The day out from Fox Glacier was dismal. The rain was not heavy, but did not let up until 2.30 pm. Heavy mist clouds clung to the mountains and the wet, grey road took me south towards Jacobs River. By 5.00 pm the rain began again and I was soaked.
Night fell and I walked on, with the light from my headlight fading, becoming yellow, then finally blinking out, to leave me in darkness. By 7.30 pm a light showed ahead of me and I'd reached Pine Grove Motel. A friendly lady there showed me to a room. I was glad to be there and quickly had all my wet gear spread around the room to begin drying out. On the television I watched the New Zealand ladies rugby team, nicknamed the Gal Blacks, beat the U.S.A. hand down. There were several Maori girls in the side. One of the wingers was called Vanessa Cootes. It was great to see her tearing down the field to score several tries. At 3.00 am I turned off the television and instantly fell asleep.
Sunday 3rd May dawned and, after just three hours sleep, I woke. I ate a quick breakfast of muesli, packed up and was back on the road. It was still dark, with the sun struggling to rise above the mountains and thick grey clouds to the east. It was cold, too. Thick mist filled the valley around Jacobs River. Cobwebs were glistening with dew and there was white frost on the ground. Smoke rose from a house close to the road and formed a plume as it mixed with the heavy mist.
Slowly, the sun burnt away the mist and the temperature began to rise. At Bruce Bay the sea crashed against the grey sandy beach. There was a community hall at Bruce Bay, but no shop or tearoom and I was starting to get hungry. A road sign said Haast 67 km. For me, Haast marked the end of the West Coast. The road over Haast Pass would take me on to Queenstown and then finally towards the southern tip of New Zealand... I smiled at the thought of that. Before that, though, I had a visit to the rainforest to fit in, as well as a report on endangered animals and conservation in New Zealand.
Not far from Bruce Bay I spotted a sign saying 'Salmon Farm 500m.' I hoped there would be food there. In just a few minutes I came to a collection of buildings, arranged around pools of green water, where I could see large, fat salmon swimming around. By one of the pools a white heron stood, eyeing up the fish below. In the sun, its feathers were a pure brilliant white and its eyes two piercing points of yellow and black. The white heron, or kotuku to the Maoris, have a range from North America to India, Japan, the Pacific Islands, and Australia, but there is only a population of 120 in New Zealand. With just a single nesting site at Okarito, on the West Coast, New Zealand is the southern limit for the birds. Maori chiefs used to wear the feathers of the white heron in their hair and there was a saying: 'as rare as a kotuku'. For me to see one, standing by the salmon pens was unexpected, but perfect. I smiled and clicked a quick picture. The small whitebait fish, or inanga, were a major part of the kotuku's diet. It turned out that the salmon farm served whitebait fritters, for people, and leaving the heron to its fishing, I went inside one of the buildings and filled up with whitebait, fries, salad, orange juice, coffee and a scone.
Not far from the salmon farm, as I walked on, I came to the Paringa River and a sign that said Thomas Brunner, the English surveyor and explorer, had stopped here in 1848. I remembered the sign that I had seen back near Inangahua that told of his journey of 550 days from Nelson to Paringa and back. For me it had taken fourteen days to cover half that distance, but I appreciated the fact that I had roads to walk on, places to stay and convenient food stops, along the way.
The small town of Paringa appeared as night came, but I carried on walking. The night sky was clear and stars shone bright up above. I had walked 35 miles by the time Lake Moeraki showed, off to my left. The lake was long and my journey seemed to take forever, as I walked alongside the still, dark, waters. Finally, I breathed a sigh of relief, as a light showed at the end of the lake. It was 10.30 pm, as I staggered down a small driveway towards the lighted house that was Moeraki Wilderness Lodge.
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New Zealand -1500 miles on foot through- The Land Of The Long White Cloud
Non-FictionImagine a place where the constellations of stars above your head are different from those you have ever seen, where the night sky can glow with strange swirling lights, and where the cold of winter comes when summer arrives elsewhere. Imagine a la...
