Day 14: Riding out along the Otago Peninsula

Had a great sleep so was raring to go.  The weather was totally overcast and looking like rain.  But the Boss reckoned it wouldn’t rain so Maggie and me set off down the road to Portobello.

Harbour Mouth Molars by Regan Gentry

It is a really lovely ride, hugging the foreshore with the hills soaring up alongside, dotted with suburban homes and later farm houses and holiday cottages.

 Little boat sheds, all showing their ages, stood on tip toes in the water – some were decorated and painted with murals, others were sadly weathering away, unloved.

Saw flocks of cormorant, shag and sea gulls heading out to sea for a day’s fishing and pied and black oyster catchers poking along the foreshore, looking for treats.


Also saw white faced herons, black backed gulls as well as the usual sea gulls, even a couple of spoonbills.  At one boat shed there was an array of cormorants.  

Cormorants aplenty

Saw also the little fantail – Piwakawaka and plenty of tweetering but mainly from sparrows and probably silver-eyes.
I thought I might puff up the hill to the Larnach Castle, but got not even quarter of the way up and decided I liked going down better and who wants to see another castle when you’ve already been to Savonlinna… So that jaunt was aborted and a speedy return to the main road.

Up another little pinch, I saw a sign saying Botanical Artist – Open – so I thought I would take a breather and check out the gallery.  Well, it was in the front room of a very talkative woman, so we had a good gab and I chose 2 very nice sketches, which she will post over for me.   What a wonderful place she lived in – nothing flash, but with a wide window looking over the bay - peace and quiet all around.  Sometimes I wonder if people living like this really understand how lucky they are!

When I rolled into Portobello I stopped at the Penguin Café and ordered a Roast Vegie Salad with a cheese scone.  Very yummy.

Main Road, Portobello

I really wasn’t being that serious about getting places so it was just before 3 that I eventually got to the colony and the afternoon clouds were beginning to roll in.  First I went down the path to see only some lazy seals and heaps of gulls.

Slack sea lion

Then I walked over behind the carpark, but again, no Albatross.

beds of kelp swirling in the tide

So thought I will just have to go up to the centre and check out what’s the deal with these Albatross. 

Taiaroa Point - Albatross Colony

Well, the deal is, if you pay some money - $40 for 60min tour – you will definitely see Albatross.  Otherwise you won’t.  Well, I didn’t pedal all this way out not to see Albatross, so out with the credit card and pay the man – tour starting at 3:30. 

Our guide gave a very informative talk about the beginnings of the colony, with one nesting pair arriving  in 1920.  But it wasn’t until 1938 that an egg was successfully able to fledge, due to interference by people and feral animals.  Dr LE Richdale had camped out with his tent right next to the nest and kept ferals and people away.  By 1951 (what a good year that was) the colony had a full time protector and the colony has been managed since that time.  We walked up the hill to the hide and were able to see three adults with their chicks.  One nest was quite close and the parent was training her fluffy white chick to cope with being left alone for days while the parents fished for its food.  She was sitting a little away from the rather large fluffy young.

That's it - the white dots are the adult with young
thankfully I had my binocs and were able to get a good look!

The other adult had a small chick briefly spied and the third nest was only just visible down from the hide but I never really got a good view of that.  Apparently there are 26 nests this season scattered around the headland – which is a record and they believe there are about 200 albatross that now use this area as their preferred nesting area.  So it was a very informative tour. 

But I also wanted to see the penguins, so just after 4:30 I pedalled off to the Penguin Place. I was informed that a tour would be leaving in 15 mins and that it would go for 90mins and that it cost $49….  Good old credit card – its not real money anyway….  I was doing some quick time calculations and thinking that its still sorta daylight at 9pm, so I should be right to get back to the YHA…

Once again, an informative talk on how this colony began – basically farmers McGrouther have set aside this area within their farmlands as a Penguin conservation area and all funds are raised by visiting tourists, so we all felt good about paying the fee.  Well, the penguins were there first, but....

Young rescued chicks just about fledged - these were in the hospital
having been rescued when their parents had mysteriously
died - about 65 out of known 1000 birds along the coast -
very worrying as no cause as yet found. 

