Day 15: Going Back in Time!

Due to crossing the International Date Line heading east, we arrived in Honolulu around 11 pm on Jan. 12. We were able to 'relive' Jan. 13 all over. We left New Zealand on the 13th. It makes up for it for not being able to have a New Years Day when the adventure started. We got a little sleep in Honolulu then were up early to catch a flight to Hilo which is located on the Big Island.

The Wolfe's met us at the airport with a traditional Hawaiian lei. We headed to Arnot's lodge to drop off our stuff before seeing the sights along the Scenic Coast Lookout Road. Unlike in New Zealand, we're able to spend more than one or two nights at a given place. For 3 nights we'll call Arnot's our home then we'll head to the Kona coast for a few nights and cap off our Hawaii portion of the trip at the Kileau Military Camp for 4 nights. I'm looking forward to not having to ride in a van for endless hours of the a day.

We stopped along a one-way bridge to view the tropial rainforest. This forest is located on the east side of the Big Island. The lianas have air roots which will obtain nutrients while other plants have adaptations for getting what they need. The Philidendron has cuts in its leaves to obtain sunlight. The Strangular Fig begins as an epiphyte and grows around another tree, usually a softwood tree, until it squeezes and kills the host tree.

We continued on to Akaka Falls where the most runoff on the island happen. The basaltic rock is weathered in spots and creates waterfalls. Spotted edible giner, huge bambo areas, impatients, Sugar Cane fields, white orchids and Banyan trees on our way to Laupahoehoe Harbor.

At Laupahoehoe Harbor, we saw why Hawaii is called the Rainbow state. As the waves were crashing into the volcanic coastline, a beautiful double rainbow was seen in the area. The harbor is the sight where a tsunami hit on April 1, 1946 wiping out a school. A memorial is dedicated to the lives lost due to the tsuami. Laupahoehoe means "Turing Lava" and you can see the evidence of the lava along with the coastline.

We stopped at a farmers market and experienced many local fruits and flowers. Tried the Rabuton and other fruit. Doc picked up a white pineapple for us to try. It is much better than the Dole yellow pineapple. Too bad it's not marketed and exported because it was delicious.

Day 14: Christchurch

Long drive to Christchurch for our final night in New Zealand. We stopped at the Church of the Good Shepherd before continuing on to Christchurch. Once we arrived in the city, we were able to check into the Y, do laundry and have downtime. It was nice to be able to sit and go through the 1000s of pictures taken while visiting New Zealand along with being able to do some sightseeing of Christchurch instead of traveling in a van constantly. We'll be flying to Auckland first thing in the morning thn on to Honolulu, Hawaii were the adventure continues.

Day 13: Kawarau Bridge, Mt. Cook and Cook's Glacier

On our way to Mt. Cook and Cook's Glacier, we stopped at Kawarau Bridge for some bungy jumping. The bridge is the sight for the first commercial bungy enterprise by AJ Hackett. It is 142' above a glacial river. After signing in and getting weighed, we headed to the bridge. Only 4 of us were brave enough to take the plunge. It was a little chilly up on the bridge and had started to rain while we were waiting. Once it was your turn, the guys strapped your feet in based upon how far you wanted to go. Since it was chilly, I opted not to go half way in the water but to go in up to my arms. One of the guys decided to go in half-way up to his chest. Afterwards he did mention that he was very cold. Well duh, it's a glacial river you are jumping in to and it so happened to be the coldest summer in NZ history, not to mention the wind and the rain wasn't helping much either.

Finally it was my turn. I got strapped in, took a deep breath, smiled for the camera and for Bob that was taking pictures from the observation deck, and waited for the countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...BUNGY!  As I fell from the bridge, my first thoughts were "What were you thinking!!" but as I continued making my way, head first to the river below, I was enjoying the ride. I skimmed my hands in the glacial river and took the recoil back up, just to fall down again. After a few bounces, I was taken into the boat and asked if I would do it again. OF COURSE!!! Maybe next time I'm in NZ, I'll do the 440' drop. I picked up my pictures and dvd, filled out a postcard to mom and dad and then continued on to Mt. Cook.

We arrived at Mt. Cook and after hanging out at Peter's lookout over Lake Pukaki, I lead the group to the glacier. We passed terminal and lateral moraines, climbed up till hills, saw glacial polishing, meltwater streams, outwash plains, kettle lakes, and witnessed the blue glacial rivers become whiteish-gray with glacial flour.

