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Message: <blockquote data-quote="birdboybowley" data-source="post: 1262864" data-attributes="member: 60953">Hey everyone - sorry it's been a while but gotta get a painting finished for this coming weekend so've been a bit busy with that!! Needed a break so here goes the next instalment:Snow ‘n’ sleet upon awakening – lovely! We had a leisurely breakfast before heading towards Nugget Point. On the way we came across a sign for a whale fossil near Milton so followed the directions into the hills and came to a disappointing hut with a jaw bone in it...hmmmm. Then we got hit by a vicious blizzard that coated the windward side of the van in an icy shell....ah, springtime down-under! We reached Nugget Point lighthouse with the stinging sleet turning to rain and hailstones in the whipping wind so made a dash for the cover of the building. The scenery was stunning and when the sun popped out it turned the sea from a murky grey to a gorgeous turquoise.Lots of NZ Fur Seals rollicked in the surf and the huge kelp beds below, with Stewart Island and Spotted Shags breeding on the cliffs. Offshore, Sooty Shearwaters arced everywhere you looked. We went back down to Roaring Bay and wandered out to the hide where we watched 3 Yellow-eyed Penguins swimming and squabbling in the windblown surf until they headed back up the cliffs towards us and joined another adult with a large imm nearby. Offshore, a couple of White-capped Albatrosses and lots of Northern Giant- and Cape Petrels flew by. My bloody video camera then snapped my tape which made me less than happy...then it started to hail again causing a hasty retreat to the van. With the weather against us, we stopped at Cannibal Bay briefly then headed through Owaka and camped up in Tawanui, near the Catlin’s Forest.The following morning, the sun was out so we went for a wander through the atmospheric beech forest, the trees bedecked in ferns and lichens and other epiphytic plants; the sides of the rough path furry with mosses and succulents. The worst of the wind swept across the top of the valley so it was really quite peaceful with only the tops rustling and the river rushing past. Lots of native birdsong too, with Bellbirds, NZ Fantails, Silvereyes, Grey Warblers and Pipipis all present and a few Yellow-crowned Parakeets flew around too. We left and headed along the coastal scenic route in the rough direction of Invercargill, stopping at the evocative Matai and Horseshoe Falls, and went to Curio Bay to look at the fossilized forest on the beach there. Offshore, 2 fabulous Southern Royal, a White-capped and stacks of Salvin’s Albatrosses were wheeling past, with a single Arctic Skua and good numbers of Sooties and a few Northern Giant-Petrels also present. On the nearby rocks, another charismatic Yellow-eyed Penguin rested without a care in the world. Unfortunately, the Cathedral Caves were closed due to the tide being wrong and then Slope Point - the southernmost point of the NZ mainland – was also bloody closed due to lambing.....We ended up at Waipapa Point where we parked up with the wind howling outside rocking the van quite severely and the lighthouse flashing its warning light nearby. What a night we had! The wind howled through the ill-fitting window seals and the van lurched as if tied behind a 747....Got up and went for a quick scan over the seas but saw nothing of interest so nipped down the into dunes towards the beach...and promptly came running back up with 2 irate female Hooker’s Sealions in hot pursuit – those things are bloody big close-up with rather large teeth and they can move faster than they look so decided to be nice to them and let them stay put! Stroppy bloody females![ATTACH]154326[/ATTACH]The wind was so strong I had to physically push myself up the ridge to the lighthouse, walking at such a bizarre forward-leaning angle that if the wind suddenly stopped, I’d have found myself flat on my face! Took a quick pic and beat a tactical retreat. Heading back to the carpark we discovered that the sealions had taken the beachhead and were advancing towards us....and after baring teeth at the cars, ran up the opposite hill and hid in the grasses atop it. No wonder there weren’t any sheep around this morning!Headed towards Invercargill, stopping briefly at a windblown Waituna Lagoon...nothing to see here folks, move along, move along.....Stopped at the info centre and decided not to do Stewart Island for a couple of days as the weather was to remain shite, so we took the coastal