There’s some seriously odd bird behaviour in NZ: this morning Kate had her toes pecked by seven ducklings as mummy mallard looked on and black swans were seen swimming on the sea! It may be to do with the fact we rose at 6am to make the most of the day and hadn’t yet got our brains into gear but I’m pretty sure we didn’t both dream it. The cold shower at this horrid campsite awoke the senses pretty sharply! We needed to start covering some distance so today we drove from Parapara in Golden Bay down the centre and out to the west coast to take the last site in the campground at Punakaiki. On the way we stopped for lunch and took a woodland walk by Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park. The trees are covered in what look like tiny strands of white cotton threads with droplets hanging off the end. These are the anal canals of a scale insect that feed on the trees and produce a sweet honeydew substance that birds love (tasty!). The birdsong here was lovely and we would probably have enjoyed more had we not been chased around the walk by a coach load of very noisy Americans. We also stopped further on near Murchison to cross the longest swing bridge in New Zealand (don’t look down!) over the Buller River.
Before finding camp we had a peek at Pancake Rocks. These are amazing limestone formations that have been eroded to look like stacks of pancakes and when the tide is high and the wind is up, the sea booms into the caverns below and creates spectacular bursts of spray forced up through blowholes. Chester, however, was underwhelmed!
Before finding camp we had a peek at Pancake Rocks. These are amazing limestone formations that have been eroded to look like stacks of pancakes and when the tide is high and the wind is up, the sea booms into the caverns below and creates spectacular bursts of spray forced up through blowholes. Chester, however, was underwhelmed!
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