The Burnhams in Kiwiland 2001-2

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Yes, we are still on the road and sampling all that NZ has to offer. We are doing our best to fit everything in but the weather and time dictate that a few experiences must be left to another visit.

The sun was actually shining when we arrived in Nelson, but it didn't stay long enough for us to visit one of the nearby beaches. Instead, we went to the WOW museum. What is WOW you say? It stands for World of WearableArt and is an incredible two-part collection of Costumes and Collectible Cars that several other backpackers had recommended to us. It was a hoot. The Nelson area is host every year to a competition of Wearable Art, a combination of Halloween costumes, Mardi Gras outfits, and someone's wild imagination. The exhibition had film footage of the contests where models are hired to wear these outrageous outfits. Some are so large that they have an undercarriage with wheels to propel the costume along. Of course they are accompanied by wild music and light and smoke shows. The costumes are made of everything from recycled pull tabs from cans, plastic wine bags, painted fabric, shells, feathers, papier mache, hair, electrical wire and anything else you could name. The costumes were displayed in the museum on mannequins that hung from the ceiling, stood on the floor or twirled by on a moving platform lit by coloured spotlights.

The cars were displayed equally imaginatively in a large showroom next to the Wearable Art rooms. Several more mannequins in costumes suitable for the era of the car were posed alongside the cars. A few roadsters had video screens inside playing snippets of old movies that featured that particular model. A 50s Chevy was displayed next to a drive-in soda shop with a waitress on roller shakes and Peggy Sue playing from the car radio.

Reluctantly we left WOW and drove off to the Nelson Lakes where we had reserved a room at the Yellow House Backpackers in the village of St Arnaud. We hoped to do an overnight tramp in the area so our first visit was to the local Department of Conservation (DOC) office. They were not very encouraging about the weather so we decided to wait an extra day hoping the rain would move on.

A special Family Concert was advertised for that night at the local interpretive center, so we hurried through our dinner in order to attend. The children of seven local families have been studying the violin and other instruments under the Suzuki method. They had just completed a summer camp and this was their recital night. They were remarkably good. About 10 children, aged 10 to 18 played several violin sonatas together. We had piano and voice solos and trios demonstrated their talent on a wooden xylophone. To finish up the program, a string quartet that has won several NZ competitions, played for us. A few kiwis have told us that the Arts are not very well regarded in NZ, but it is groups like this that will keep the interest up.

The advertised rain started later that night and continued off and on all day. We took the opportunity of a day off to visit the nearby lakes and towns. St Arnaud is next to Lake Rotoiti. This is a popular fishing lake, about two K long, surrounded by forest covered hills descending to the water's edge. Both Lake Rotoiti and the nearby Lake Rotoroa are bases for many long walks to the mountain ranges surrounding them. Neither lake has very many cottages or 'baches' around them and there are few motels or hotels to stay in, so they are very quiet and unspoiled places. Even Murchison, the largest town in the area, is pretty tiny, but I managed to find some nice craft and gift shops to pick up some souvenirs.

We woke up the next day, Thursday 10 Jan, to almost clear skies, so we were on our way to tramp. Our plan was to skip a three hour hike around the lake by taking a 10 minute boat taxi ride to the end of Lake Rotoiti, then follow the Cascade Trail to Angelus Hut. We would stay two nights in the hut to do day hikes around the area, then walk out on Robert's Ridge on the third day. It all worked as planned, despite a little rain to let us know we were in NZ.

Step cut in fallen tree on Cascade Trail

Hukere Stream

A rain shower stopped by the time the boat taxi let us off at a small hut about 10 AM. We had clear skies for the rest of the morning as we followed the cascading Hukere Stream through a forest path that climbed steadily up the mountain. It started to rain gently just as we were stopping for lunch, so we got our rain jackets out and wore them the rest of the way. We came out of the woods into a broad meadow surrounded by mountains with waterfalls cascading down their sides and lines of scree marking the gullies between the hills. We had been warned that the last hour was straight up, so we knew the steep slope on the opposite side of the valley was where we were headed. The route proved to be 500 M straight up above the tree line. Of course it was at this time that the rain got worse. We did have time to stop and take some pictures before the clouds descended and obscured the view. Near the top Ray thought it was almost like sleet. We were very happy to reach the top about 3 PM and find Angelus Hut just around the corner. Smoke was coming out of the chimney, so we knew we could get warm and dry pretty soon.

Angelus Hut, at 1650 M, is in a beautiful location, next to a green glacial lake in a cirque of 100 M high hills. The hut sleeps 26 people in bunk beds. There were about 20 people there the first night but only eleven the second, so it was not crowded. There were mattresses on the bunks, cold running water and heat from a small coal stove, but you have to bring your own stoves to cook on. We left our jackets and boots in the vestibule and once we were changed into dry clothes, added our wet clothing to the lines strung over the coal stove.

We were very interested to meet the hut warden, Robin, a woman about my age, who is a retired NZ Army Major. This is the fourth year that she has been hired by DOC for the twelve summer weeks at Angelus. Her husband, also a keen tramper, is usually with her as a volunteer, but he was back at their home outside St Arnaud when we were there. She hikes in every Tuesday morning and out on Saturday and believe me, you would have a hard time keeping up to her on the trails.

