riverECHO

On Sunday, our early morning pack up and go turned into a second cup of coffee and stroll, but we were still on the road plenty early for our weekend plans. We drove north, through the town of Westport, to an area that we had read about in our NZ Mountain Biking book called Denniston, located high up on a plateau that overlooks the Tasman Sea. The sun was barely shining through the clouds and the air had a very wintry smell to it, but we ramped up our courage, picked a trail (known as the local’s favorite), tossed on our puffy jackets AND beanies, and hopped on our bikes. The first part of the trail wound along the plateau on a mixture of red rock and tacky dirt, reminding us a lot of the mountain biking trails we have come to love in Southern Utah. The big difference being the temperature and we stopped a couple of times to warm up our hands. The trail then dropped into a canyon where we discovered a historic coal mining camp. Our bike ride quickly turned into a history lesson. We learned that the big debacle after discovering coal up on the plateau in the early 1900s was how exactly they would get it down to the coast. There was no road up to the plateau at the time, so they engineered a system known as The Incline, which consisted of two tracks that led straight up from the coast to the top of the plateau. Carts would run down the track full of coal, acting as a counter weight to pull the empty carts back up. If you were working and living up on the plateau the only way to town was to ride on the outside of a cart on the way down and jump in an empty cart on the way back up. After the ride, we drove to the top of the incline. The track has since crumbled away but just looking over the edge from the top of the plateau made us appreciate the engineer’s skill who designed it.

After our ride and unexpected history lesson, we continued north to the small town of Karamea, which is basically the end of the road for the northern West Coast of the South Island (that’s a lot of directions). We spent the night in the sleepy little town, where I am pretty sure everybody who lived there knew about us 10 minutes after we arrived, and spent most of the next day exploring a few different trails in the Oparara Basin. We had no idea what we were in for when we read about the two limestone arches that we could hike to. As we came upon the first arch, the larger and more impressive of the two, we were blown away by its size, 43 meters tall, 79 meters wide, and 219 meters LONG . . . as in length . . . as in the distance you can walk through it while it’s towering 43 meters overhead! It was so long that we actually had to use our head lamps to make our way through it. So how was it formed you ask? Well the river is to blame. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that a river runs through the arch too? The river slowly carved out a layer of granite below the tough limestone rock, leaving behind the limestone arch and tons of stalactites. Once again, we’ve discovered another beautiful piece of nature in New Zealand.

I’ll keep it short and sweet, just like our week. It flew by somehow and now we find ourselves just four weeks away from flying out of the country! Despite what seemed like endless hours at work this week we had a few exciting moments. BJ finished his book and I finished a puzzle. We cleaned the car and put it up for sale. We watched an incredible sunrise through our kitchen window followed by another amazing night on the beach watching waves crash higher than we’ve ever seen them. BJ is working with a little video software so that we can share it. Tomorrow we are loading the car and heading out early for the small town of Denniston, just north of Westport, which has a huge network of biking trails . . . we are looking forward to getting back on our bikes and rolling around.

BJ:
More of these to come. This one is a bit rough as I’ve ever used the software before. The first part gives some perspective to the size of the Tasman Sea as it meets the coastline.

After a week of beautiful, yet cold, weather we decided to head up Fox Creek Canyon to explore a “tourist cave” and hike further along the Inland Pack Track that we had started from the opposite end the weekend before. The cave is located a little over an hour from the road and has been a tourist attraction since the early 1900s. It used to have a gate that blocked off the entrance to the cave so that you had to hire and pay a guide to enter. It’s no longer that regulated, but it definitely shows the signs of some good usage. It’s easily navigable for 200 meters and just high enough that you can stand up and walk normally through the entire thing, dodging tons of stalactites and stalagmites the entire way. We didn’t see a soul on the trail until we started to enter the cave and a young woman, who also happened to be a geology major, came up behind us. We all agreed that we were much happier to meet before entering the cave than meeting suddenly inside it.

