VictoriaMarch 25
The wind and rain were so loud at 3:30 a.m. that the storm woke me up. I hunkered down under the covers and fell back to sleep.
Have a listen to this crazy rain.
Still raining when we woke up, Mitch got the fire going to ward off the morning chill.
We sat in the conservatory, ate breakfast, and listened to the birds singing in the garden. The Eurasian blackbird and Song thrushes were frequent visitors as were a pair of Tūīs, a few Bellbirds, Finches and Sparrows.
We got out the binoculars and saw finches and fantails frolicking in the flax bushes outside the kitchen window. At least someone was enjoying the dreary weather.
Rain in Okārito means pretty much all activities are cancelled. No kayaking, no boating on the lagoon, no hiking and definitely no flying in a helicopter. (That would be Mitch, not me.) I’m keeping both feet safely planted on the ground.
He’s hoping for clear skies later in the week to take the scenic flight over the glaciers and do a snow landing.
The rain stopped a few hours later and the sun shone through, so we quickly decided to hike the Trig Walk, a gentle, uphill 2.6 mile hike near our cottage.
We began on the boardwalk over wetlands and had the pleasure of seeing a White Heron, or Kotuku. We later learned from the locals that his name is Heronius.
The herons are very territorial, so it’s easy to identify them based on where they “live.” There is a White Heron Sanctuary about 15 miles away, which is the bird’s only nesting site in NZ. On our walk through the lush forest, or “bush” as the locals call it, we saw many more birds, including the Miromiro or Tomtit, which I was able to get a great video of below.
We reached the summit and the sun was still out, so we got a 360 degree view of Westland National Park, the Tasman Sea, the Southern Alps, Mt Cook, Okārito and Three Mile Lagoon.
Back at the cottage we had a little snack and then headed out to the town of Franz Josef. This area of NZ is known as Glacier Country for the two largest and most visible ones nearby, Franz Josef and Fox Glacier.
Just outside Franz Josef, we drove up the glacier river valley for a walk to Peter’s Pool, a small kettle at the base of the Franz Josef glacier. The pool formed by ice melt 200 years ago. When no wind is blowing and the sky is clear, you can see beautiful reflections of the mountains and the glacier. The clouds had rolled back in and our reflective view of the glacier and mountains wasn’t great. It was still very nice to see.
From the same car park, we walked another few minutes to see what’s left of the Franz Josef glacier view at the end of the Forest Walk.
Sadly, the glacier is retreating every day and to see it by foot we had to walk 20 minutes or so to the nearest viewing platform, about two miles from the terminal face. In other words, not very close. A helicopter tour is truly the best way to see the glacier up close and either heli hike on top or do a snow landing. News flash! The weather is not looking very promising over the next few days for Mitch to take his flight. Stay tuned.
Mitch made us another great dinner of chicken curry with veggies and quinoa. He broke his vegetarian diet to accommodate a menu change. It’s the first time he’s had chicken in over two years. Short story: He survived. 🙂
For our evening entertainment, we set out a bowl of sugar water and waited for the Tūīs to come visit. They didn’t seem interested, so we crawled into bed as we had to be up early for our flatboat tour on the Okārito Lagoon in the morning.