Angelus Peak

View from Angelus Peak

Robin's 8:45 weather forecast called for a mainly clear day Friday, but Saturday, when we planned to hike out was not so promising. We decided to take our chances and stay. We said goodbye to everybody else and set off on our exploration of the valley. We planned to climb to the top of Mt Angelus, at one end of the lake. Robin had given us directions and warned that the trail was not well marked all the way, but any route would take us to the top. We took her word for it and promptly missed the turnoff to the peak. Of well, we had the opportunity to explore more of the ridges surrounding the lake and to see the view into the next valley. Eventually we made our way back to Mt Angelus. This was not the easiest walking we have ever done. The hills were covered in rocks of all sizes, from scree to big, sharp boulders. This area was formed by the action of receding glaciers, as are many of the mountains at home. The difference is the rocks around Angelus are not hard granite, they are crumbly, sharp schist, so we were continually scrambling over the debris. We did get pretty good at it in time. We found a cairn marked path from time to time but we kept losing it and just aimed for the top instead. The last 100 M was steep and covered with scree, but we made it to the top (2070 M), just as the clouds that hung around the peaks in the morning cleared out. We had a gorgeous 360 view with Lake Rotoroa in the west, Lake Angelus and the hut far below us and more mountains than we could count all around us. Someone had built a stone windbreak at the top, the perfect place to have our lunch. We stayed and relaxed for quite a while before starting down again. It started to sprinkle before we could get back to the hut but what can you expect in NZ! We were pleased with our day anyway.

Roberts Ridge Trail

We stayed lucky the next day. According to Ray's thermometer, it was 13 C inside the hut in the morning, but it wasn't raining. We wore our jackets, gloves, and toques to start our hike back out but it didn't take too long for us to warm up. To start off, we had to climb 100 M straight up to the top of the ridge. Thank goodness, that was the only climb of significance for the day. Robert's Ridge is about a five hour walk along an exposed ridge with great views in all directions. The wind was up, as it often is there, but we were never in any real danger. You just had to make sure that your pack was facing the hill whenever a gust of wind hit you. We had started at 8:30 in the morning and just after 11 AM the trail looked down into the Mt Robert ski field in another bowl. It was here that Robin caught up to us. She had planned to leave at 9:30, so she was really moving.

We found out later that the ski field is privately owned. There is no road into the area, so the keen skiers have to hike up the hill for about 2 hours to reach the top of the bowl. There are a few cabins to stay in at the base of the bowl. There were just two old-fashioned Poma tows that we could see to take you up the hill again. You have to be a dedicated backcountry skier to go there.

We stopped for lunch in the sun outside one of the small shelters at the top of the ski field, then walked down, following a switch-backed trail through beech woods for more than an hour to the parking lot below. We were picked up by the local shuttle service and had just started down the road to town when our driver stopped to see why two 4WD drive vehicles were parked on narrow road. She recognized the people peering down over the side of the road and asked them what was going on. It seems they had been called to try to see how they could retrieve a truck that had slipped over the side and lay on its side about 2 M below. It looked as if the truck had come to close to the soft edge when passing another vehicle on the road. Thank goodness no one was injured, but our driver was not pleased as she drives up the road with passengers several times a day.

Sunday we left Nelson Lakes and backtracked to Havelock. We had experienced a senior moment at the hostel in Havelock. The manager had suggested we leave our passports and airline tickets in the safe when we were out kayaking and no one had remembered them when we left. Oh well. We altered our plans to head for Kaikoura on the east coast, instead of heading directly for the west coast and got to explore an area that we were going to skip. It was only 1 1/2 hours to Havelock, then we were on our way again. We passed through the wine district of Renwick and Blenheim and this time we stopped at one of the wineries. We visited the very pretty Wairoa River Winery and after tasting several of their whites, bought a Chardonnay that went very well with supper that night.

Wairoa River Winery

Coast to Kaikoura

We are continually surprised how quickly the topography changes in NZ. From the green vineyards of Blenheim we climbed through almost desert like hills to the wild, rocky east coast. The beaches were black volcanic sand, interspersed with rocky outcrops, with high waves pounding against the shore. Seals were lazing about on some of the rocky points. We had started in St Arnaud in drizzle, come into sunshine in Havelock that continued past Blenheim, them ran into the rain clouds again near Kaikoura. You have to be prepared for every sort of weather this year.

In Kaikoura we stayed at a small backpackers with just six rooms and no dorms. It is nice to have a smaller group of people to interact with. You are more likely to talk and find out about their lives and travel experiences.

