate sauce, fresh fruit and ice cream. I wasn't sick, but then I couldn't quite finish it. Old tummy.

My First and Only Disgracefully Decadent Breakfast

Next day, Tuesday, we were off down the beautiful Arrow River to the Kawarau where we lingered to watch the tourists (we didn't consider ourselves as tourists!) doing the bungy jump - we were not tempted. I excelled myself by riding off early - thinking the others had left - and arrived at the boutique winery in the Gibston Valley, about half an hour before the others. By the time they arrived I'd leisurely consumed a glass of Pinot Gris and was relaxed enough to sustain the jibes about getting 'lost'. The down side of the morning (my lonely bit) was seeing a couple of feral cats and lots of rabbits. Oh, to have had a rifle or shotgun.

Karawau from the Bungy Jumping Bridge

After lunch we motored to Clyde, mounted our two-wheeled steeds again and enjoyed a refreshing ride through willow-ways  down the Clutha to Alexandra. Ben Liley, an old friend from Ruakura days (seems so long ago) joined us for this section. Good catch up. We motored back to Clyde where we stayed at the historic Dunstan Hotel. I stayed in the Charles Wong Gye, room, named after a prominent Chinese interpreter, constable and store keeper and we looked for the Aurora australis (unsuccessfully) that night.

Wednesday, we started from Alexandra and cycled the Roxburgh George. We biked to Doctor's Point where we were met by a jet boat. We and all our bikes were loaded aboard and we had a pleasant break cruising the lake to Shingle Creek. This section was scenic and littered with historical gold mining artefacts - mainly Chinese gold miners' buildings amid the rocks - 90% of which have been drowned in the dam. Excellent tour! We biked on to have lunch beside the Roxburgh Dam. From there we cycled on down the Clutha to Millers Flat where, by chance, we had an excellent tour of the old local bakery. Thence it was back upstream (courtesy of our Tuatara Tour bus) to our next lodgings

Last Bit to the Jet Boat

Loading the Jet Boat

Couple of Miner's Abodes


Day four saw us biking up above the Clyde Dam to do Lake Dunstan. This was the newly opened trail above the lake taking us up a few long climbs and descents. At the bottom of our last descent came upon a cycle traffic jam which would have done Auckland motorists proud. It was the Coffee Boat doing a roaring trade and we didn't let the opportunity go to waste. Onwards to Bannockburn for lunch and then, Cromwell. Old Cromwell, the un-drowned part - beautifully restored - was excellent and most of us indulged in an ice cream. From there it was on along the edge of Lake Dunstan to Smith's Way.

Rare Photo of Vicki From the Front

Vicki and Harold

Lake Dunstan from Top of the First Climb
Our last cycle on Friday was from Lake Hawea across its base to the Hawea River and down to the Clutha at Albert Town, thence up the Clutha to Lake Wanaka, and around its shore - ending at the town of Wanaka.

Harold and Mike at Bottom of Hawea

We were taken back to Queenstown - then went home. This Tuatara Queenstown Cycle Trail is to be recommended. The logistical support gives you the chance of cycling the best of the Kawarau, Shotover, Arrow, Clutha and Hawea catchment trails - with good company, food and guidance amid spectacular mountain scenery. Worth the cost. The effort that has been put into constructing these trails is admirable.

Oh, and we all had e-bikes except Vicki who managed to keep out in front most of the time!

 

15 February 2023

A Week in the Chatham Islands January 2023

 We saw an appealing advertisement for a guided trip to the Chatham Islands and it didn't take long for us to sign up and fritter some more of the kids inheritance. I, for one, had always wanted to visit these islands to the east of New Zealand. So on January 10th 2023 we flew the almost 2 hours from Christchurch to the islands. There were eight of us in the group - folk from the UK, NZ, Oz and the USA.

Our trip was expeditionary in nature, based at Waitangi with day trips dependent on the weather. This wasn't a big issue as we were treated to fair to excellent weather throughout the week, especially on the day we toured most of the islands by sea. We couldn't land on most of our island visits but did on Pitt Island. Our guide was Mike Bell, accompanied most days by his great family. Mike had spent a lot of time, some 30 years, on various restoration projects on the islands and was a wealth of knowledge.

Swamp Asters

Local Gentian

Chatham Island Christmas Tree












Local Dracophyllum in Swampland



On seperate days we visited, the North-West corner, North-East Corner. the south end, the SE Corner and the Northern and central Main Island. On a perfect other day we journeyed by charter launch to Pitt Island where we came ashore and visited Taiko Camp where we learned of the Taiko (Magenta Petrel) rediscovery and its restoration.

On off-lying islands we heard of the environmental work being carried out - most impressive was the saving of the black robin from extinction. The coastal scenery was spectacular and, for me, the highlight was the visit to the southernmost island, Pyramid Island where Chatham Island Albatross nested before cruising the Pacific - even out to the Humbolt Current. Hundreds of chicks were sitting on their pedestal nests and adults were soaring about and over (on thermal warm rising air?) the island.

Pyramid Island

Adult and Chick Chatham Albatross on Pedestal Nests


Chatham Albatross Gliding Above Pyramid Island


Buller's Albatross

The history of the island is fascinating. First colonised by Moriori about 800 years ago they led an almost nomadic life about the island and developed a culture devoid of violence and warfare. They also were free of skin tattoos and saved that art for the dendroglyphs, their 'tattooing' on the kopi trees - our NZ karaka. 

Moriori Dendroglyph on Kopi (Karaka) Tree

When the islands were re-discovered by Broughton the captain of the "Chatham' there was inevitable conflict resulting from a lack of communication, luckily only one death. Sealers and whalers were next on the scene but things turned bad when Maori commandeered a sailing ship in NZ, sailed to the Chathams and eventually eliminated most of the defenceless Moriori. It must remain one of the worst pieces of NZ history. Even worse was the NZ Crown acknowledging the Maori right to the land 'by conquest' and giving some 97% of the available land to Maori - reflected in subsequent reparations. In my view, a major miscarriage of justice. We visited the impressive main island Moriori marae and where we found that the younger representatives expressed a desire to just move on, rather than harbour further grievances - these days all the island individuals carry a variable mixture of Moriori, Maori and European genes - and a few from the Azores and other places where whalers and sealers originated.

Maui Solomon talks to us besides the image
of his grandfather, Tommy, the last living Moriori.

We were impressed by the farming, fishing and developing tourist industries. They all suffer mightily from the isolation (mainly its costs and inconveniences). Shipping sheep products to NZ often resulted in a financial loss. The most economically successful farmers were those who also had fishing quotas. The people were friendly, resourceful and had interesting stories to tell. 

West Coast of main Chatham Island

Coast Near Point Munning 

We observed most of the endemic birds and many of the plants. The Chatham Island Forget-Me-Nots had ceased flowering but most of the others were on show. 

Our first impressions as we flew in and drove to Waitangi were somewhat underwhelming but all subsequent days exceeded our expectations. On our last evening we were very well hosted by the Croon family. Val and Lois Croon's children filled roles of Mayor of the Chathams, pub proprietor and apiarist, fisherman, farmer and local brewer. All the important posts covered! Great trip. The trip was organised by Wild Earth. Excellent local beer.

On a personal note the stories of the Black Robin recovery were made more interesting by our friend, Bev Wooley, having spent time helping Don Merton in the early days. And I well remembered David Crocket of Taiko fame from time with the Canterbury Museum naturalist group in the early 1950s when I was a young teenager. Small world - in NZ.