As we left the cave our new friend turned right to head back to the trailhead and we turned left to continue on up the trail. The trail was mostly shaded because it ran along the north side of the canyon and being the shortest day of the year in the southern hemisphere, our luck for seeing the sun in the deep canyon was pretty slim. Frost was stuck to everything and although it was a crystal clear day it seemed to be raining under the forest canopy as the frost melted. A number of sections crossed dry river beds, but the rocks were covered with a solid centimeter of frost made some maneuvers very slippery. Our first official obstacle was a shallow but very wide river crossing. Being the very prepared trampers that we are, we took off our shoes and socks and walked across bare footed! Our feet quickly cramped up so we moved as quickly as possible, even though the rocks seemed to get sharper the further across we got. As I put on my shoes on the opposite side I noticed a small pool of frozen river water . . . I could actually pick up a chunk of ice. We continued on up the canyon until we reached a junction with Dilemma Creek. Despite the rainforest and limestone rock, Dilemma Creek reminded me of cayoneering in the Southwest. Its walls were slightly rounded out and the only way to continue on was basically through the river bed . . . brrrr. Our other option was to cross Fox Creek another handful of times before reaching a campsite called the ballroom, which apparently is covered by a huge overhanging rock. I’m sure it’s pretty cool, but we wouldn’t know. As we slip n’ slided our way over the frosty rocks to the river’s edge we decided our hands were already full enough with the river we had to cross on the way back. We let winter claim its victory, enjoyed the views up each scenic and narrow canyon for a few minutes, and then turned back down the canyon. Good decision ‘cause I’m pretty sure the water was colder the second time we crossed it.

Today we made a run to the big city of Greymouth to stock up on groceries and get BJ’s bike fixed (he apparently blew out the bearings in the rear cassette making his bike not very useful when going anything but downhill). While his bike was in the shop, BJ and I drove out to the little town of Blackball to hike a portion of the Croesus Track, which connects Blackball back out to the coast. We made it a little ways in before turning back at a swing bridge that was under repair and decided we weren’t really up for another river crossing. We headed back down to Blackball and rewarded ourselves for our very rigorous day with a beer at the Blackball Hilton, a historic hotel, restaurant and bar. We were the only two patrons and the bartender, chef and assistant all joined us as we basked in the sun and drank our beer on the front porch. It felt very “west coast” and the bartender shared a bit of the mining history of the town with us while we sat. Although it used to be a booming mining town of 1200, it is now only home to about 350 and mines coal for the sole purpose of shipping it straight to Belgium. Before we left town we were instructed to buy the best salami in New Zealand from the local butcher, but he had already closed up shop for the day at 2pm, and to check out the community center, which apparently is the most haunted house on the South Island. It wasn’t open either so we walked around the grounds unsuccessfully looking for ghosts instead.

Tonight, we watched one of the most amazing sunsets we’ve seen since we’ve been here. We’ve been listening to the waves crash and rumble from our house over the last couple days and couldn’t tell if we just thought they sounded louder or if in fact they were louder. When we reached the beach, we agreed that they were definitely bigger, starting to crash way off shore when they normally crash right as they reach the rocks. The sun glowed brilliant orange through a strange haze in the sky. Not a single cloud but the waves reflected bright pink and the off shore breeze created a band of sea spray that rolled off the wave and into the sun. It was spectacular.

In between way to many hours staring at our laptops this week we were able to venture out a few times. The Pancake Rocks and Blowholes are the main attraction in Punakaiki and usually the only piece of the town that anyone exploring New Zealand will ever see. A 10 minute walk leads you down to a series of layered rocks, which sort of look like stacked pancakes. The rock has been carved out by the ocean in a way that at high tide, and especially when there is a big swell, sea water crashes under the rock and shoots water and spray high into the air through a number of large holes. We scheduled this outing for a time when high tide was happening right around sunset.

Our most entertaining moments of the week:

Yesterday, during another sunset outing, we drove a little north to the next series of beaches. We walked as far as we could, peaking in little caves and watching the big yellow ball drop over the ocean. On the way back, we had to jump back across a tiny stream coming out from the forest and carving a little canyon in the sand until it flowed into the ocean. It was about as wide as I could jump, so when we crossed it on the way in we had no problem. On the way back, we crossed it a little up “river” where the rocks were more pebble than sand size. I got a running start and leapt out over the running water. As my right foot came down on the other side it instantly sank a couple feet and my momentum carried the rest of my body flat on my face. No injuries, just a very wet foot, a very sandy everything else, and plenty of laughs.

