Kiwis, wekas, moreporks.

Heard female Kiwi scraaking in the night, the male whistles in return but we didn't hear him. Several wekas squawking around the hut, we saw two families with black fluffy chicks later, mother makes a totally different gentle burbling sound to them. Shortly after leaving the hut, I was almost scalped by a morepork (small indigenous not-totally-nocturnal owl), who then sat for ten minutes watching us. The light in the canopy was lousy, but one photo was OK.
Two hours through rather cloudy grey weather, which made the forest less vibrant, but still lovely. Gentle climb to Mackay Hut, 600 m up over 12Km, changed from fern and palm, through different ferns and mosses and beech trees, then podocarps, then manuka and other alpine scrub. Drizzle and low cloud more troublesome, so sat in almost new luxury hut watching the clouds swirl around while soggy people appear.

Heaphy Track

Start of Heaphy Track. Apart from the six-hour planned bus ride to Kohaihai where the Heaphy Track in the wrong direction starts, we had an extra hour's wait as our bus broke down before leaving Nelson. That meant we were an hour late starting the track, 2.30, with a 5 hour walk & night falling at 7.30, but we did it in 4 hours, with some time to admire and photograph the Nikau Palms, ferns and coast. Many splendid bridges. The Heaphy hut is almost new, very smart but crowded with 2 large groups, unaccustomed to hut etiquette, and the dreaded West Coast Sandflies!

Picton, Nelson, Victoria.

Very straightforward ferry journey to Picton, then short wait for the Nelson bus, with chatty driver who started by telling us that if we didn't wear our seat belts the police could give us a spot fine of $150, then that he would chuck us off immediately, without luggage if we smoked or drank!
We passed through Havelock where Ernest Rutherford, "father of nuclear physics" was born.
Nelson is a beautiful city, anywhere that labels its important trees has to be good. It's been a city since it was little more than village-sized because Queen Victoria decided from its location that it needed a cathedral, ergo had to be made a city: easy if you're the Queen.
Off to catch the bus for the Heaphy Track tomorrow, leaves 7.30 am. Back in 4 days.

58:automatic, Weta, coincidences

Mustn't forget the original aim of this blog, to do and record 60 things I've never done before. As an after-effect of an extremely hard day yesterday, R let me drive some of the way, so number 58 is driving an automatic. I wondered about the Glow-worm caves, but I pot-holed as a student, so adding the glow-worms didn't really make it a whole new thing.
After driving round Wellington for a while we found the Weta Cave where all the prosthetics and props for all the best films (LOTR & many others) we're made, the detail is phenomenal. Nearly everything is painted plastic, for weight & safety, but real metal things like armour and swords are used for close up shots. The orcs have chain mail knitted by the Wellington knitting club, but with no idea what it was for.
Our guide, Erica, was in the year above L at Wimbledon. The second crazy coincidence was a planned meeting with D&J from our walking club with their son & girlfriend, only to find we'd sat next to them on the flight to Singapore.

Summit.

Today, early (for us) start, shortly after seven, as perfect weather for the top of Taranaki. We met people on their way down who'd started at 3am to be up there for sunrise.
A short scramble up the gorge, then 500 wooden steps, then a million miles of ash-marbles on smooth rock. The last section an easy but long scramble on more solid lava, a small ice field, another slidey bit then awesome views from a clear top. Much of the world was under low cloud, but our old friends Ngauruhoe and Ruapeho clearly visible. Very pleasing as we could see Taranaki from the Tongariro Northern Circuit.
Cloud started to come up, so we started down. The scrambles were easier than I'd expected, the marbles as bad & seemed longer. I'll never complain about steps again, wonderful after an hour on the slipperies! Lunch in the lodge, then back to the visitor centre, two minutes after the cafe had closed a bit early. Wonderwoman from yesterday just said help yourself to icecream and give me the money. Brilliant when people put themselves out for you.

Pouakai, predators, swamp, nearly homeless!

Another clear start, walking through forest, lower shrubbery trees on the whole as still high. Increasing numbers of dead ones, learned later they were cedars, killed by possums eating too much of them, including the bark. Someone introduced them a cute things to live in the Forest. That was after rabbits were introduced for food, and became a plague, followed by stoats to control the rabbits: bad idea, given the choice of menu between a fast and canny prey, of predator-naive ground nesting bird and its eggs which should you choose? Within a decade about 80% of the birds had gone, most have not recovered.
Next down a long way to the swamp, not yet destroyed totally, but fragile so a wooden walkway has been built.
Finally up the other side along the flanks of Taranaki, above the tree line again to the Taranaki Alpine Club lodge. Sadly they hadn't given us the door code, we'd assumed it was open like all the DOC ones, my mobile wouldn't work so 500m down to the visitor centre where Wonderwoman just happened to know their secretary so phoned her to get the code, 500m back to the top in time for grub and a stunning sunset with Taranaki's shadow reaching all the way to Ngauruhoe and Ruapeho.

Forest, Pouakai, empty, woofers.

We had a reasonably early start on Tuesday, off on the Pouakai Circuit. The first part was through the wonderful beech and fern forest, plunging down twice to cross rivers on "swing" (suspension) bridges, then up onto the ridge again. The last stretch passes the tarn, where the iconic photo of Taranaki is taken, but the top was in cloud and a breeze destroyed the mirror effect. Later in the evening would have been perfect, but too knackered to walk back. Our accommodation was a standard DOC hut, basic but dry, and for such a wonderful place, surprisingly we were the only inhabitants. Three lads who were woofing, (working four hours a day in return for board and lodging) passed through with their host's son as guide.
 Perfect sunset.