These Yellow-eyed Penguins are endemic to New Zealand and there only a 1000 remaining along the south east coast below Christchurch and a few more 1000 on a couple of islands out towards the Antarctic.

Room with a view - Little Blue Penguins in constructed burrows
that don't collapse when sheep run over them.

"I can't see them, so they can't see me!"

There were also Little Blue Penguins, their young peeping out of their apartments.

The numbers of the Yellow-eyed penguins in the viewing area is very low at the moment – with all but one of the chicks fully fledged and left.

"I don't want to go out to that big big ocean and chase fish all day!"
the last of this year's chicks hanging onto terra firma

There were 3 standing around forlornly in various stages of moulting and one adult had decided he was full enough today and didn't need to go fishing.

Moulting trio - other adult around behind the bush!

 There was one other penguin further up the track also in a state of moult and that was it.

Don't photo me now, wait till I get my new feathers!

The viewing area consists of trenches that are covered, so people can walk around to the various hides under cover.  The hides give only a small area for viewing close to the ground, thus not threatening the penguins.

Walking along the trench

Of course I hadn’t take the bigger lens for my camera, so wasn’t able to get good photos, but I will remember it anyways.

So then it was on ya bike for some serious pedalling to get back to Dunedin before dark. There wasn’t so much traffic and the hills were smaller on the way back ??? and I didn’t have to get off and walk any of them. 

So a fun day out and about.  Stats:  68km, average 19.4kph (serious riding home) and max of 51.1kph, probably retreating from the Castle!

My total for this trip has been only 446km – so I have really been taking it easy.  But its been a fun pedal all the same – with a wide variety of experiences, from dry desert, rocky rail trail, the ride beside Lake Dunstan to the sheep farm at Smallburn.  Then onto Wanaka and then the pedal towards the Crown Range (and a ride in a ute) to the whooping down the Crown Range into Queenstown, topped off by a tour of the Milford Sound and a freakin ride in a helicopter and ending it all with a ride out along the Otago peninsular.  Not a bad holiday at all.

Day 13 - Queenstown to Dunedin by bus

I had bought a bus ticket to Dunedin so I waited outside the YHA until a small 20-seater bus towing a luggage trailer arrived.  The bus driver hadn’t been told about Maggie, but luckily I was early on the pick-up list, so she was pushed into the trailer.  I tried not to think about what else was going to be shoved in there.

I made myself comfortable in the front seat next to the driver – the bus was going to be full, so I decided to distance myself from the rest of the rabble. :)  One big problem with bus (or train) travel is the problem for photography.  There are always squashed bugs on the windows and the reflections mess with the images.  But it is quicker than riding a bike over country already experienced.

Goodbye to Queenstown

After twiddling around collecting people from hotels, private residences and the airport, we were on our way to Cromwell.  It was interesting to see the road I had almost rode and be thankful I had made the right choice going the other way.  

This road had so much more traffic.  We stopped at the intersection where the Crown Range road meets this highway – wow!  I still remember how pumped I still was at that intersection!!

Crown Range intersection - I did pause here!

Crown Range Road information - oh yeah!

Traffic - and poisoned or burnt hillside

Pinot Gris vineyards in the valley

The Pinot Gris vineyards are not far out of Queenstown and they produce some of the top wine around the world.  Amongst the vines are funny looking windmills, so I asked the driver about them.  He explained that they are used to keep the early frost from settling on the vines.  Well, there ya go – I would never have thought of that!

Is this Lake Dunstan?

Once we got to Cromwell, we changed drivers and those that were going north to Wanaka also had to change buses and they took the friendly driver with them.

Clyde - the beginning (or end for me) of the Otago Rail Trail

  Our new bus driver was totally silent the whole trip, which actually suited me really well.  He was reluctant to stop anywhere, until one passenger pleaded for a toilet stop at a small town.  He was muttering about already being late, but everybody streamed off the bus to stretch their legs and some of us bought an ice-cream to help us along the way. 

Lawrence, good place to stop and buy an ice-cream

Church - could be somewhere in North Sth Australia

It was quite a pleasant drive through the dry mountainous countryside.  Occasionally the road would snake alongside a large river, rippling along in all its pale aqua splendour, but mostly it was farming land, with sheep and cattle and the occasional herd of deer, performing amazing stunts at hill climbing. 

