Turning inland from the west coast took us over a mountain pass and towards the delicately named Wanaka. We paused on the way up to take photographs of flowers. I am not normally a photographing flowers sort of guy but the lupins here were spectacular. And purple. Mostly purple. Eventually, we managed to tear ourselves away from the blooming blossoms to only stop again at the top of the pass. Ours was just one van of many churning tourist vehicles constantly arriving and leaving the car park. With patience, we secured a parking place and took a short walk to maximise the viewing potential. It was lovely and quite spectacular. Terrific views across the lake to Wanaka. Not ideal for photographs. Partly because of the haze and partly because of the distracting abundance of Asian types taking selfies. I had to angle the camera quite carefully to make it look like we were there all alone.
Down the pass and along the picturesque Wanaka lake. We found the area was very crowded. Holiday central for New Zealand. Took us several attempts to find campsite with a spare pitch. Next day we made our escape and went deeper into the hills. We passed through Queenstown which appeared to be a very happening place. Then all the way along Lake Wakatipu to the end of the road town at Glenorchy. There was no room at the Inn, so we pushed on further up the valley. A small road gave way to a dirt track and eventually we arrived at a little DOC campsite. The Department of Conservation (DOC) is the government agency charged with conserving New Zealand’s natural and historic heritage. This means that they run campsites, maintain tracks and many, many other things. The campsites are generally basic and fairly remote. Nice places to stay in the wilderness. We booked and paid online then helped ourselves to a flat parking place.
From here we had a lovely walk up to Lake Sylvan. I was particularly impressed by the forest. Later, I discovered that the forest on the other side of the river, which looked just the same, was used as Lothlórien in the film version of Lord of the Rings. The “Golden Wood” is an ethereal Elven realm and home to Galadriel. The film was shot entirely in New Zealand. There is a thriving, if a little specialised, tourist business in showing people the various locations.
The hobbits never had problems with sandflies. Not that I ever noticed. We noticed them the next morning, however. The little savages were up about an hour before I was. By the time I got out of bed there were at least eight bites. All swelling and itchy. My loathing for sandflies runs deep. We had an abbreviated breakfast, applied ointment and set off back down the valley. An hour or so later, we took second breakfast by the banks of Lake Wakatipu.
Driving towards Te Anau, we were stopped by a man with a high visibility vest and a stop sign. Not just us, everyone was stopped and moved over to the side of a road. Several motorbikes came past and then an official car informing us of a cycle race. Fifteen minutes later the cyclists arrived. Like most road races, it was very exciting but for less than a minute. Then they were gone. No idea what the race was but it seemed quite professional. We brewed a cup of tea while all the parked cars attempted to get down the now open road at the same time. Then we continued to Te Anau.
Another serious tourist location. We walked along by the lake. Here you can have a flight in a float plane or a helicopter. You can go on a boat trip to a cave with glow worms and you can catch the water taxi to walk a footpath on the far side. We spotted a Tui – a medium sized nectar eating bird that is endemic to New Zealand. There were also some ducks and a few geese.
Milford Sound is justifiably famous for its sandflies. At the northern end of the Fjordland area, it is also the starting point for many walks and trips. The campsite there is expensive and also booked solid for the entire summer season. This was my excuse for not having to experience the sandflies. Instead, we did a day trip from Te Anau. The drive there is excellent. Mountains, lakes, waterfalls, forests and rivers. We stopped several times for short walks and just to take in the view. The road leaves Lake Te Anau and then climbs steadily up a long, broad valley. At the top is a single lane tunnel through the mountain barrier. This brings you out at a spectacular location near the base of a massive rock amphitheatre. From here the road drops steeply down to the port at Milford Sound.
The forests all along this road look very impressive. But they have problems. The native species are fighting for survival from predation by introduced rats, stoats and possums. The many endemic bird species appear to be especially vulnerable. Bats, frogs, lizards and giant land snails are also being driven to extinction. To counter this, the DOC have introduced their National Predator Control Programme. Poisoning and widescale trapping are being used to control the new predators. You can see evidence of this everywhere.
The next day we were heading south from Rivendell along the river Anduin. We skirted Fangorn Forest, didn’t see any hobbits but we did make a brief visit to a bird sanctuary. There were disappointingly few birds here but we did see some rare and endangered takahē. A flightless bird with striking blue-green plumage. Once thought to be extinct, the species was rediscovered in 1948 and is now the subject of New Zealand’s longest-running endangered species recovery programme. Next stop was the Clifden Caves. We had hopes of glow worms. When we got to the cave it seemed like more of a serious caving trip than we were prepared for. I went in a little way and stopped at the part where I was going to need to crawl through the mud.
In the morning, we stumbled across a wetland area which provided a nice walk. I also spotted a Silvereye, recognisable by their distinctive ring of white feathers around the eye and olive-green plumage.
The weather was getting worse. For two days it had been getting wetter and colder. As we arrived at the coast, later in the day, the rain really got started. We stood around for a while looking at some damp gulls and a cormorant. Then we headed off to try and find somewhere to camp.
