Stewart Island

Am back to civilization. Had three good days hiking. You take the ferry boat over and it is about an hour trip to get there. No cars on ferry. The locals have a few cars on island but there are only about 20 miles of road. Checked into the hotel/pub first day and went for look around. The place is so quiet and isolated, it's almost like stepping back in time. All the fishing boats idle in the harbor looked really cool. Oban is the only town on island and only about 500 people live on whole island. It basically is a fishing town. Blue Cod, Oysters, Lobsters the main catch. Hit the trail the next day first thing. Had about a 6 mile hike in to the first hut. Did a bit of fishing and caught few small perch like fish. Second day was about 8 mile hike. The bush(forest) here is really thick. Lots of ferns and such. The place is a classified rainforest. Lots of mud and everything is perpetually wet. And green. The closest I came to seeing a Kiwi were tracks on the beach and the sign of one on the power pole! They're pretty elusive I guess. Hiked out third day (6miles) and caught ferry back to mainland. All in all its a very neat place. My only fault for island is the forest is so thick and never changing. After three days hiking, it always looked the same. But the birdlife was amazing and the peace and quiet very refreshing. I would recommend that you go there, just don't think you need to hike for multiple days. It truly is a special place.

The Catlin Coast

Have been the past couple of days exploring the Catlin Coast. The very southern part of South Island. It's really beautiful here. What I envision Scotland and Ireland to look like. And heaps of Sheep!!! I thought there were a lot of them elsewhere but nothing compared to here. It never ceases to amaze how the landscape can change so fast. From lofty towering peaks, to more gently rolling hills and the ocean in no time. Am currently in the town of Bluff. The southern most town in NZ. It's a major shipping port, and oyster/ fishing town of about 2500. Also one of the oldest settlements here in NZ.
Am leaving tomorrow for Stewart Island. It's a very remote island off the coast about 15 miles. Home to the iconic Kiwi bird. As well as numerous other different birds. And also the only place in the Southern Hemisphere where there are White-tailed deer. Same as home. Apparently it's a wildlife haven. Will do some hiking for 3-5 days and stay in huts. As it is very remote I don't expect another post for few days.

Moeraki Boulders

These large round boulders in the surf are one of the most iconic places in New Zealand. They are featured on the cover of many travel books. And they're pretty cool too. Some are not so perfectly round but most look as though they had to be man-made. Wasn't easy getting on top of that one with nothing to grab ahold of. Oh and the penguins right. Must have seen about 25 or so. They are Yellow Eyed penguins and somewhat endangered. They live and breed here on the New Zealand east coast. There are 6 or so other varieties that live here as well. Pretty tame for most part. Will let you walk right up to them within about 10 feet before they shuffle off. I want to pet one and see what they feel like but don't think that is going to happen. Am currently in Dunedin getting ready to go to the Cadbury Chocolate factory. Few sprinkles mixed with peeks of sun today. High 50's perhaps.

Hiking, Hunting, and 4 Wheeling

Just got back from a couple of days in the backcountry. It started of a little rough but ended well. About hour into the hike on the way in it started to pour rain. Needless to say I got soaked. After about an hour hiking in rain got to a hut and got fire going. Managed to get dried out after about 3 hours. Continued on up the river valley to another hut. All told it was about a 8 mile hike in. If you look closely in the second photo right where the trees meet the gravel of riverbed you can see a small red dot. That's the hut. Fording the river was the only way to get over. Without breaking stride I plunged right in. After being soaked only 3 hours earlier I was again wet from mid thigh down. Knowing a wood stove was in the hut helped. I arrived to find a young guy already there. He was just about to leave for a evening hunt for red stag. Perfect! I had hoped to run into some hunters. So I just dropped my pack, grabbed flashlight and camera and tagged along with him. He had two others friends that were already off upriver hunting. We went down river. Never managed to find a stag but was a good evening none the less. The other two guys arrived about hour after dark. They were all three firefighters from Dunedin. 21, mid 40's, and mid 50's. Stayed up way to late swapping hunting stories with them quizzing me on everything American! Three super nice guys. So the next day I hitched a ride back out to my car with them. They had driven in. That necessitates a very slow crawl up the river bed. High clearance and 4 wheel drive a must. By riding with them I never had to ford the river again which was good. But it doesn't stop there. About halfway out we met four other hunters on the riverbed that were stopped, and sighting their rifles in. Naturally we stopped for a chat. As soon as we walked up to them one noticed my hat(I'm still faithfully wearing my B Bar Ranch Montana hat with the elk on it!) turns out he was from Livingston! The other three guys were from Whitehall, and Philipsburg. They had just arrived and were starting their own do-it-yourself hunt for Tahr and Chamois. We wished them luck and went on our way. Turned out to be a really good trip. Just goes to show you never know who you're going to run into!
Have had a little snow on mountain tops and it real frosty this morning. I guess fall is here. Headed for the coast tomorrow. Hopefully the weather stays right.

Migration Day video

Hydro-Power & Salmon Farming

Am kicking around the town of Twizel still. There is a lot to see around here. Thought I would share a bit about the town. It was founded in the 1960's as a base for the workers of the large hydroelectric operations being installed. There are 5 big lakes within a 30 mile radius of here. And by big probably average about 50,000 acres each. All natural lakes. Basically they raised them a little by building dams at each end and connected them all with a canal system. At the outlet of each lake is the hydro power generating station. All told the system is probably 100 miles long. The town was meant to be torn down after the project was complete but the locals decided it was a great place to live. None the less it has prospered. Now it is a holiday destination for New Zealanders. Lots of people have second homes here. I'm staying in my friends at moment. Interesting enough New Zealand produces about 60% of all its electricity by hydro power. This is probably the largest scheme in New Zealand but there are numerous other areas. Another plus is that the canals are excellent fishing. They harbor big trout, (10-20lbs) and salmon up to 20+ lbs as well. Also there are a lot of salmon farms in the canals where they raise them. In the top photo you see all the walkways with floating cages. Here they grow them to eating size and then suck them out with a very large pump. Pretty neat setup. The next two photos are where one canals ends and the subsequent power plant. Some old machinery they left parked in center of town. You get idea of how big pipes are by truck parked inside. Did a little fishing yesterday for first time. No luck yet but saw few people who caught nice 3-8 lb salmon. Picked their brain on what they were using-doing so am going to try again today. It's beautiful full sun today. We had first real frost last night since I've been here. Autumn is on way I guess!

Mount Cook National Park

Have been in Mt. Cook national park the last couple of days. Doing some camping and hiking. The weather has been perfect!! For the first time this morning there was a tiny bit of frost on ground. Suppose the elevation helped that. The mountains here are simply amazing. So sheer and abrupt. And all the glaciers too. The mountain you see in first two photos is Mt. Cook. Around 12,500 feet. Not real sure of my base elevation at moment. The parrots are called Kea. The only alpine parrot in world. And they're really tame. Will let you get within about 3 feet. Really a neat bird. The last photo is of Tasman Lake. At head of the lake lies Tasman Glacier, at 27 kilometers long its biggest in New Zealand. Lots of icebergs floating in lake after breaking of from glacier. It's only the lack of wildlife that disappoints here. Nothing compared to Montana. If it wasn't for parrots there would be nothing. Oh well the scenery makes up for it I guess. Am still based out of Twizel. Lots to see around here. Not sure what deal with videos was??