scenic route towards Te Anau. Finally saw some fantastic Tui along the drive. We had a walk around a pleasant loop trail through native podocarp forest near Tuatapere then took a horribly dusty road into Fiordland NP and ended up parked near Lake Hauroko (NZ’s largest), it’s choppy waters surrounded by snow-capped peaks. The rear door of the van decided to break and not open at all which was just great....almost as annoying as all the bloody sandflies! The wind was extremely high all night but a distant Morepork was heard.The wind was gusting so much the following morning we gave the walk around the lake a miss – dodging airborne branches is not fun! Headed back out and walked around the Totara Giant Tree Reserve and marvelled at these immense trees, some estimated to be over 1000yrs old. A Rifleman was nice, with Pipipis and fantails, Tuis, Bellbirds and Silvereyes all singing and good numbers of Yellow-crowned Parakeets seen well acrobatically feeding in the trees. Finally got back onto sealed roads and stopped at Clifdon Suspension Bridge for lunch before heading up to Te Anau, the wind buffeting us all the way and restricting our speed to about 70kph....We reached the town and dropped into a garage to get the door sorted. The two mechanics, Jock and Bart, were absolute diamonds. They sorted the door out so that it would open and lock just not with the key, so not a problem at all really. They also materialised with a rear wiper that we’d never had on the van (I hate driving and not be able to see out the back). They wouldn’t take any money but said they finished at 5 so we went and got some stubbies and went back and spent an enjoyable couple of hours with them. Parked up next to the impressive lake and found we have a rodent problem in the van – something has taken a little nibble out of the bread and the sausage packaging and worst of all, ate some chocolate raisins! Little bugger! Unpacked my main bag just in case it had made a home in there but no sign. I heard it in the middle of the night scampering around in the roof! Oh joy!The following morning we awoke to sun and not much wind...result! Headed into town to the DOC office and was told that there was no stopping near the Homer Tunnel due to it being avalanche season.....so there goes Rock Wren I thought and we set off up the Milford Road with me in a bit of a mood....to say the least! Stopped at the Mirror Lakes which were aptly named and it was nice seeing a NZ Scaup diving beneath the crystal waters. The scenery was absolutely stunning, the valley sides covered in a plethora o waterfalls from the meltwater above, ranging in size from small trickled to freefalling cascades all running into each other and creating a haphazard display of white lines across the cliff-faces. Others literally burst out from holes in the rocks in gushing torrents – I have never seen anything like this in my life.We stopped at the little meteorological station (which is outside the avalanche danger area) just before the Homer Tunnel but no luck with the wren, but cheeky Keas kept us entertained as they checked out the van’s door linings and Tomtits and Dunnocks got the heart racing a few times in the boulder fields. The visuals were again awesome with ominous rumblings from the snowfields above, rocks falling down and a small avalanche running down the nearby cliffs, the natural acoustics of the valley making it seem much larger! Time to go!!The tunnel was pretty cool – all 1.4kms of it – and the panoramic view the other side was quite something too. We stopped at the Chasm which was a truly terrifying amount of meltwater funnelled through a narrow rocky gorge whose sides have been eroded smooth. Walking across the bridge the roar of the water reverberated in the very air, the clouds of mist gave the area an ethereal feel and standing above this turmoil I could physically feel the force of it through my body. Cool! Made it to Milford Sound where the rain began to fall in earnest, thus scuppering the planned boat trip....Tried to book into the Milford Lodge campsite but they had no powered sites so headed back through the tunnel (which now had mist inside it!), checked the rivers for Blue Ducks (nope!) and checked into the themed Gunn’s Camp, a truly excellent place steeped in local history, full of 1930s paraphernalia, clippings and visitors books dating back to the 60s! Run by a lovely woman named Helen and her partner Bill, it has a great little kitchen, chalets and is a great place to base yourself if you want to do the Holyford Track. It