The beautiful aqua colour of these waterways comes from minerals washed down from the hills

Farmlands - where's Wal?

Although Footrot Flats is ‘situated’ on the North Island, it was easy to picture Wal and the Dog out and about, trying to find that ewe stuck in the brambles somewhere!  And to understand poor old Cooch’s despair about the lost natural environment. 

Goodbye to the convoy of horse-less trailers

We eventually got to the other side of the country where it was beginning to look a little more green.

Pampas commonly used as windbreaks

Art Deco - Museum in Milton

Lovely little cottage with rose garden, Milton

Still waters, Lake Waihola

We sped past Lake Waihola into Mosgiel, then around to the Taieri airport where a couple quickly jumped out and grabbed their gear and headed into the airport.

We then sped into Dunedin and the bus pulled up at the Railway Station.  The driver switched off the engine jumped out and started roughly unloading all our gear.  So this was the end of the trip.  Cool by me, Maggie and I knew our way up to YHA Dunedin – but other people were standing around looking a tad worried about how they were going to get to where they wanted to go.  Thankfully a few taxis had cruised around, so I am sure most people found their way to their beds that night.

Arriving into Dunedin

So back in Dunedin and while I am thinking about, let me warn those thinking of travelling to Dunedin.  Try very hard to find other accommodation rather than thinking of staying at the YHA Dunedin on Top.  

YHA Dunedin - looks OK from the outside - But!!

This time I had a single room to myself, so that was a good start.  But the bathrooms were always cruddy – wet floors, blocked washbasins, paper towels missing.  On my first stay there, there was no toilet paper in any of the stalls one afternoon.

The kitchen was also pretty disgusting.  There were never enough clean dry tea towels, but there were signs saying wash and dry dishes.  So usually people washed their dishes then left them on the sink.  There were soggy clothes to wipe down the cupboards, but they looked pretty poisonous, so the tables were pretty yucky.  There was often not enough cutlery, glasses or mugs to go around.  And two fridges weren’t enough to cope with the various bags of food of those staying there, nor were two rubbish bins.

Breakfast was included here.  That is: cornflakes, milk, white bread, margarine and marmalade or strawberry jam.  Usually the milk was empty and someone would have to go downstairs to ask for more – that is, if you were game enough to interrupt The Boss – knick-named Lurtch by one couple…  Coffee and tea were available, if you could find a mug.  The instant coffee must have been the cheapest as there was no flavour of coffee at all.  I preferred to go downstairs to the bar and buy a coffee there.  Admittedly the Boss was unfriendly, but he did do things when asked.  So, scrap the breakfast – it was embarrassing – save the money and spend it on getting a plumber in!  
I went and had breakfast at Potpurri - a vegetarian cafe that didn't open till 8:30, but the pancakes were worth the wait as was the yummy coffee.

good food for vegos here - tried lunch & breakfast :)

 The bedrooms seem to be clean enough, tho I overheard the early morning team being told to make sure they put on new pillow cases…  hmmm….  What about the sheets???? Well, when leaving we are only told to bring down our pillowcases while at the other 2 YHA, we had to bring down all our bedding….   Thankfully I overhead this conversation on the morning I was leaving but…..  

Yes, it was cheap, but I would prefer to pay a bit more to cover extra tea towels and toilet paper.  So don’t go there!!  YHA Wanaka and YHA Queenstown were great!  So Dunedin mob are letting down the side.  I gave up waiting for a survey to be sent to me, so sent YHA NZ my own survey - will be interesting to see if I get a reply!

Day 12: Granny in a Chopper!

Sunday 24 February

Well, today was my last day in Queenstown and holiday nearly over....

Sunrise on The Remarkables

I was booked on the tour to Milford Sount which is a 13hr day - 4 hours driving out to Milford, then 2 hours on the boat going along the fjord out to the Tasman Sea, then coming back along the other side, before bussing back another 4 hours to Queenstown. 

So an early start, but a pleasant drive out past the Lake and into farmlands again, sheep, deer and dairy.  It did remind me so much of the South-East of Sth Aust, complete with the cold and foggy morning. 