Another exciting moment in our quite life on the beach occurred in the middle of the night. We were both sound asleep and woke to a strange sound that we initially thought was our electric blanket (yes, it’s friggin’ cold here) shorting out. We quickly figured out that the noise was coming from outside and upon further investigation found a possum perched in a branch just outside our window. He was staring straight at us and hissing, if you could call it a hiss. Like I said we thought it was something electrical shorting out. We closed the curtains but he persisted. It was either frequent enough that it became a sort of white noise or we decided we just didn’t care, because we fell back asleep shortly thereafter. It’s the scariest creature we’ve encountered in New Zealand thus far, which overall and compared to what we’ve been reading about Australia, ain’t too bad.

We missed two weddings this weekend back in the states that we were very sad to miss. Clay and Steph got married up in Big Sky, Montana and Andy and Claudia got married in the Tetons. Since we couldn’t be there to celebrate with them in person, we decided to have our own celebration and built them a giant driftwood heart on the beach in front of our house. We hope the four of you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it for you. Congratulations and Happy Marriage!

Paparoa National Park, which basically surrounds us and the small small town of Punakaiki, is the youngest national park in the country and only has a handful of maintained tracks. One of them, its only multi-day track called the Inland Track, is actually doable in three shorter day trips. It links four rivers together which all dump into the sea including (from south to north) the Punakaiki River, the Porarari River, Bullock Creek and Fox Creek. We hiked the southern most segment yesterday, walking up the Punakaiki River, over a ridge to the Porarai River and back down through the high limestone cliff walls covered in rainforest along the Porarai to the ocean. Although lightly sprinkling for most of the day, we were fully protected by the high rainforest canopy. It wasn’t until we had to walk along the open highway back to our car that it started downpouring. We quickly busted out the newest addition to our New Zealand wardrobe . . . two dark green heavy duty ponchos that BJ’s mom thankfully bought for us a month ago. While they win no style points (we looked especially silly because we were wearing shorts which meant that the only things extending out from beneath the ponchos were our bare legs), they are completely waterproof and extremely breathable. Anni, before you come down here next year, forget the $100 rain jacket from REI and go for the $10 poncho from the gas station. You’ll stay dry and look really cool . . . take it from your super stylish big sister.

Enough about style, the highlight of our hike was the many feathered friends we made along the way. One thing I will miss about New Zealand is the number of bird species we have encountered throughout our tour. Read on for some very scientific field notes about the birds of New Zealand’s Paparoa National Park. We encountered many birds yesterday, only four of which we could identify. A pair of tui, a mostly black bird with two distinguishing white tufts of feathers on its chest which make it look like its wearing a very perky bra, visited us at our house yesterday morning. Then on the track we were followed by a fantail, a very small bird that likes to show off its very large fan-like tail. This particular bird followed us for about a kilometer, chirping occasionally, who was very serious about keeping track of us. We also watched a bell bird, a lime green colored bird, belt out its range of notes from a nearby tree. I’ll remember the noises this bird makes forever . . . a range of high pitched squeals to gurgles to squelches make this bird’s presence obvious. Finally we watched a number of pukeko couples scrounging for food in a wide river valley. The pukeko has a spectacular silvery blue chest with a distinguishable and kind of ugly red face which resembles the top of a pick ax. They don’t fly but can be seen wandering the wetlands on there long skinny legs looking for some good eats.

Enough about science, we also had a very exciting day at our post office box. Yes, I know, it’s the little things down here. We not only got our passports back from the Chinese embassy yesterday, who have decided they will let us in to their country in August to visit BJ’s brother and sister-in-law, but we received a package from my mom containing a game called Bananagrams, basically a fast paced version of Scrabble. We’ve already spent a couple hours splayed out on our living room floor playing this very addictive game. Thanks Mom . . . . you obviously knew how to liven up our quiet dark evenings on the beach!

My little sister recommended this book to my mom who recommended this book to me and it just so happened that it was sitting invitingly on the book shelf when we moved in to our new batch on the beach. I ripped through my last book just so I could start this one and I have been in a land of laughter ever since. Water for Elephants was truly a pleasure to read. Although my favorite scenes take place while Jacob is having realizations that he is an old man, either 93 or 91, in his nursing home, the book is filled with adventure and excitement which left me eager to pick it back up again every time I set it down. I would recommend this to anyone looking to go on a little armchair vacation.

