Nov07 Karamea caves

Awoke to overcast skies but no rain. Drove to get tickets to the cave tour, met the actual guide in the building. Drove to the dirt road that led to the caves, met the same group of motorcyclists we’d been crossing paths with for a few days. Diverse group, a Harley, a big KTM supermoto, an R1, a MV Augusta sport bike, and an older Ducati full fairing painted the trademark green red and white of the flag. An Aprilia 1000 and a new Buell 1125r. I was a bit envious, but that went away as the rains began.

The long dirt road was almost wide enough for two cars to pass. The sign said not recommended for campervans, but oh well.

Following the guide, we finally pulled into the parking area. Multiple signs warned we were about to enter a protected, dangerous area etc, etc.

As we walked, our guide chatted, explaining the geology, the geography, the plant life, the animal population. Very knowledgeable and informative. The brook we followed was stained brilliant orange from the leaf litter tannins…



The valley sits low, protected from the cruel winds, and receives huge amounts of rainfall. The moss and greenery was amazing…

Got to the cave mouth, a dark slash in the lush greenery.

The cave system is huge, we only dipped our toe in during our visit, probably saw less than 5% of the navigable area. Massive. 300 entrances. Donning our helmets and turning on our “torches”, we descended.

Stalactites hung everywhere, oddly twisted from years of shifting air flows as the water continued to erode the limestone and change the cave’s structure. Chris said a general rule for stalactite growth was 1 inch equaled roughly 500 years.

One of the more scientific interests in this cave system is that it’s been collecting animal remains for thousands of years. Several moa ( extinct huge flightless bird ) skeletons remain here, as well as more ancient and current species. A smaller one…

Sort of a “time capsule” of history. The biggest moa was about six feet high at the shoulder and 550 lbs. Also found was the extinct Haast Eagle, with a three meter (9ft!) wingspan and massive talons it could easily fly off with sheep and children, and crush a man’s skull with a strike. Maori legend has several accounts of a “demon” from the skies killing people.

Still finding bones in here, Chris said there’s a room not depicted on the map for security reasons, where the floor has been eroded by a newer stream, you walk in this trough, both sides being five feet deep with bones-thousands of years of near fossils. Wow.

Some get washed in, some die near the entrances, some fall in. This particular room, for example is known as the “deer drop” room, for the unfortunate deer that got stuck in the hole above, died, rotted, and then the bones gradually fell to the cavern floor. Not a good day for the deer.

This stalagmite is growing upward, the calcium stained with the same tannins coloring the river above. Brilliant color in the cool darkness. Broken pieces nearby show rings of “growth” much like trees, where the tannin has been staining irregularly over the years.



Able to get up close to a glow worm, a good look at the tubular sliminess and the sticky threads of silk it spins to trap the insects attracted by it’s glowing green spot. Apparently uses very similar venom, silk, and glue as spiders.

Exited the cave from another area, walked back to the cars, where Chris had coffee, tea, and treats. We chatted for a while, got recommendations on nearby caves and attractions. A great experience.

We took Chris’ advice and explored two other caves alone. One is scientifically important for “crazy paving”, a crinkled and cracked floor thought to heve been created when the cave dried very slowly over a very long time, …

(reminds me of the crazing effect in the lake beds when the desert dries them out, so they’re probably right)
And a known haven for huge cave spiders. Impressive things, they’ve specialized so much their venom now only works on the cave crickets. Here’s some of their egg sacs…

And one of them with a cricket piece in it’s jaws…

Also found a little demon girl..

The entrance to the Box Cavern cave we explored next (I like this shot)…

Left the caves. We had driving to do, the day was getting late. A pretty panoramic..

Back over steep ridges, returning the 100km of backtracking we needed to do to continue. Again, 30-50km/hr with tires scuffing. Fun stuff. Got back on the main highway heading toward Nelson. Following a river valley, the road twisted and turned among small peaks. Rounding a bend, another one way section…

And a nice panorama spot as the river swept around…

Rain and sun breaks continued, Denise suggested we stretch our legs at the longest suspension footbridge in New Zealand…

Continuing on we finally reached Nelson, our destination for the night. Nice. Nearly on the beach. We’ve started utilizing campsites that advertise internet, hoping to be able to get online and post our explorations. Not working out so well, though, still hit or miss. Got a site, then left to get some dinner.

