White Horse Hill Campground

We camped near the village of Mount Cook at White Horse Hill Campground:

In the picture above our Spaceship campervan is visible to the right. Mount Sefton (10,338') and The Footstool (9,068') tower above. Below is the view of Mount Sefton from my bed inside the campervan (photo taken the next morning):

Mount Cook (12,316') was not visible from the campervan parking area; it was hidden by a hill. But a three minute walk brought it into view. Here is Mount Cook the evening of the 20th:

...and the morning of the 21st:

The stars were beautiful the night we spent at White Horse Hill Campground. I saw the Southern Cross and the Magellanic Clouds for the first time. Venus and Jupiter were also bright. But it was a shock to see Orion upside down!

We had frost the night we spent in White Horse Hill Campground, the only night it got that cold.

Hike to Hooker Lake

One of the highlights of our trip was the hike from White Horse Hill Campground to Hooker Lake on the Hooker Valley Track:

The Alpine Memorial with Mount Sefton in the background:

Mueller Lake with Mount Sefton, The Footstool, Mueller Glacier, Huddleston Glacier and Stocking Glacier:

We crossed the Hooker River twice on suspension bridges (Kiwis call them swingbridges). This is the first crossing, at the outlet of Mueller Lake:

Below is our destination, Hooker Lake, with Mount Cook in the background. The Hooker Glacier flows down Mount Cook into Hooker Lake. You can see the glacier in the background (it is dirty). A whiter iceberg is floating in the lake to the right of Emily. The color of the lake water is typical of glacier melt.

It was a beautiful day and the hike was fairly flat. White Horse Hill Campground is about 2,500 feet above sea level, and Hooker Lake is about 3,000 feet. Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand at 12,316 feet. It is the mountain that Sir Edmund Hillary trained on before going on to become one of the two people to first climb Mount Everest.

Click here for a brochure with a map.

Ag Scenery

We saw much agricultural scenery on our trip from Oamaru to Mount Cook. Pebbly soil, irrigation ditches, pastures and hedgerows were common:

We also saw a lot of mechanical irrigation. I'll have a separate post on that later.

Dairy cows and a dairy farm in the distance:

And sheep, of course!

Sheep and beef cattle grazing together with Mount Cook in the background:

Takiroa Rock Art

In the Waitaki River Valley outside Oamaru is the Maori rock art site at Takiroa:

(I found a Maori web site with good information about rock art, but whenever I visit this web site, cut-and-paste doesn't work on my computer until I reboot. If you want to check it out, the web site is http://www.ngaitahu.iwi.nz/RockArt/takiroa.htm.)

This photo shows some of the rock art:

And this explains what is in the photo:

The photograph below shows the general rock structure and the fencing that has been installed to protect the rock art. There were many birds nesting in holes in the cliffs above the rock art.

Our Spaceship campervan is in the parking lot, a Caterpillar excavator across SH83 is clearing land, and in the distance are the mountains where we are headed next.

Oamaru Public Gardens

We went for a morning walk in the beautiful Oamaru Public Gardens adjacent to our campground:

The Wonderland statue shows two children looking down at the fairies, elves and small animals in the ground below their feet:

There were many beautiful flowers, including these in Rhododendron Dell:

Not all of the pretty occupants of the gardens were plants:

There were many different parts of these gardens, including a native plant area, Chinese garden, gazebo, glasshouse, and more. We had camped the night before in the "Motor Camp Area" at the upper left, adjacent to the Croquet Greens:

Nov. 20 - Oamaru to Mount Cook

Today we drove from Oamaru on the coast to Mount Cook:

It was only about 130 miles, but there was so much to see and do! Posts for today:
Oamaru Public Gardens
Takiroa Rock Art
Ag Scenery
Hike to Hooker Lake
White Horse Hill Campground
Memorable Meals

Penguins at Oamaru

Six of the 17 species of penguins in the world can be found in New Zealand. (Click here for an excellent web site about penguins in NZ.) We saw two species at Oamaru.

There was a small colony of yellow-eyed penguins (Wikipedia entry, NZ DoC link):

These penguins are large (30 inches, 14 pounds) and somewhat endangered. They are solitary birds.

There was a larger colony of blue penguins (Wikipedia entry, NZ DoC link):

Blue penguins are the smallest penguins (16 inches, 2 pounds). They are common and they live in colonies. We also saw blue penguins at the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch.

