New Zealand Out-Takes, 2

It's time again for another episode of everyone's favorite, New Zealand Out-Takes!

When filming of The Lord of the Rings concluded in 2000, all
the sets and sites were dismantled and removed; but not all
the orcs and uruk-hai were accounted for; and so the
Department of Conservation went about constructing a
number of pit-traps--this one on the Greenstone Track--in
order to ensnare the missing creatures; neither DOC nor
NewLine Cinema has ever commented on the effectiveness
of these traps...

New Zealand pumpkins: trick or treat! Maybe
it's because of the hole in the ozone layer?

Seen at hiking carparks across the Island; this
is their version of "stand your ground"

On the Kawarau, near the Argonaths

Signage at AJ Hackett Bungy

At touristy places one also occasionally sees "please do not
stand on the toilet seats" signs

Details at 10

Old police station in Hoki

North of Greymouth

Vegetable eruption at Punakaiki Rocks

Up closer

Unusual leaf pattern on a flax plant

Still processing this one...

Scenic view carpark; we were the only non-RV

RV of our dreams, near Murchison; I'll have a separate post
on such vehicles soon; they are not really all that uncommon
in New Zealand; note the slide-outs

Around Motueke and Riwaka is where they grow the hops (as in beer)

It's a small operation, but makes the best, hoppiest, IPA I've
had yet

Westport

Westport is not one of New Zealand's destination towns...mostly a fishing town, a regional center, jump off for the Heaphy Track Great Walk, and last major stop north before swinging back east toward Abel Tasman and the Marlborough Sound. We liked it well enough, tenting at the TripInn hostel, walking an interesting main street, and having a great Indian dinner.

Like so many New Zealand towns, some great Art Deco...

Thus

And thus

And thus

WWI memorial...we've been to most of those places...

There's not much light pollution on the South Island; alas,
I lack the skill and the camera to capture some of the
heavenly sights we've seen, but they have been stupendous,
best ever, etc.

The TripInn in Westport, a Victorian mansion now a hostel

Reception

Beautiful landscaping and garden, including passion fruit and
black roses like in Menlo Park

Our site; nearby was a young man from Colorado who had
been born in Tallahassee...Go 'Noles, #1!

But the road goes ever on, and the next morning we are
wending our way through the Nelson lakes area

Toward camping reservations on the Abel Tasman Tramp

Charming Creek Walkway

Route #6 took us on north to Westport and then a bit beyond to the Charming Creek Walkway, a pleasant hike into the northwestern South Island bush, up as far as Mangatini Falls. The track is interesting particularly in that it simply follows a 19th century private railway, tracks and all, used first for logging and then later mining, abandoned only in the 1950s. There was more than flora and fauna to see...

Punakaiki Rocks

We drove on from Motukiekie Beach, sticking to route #6, the one road that covers that part of the west coast that is not roadless--maybe half the coast--stopping for the night at a motor camp at Punakaiki. Next day we visited the Punakaiki Rocks, a site we had enjoyed in 2009, but had seen at low tide rather than the recommend high tide.

For those wondering...we tent generally about half the time,
when the weather is fine, and spend the rest mostly in cabins
such as this or in double rooms in hostels; the cabins generally
are only slightly more than tenting; we do sorely miss
our RV, its freedom, familiarity, and flexibility

Anyhow, the Punakaiki Rocks are a small peninsula jutting
out into the Tasman Sea, featuring weird rock formations
(pancake rocks) and blowholes and such

Thus

And thus

Looking south down the coast; note pancake structure

Stack

Alas, even though we were there precisely at high tide,
there were no blowing holes this day; next time...

Looking north

As elsewhere in the bush, cicadas provided most of the
background music

But there was plenty more west coast to see