Mt. Cook & Down the East Coast

I left Hanmer Springs with the intention of going down the east coast to Oamaru. Whilst I was driving south, I saw a sign to Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in NZ. It would take a day to get there, but why the heck not?? So I traversed the beautiful mountainous roads, heading west (yet again), passing past Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukake, both of which have a beautiful blue hue from (I think) the rock minerals within the water.

Lake Tekapo & Lake Pukake

Whilst at Lake Pukake, I enquired in the I-Site as to whether there are any horse treks, as I feared that everything is coming to an end at the end of April, so if I was going to do one, it would have to be now. There was a horse trek place on the way down to Mt. Cook. Perfect! So I booked myself in on a 2 hr trek, and happily made my way up there. The road was absolutely glorious, with Mt. Cook dominating the view for the entire way.

I found the horse yard, and met Hannah, my trek guide. I was on 'Georgie', a rather large dark bay horse who didn’t seem to have a lot of spirit in him. I guess that when your life consists of taking beginner horse riders out and just plodding along, life can’t be too exciting for you. Half way through, after having not had even a taster of anything more than a walk, I asked if this was just a walking trek. And I was very disappointed with the answer of ‘yes’. Apparently, because most of their business comes from beginner horse riders, if a horse thinks he can canter on the trek, he may get used to it and bolt off with a beginner. But none-the-less, Hannah could see my obvious disappointment (you all know I’m rubbish at hiding my feelings!) and said that Georgie was a bit dim, so it wouldn’t matter if we cantered, as he wouldn’t then expect it next time (I’ll take her word for it!). So we managed a couple of canters through the beautiful mountain ranges, with Mt. Cook and the Southern Alps to one side, and Lake Pukake to the other. ‘Twas rather lovely!

It was really great to be back in the saddle. Of course it was different to how it used to be… I had to follow behind Hannah, as that’s how the horses were used to trekking. Back when I had horses, we used to go out two abreast, cantering on whatever grass verges we could find! I was a very lucky lady back then – thanks so much for giving me that opportunity, Mum & Dad!! :)

After the trek, I carried on towards Mt. Cook. I got to the lovely alpine village and went for a little walk up a hill to get to a viewpoint. I didn’t end up getting a better view than I had at the bottom, bit it was a nice little half hour walk all the same. Then I found the campsite and settled down for the night.

I was awoken early by the DOC officer, as I’d forgotten to pay the previous night - whoops! So as I was awake, I tried to plan out as best I could my 2 ½ weeks that I had left before starting work. I thought that as I was practically on the west coast again and so close to Wanaka, I’d go and have a gander at my future home, and then travel anti-clockwise around the southern part of the island. I went on a 3 hr walk to the Hooker Valley, which was very nice, and by the time I’d come back, my ‘plans’ had changed again. I was going to be spending MONTHS over in Wanaka / Queenstown area. Why on EARTH would I spend some of my 2 ½ weeks there?! So after my walk, I headed back to the east coast, and ended up in Oamaru.

Mt. Cook

I booked in to a hostel (it was about time I had a shower!) where some friends of mine were working, but before heading there I decided to have a drive around town. I happened upon a carpark and wharf with a sign saying ‘penguin colony’, so I checked out what the Lonely Planet said, and I was indeed at a penguin colony, whereby blue penguins could be seen at dusk. Hang on… it was just about dusk now! So I wandered out and lo-and-behold, there was a little baby blue penguin!! I was walking and chatting with a couple when we saw it, and as we approached the area that it was in, the little penguin came up to the guy and started snuggling up to his leg, as if it was a protective mum! I guess it was lost... It was really very cute but sad at the same time (photos coming...).But then a load of Asian tourists saw us, bounded over with their huge telescopic lensed cameras, and proceeded to get the cameras right up in the penguin’s face, cameras flashing everywhere. Poor little thing – it must have been terrified! At one point it tried to waddle away to the rocks, and one of the men actually blocked its path so it couldn’t get away! I was absolutely furious. But my comments were inconsequential. In the end the baby penguin managed to get away and hid under a rock.

I went away to try to see some yellow-eyed penguins at another coastal area, but was evidently far too late to see them. I went back to the carpark, and found the baby blue penguin still in the same place. I went back again the next day to check on it and it had gone… I can only hope that its mother / father had found it…

After that I headed to the hostel and had a glorious shower and lovely time with my friends working there. I still slept out in my car as it was the cheaper option, and I wouldn’t have to share a dorm room with 7 other people. I love sleeping in my car anyway – it’s comfy and (touch wood) I’m warm enough with my 2 sleeping bags and duvet!


I also met up again with Martin who had just arrived in Oamaru, so we had a lovely day strolling through the historic part of the town. We then headed down to the Meoraki boulders, some huge near-perfect spheres of rock, scattered about on the beach like marbles. They were awesome!!! I took LOTS of photos, and then agreed to meet Martin at the campsite nearby. I'll post some photos when Picasa decides that it will upload them to my online photo account...

