2015 New Zealand
 

Day 4 - 11/09/2015 Te Anau

2015 New Zealand
Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The first thing we do this morning is to visit Oreti Beach hoping that it might be a little less violent than last night. The wind has calmed slightly and this time we can stand up in it quite easily. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ It is very cold, raining and an angry surf is running. I think standing on this beach is the farthest south I’ve ever been and I have no wish to go any farther south. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Back in Invercargill we fill the car again. Cheap, 20.1 litres at $40.98 after which we have a pretty ordinary breakfast at a café in the main street. Then we head west with the cold rain still bucketing down. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Our destination today is Te Anau where we are to stay tonight and tomorrow.
Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Our travels take us past the small fishing village of Riverton. Riverton is infamous as the place in which possums from Australia were first introduced into NZ, first in 1837 and again in 1858. With no natural enemies, and with plenty of prey for themselves, they have wreaked havoc ever since. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ It is then on to Te Waewae Bay. The disappointing thing is that we are now travelling on the Southern Scenic route and it is still farming land with foreign trees and gorse bushes running amok. To me, it is decidedly ugly and not in the least scenic. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Te Waewae Bay is on the southwestern side of NZ on the Southern Ocean Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The raging seas are awe-inspiring. I love it.
Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ I bring my motorbike gear with me which, as it turns out, proves useful. We continue in a mostly northerly direction for 88Kms, through Tuatapere, to Lake Manapouri. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Lake Manapouri 's natural height is 177 metres above sea level and its maximum depth is 266 metres below sea level. During the last ice age, sea levels were much lower than now. Glaciers carved the lake to a depth of 266 metres, sea level at the time. Adding the two together means that Lake Manapouri is 444 metres at its deepest. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ High above the water line at Lake Manapouri is this plaque that commemorates NZ's greatest environmental battle, a plan to flood the lake to generate hydroelectricity. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ This plaque on the opposite side shows where the high water mark would have been had the project gone ahead. In the end, both sides agreed to a compromise plan that still produced electricity but saved NZ's largest and second largest freshwater lakes. Praises be to people like this who preserved this magnificent asset for future generations to enjoy.
Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The plaques were mounted on this beautiful piece of stone. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ The silver fern is the national emblem for NZ and is quite unlike this one. We are starting to see our first endemic flora. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ This is a natural compost toilet. They are not supposed to smell like a hole in the ground. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Another 20 kms north brings us to our destination, the brilliant little town of Te Anau. Lake Te Anau is the biggest lake in Fiordland and our motel is right opposite.
Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ A seaplane is moored on the lake and, a few minutes later, it takes off and heads into Fiordland. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ This huge tree is by the lake and it is probably not one of NZ's native species. I think it may be a good old Aussie eucalypt which flourish in NZ. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ This plaque beside the lake describes the mountains and stands of native trees in the Fiordland National Park on the opposite side. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ From our room we can see the snow on the mountains opposite although, with this weather, they are mostly covered in cloud. The Internet in our room is crap, so slow it’s unusable. We can't live like this!
Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ It eventually stops raining. We walk into Te Anau town centre to find out if we can buy some sort of decent internet connection. A lot of friendly, helpful people (i.e. New Zealanders) point us in the right direction. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ We call into an electrical store, and they are agents for Spark NZ, a local telephone company. We buy a $30 SIM chip for Jenni’s iPhone and now we have a proper connection. She is even able to make a long call to her mother to see how things are going. The cats are in disgrace apparently. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ It's a wee bit chilly today. Day 4 - 40th Anniversary trip to NZ Later we go into a local pub for a drink. Nothing remarkable about this except for a lovely lady who offers us a free hot pork sandwich. It even comes with apple sauce, gravy and crackling. She later comes back and offers another which I accept and consume. For dinner that night we buy fish and chips and have it in our room.
Day 5 - 12/09/2015 Doubtful SoundNext: Day 5 - 12/09/2015 Doubtful Sound Day 3 - 10/09/2015 InvercargillPrevious: Day 3 - 10/09/2015 Invercargill
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