Got a Mac’s beer sampler with food to share . Good stuff. Oddly, the waitress came and took our plates away before Denise was finished or had time to swallow and say, “HEY!”. Weird.

Walked to he beach, watched a beautiful sunset…

Back to the campsite, found out that the campsite is on an airport approach path. Didn’t mention that little fact in the brochure. Another issue… No Internet! It was there one minute, gone the next. Not happy.

I cruised the campsite, opening the laptop as I searched for a connection. Boom!

What was t… Boom!

Fireworks. Many places. Small fireworks, set off in the fast approaching darkness. Met an Australian girl at the BBQ who explained it was Guy Fawkes’ Day, hence the explosions.

Back to the van, posting an update plans dashed, and slept soundly despite the aircraft overhead.

G’night.

Nov06FJ to Karamea

Nov06FJ to Karamea

Awoke early, poor sleep again. Going to need a vacation when we get home. Long drive ahead, a few hundred kilometers. Doesn’t sound like much, but you can’t simply divide the distance by the speed limit and get the actual driving time like you can in the U.S. and Canada.



100km is a long way, many of the roads are so gnarled and twisted you’re lucky to average 30-50km/hr despite 100kph limit, especially in a fat butted campervan with overenthusiastic traction control. (Thing shuts off power at the merest hint of a slide, unspooling the turbo, leaving you at least a gear too high if there’s any sort of incline…not fun. I shut it off now during uphill twisty runs.) Adding to the fun was yet more one lane bridges, but now they’ve added train tracks to the mix for even more driving enjoyment…

Dead possums everywhere. That’s about all I see for road kill, excepting the occasional bird. Not the same possums as the ugly U.S> ones, they’re nocturnal, and actually furry and cute, but remember the movie “Gremlins”? They’ve overrun N.Z., pushing native species of flora and fauna alike out of their habitat and near extinction in some cases. They’re hated here. Poisoned, trapped, hunted. Little fledgling industry is making stuff out of possum fur, and/or blending it with merino wool to make warm knitwear.

Rolled up to the small town of Greymouth for one purpose…. Another brewery tour!!!

Monteiths brewery has an original outpost here. Employs 7 people. Small, neat operation.

Got to taste the 5 kinds of malt they use to make their beer, the crystal variety was surprising good… crunchy and sweet. The darker roasts took on more and more of a burnt toast taste, though.

The extraction/separation process, cool to see with the big viewing window in the tank…

The sweet malt extract after losing the husks. The remnants go to local farmers as cattle feed.

Above is the heat exchanger used to chill the wort. The extracted heat warms water in a parallel circuit that is stored in the big tank below and used to create the next batch of wort. Good energy management.

She actually led us up the stairs in the tank room, where we got to see two brews fermenting. Monteiths uses the “open vat” method, they say the escaping co2 from the yeast forms a shield against contamination once the stain they’ve pitched starts working, so no need for a cover or to keep people out. The smell was wonderful in here.

Their “golden” ale…

And their “dark”…

The best part…. The tasting room.

They’ve made a “Radler” beer, a light gold ale with a slight lemon-lime flavor, it’s selling incredibly well. An English guy with us on the tour said in England they did the same thing by adding a splash of lime on top of lager, it was called a “Lagertop”. Our guide explained Radler meant cyclist, it was originally a beer watered down with lemonade so the bicycle riders wouldn’t get too drunk and crash. Interesting history.

Continued on. One of the books mentioned “Pancake rocks”, an odd collection of layered limestone extending out into the ocean. We stopped.

The layers of rock allowed the waves to undercut and shape the shoreline extensively, creating blowholes and caverns, columns, arches, and deep crevices. Surreal landscape.

This is a huge (you can see the walking trail on the opposite top edge) square opening that the ocean waves fill and withdraw, causing huge splashes and surges as the water finds itself with nowhere to go. ..