I went off for a drive, and as I often do, just followed a dirt track to see where it led me. I assumed it would be to a lighthouse, as it was lighthouse road! (Duh!) When I got there, there were quite a few cars there. Huh? The dirt road was a good 10km long – why would these people have just randomly driven here too? So again, I consulted my Lonely Planet. Ahhhh… I see. This is the yellow-eyed penguin colony in Meoraki! How very fortunate to have yet again stumbled upon an area to see them at the correct time of day!!

As I walked over, I realised that this was the place some friends had actually told me about, but I had thought that it was I the Catlins, not here. They said that there was a viewing area, but if you just carried on, you could see them in the wild, just waddling about. So I wandered down to the fields, and they were right! I saw 2 uber-cute yellow eyed penguins, just waddling about! These penguins are one of the rarest breeds in the world, with only about 2,000 pairs believed to be in existance worldwide. I therefore know how fortunate I am to have been able to see them up close like this. The first one I saw was walking up hill, and kept having to stop to catch its breath! See the first video below, which doesdn't actually show the gradient... The second was just in the middle of the field, and was just SO cute – it didn’t seem to mind my presence, but I tried not to stay around it for too long.

Yellow-eyed penguin #1 walking uphill (press play)

Yellow-eyed penguin #2 shaking its bum at me (press play)

I made my way to the campsite, and en-route checked my phone. Ah – a text from Martin saying the campsite’s closed and he’s heading back up to Oamaru. Hmmmm. I wanted to check this out for myself! Even if the campsite’s closed, I’d just stay on the side of the road nearby – I didn’t fancy back-tracking all the way back to Oamaru. When I got there, he was right, and it was closed. Very strange. No sign or anything! So I just camped next to the gate… it was dark and I was tired.

I awoke early, so went back to the boulders for sunrise. I was a little late, so didn’t catch the best colours, but it was a beautiful sunrise none-the-less! Even at that time in the morning, there were still the people ‘hogging’ the boulders taking photos of them standing / sitting / jumping / dancing on them. But luckily the boulders were so scattered around the beach, I was able to take LOADS of photos… just not of (what I considered to be) the best looking clump of boulders, on which one group wasn’t offering more than a 5 second gap when they weren’t on them. In the end I had to bite the bullet and actually ask them to please let me take a photo of the boulders before the sun-rise was over! I felt mean doing it, but they’d managed about 15 solid minutes of photos, so they must have got some good ones! Unfortunately the sun had practically risen by this point… Shucks.

 

Note: Picasa's having a bit of trouble with my photos and has only uploaded these. I'll post some better ones when it's sorted...

I drove down to Dunedin (thought of you & Gram, Ted!!), spent a few hours there, including walking up the 'world's steepest street', and then went over to the Otago Peninsular to see some albatrosses, and actually managed to see one. It’s an incredible bird! I waited to see if I’d see anymore, but unfortunately one would have to be enough, unless I wanted to pay $40 to go on a tour of the nesting area. I was happy enough with my one view.

Baldwin St, Dunedin - the world's steepest street

I carried on down to the Catlins where I am now (or at least where I was a few days ago when I was drafting this blog post!!). I arrived at the campsite in the dark, so whilst I know that I’m parked on a cliff next to the ocean and that I can hear the ocean, I haven’t seen how beautiful the area is yet. I guess I’ll see it in the morning! I doubt I’ll be up for sunrise again tomorrow though – it’s past midnight now, and I’d very much like to get my full 8 hours of sleep tonight!! ;)

I managed about 7 hrs – slept like a baby! When I awoke and looked out of my ‘bedroom window’, I had to laugh and verbally say ‘oh wow’. I’m in an ABSOLUTEY BEAUTIFUL spot!! I sat up (still in sleeping bags & duvet), slid my door open, and took this photo. Not too bad a sight to wake up to on a Tuesday morning!! :)

Today I’m going to just stick around the Catlins – maybe tomorrow aswell. It’s meant to be gorgeous, but I’ve as yet only seen it in the dark. There are a few walks I want to do too. Then I’ll head down the Scenic Highway route to Invercargill, where I’ll probably stay in a hostel, before heading off to Stewart Island to do a 3 day tramp in the lush national park there! YAY!

For now, I think I might just lie in bed and read my book for an hour or so [edit: I didn't read a single word!]. I’ve hardly done any reading since being in NZ – I guess I’m always on the go! I know I've said it before, but I truly do love this life, just being able to choose what I want to do from one moment to the next. I’m not really sure that I’m ready to start working yet! But I guess we can’t get what we want ALL of the time ;) I can’t sleep in my car in the winter, so I’d otherwise have to pay a fortune to stay in a hostel full time, which I simply can’t afford. And there’s no way I’d be able to land such a cushty hostel job closer to the season either. There’s a reason that I applied for the job: because I needed one. And it’ll be great to be able to make connections and settle myself into Wanaka before the season starts. It really would be 'sweet as' to be just be able to travel forever like I'm doing right now though!! :)