 

Eventually we had to make it back to Doc and head on to our lodging for the night.

Day 12: Road to Milford Sond

Along our journey to Milford Sound, we stopped along the way to see glacial vallies. Unlike the North Island, the South Island has been formed and carved by glacials. The vallies are u-shaped with steep sides. In the valley, there is alluvium made up of sand and gravel. Along the river, there are Russell lupins. These plants are considered legumes, which means that they are able to fix Nitrogen and can grow in poor soil. The sight of these plants and the smell of them is beautiful however because they are growing along the riverbank, the black stilt bird, which uses the sandy bank for their natural habitat is being pushed out of its natural habitat.

Along the way, we saw tons of evidence of plate collisions recorded in the twisted strata. Moraines, deposits of till left by the glaciers, were also seen. Several terminal and lateral moraines were seen as we continued to Milford Sound. Scree fields and Talus cones are more evidence of glacial debris.

As we were waiting to pass through on of the mountains, via a one lane road, we saw the Kea. The kea is a parrot like bird that is completely flightless. Due to settlers and the introduction of dogs, a lot of the flightless birds originally found on NZ were wipped out.

Once at Milford Sound, we boarded the Red Boat to cruise around the sound. Here we saw many waterfalls coming off the cliffs of the fjiord, saw the fur seals sunning on Seal Rock, and the Tasmin Sea.

After enjoying the cruise through the fjiord, we stopped by a chasm to see how the power of water can alter and shape the topography.

Day 11: Road to Te Anau

Said goodbye to the Sutherlands and headed to Te Anau. Along with way we stopped at Curio Bay to see if we could see a small pod of Hector Dolphins. If they were in the bay, which is also known as Porposie Bay, we would have the choice of entering the very cold water to swim with them. I would have done this if they were present but since they weren't, I didn't have to freeze for the rest of the day. We stopped at the petried forest before we hit a town for lunch.

We finally arrived in Te Anau. I gave a brief talk on Crustal Plate tectonics before heading into the town to experience the Glowworm Caves. Lake Te Anau is the second largest lake in NZ. It is the deepest freshwater lake (200m). There is little primary productivity in the lake. The glowworms are the larvae stage of the midget and normally stay at this stage for 6 to 9 months. They hang from the rock by hammocks and produce fine lines called 'fishing lines' from a special gland in their throat. These lines are used to catch flies that come from the stream below. The larvae are very territorial and will eat other glowworms if they are annoyed are if there is little to no food. The light produced by the glowworm is from lucfierase and comes from the digestive system. This light helps to attract prey. After the larvae pupate, they become a fungus gnat that can't feed and will only live for a few days.  The caves were formed due to the dissolving action of acidic water on the strata. Streams are forced underground and re-emerge later. Higher, drier areas in the caves have constant dripping of water which lead to the formation of cave decorations. Since this area has very minimal changes in temperature and humidity, this evironment is very stable and the glowworms are able to thrive here.


We took a boat ride down the stream into the darkest part of the cave. Seeing scalloping features in the limestone, waterfalls, high catherdral ceilings and the 'starry night' produced by the tons of glowworms was a sight to behold.

Day 10: Papatowai Beach Hike

After a quick breakfast, we headed out towards the beach. Marram was an introduced grass to help prevent erosion. We hiked through the brush on our journey. Since there are no ticks in New Zealand we didn't have to worry about picking up unwanted pests. Shells seen in the soil were from the Maori and their cooking habits. Saw some possum bones and found out that the possum was brought in for the fur industry but they eat the vegetation and carry disease so now NZ is very strict on what can and can't be brought into NZ.

Along the journey we saw giant kelp (Dirvellia antarctica) along the beach and out in the kelp forest off the shoreline. The kelp forest helps prevent erosion of the shoreline and also provides a place for many organisms to call home.  The Maori used it to make air tight food bags, from the kelp, which were then stored in special houses so that the bags wouldn't be too wet or too dry. These bags could be kept for up to 2 years.

We spent some time exploring the tidal pools. Organisms here are adaptive to the change in water level. Organisms seen were anemones, snails, sea stars, fish, coralline algae, blue mussels, neptune's necklace along with other algae. Evidence of faults and joints were seen in the rock due to compaction of the strata. A minor fault was seen in an outcrop of rock. The lighter sediments were separated by darker sediments, which turned out to be coal.