(Photos from Google Images. Our photos of a yellow-eyed penguin were so-so, and we were not allowed to take photos of the blue penguin.)

This was spring in New Zealand, and the penguin chicks had recently hatched. The nests with the chicks were on land. The penguin parents took turns out at sea during the day fishing for food, returning to their nests at dusk to feed the chicks. We saw the penguins as they were returning to land. The yellow-eyed penguins returned one at a time. The blue penguins returned in groups called rafts.

The blue penguins had established a colony in an old rock quarry, and there was actually a grandstand built to watch the rafts come ashore. We saw over 100 birds in three rafts come ashore. Click here for a web site about this blue penguin colony.

Oamaru

The coastal city of Oamaru became wealthy in the late 1800s due to its role in shipping frozen meat (mutton and lamb) to England. That trade no longer exists, but many historic buildings remain. Most of the buildings in this small city of 13,000 were built from a local limestone called Oamaru stone. This is a view of one of the smaller streets near the wharves:

For pictures of the more majestic buildings in the center of town, see the Wikipedia entry here.

Oamaru is hilly, like San Francisco (but smaller). This view is from a hill in town:

South of town is the Bushy Beach Scenic Reserve where a small colony of yellow-eyed penguins live (see next post):

Our first night of camping was at Oamaru. We stayed at the Oamaru Top 10 Holiday Park, our first of several stays at this chain. This photo, taken the next morning, shows the campervan with the sleeping pod on top extended:

Canterbury Plains

The direct route from Christchurch to Oamaru is State Highway (SH) 1. We read that it was more scenic to take an inland route, and so we took State Highways 73, 77 and 72 along the western edge of the Canterbury Plains, before returning to SH 1 near Temuka.

The Canterbury Plains lie between Christchurch on the coast and the mountains to the west—the Southern Alps. The Plains contain much agriculture, and the drive was indeed scenic. This is just outside Christchurch:

The Canterbury Plains are one big gravel bank that washed down from the glaciers in the mountains. I did not notice any land tilled for row crops, but there were endless pastures bounded by trimmed hedgerows and full of sheep:

...and dairy cows:

We also saw beef cattle and deer. Much of the pasture was irrigated:

On the western edge of the Plains, the road crossed the Rakaia River near the Rakaia Gorge. The color of the water is typical of glacier melt:

Spaceship Campervan

We rented a Spaceship Campervan in Christchurch:



The car was a Toyota Estima minivan (I think it's called a Previa here). It was well broken-in, with over 300,000 km. The "GPS" on the side of the van was its name. We did not use the Global Positioning System on our trip.

There are many campervan companies in New Zealand. Nancy chose this company because of the vehicle: 1) being a minivan it would be easier to drive than a large campervan (especially since we had to learn to drive on the left side of the road); and 2) it was available with a pod on top which could be cranked up to provide sleeping space for a third person.

"GPS" worked out just fine for us.

Nov. 19 - Christchurch to Oamaru

Today we rented a campervan in Christchurch and drove to Oamaru, about 180 miles:

Posts for today:
Spaceship Campervan
Canterbury Plains
Oamaru
Penguins at Oamaru

Christchurch, New Zealand

Nancy and I are in New Zealand! We arrived in Christchurch early on Monday, Nov. 17, local time, with plenty of time left for sightseeing.

Emily met us at the airport and took us downtown. In the center of town is the Christchurch Cathedral:

I highly recommend the tower climb!

We stayed at the Sudima Hotel, next to the airport and also next to the International Antarctic Centre, which we toured on Tuesday. The Hagglund ride was great! We rode in the yellow one:

Later in the day Emily showed us Canterbury University, where she just finished the spring semester, and her flat:

On Tuesday evening we visited John and Margaret Porter:

John is my first cousin; he moved to Christchurch in 1987. Another family connection is that his brother David Porter worked at McMurdo Station in Antarctica for several years, and passed through Christchurch several times. The majority of people working in Antarctica leave from Christchurch. The United States, New Zealand and Italy have their headquarters for their Antarctic programs in a shared building adjacent to the International Antarctic Centre.

All of our travels on this trip are on the South Island. We started in Christchurch, toured around the South Island for several days in a campervan, and returned to Christchurch.