Lisa picked this book up as she had heard about the author over the years and has always wanted to read something by him. When she found that he had written about his travels in Australia, and that we will soon find ourselves there, she figured it was time. I picked the book up as I wanted a break from the business books I had been into lately…and it was exactly what I was after. Bryson has a wit about as dry, dangerous and direct as Australia itself. His accounts of the places, the people and the history that make up Australia are both hillarious and informative. This was a perfect book to start to explore the vastness of Australia and what we should be looking into before we land in Sydney this September. If nothing else, Bryson has only confirmed my ignorance of how HUGE of a place Australia is and how overlooked it is in the larger world. If you are going to find yourself in Australia anytime soon, I’d definitely read this. Its quick and fun, with numerous tidbits that will add a depth of understanding to the things you will find before you go. When we left home, I was thinking of skipping Australia…now I can’t wait to get there!

Home bound by work and a little rain over the last couple days we got to a point where we needed to stock up on a few staples . . . milk, eggs, bread, and a bag of gummy candy. We drove into Greymouth this afternoon, making a point to combine our trip with a meal out and a photography exhibit opening. The rain had picked up by the time we reached Greymouth, so for some reason we parked on the edge of downtown, and spent a majority of our time in town running from one overhang to the next and jumping over puddles. No one else seemed to be walking and I’m sure we looked pretty ridiculous to everyone who was warm and dry in their cars. We spotted a pizzeria and jumped inside for an early dinner. It was shining with “clessic” New Zealand décor and 50s music, although the radio station kept saying the best from the 60s and 70s. We really thought we found Greymouth’s little gem. But in the end the pizza was just-okay and our “Chocolate Bomb” dessert left much to be desired. We made a quick swing through the gallery, displaying landscape photography from the area, and then set out on our grocery shopping mission. We are going to try to make it two weeks before going back to the store and from the looks of our fridge and cupboards I think we might make it a month . . . we may have gone a little overboard. As we left the grocery store it started raining buckets, possibly bath tubs. For a few moments we thought we may have to pull over and wait it out, but the minute we left the city limit, it stopped almost immediately and opened up so the stars twinkled during the rest of our winding drive home.

We don’t have any photos from this morning but I woke up to the moon shining in our bedroom window. BJ was already upstairs with coffee in front of his computer watching the sky barely begin to lighten up on the eastern horizon. This house has a ton of windows and it was a pretty cool experience to watch the moon set over the ocean out of one window and the sun rise through another. Here are a few shots from earlier this week. BJ attempted kiting his wing on the beach but the wind just wasn’t cooperating. Further up that same beach we found a sweet cave but we actually didn’t realize there was a way through the cave until we explored the other side and saw light shining through.

We’ve been looking forward to our weekend since we arrived last Monday night and we woke up to pink skies and what looked like would turn into a beautiful day. But by the time we had our first cup of coffee the rain started falling. Although I was a bit antsy to get outside and move around, I was quite easily persuaded to pick up my book, fill up another cup of coffee, look out over the ocean, and wait until it cleared. We were also able to talk to my little sister over Skype, who is currently studying for finals at UCSB . . . it wasn’t too hard to pull her away from her studies for an hour and always nice to hear her voice.

By lunchtime the rain let up enough for us to venture outside. Anticipating that the trails would be quite muddy we decided to walk down to the beach and head north until we could go no further. We made it through a series of beaches, each one connected to the next by a cave or a precarious pile of slippery limestone rocks, before we reached a cliff that would prevent us from going any further. I searched the bush line and found a “sort-of” trail that looked like it would give us access to the beach we were staring down at but could not access. I hollered to BJ to join me and as he started walking towards me I spotted a spray of water and a dark figure breach the surface of the ocean. I pointed and we both stared out to sea . . . waiting. Then again, the darkness breached and splashed. It was a whale . . . and a big one! Last time we were out here with BJ’s mom, we spotted two dolphins, obvious because of their fins. But this was no dolphin. It seemed to take forever for the entire length of its body to roll through the surface. We watched it until it seemed to get its fill and then ventured off to explore the trail we found, which didn’t end up to be much of a trail in the end. On our way back to the beach, we spotted the whale again, this time it lifted a fin in the air and slapped it on the water and then held its tail high in the air for a while, almost as if it were showing it off. It was just far enough away that BJ didn’t bother with the camera. We were so excited about our sighting and figured, like the dolphins, it was probably a regular occurrence along the west coast. We told Brendan, who owns the house where we are staying, and his eyes lit up . . . “a whale? . . . I haven’t seen one in the twelve years I’ve lived here!” He immediately ran out the door and headed to the beach to try to spot it. We definitely witnessed something spectacular in this little quiet part of the world. This place just gets better every day.