From the beach we headed into the rainforest. Here a large variety of trees can be found. Since they need light, the trees have adaptations that allow for them to achieve this goal. One adaptation would be the use of vines. Supplejack was used by the Maori as a food source. This plant winds its way around a structure. Clematis uses tendrilles to attach to a structure. The native rose uses little hooks from its stem to attach while the Rata vine uses roots to attach to objects. Evergreens were the most dominate tree in the forest. Some of these trees seen in NZ are also seen in tropical rainforest. Some plants seen were the Pepperwood, Lemonwood, Miro, Matai, Black pine and Corpolite.

After a spot of lunch, we continued on to the Cathedral Caves. Since these are located on private land, a $3.00 fee was charged per adult. The caves are actually a sea cave carved out by the wave erosion and by the faulting of the area. Black layers of coal are evidence of an ancient forest. Since the area was once logged, no large trees are found in the area only tree ferns dominate. Seals, penguins, bats and weta use the cave. We spotted several types of algae and tubeworms in the caves along with limpets, chiton, and barnacles.

From the caves we headed to the Tautuku Estuary. This area was once the sight of a logging village. Non-native trees were planted while native trees were cut down. Some of the non-native species introduced were the Sycamore, Maples, Holly, Cyprus and Pines. In the estuary there is mainly jointed rush and ribbonwood grasses. The fern bird can be found in the estuary. This bird is nearly flightless and makes a 'click' as its call. Hydrocarbon film can be seen on the mud and is a natural deposit due to the decay of lipids. Many mud snails, worms, crabs, and kingfisher birds were seen at this spot.


We capped off the evening by attending a geology lecture at town hall. Fergus was given the lecture and it is part of the DOE summer program lectures given at town hall.

Papatowai Vegetation

just a few items seen while walking around our first day at Papatowai.

Day 9: Nugget Point and Papatowai

Along route 1 south to Papatowai we stopped at Nugget Point to walk to the lighthouse. Here is where warm ocean currents meet cold ocean currents providing a rich area for marine life. There were several sea lions basking on the rocks or swimming in the pools or just playing around with each other. Along the path to the lighthouse a lot of thistle was growing. Butterflies and bees were fluttering from flower to flower. Gulls and terns were flying over head calling to each other. The sea stacks, wave-cut terraces, the uplifted strata and a sea arch, made this a wonderful place to view. As the swells continued to pound the coastline, the water took on a teal green color. I'm always amazed at God's creation. How could you not!After a bite to eat at Kata Point we headed to Cailins Wildlife Trackers. Along road 92 we saw tons of foxgloves in bloom and a variety of harriers cruised passed the vans. Caitlins Wildlife Trackers is run by the Sutherlands. Fergus has been in the bush country since he was 10 years old. In front of his house is a small rainforest before you head out to the ocean. From the livingroom picture window you can see the inlet where the ocean surges in. I could spend forever just looking at that view.Fergus gave us information on what Papatowai means. "Papa" means earth and "towai" is the name of a tall tree. He lead us on a walk around the area. We saw the Rata tree, which is part of the Myrtle family, and nested in it was the bellbird.

There were a variety of ephiphytes on the trees and several orchids in bloom. Saw and heard the tui. It's call is like a 'beep beep' but in different tones.

We continued through Shank's Bush. This is a private reserve that came about when 5 villagers bought the 5 acres of land when a farmer sold it. Along the trail there are 5 main areas. The first area is referred to as the replanting area. This area was cleared in the 1940s and the conservationist started replanting it in 1999. The native braken ferns were the first to come back and bigger trees are being planted to help regrow the forest that was once there prior to the 1940s. The second area is the Manuka. This tree is also succeeding where the braken is and eventually they will be crowded out by bigger trees. The third area is the Shurbland. These shurbs have small leaves with twiggy stems. There are two theories for the formation of these shrubs. The moa theory (to discourage the moa from eating them) and the climate theory (changes in climate caused their adpatations). The fourth area is the estuary. You can spot stilts, spu wing plovers, gulls, terns, heorns, shags, and kingfishers wading and diving in the area. There is even the parasitic plant mistletoe in the area. The last areas is the Kahikatea forest. Here is one of New Zealand's bigest native pines, the Kahikatea. They like to grow in wet, fertile areas.
Many sights were seend along the trail: a thrust nest, liverworts, black mushrooms, Matopo, old man's lichen staghorn lichen, orange lichen, climbing ferns, Rimu, Fuscia trees, 3 varieties of tree ferns. Not to mention hearing the varieties of birds calling from high up in the trees. A perfect ending to the day.