Punakaki

A short digression on our only nemesis this trip, the sand fly. Maori legend has it that one of the goddesses feared that the Maori people of the west region would become lax and lazy in this beautiful and bountiful land. So she introduced the sand fly to annoy them into activity and constant movement. We had been forewarned about these pests and came prepared with insect repellant. Colleen even purchased clothing impregnated with repellant. We were not prepared for the ferocity of their attack when we first encountered these little buggers back in Te Anau and Milford. They are hungry for fresh blood, and of the four of us, Ed has been their favorite meal. The bite can sting and puff up bigger than a mosquito bite. Persistent itching usually follows. The best strategy is to use lots of repellant, cover up and keep moving. A suggestion to use white vinegar on bites didn’t seem to help Ed much, altho it did make the car smell like salad dressing and caused Dianne to crave pickles.

The drive on Tuesday, 3/24 takes us through varied countryside. As we leave the glacier region, The highway provides some impressive mountain views and snowy peaks. All around us is the now familiar dense roadside forest, occasionally opening up into farm and sheep pasture land. At Hokitika the road meets the sea again and we stop for a picnic lunch, but not before we visit some of the village’s famous jade emporiums. Tour buses have preceded us here and disgorged hundreds of travelers eager to purchase a sample of the fine, carved greenstone produced here.

Souvenirs successfully scored, the four friends get back on the road to Greymouth, a seaside industrial town, where we seek out and find our new favorite food store, “New World”. We resupply ourselves with goodies, wine and some things for tonight’s dinner. In the aisles of “New World” we encounter Wendy, a jolly shopper who is just tickled to meet Americans, and is shocked to hear that Tim Tams are not available in the USA. We give her one of our peace buttons.

On the final leg of the day’s journey, we are treated to more ocean vistas of this rugged coast with dramatic, heavily carved rock features and big surf. We roll through the beach town of Punakaki, home of the famous Pancake Rocks, and located in the heart the Paparoa National Park. Just north of town, we reach our destination, Te Nikau Retreat. Colleen has reserved two self contained cabins tucked into the rain forest, a 10 minute walk to a wild beach which features a blowhole and sea caves. After dinner, we’’ll go up to the common room where we can get online and bring our blogsite up to date.

It is the next morning now. I’m now sure which morning this is... we have lost track somewhere along the way... Ed and I are up early and I am sitting in bed, looking out through a sliding glass door over a hand built porch at vines and tree ferns lit by our porch light, fading off into darkness. Our little cabin is a three minute walk from the car park through the rain forest, on gravel paths, and up some steps, so we look out into the tree tops. Accommodations here range from private ensuite cabins, like ours, to shared dorm rooms. Last night Dianne and I couldn’t resist following a gravel path to an intriguing looking room which turned out to be the kitchen for one of the lodges. This kitchen is large, built like a sun room with a roof of clear plastic and many forest plants growing inside, including vines overhead, fully surrounded by windows with a large table and chairs on the main level and a smaller built in table in a nook a couple of steps down. We met a young woman there who introduced herself as a WWOOFer, “Willing Workers On Organic Farms,” which is an organization here in New Zealand that matches travelers with work along the way on organic farms or, in the case of Te Nikau I believe they bake the bread and muffins that are available here fresh every morning. WWOOFERs may have also helped with the construction of these cabins and lodges. Each is unique and all seem to be imaginatively designed and well constructed. At night, the gravel paths between the cabins and lodges are lit to give a magical feel to the forest.

I love the forests here! Many New Zealand species are unique because of the great separation of these islands from any other land masses. The forests are dense, with many varieties of ferns, from the tree ferns overhead to the tiny ferns, whose name I have unfortunately forgotten, that are only one cell thick in places, so you can put your hand behind them and see it right through the fern. Tree trunks are gardens in themselves, hosting many varieties of ferns, vines, little forest orchids and a plant that looks very much like a huge spider plant. This morning, walking up to the main lodge to retrieve our milk and cream out of the refrigerator, Ed caught two Wekas in a territorial dispute. Wekas look and move a lot like chickens. They are very territorial birds and the bird that holds a valuable territory, say near water or near a good food source, such as (in this case) a cabin where occupants may provide food, will have to constantly defend that territory. Of course it is not good for the Wekas to be fed by people, so we are resisting the temptation.

I am sitting on the porch now, watching dawn creep into the forest and listening to a Tui greet the day. The Tui’s call can range from a very musical song to a noise like a rattle, a pop, or even a sound resembling metal banging together. I can also hear waves crashing on the beach, which is not far away. Something is moving on the forest floor, below my little porch, but I can’t get a look at it through the dense vegetation. It could be a Weka, or maybe a possum, an introduced animal that has become quite a pest here in New Zealand. There are no native land mammals here, so over time birds evolved to fill all the roles needed to keep the natural balance. Our guide on the Ulva Island bird walk explained why introduced predators are such a threat to the native birds. Birds hunt by sight, so the native bird’s natural defense is to freeze and essentially disappear to a predator. Most introduced predators hunt by their sense of smell, leaving the motionless bird an easy target.

Today, 3/25 we went into Punakaki to see the Pancake Rocks, sculptured formations of oddly layered rock, Dianne calls them rocklamations. The headlands here contain much limestone which has been undermined causing sea caves and resounding blowholes which were roaring at high tide when we visited. them. We will have dozens of pictures and movies to show when we get home. We left Dianne at the park, giving her the opportunity for a lovely walk back to the resort along the Tasman Sea. Along the way, she’ll stop frequently to pick up pretty rocks in her quest to find the most perfect ones. Colleen, Ed and Phil meanwhile rented kayaks then paddled up the Porararii Rriver to explore this waterway as it makes its way through deep rain forest canyons. It was a great time in a mystical setting. We felt we were seeing a place in its primeval state, untouched by man. We were provided with wet suits and water shoes which was fortunate as we had to make several portages along the way, and got pretty wet in the process. There was time in the day for one more walk to the beach which happened to be at low tide leaving a vast expanse of stony beach to search for more perfect rocks.

After another great dinner, our doors opened out into the surrounding jungle, we gather around the table sorting through today’s collection of stones and great memories.
Tomorrow we drive out of Westland to the town of Motueka, gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park and Marlborough Sound in the northern part of South Island.