The underground rooms created by the erosion often have impressive blowholes, as the incoming water causes pressurization of the trapped air. It then escapes upward through cracks. Pretty…

They say it’s best when there’s high seas. I think we chose a good day…

This Weka was darting back and forth across the road, obviously a fixture here as it probably gets fed frequently. Fast on it’s feet for such a weird bird…

O.K., Back to work. Driving, driving. Finally reached our destination, crossing two passes before finally descending back to sea level. Whitebait were obviously still running, every pulloff was occupied with beat up cars and trucks containing hip waders and a big fine mesh net to trap the things. Signs everywhere proclaiming whitebait for sale.

Settled in, briefly considered cycling down the road along the estuary to the coast, but decided some wine tasting in the back of the camper sounded better.

Goodnight.

Nov05 Franz-Josef Glacier

Awoke to hail, rain, sunny… on repeat. In addition to the a.m. french pressed coffee, today we also breakfasted on spicy “tomato sauce” (closest thing to ketchup) on hash browns, toasted nicely in our 230 volt toaster. Weird and a bit scary to use high voltage stuff, but it really juices up the end result. Water boils in the kettle, the microwave nukes stuff, the toaster toasts SO much quicker.
The sun won the fight for a little while, we walked to the main street. In the less than 30 minutes, dark clouds again rolled over the snow capped peaks above, heading toward town. No chopper flights today.
Awaited the official phone call from the weather station to the rental spot, then simply got back in the van and drove to the trails leading up the valley.
Parking, we layered up, as the hail rain/cycle had continued without the sun. Walked to the riverbed fed by the glacial melt - closed. Apparently the river had recently shifted course and the trail rendered unstable for general use.

Disappointed, we took some pics and walked back, where we discovered an offshoot trail that I thought led to a nice waterfall. Walking it, the snow started in earnest…

The water fall was pretty , but the route led past the cascade….

And back to the gravel bed. This time much closer to the glacier, I could see posts hammered into the ground marking the way, and there were multiple escape routes in case a flash flood from a serac collapse caused the river to overflow. Discussed continuing closer, we decided to go for it, until one of us felt uncomfortable.
There were people on the glacier…

And the path was beaten down fairly well, meaning it’d been there for some time. Onward. Used stepping stoned crossings to skip across small streams crisscrossing the sharp stones. Found a path leading through the scrub 20 feet above the gravel, we scrambled up and across multiple little streams, creeping closer.
Got as close as I felt comfortable without gear,

Waterfalls everywhere…

Those cracks are impressively blue…

Passed by a returning guided tour group as we looked at the wall. The “guides” took them right along the base along the river, even walked them downstream of a large loop of river. I definitely wouldn’t have felt very safe on that tour.
A bit of schist, stood on end and sandpapered by multiple glacial advances/retreats…

Loving the gore-tex. Glad we brought the jackets and hiking boots, our damp lower legs were the only spots of discomfort. Got back to the van, finally feeling the cold beginning to permeate after a day in the cold rain/hail.
Drove back to campsite, utilized the showers and their seemingly inexhaustible hot water supply (in late afternoon with few other users) to soak in the heat. Back in the van, we used the bungee cords that normally secure the bikes inside to string up the wet gear, the a.c on heat and the little electric heater making short work of drying clothes.
Continued to be overcast with occasionally heavy rain showers all day. Apparently this is a marijuana mecca as it’s remote and has ideal growing conditions. Tourism, weed, and whitebait fishing. That’s all.
Enjoyed our beer/wine stash, despite not having a connection I was busy writing and editing photos for all you people, as service is spotty, so we’re always a few days behind. (In fact, I’m typing this as we steam toward the north island on the ferry.)
Decided to go eat at the on premise bar/grill…

Where I proved my clumsiness by upsetting two full glasses of beer at once. We’d finished eating, and were seated near the pool table. I’d just gotten beers at the bar ( circulating waitresses are a rarity - usually you order your food and drinks at the counter and pay there as well), when the cue ball came rolling toward me on the floor. Thinking I’d be cool and swoop down to return it, I leaned over, balancing by extending a foot outwards. My foot kicked the bottom of the small tippy table, sending both beers directly into Denises’ lap.
Oops. Not the intended consequence. We left, Denise wearing wet clothes for the second time that day.
Back to the van, where the heater was again put into clothes-drying service. They were good beers, too.
Goodnight.