Kaikoura Rocks

Kairkoura seals

Shags on Kaikoura shore

We picked a good day to be in Kaikoura, for Monday was bright and sunny. We wanted to explore the local seal colony by taking the hiking trails around a peninsula at the edge of town. You have a choice of following a trail at the top of the cliffs around the peninsula or at low tide, following the beach route. We had a few hours until low tide so we opted for the hill route first. The peninsula shore was a series of beaches and small rocky points so the hill route gave us great views of the shoreline. We stopped a few times to see the seals laze about on the rocky points below us. We had a choice of going down to the beach half way around but we continued all the way to the south shore before descending to the beach. We walked along the first beach and rounded the point, heading for the water's edge. A loud bark startled both of us. It was a large seal, camouflaged in the seaweed, warning us that we had come too close. I had read several warning signs telling you to stay about five meters away from the seals and not to come between them and their escape route to the sea, so we in the wrong on both counts. We quickly changed course and headed for the high side of the beach, giving the seal a wide berth. This didn't solve our problem for long as we soon realized this was a favourite sun spot for the seals. They were all over the place. We decided to talk very loudly as we walked along so the seals wouldn't be as spooked by our presence as we were of them. Ray picked up a sturdy stick and carried it with him. I'm not sure what he intended to do with it but I didn't want to find out. Two high rock outcrops guarded the entrance to another bay. We were going to walk between them until we saw all the seals right in our intended path. We decided a detour through the grasses at the edge of the beach looked like a better route. In the next bay we walked on either side of a tree trunk washed up on the shore. You can imagine how fast we both moved when a seal barked at us from under the log. We were both rather relieved when we finally got half way back around the peninsula where the path we had seen on the top came down to the beach. There weren't many seals near the shore from then on, just gull and shag bird colonies to explore. We hadn't expected to encounter the seals so close up, but it was an interesting experience.

My sister-in-law Carolyn had asked me if we had seen many sheep. They are just such a common sight I had not realized I had not spoken of them. They say that there are 10 sheep for each person in NZ and I believe it. They are on every hillside and in every field we pass. On our day waiting for the rain to stop in St Arnaud, I had stopped several times to take some photos of sheep that happened to be close to the road. I didn't have much luck as mostly I just succeeded in stampeding them to the far side of the paddock. This got me thinking of wool and knitting, so in Kaikoura I bought some yarn and a pattern and I am now knitting away as we drive from place to place. I got a simple pattern so I can still read maps for Ray and enjoy the countryside.

Our next destination was Arthur's Pass over the Southern Alps, half way between the east and west coasts. There were supposed to be lots of good tramps in that area. We made a reservation at Mountain House, one of the few places to stay in the area and one of the nicest backpackers we have stayed in. It is managed by two Canadians, Jan from Sudbury and Bob from Calgary. We arrived Tuesday afternoon and were assigned a room in one of their cottages. These are renovated railroad workers houses on a hill above the main road. Each cottage was nicely decorated and had three bedrooms that shared washrooms, a kitchen, a dining area, and a great living room with an airtight fireplace. Our bedroom had a single bed and a bunk bed with a double on the bottom. This meant the rooms could be rented out as doubles, twins or a four bed dorm. We put on the fire each evening and stayed cozy and warm.

Bealey Spur Hut

Inside Bealey Hut

View from Bealey Spur

The local DOC office was not very encouraging about the condition of the trails for multi-day walks. We are not very keen on fording streams that mean you get wet up to your thighs, so we opted to take day walks. There were plenty to choose from. Wednesday the weather was coming from the west, so Jan suggested we head a little east and walk up the Bealey Spur trail. That was a good choice. While the village (really a settlement) of Arthur's Pass got rain showers, we had blue skies most of the day. We had a good hike of under two hours through beech forest uphill to the Bealey Spur Hut. This tiny cabin was built in 1925 to house shepherds during the annual mustering of sheep. It is now run by DOC, but still has six bunks and an open fireplace. The only renovations that you would notice were foam mattresses on the beds. We could see a hill top past an open tussock field above the cabin and it was too early for lunch, so up we went. A path led us to an open ridge marked by a few rock cairns with a great view over the Waimakiriri river spreading to the east and west, as well as the lines of mountains in all directions. Some of the peaks had snow fields on top. We could see the Tranz Alpine express below, a popular tourist train, that runs from Christchurch on the east coast to Greymouth on the west. By the time we retraced our path to the car park we had been out almost five hours. It was a good day.

Devil's Punchbowl Pan

view from Mt Aicken

We had decided to stay another day but the weather was raining and awful again when we got up the next day. We just lazed around for the morning, but decided we had to get out for at least a short walk in the afternoon. We were in luck. The skies cleared for us. We headed for the Devil's Punchbowl waterfalls in town. It was an easy half hour walk to the base of the waterfalls that fell 131 M to a small pool before cascading the rest of the way down the valley. They were very impressive, but the day was so nice that we went exploring another trail leading off from the Devil's Punchbowl. We tend to like views and that means climbing hills. We found this on the Mt Aicken trail. We scrambled up the steep hill, over tree roots and rocky outcrops, to finally come out on a grassy meadow looking back over the town. A young couple arrived from farther up and told us that the rest of the way was not as steep as what we had come up so we took their word for it. I don't know what trail they had been, but I'm glad the view was worth the effort. We could see across to all the snowy peaks and back into a rocky box canyon. The area is truly breath taking.

Yes, the weather does seem to be improving at last. We leave for Greymouth on the West Coast tomorrow, Friday Jan 18. Stay tuned for more of New Zealand impressions.