only has a generator for a couple of hours a night and a safe ‘generator box’ for cameras and stuff to recharge in. Rain, thunder, lightning and sandflies...perfect!!Spent the next rain-filled day walking some of the track and reached the immense Humboldt Falls which were pretty cool actually. The sun even came out later and back at the camp, 2 South Island Kakas flew over and a loudly-calling NZ Falcon was ‘scoped in trees above the reception –excellent! Dawn took a tumble into the water on a river crossing so we got ourselves into one of the chalets and managed to get the fire going as it was a bit chilly to say the least! Once the smoke had dissipated it was rather homely inside. Helen came over to see If Dawn was ok and said we could do some washing in her machine – jus not to let anyone else know!! Such a nice lady!!The following morning, the sun came out to reveal a dusting of snow right down over the treeline which looked great. After bidding farewell to our generous hosts (and swatting the multitude of sandflies in the van as we repacked it) we headed back towards Milford. A quick stop at the meteorological station and it was totally unrecognizable due to the amount of snow dumped on it. We reached the Sound only to have missed the first boat by 5mins.....grrrrr! So we booked ourselves onto the afternoon (and more expensive!) trip and went unsuccessfully looking for Blue Ducks again. We boarded our boat, the Lady Bowen, at 1300. We picked up a flyer for this trip called ‘Encounter’ from Gunn’s Camp and you get a 10% discount for doing so. The captain puts the bow of the ship under the waterfalls so you can appreciate the full force of these natural wonders and get an icy shower too! The Sound looked as fantastic as all the photos of it I’ve seen and we had an enjoyable trip. The waterfalls tumbling into the almost black waters ranged in size from thundering cascades three times higher than Niagara to the smallest one in Fiordland: a 98% pure natural spring dropping all of 3ft to the waters below.After stringing 2 distant Pied Cormorants (!) a superb Fiordland Crested Penguin was found on the rocky shoreline of the aptly named Penguin Cove, preening amongst the hauled out fur-seals. What a bird, excellent! We also visited the cool Underwater Obs and viewed the various wrasse, triplefins, sponged and rare Black Coral (which is actually white beneath the water...!) through the 5cm thick acrylic windows ($10000 each..!) We decided to stay an extra half hour and get a lift back with the Obs staff. Good choice, as on the return journey in a little boat, we had another stunning Fiordland Crested Penguin swimming right next to us!! Sometimes they can even been seen diving past the Obs’ windows! A much more enjoyable trip than I initially though it would be.[ATTACH]154321[/ATTACH]We drove back up the torturously slow road, through the tunnel for a final time and stopped for one last chance by the meteorological station. I headed up into the vast boulder field and sat down, watching the Tomtits and Dunnocks and feeling a bit crap. Suddenly I get a yell from Dawn and she’s pointing in front of the van. Trying to run down the snow-covered boulders wasn’t easy but I made it without breaking anything and after sitting up on a huge boulder in front of the van I soon saw the bird I most wanted, a male Rock Wren! What a fantastic little bird, all long legs and seemingly tailless, I watched him bobbing up and down and calling to the female which soon appeared and he passed some food to her, all about 10ft in front of me!![ATTACH]154320[/ATTACH]I think it’s even more amazing due to the fact it’s so small yet lives in this vast unforgiving landscape...absolutely brilliant and well done Dawn!! She said later that the trip report I’d gleaned the info from did actually state they were on the boulders adjacent to the station...smartarse!So, very happy now, we drove to Cascade Creek and scored with a couple of NZ Pipits as we cooked dinner, with a friendly South Island Robin coming for scraps. In the forest, a lovely black-phase NZ Fantail was seen, with loads of Yellow-crowned Parakeets, Tuis, Pipipis, Grey Warblers and Silvereyes, Riflemen and NZ Pigeons all watched. Stunning scenery – alpine grasslands, fast-flowing streams and green-furred beech forests all surrounded by snowy peaks and as night fell, we could actually see stars tonight!! What a day![ATTACH]154322[/ATTACH][ATTACH]154319[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

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