Following the Bait Lines

Gollan's Creek

 We are on level three lockdown in New Zealand so I have plenty of time to blog some of my older hikes.

This one started as a planned brushcrash to take me to a pretty valley off the trail.  After I did a bit of reasearch on the net I discovered that my planned route was on a bait and trap line.  So this would not be a brush crash but would be nice and quiet.

I'm really starting to like the bait and trap lines, the lines are just barely trails and they don't get visited much.  They have the same solitude advantages as brush crashing but with much less risk.

I had trouble staying on route though, a lot of trouble!  I went way to far to the right and I kept crossing ridge after ridge on the left trying to fix my course.  How could I be so many ridges off?  Back home I can clearly see my track log so I know what happened.  Finally I found the correct line and down I headed only to find that I had gotten off the line yet again!  More backtracking and I was on the right line again and did not lose it. By this time it was 2pm.  I debated coming back to do this another day, but I went for it.

What a pretty spot I found and I had it all to myself!  I lingered and had lunch but I had to hurry to get back off the trap line before dark. I did not want to risk getting lost off trail.  My delorme battery was dead and I did not have a cord for it.

I'll be back!

3.5 miles with 1,400 feet gain on this up and down route

Trip to the South Island and lock down

 
We got in a quick but good trip to the South Island of  New Zealand.  Covid was found in the country the second to last day of our trip and the entire country went into lock down the last day of our trip.  We were lucky that we already had a flight home and our vacation was not really impacted by the trip.  Everyone was given 48 hours to get home.  After that all travel was to stop.

I went to Christchurch and spent 3 nights then I spent two nights in Dunedin and two nights in Invercargill.  Our trip included tagging the south tip of the south island, that is by far the furthest south I have ever been.  But it was still closer to the equator than my home in Seattle.  Seattle is a lot further North than most people realize.

This first batch of photos is from a place called Castle Hill, it is about an hour outside of Christchurch

 

The northern part of the South Island on my flight to Christchurch

Percy's reserve Petone city park walk

 

Putangirua Pinnacles Scenic Reserve

 

We spent the night at Lake Ferry hotel.  We had a charming room with a fireplace.  Good that it had a fireplace, buildings in New Zealand are basically just wooden tents.  We had a shared bathroom and shower facilities with the rest of the hotel.  We also had a wonderful fish and chip dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Then in the morning we felt so sluggish but we got up anyway and hike around the Pinnacles.  

We had the campground at the start of the trail to ourselves at first and when we first got out of the car I could swear that I smelled sage brush.  I felt like I was in eastern Washington.  Australian magpies we singing from the bush and their delightful songs echoed in the valley. 

I wanted to take the low trail, Abra wanted to take the high trail, so we took both.  I wanted to walk in the pinnacles Abra wanted to look down on them. Admittedly the view from above was better.  But I would still have wondered what it would be like to walk among them if we had not gone up the riverbank first.

There were clam and snail fossils everywhere!  They were all in rocks that were far too big to take home so they were left for everyone to enjoy.   We had lunch and coffee under the sand and rock towers and then climbed up the look out and then we walked back down to the car via the ridge track.

We agreed that we were glad that we took the river up and the ridge down.  The ridge track was steep.

3 miles with 1,100 feet elevation gain for the day. 

Some pictures from our walk to a seal colony off the Wainuiomata coast road.  We will be back to look for seals when we have more time. 

Clayridge track to Mckerrow to Whakanui

 

I've been doing some biking and not blogging that here and then the weather got bad so I was restricted to hiking in town.   When it rains here it can really pour, it reminds me of the monsoon rains I saw in Beijing. This is not the kind of rain I want to hike in.  Also most of the trails in my area at least are made of slippery clay.  Wet clay is not fun to hike on.  I've slipped and fallen a few times since I got to New Zealand.   I've been told that it is just this area, that not all of New Zealand is made of slick clay.  I hope that is true.

I got off to a late start because I did not sleep well the night before.  I think I hit the trail at about 11pm and I had planned to do about 7.5 miles with about 2,500 feet.  The time quickly got away from me and I nearly had to hike out in the dark.  I got out well after sunset but was never forced to put my headlamp on.

This trail did not excite me other than a few big trees and some colorful mushrooms the greenery did not impress.  There was a good view point about a quarter of a mile before the top of Mount Mckenna and I opted to have my lunch there.  I've been up Mckenna from the other side three times and I know there is no view on the summit. 

Abra dropped me off at the start of my hike in Catchpool Valley and I through hiked up the clay ridge trail over to the Mckenna trail and down the Whakanui trail.  Then I took three busses to get home. 

 The bus drivers have been striking and the bus service is no reliable.  I took the first bus that arrived even though it did not go all the way to where I wanted to go. I was afraid that the actual bus I wanted would get cancelled and then I would be really stuck out in the middle of no where. So I took a bus that only went to the bus barn and then I waited there for another bus to take me to the BP station so I could walk over to Fitzherbert road and catch my final bus home.

This hike was not a lot fun for me today, I was tired and there was a lot of elevation gain and I did not pack as much food as I would have liked to eat since I am trying to lose weight.

7.5 miles with 2,400 feet (rounded up) elevation gain 

New Zealand is treating me okay. There is no covid here and I might be able to afford healthcare once I am a resident, so I am loving that.  The people are friendlier on the street, there is a bit of a relaxed attitude.  

 But also the houses are built very poorly, they are basically just wooden tents.  They don't put plywood on the exterior of the house at all, just chicken wire then paper and then the siding or the roofing.  Insulation is minimal, there is generally only one heat source in the entire house.   Extractor fans and roof vents have to be retrofitted into most houses.  Even the new builds don't have roof vents and have condensation problems.  These are very expensive wooden tents, young people starting out have no prayer of ever owning their own home, but still you don't see tent cities here.  The government puts all the homeless people in hotel rooms. 

Kiwis get ripped off on most consumer goods. Food is expensive because there is so little competition, the grocery consumers and the farmers are both getting ripped off by the grocery stores.  The government is thinking about trying to do something about that. 95% of the food produced here is exported and what stays here is over priced.

I'm adjusting to life here, but I do really miss my Olympic Mountains, my warm insulated house and cheap cilantro, I don't miss the crowds in the Mountains though. At least the trails around here are not crowded since I'm not in a touristy area.

Rimu tree

                                                                  Giant Rimu tree

Escaped domestic goat eating all the native tree seedlings so only older trees
remain and no new ones come up to replace them.  Everywhere I look the environment here 
is degraded and still  being degraded.