Lake Manapouri

The first leg of our trip was a one hour boat ride across Lake Manapouri. These are the Kepler Mountains:

We had a generally overcast day with occasional glimpses of sunshine and sometimes a rainbow:

Everywhere were mountains, water and mist:

It was generally warm (60s F) but windy and wet. Jackets (and sometimes hats) felt good:

Lake Manapouri is 178 meters above sea level and over 400 meters deep, so the bottom is below sea level.

Nov. 22 - Doubtful Sound

Today we took a tour across Fiordland National Park in southwestern New Zealand. We started in Manapouri on the east side of the park and traveled to Doubtful Sound on the west side of the park, and back:

(Map source.)

Posts for today:
Lake Manapouri
Manapouri Power Station
Wilmot Pass
Doubtful Sound

Te Anau Top 10 Holiday Park

We stayed two nights at the Te Anau Top 10 Holiday Park. It was nice to stay in one place for two nights. We were right in town, within walking distance of stores, shops and the lakefront. Campervans were parked cheek-by-jowl in campgrounds, but it did not matter. This photo shows our Spaceship before it was set up:

For the first time we extended the bed out the back and set up the "tent" over it:

Top 10 Holiday Parks come with many amenities. This one had outdoor grills and a lounge/TV room. And they have wireless internet access!

They have extensive kitchen areas. We had several meals here. Evening meals usually included at least one kind of wine:

Tomorrow we head out on a tour of Doubtful Sound. A bus will pick us up at the campground, take us to where the tour starts about 30 minutes away, and return us to the campground at the end of the day.

Scenic Te Anau

The town of Te Anau is in the southwestern part of the South Island. It is the gateway to the scenic Fiordland area. Just east of town, on a dirt road several miles off the main highway, is a scenic overlook. The view encompasses farmland, Lake Te Anau and mountains. This view is looking south:

There were many sheep in the pastures below. This view is looking west over the town and lake:

Lake Te Anau is the largest lake on the South Island. This photo was taken in town:

On the Road

We often saw farm equipment in the fields, and occasionally on the road. Usually it was haying equipment, but sometimes it was tillage equipment:

We saw sheep everywhere. The yellow bush is the broom plant, a pretty but non-native invasive species:

Today we also saw many orchards and vineyards:

Nancy enjoyed the lupine which grew wild:

Lunch was at Drift Bay on Lake Wakatipu south of Queenstown:

Mount Cook Village

There were no showers at White Horse Hill Campground, so we showered and had breakfast at a public facility in the nearby village of Mount Cook:


We were entertained by a family of Paradise Shell ducks. The male has the black head and the female has the white head:

The photo below is looking back toward Mount Sefton and The Footstool. The tall building in the distance is the Hermitage Hotel. This hotel is built so that as many rooms as possible have spectacular views of Mount Cook.

Nov. 21 - Mount Cook to Te Anau

Today we drove from Mount Cook to Te Anau, about 260 miles:

We have not yet crossed to the west of the Southern Alps.

Posts for today:
Mount Cook Village
On the Road
Scenic Te Anau
Te Anau Top 10 Holiday Park

Memorable Meals

We had two memorable meals today. Both featured a view of Mount Cook, and I had salmon for both meals. (We drove by numerous salmon farms today.) Nancy and Emily made lunch:

...which we enjoyed on the shore of Lake Pukaki with Mount Cook in the background:

After our hike to Hooker Lake we had dinner at the Old Mountaineers' Cafe in the village of Mount Cook:


I had salmon pizza.

This was the view of Mount Cook from the window:

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.