Road Trip: Day 10 - Lake Paringa

This morning, we went back to the beach to see if we could finish our construction. In the end, it was too much to build, but we managed to get a bit of the front done and stuffed out with seaweed. Then, after a hurried breakfast, we broke off to Franz Josef Glacier to do some walks. At the glacier, we walked to 175 metres away from the glacier, past some waterfalls, that fed the river flowing from the glacier. Afterwards, we walked to a cool lookout and then to a kettle lake called Peters Pool. A kettle lake is a lake that is formed when an underground block of ice melts, the earth above it collapses and then water fills in the hole. Also, the name is derived from Peter Westland who, when he was nine years old, camped at the formerly unnamed pond in the early 19 hundreds.

In front of Franz Josef

After going to Peters Pool, we continued and went to another swingbridge, a shorter one though. Then we crossed it and continued along a tramping track with the aim to get to a longer, 1-person swingbridge. But the track got too steep and we turned around.

On the swingbridge

We drove to Lake Paringa, which isn’t even a town, its a lake. The only buildings there are the Lake Paringa Lodge — where we stayed —, and a DOC (Department of Conservation) campground. There were also some friendly campers riding bikes that, their destination being Fox Glacier, had to ask for a lift. We weren’t able to do that, since Fox Glacier was just past Franz Josef and about 200 kilometres away, but we were able to give them food, as they had thought that there was food at Lake Paringa.

Road Trip: Day 9 - Okarito

Today, we drove down south to Okarito, with stops in Greymouth for supplies, and, further down the coast, in Hokitika to use those supplies. At the beach in Hokitika, there was also a cool sculpture out of driftwood, tied together with natural fibres. I was surprised. I had expected concrete to glue the wood in place, but it was put into gaps into the rocks, and padded with seaweed. The artwork spelled: Hokitika. This seemed to be a large tourist attraction, which meant that it must have been sturdy and can't have been temporary. After eating, we wandered into Hokitika to check it out. Mum and Dad gave us some money and Grandma and Grandpa took us to get some ice-cream. After getting ice-cream, which was mango flavoured, cost 4.50$ and was about the size of three regular scoops but was advertised as one, we checked out the shops on the street, and found some very funny postcards, we decided to look for Mum and Dad. We found them, Mum gave us extra money, and then we went back to the ice-cream shop to get Grandma and Grandpa ice-creams. Then we settled down on a bench to eat our ice-creams. After we ate, Mum and Dad took us into a shop to buy Mum a warm jacket while we watched how the jade carvers in the large room behind the shop as they carved the rock to be sold. Me and Niklas actually got one for free, although it was just a "leftover", a piece that hadn't been large enough to carve.

In Hokitika

Once we were in Okarito, me and Niklas went onto the beach to skip rocks in the lagoon, but soon realised that because the shore was either steep, rocky or muddy, we couldn't skip well. Instead, we built a structure out of driftwood that resembled a teepee. The problem was, we didn't know how to build. There was plenty of driftwood, and in the end, we managed to build the framework, but couldn't find anything substantial to cover it. In the end, we had an empty framework, but hopefully that would change when we keep building tomorrow.

Our Sculpture at the beach

Road Trip: Day 8 - Rest Day in Punakaiki

Today, we stayed in Punakaiki for a day to enjoy the many walks. The first walk was the Truman Track. The start of the track went through lush rainforest, then emerged onto a path bordered by tall reeds, and then finally onto the beach.

On the beach, there was a really big water fall that rained down from the overhanging cliff edge, and Mum found a massive cave. I had fun skidding in the slippery gravel that all New Zealand beaches seem to be made of.

The Truman Track Beach

After finishing Truman Track, we went to the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. Those are rocks that have been made by "stylobedding" and look like stacks of thick pancakes. They are also the site of blowholes, the waves surging through arches in the rock and spraying up towards the sky. There were three blowholes:

•     The "Chimney Pot" - The waves are forced through a thin, but tall shaft in the rock, so tall that when the waves showed at the top, they were only sprays of water vapour and a few small drops.
•     The "Surge Pool" - The waves come through a large arch and then smash into the rock face opposite.
•     The "I forgot the name" - The waves come through a wide arch and then smash into the close rock wall on the other side (far closer than in the "Surge Pool") and smash up to create a much larger spray. This is the blowhole that is shown on most photos.

The blowhole where I forgot its name, but without spray.

After watching each blowhole successively give its best, we moved on to the next walk: the Punakaiki River walk. This walk started with a swingbridge (approx. 75 metres), and then, with the rains aftermath still showing, right onto a big muddy puddle. From there we kept going on the track, until we reached a waterfall. Dad and I stayed there to take photos, while Mum and Niklas went back to the car, where Grandma and Grandpa were holding the midday nap. On the way to the car, we saw a Kerero, a wood pigeon. Back at the car, we also saw another Weka (remember, those Wanna-be-Kiwis?)

