The Central West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand
Great Friends, Great Food, Great Conversation, Great Scenery
March, 2016
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After our good luck on the east side at Mt. Cook,
we were hoping for some nice views from the West Coast.
But when we arrived at
Haast
it was still cloudy,
so rather than hike in the mist where we couldn't see very far
we headed on up the coast.
We stopped along to way to peer out to sea,
and slowly started to see things.
We found this plant with really cool translucent blue berries, the
Brown-stemmed coprosma (Coprosma brunnea) .
At the time I didn't know if they were edible or not,
but they looked like they would make a tasty jelly.
I've since read that they are edible and sweet, "but with little flavour."
Bummer.
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| Brown Stemmed Coprosma (Coprosma Brunnea) |
West Coast
Photo by Dona |
We stopped several places to try to see the large glaciers coming down from Mt. Cook (Aoraki),
but all we got was a peek at the top of the mountain through the clouds.
Since we didn't have a lot of time,
we decided not to stop and hike.
But it's clear it would be really impressive in nice weather.
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| A non-view of Mt. Cook and its Glaciers |
When we got to
Pancake Rocks
the weather had improved and we enjoyed checking out the flapjacks and surge pools.
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| Pancake Rocks |
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Pancake Rks
Photo by Dona |
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| Pebbles |
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| Xxx Heron |
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Photo by Dona |
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Pancake Rks
Photo by Dona |
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Flower Xxx Yellow
Photo by Dona |
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Shrub Xxx Red Blossom
Photo by Dona |
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| Starfish |
Seaweed |
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| Nikau Palm |
Flax (Harakeke) |
It was getting late, so we continued on up the coast
to our accomodations at
Beaconstone Ecolodge .
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| Beaconstone Ecolodge Cabin |
We had a Room with a View |
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| Inside |
Showers and Composting Toilets |
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| Beaconstone Ecolodge Kitchen and Community Room |
The next day we headed out to the coast to look for birds and seals.
We found some
Weka,
a native ground-dwelling bird that reminds one of a chicken;
a number of different shoebirds;
and some
New Zealand Fur Seals.
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| Weka (Gallirallus Australis) |
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| Dominican Gull (Larus Dominicanus) |
Arctic Skua (Stercorarius Pomarinus) |
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| White Fronted Tern (Sterna Striata) |
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| New Zealand Fur Seal (Kekeno) (Arctocephalus Forsteri) |
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| Walking is Not Easy for a Seal... |
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| Flower Xxx White |
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| Paradise Shelduck (Putangitangi) (Tadorna Variegata) |
Silvereye (Zosterops Lateralis) |
We had an incredible meal with our friends Mike and Phyllis Wells
and thier friend Susan Playfair.
Susan was on her way home from the Phillipines,
where she had started out helping teach the locals how to do marine surveys,
but ended up helping "put things back together" when a huge hurricane hit.
We should all be so fortunate as to be able to help in situations like that.
Mike and Phyllis served us
whitebait,
a New Zealand delicacy,
beans fresh from Phyllis' garden,
some exquisite New Zealand lamb,
great wine...
Great company, great conversation, great food, great weather (around dinnertime, anyway...)
what more could we ask for?
That night we drifted off to a contented sleep in our cozy bed at Beaconstone,
storing up energy for our travels through the
Nelson Lakes region the next day.