We stopped for morning tea at Te Anau by another beautiful lake, but soon we were chugging west to Milford.  We stopped along the way for some photo shots – of mountains with ice caps, Mirror Lakes that really do reflect the mountains perfectly, except when there’s a little black duck, doing what he orta…

Foggy morning Te Arnau

Mirror Lakes

The bus driver was giving info on flights back as another option returning rather than 4 hours on the bus. It sounded very tempting, even tho a bit exccy, but hey!  I have been doing things on the cheap and another 4 hours over the same road didn’t appeal.  So I thought I would ask about it when we got there.

 

Christie Falls (but not today!)

Meanwhile, I was checking out the road from a cyclist eye view and yes there were some tight pinches, but a lot of the climbing looked like grind, but do-able… Then there’s the Tunnel.  Can’t remember how long it was – maybe 1.5km? and all downhill 10% gradient, poorly lit and didn’t feel like it was very well sealed road – probably gravel again!!  so no way riding out!  Hmm.... just as well I wasn't planning on riding that!

We soon arrived in Milford and we were quickly loaded onto the boat and away we chugged – after I had spoke to the driver saying I was interested in coming back by chopper!!!  Did I say that???  Really!!??  Driver said it would depend if they could get another 2 people but the planes would definitely be an option.  So wait and see.

Our little Ferry

A bigger ferry returning

In the meantime, it was a really pleasant cruise, sitting on the top deck in the sun and the wind and actually seeing native trees at last - beech rainforest trees, red, silver & mountain - bit different than the tablelands, but forest at last.  We saw some seals also sun-baking but no other wildlife and the forest is depressingly quiet with no bird song at all.  What a big mistake allowing rats, then stoats & weasels on this beautiful island.  Too late for the recovery of many of their native species – gone forever. 

returning back into the fjord - is it bad weather coming in?

Stirling Falls

At the bottom of Stirling Falls

But I really enjoyed puttering along and going quite close to the waterfalls and as we were on the smaller ferry we were able to get in very close.  It wasn’t too cold – I almost put my jacket on, but decided to tough it out – it was just the wind in one place that scoots up through the fjord.

Killing time on path near the helipad

Soon we were back on land and the driver gives me the thumbs up – chopper ride is On!!  So I burnt a bit more onto the credit card - then spent the next 2 hours worrying about it.

But soon it was time for lift off.  All 6 of us were first time chopper riders, one Oz woman (am guessing she’s from the Gold Coast!!) was doing a bit of panic for show, but I climbed into the back seat by the window for the first bit. "up the Harrison Valley and over to Mount Tutokoto" and then we would land onto the Donne glacier.  
We shot up into the air and crawled higher and higher and higher, shuddering right alongside the cliffs.  My camera had trouble trying to focus, so missed some good scenery – I think.  It was a bit nerve-wrecking to be so close to the cliffs.  Then around a corner and over a ridge where the valley just drops away – along with your stomach – and then a swing around and up onto the glacier.  It looked vertical until we got close and we could see that it was flat.  The ice was churned up by previous feet, but we got out and clicked away – so I was up high on the top of a mountain on a glacier!!  Well, that wasn’t in my plans….  And it wasn’t cold!!!  The sun was quite warm, but all around I could see where there were crevasses and I kept thinking that this lump of ice could just split and away down the valley we would all go…  but it didn’t and soon it was time to hop aboard for the 35min flight back to Queenstown. check out: www.milfordhelicopters.com/milford-to-queenstown.html

Looking past the Captain's earphones

Yes, that's me!  up on the Donne glacier by chopper !!!!

Crevasse ready to crack

The edge is just there!!!

It was amazingly smooth and the beauty of a chopper is that it doesn’t have to bank to turn corners – something that always spooks me…  it was a little bumpy coming into Queenstown, but not as bad as some bike paths I have recently ridden and then with a safe and gentle landing we were in a paddock with a taxi waiting to take us back into town. 

away again, towards Queenstown

Just outside of Queenstown - nearly landing time!

Wow!!!!  The next  fun thing was the drive back along the Arrowtown Road, where I had ridden into Queenstown.  It looked harder than I remember!

So a Big day!!! – and so I thought I would post this one now and catch up on the others later!