Group Selfie on the swingbridge.

The waterfall.

The Kereru

Road Trip: Day 7 - Punakaiki

This morning, we went for another walk. This walk was a relatively long one in the direction of Whisky Falls. (And no, I’m not kidding about the name!) The distance to the falls was 5.4 km or 1:30 hours. Due to the recent rains, the most creeks had flooded and we had to jump over muddy puddles to continue on the track. At one point, we had to “bush bash” to get over a severely flooded creek that had burst its banks. After that, everything went as smooth as things can go when there are mud spots every 3 metres. The real trouble only came later: the path went right to the shores of the lake, and so inevitably it had been flooded. This meant that we had to go really off the track. There, we discovered more mud than ever, so much that Mum had an “accident”. This “accident” was a special type that only happens in muddy places: Mum lost her shoe in the mud! Luckily, after a long, hard battle with the mud, she was able to reclaim her rightful property, although not in the same condition as before. When we got to the flooded creek, Mum washed her shoe as best she could while Dad and I took photos. Then we had lunch at the creek, Dad and I took some more photos, and then we kept going to the car. As if Mum’s “accident” wasn’t enough, Niklas ran ahead, only to discover that wasn’t very smart: he ended up laid out on the ground — in the mud!

Once we got to the car, Niklas took my jeans, because his own pants were completely dirty. The only problem was that my pants were way too small for Niklas; it took him 2 minutes to get them on. We drove from there to Punakaiki on the West Coast, where we slept.

Road Trip: Day 6 - St Arnaud

Today, the morning was quite uneventful: I read a few comics that I had found in the Games/TV Room, ate breakfast, had a shower, and then up and away in the car, towards Nelson Lakes National Park, home to many mountains, including Mount Franklin (a trusted name in the household, but we aren’t thinking about the water brand), and glacial lakes.

When we got there, we took a long hike along the Honeydew track, then accidentally turned into the Lakehead track until we reached a flooded brook. Niklas attempted to find a crossing, but Mum said it wasn’t worth it, so we went back the way we came and decided to follow the much shorter Bluebird trail. After dinner, we took another walk, this time in search of Kiwis (real ones though). This took us along the Honeydew track, but we didn’t turn off into the Lakehead track but this time followed the Honeydew for its full length.

The lake and jetty

P.S. It was 10 o’clock when we got back; I’m lucky Mum let me still write!

Road Trip: Day 5 - Havelock

This morning, we were told that a barbecue had been held last night and the leftovers would be fed to the eels in the creek. The eels snapped after the bread, even slithering onto land a bit to get the food. Boy, they were long! The rainbow trout joined in and so did the ducks and mallards, so that all in all it was a general havoc. After that and the usual morning routine, we got in the car and went. We took a short drive to Rarangi, where we walked to Monkey Bay (10 min. return). There we found a cave that opened up again on the other side, which meant that the waves could travel through an almost came out the other side! At the start of the track there was also a cave, which had been formed by wave action but in this case had also been extended by human action. The entrance was impossibly small and steep, so I couldn’t possibly imagine somebody working here — which was what people were doing in a photo on an info sign. But when we went a bit further in, we saw that it got much larger. So much larger, in fact, that I could easily imagine living there (provided there was more light and less mud!) The cave also went much deeper into the rock than we had imagined: it could’ve been a full 20 metres long!

After leaving the caves and Monkey Bay behind, we in the direction of Picton to have lunch. But before we arrived, we had another walk to a lookout, although we didn’t even find the lookout. Anyway, on the way back from the somewhat disappointing “lookout”, I went ahead, so I completely missed when the others saw three Kiwis in the bush. Luckily, Dad told me about it, so I was able to run back before the Kiwis went away. Later, once we had gotten to our camp, Pinedale Motor Camp, we found a book about New Zealand wildlife, and discovered that what we thought was a Kiwi had actually been a Weka, a duck-like New Zealand bird.

The Weka

Road Trip: Day 4 - Spring Creek

This morning, we had an early wake-up call, which didn’t really register with my ears, and then the usual: breakfast, brushing teeth, folding up the beds, some sort of activity and then off we go. The “activity” was, on this morning, a walk along the lagoon with grandma and grandpa.  Tooth brushing in itself was an experience — it smelled so much in the toilet, I had to hold my breath! I ended up spitting into the bushes outside and probably broke a personal record in breath-holding. After successfully doing all those things, we broke off to Spring Creek, a small settlement north of Grovetown. That's almost right at the top of the South Island, the turnaround point for our trip.
On the way, we saw thousands of New Zealand Fur Seals basking on the warm rocks.
On the way, we had a stop in Kaikoura for lunch.