Lake Tekapo, 2023

After Kaikoura, we pressed on, in our leisurely way, getting as far as the the outskirts of Christchurch and an overnight at Finnegan's Tavern, in Prebblefield...our first pub stay in a while, and Irish rather than English. The day next we drove on toward Mr. Cook with our usual stop at Lake Tekapo and its Lake's Edge holiday park. After walking a bit of the shore and town, we set out to climb Mt John, as in previous years, and later we walked the shore well past town to experience the dark skies that Lake Tekapo offers.

Lake Tekapo, one of a series of huge finger lakes emanating 
from the Southern Alps

Have a campground reservation if you're planning on going there via RV

Major tour bus attraction...Our Lady of the Lake or somesuch;
no funny faces

The town/shore walk features a sort of "stations of the planets"
signage, reflecting the town's "dark sky" status

Victorian telescope that used to be up in the observatory on Mt. John

On our attempted ascent of Mt. John

As the trail began to climb, we decided to get the rest of our 10k steps
that evening under the dark skies

Much later...setting forth along the shore

We got to see the Milky Way in stunning brilliance,
seriously, and even a shooting star; the pix weren't
so great; this, I swear, is the Southern Cross

Kaikoura And Its Dusky Dolphins; Or, Don't Call Me Ishmael

Kaikoura is on the Pacific side of the South Island and is best known for its whale-watching cruises, a Maori enterprise. There are also dolphin- and albatross-watching cruises. In 2014, driving just south of Kaikoura, we stopped at a turn-out and watched the dolphins parade by for half an hour or so, just a couple hundred yards off shore. I guess we noticed the accompanying boats, but our main interest was the dolphins--dusky dolphins, a smaller breed--and their unbelievable aerial antics. I did a video of them and posted it to my YouTube channel, "stupid porpoise tricks off Kaikoura." LSS is that Rebecca and family did the dolphin cruise in 2019 and recommended it, and we figured it would be interesting to see it all closer up. Dolphins Encounters takes 2 or 3 boats--20-30 people each--out every day, at 5:30AM, 8:30, and 12:30PM sailings. Most people apparently are in it to swim with the dolphins. Wet-suits and other paraphernalia are provided, and they really do this. With little interest in fraternizing with porpoises, we signed on merely as spectators.

The bay at Kaikoura...atop a vast submarine canyon

Lined with great old Norfolk Island Pines; a New Zealand thing

Kaioura suffered a terrible 7.8 earthquake in 2016--the land around
the bay rose more than 2 meters; when we visited in 2018, it appeared
that the art deco Mayfair theater might be a victim; but it has been strengthened
and reinforced and is back in business

The bay just outside the Dolphin Encounters offices...according to
the staff, that's an Orca nosing around at high tide, looking for rays,
sharks, porpoises, any bite-size morning snacks...

On the boat, me in my captain's hat, of course, saying things like
"avast!" and "abaft the beam" and "steady as you go"; it was a very 
light swell that day, and I did fine

Vicki, looking out

The deal is pretty much like old-time submarine tactics...you spot
your prey, note its bearing and speed, do an end-around to get ahead
of it, dive, or maybe not, then attack

Attacking here means launching your swimmers into the approaching
dolphin convoy; this is repeated two or three times or until everyone
has had enough 

The boat's skipper/cruise director shouts directions to the swimmers;
or maybe to the porpoises?

I suppose swimming with porpoises must have some appeal, to some
people; apparently quite a few people; to us, it's mostly about the
stupid porpoise tricks, the jumps, flips, backward flips, double-flips,
triple lutzes, quadruple axels, etc.

Our wolf pack that day consisted of two boats; there's our companion

Action scene; where, you ask, is the Orca seen earlier in the bay?
Still in the bay, we were assured, could not possibly swim all the
way down here...and what of his pod and the others that inhabit
these waters...we wondered...

Mostly we did videos--stills convey little of what's going on
or what's of interest--but here's a good still of a backward flip;
the videos will be posted on YouTube some day

Much of what you see from the boat; the swimmers that day faced
very murky water from the previous day's rains and complained of
being groped and jostled by unseen and unseeing porpoises

Another good jump; do check out the 2014 video; it's a hoot!

Back at our campsite that evening, after a walk and nice fish 'n chips
dinner...snow in the mountains just west of Kaikoura; winter is coming

On To Kaikaoura, With Surrealistic Seals On The Way

After Nelson we proceeded on, skirting Picton, driving past pretty Pelorus Bridge, and on through Blenheim--memories of Cloudy Bay, the Omaka Aviation Heritage Museum and Sir Peter Jackson's "Knights of the Sky"--and continued on to Lake Elterwater, where we stopped for the night at a freedom camp (with too much road noise). Next day we continued our drive onto the east coast toward Kaikoura and our date with the dusky dolphins there. The scenery, flora and fauna and geology, immediately improved when we gained the coast.

Sculpture illustrating the Maori name for the cove

It had poured the night before, and streams and
waterfalls were gushing

Note vertical lay of the strata...NZ is of never-ending geological
interest

A muddy stream gushes to the Pacific

Escargot...were deliberately introduced here by the
1759 French expedition led by Gaspard de la Merde

A few miles down the road at Ohau we encountered the first of
several seal colonies near Kaikoura

Obviously a fan of Dali

Hundreds of them...moms and pups, bulls, steers, whatever

The scene

More Dali; Surrsealism?

Turning now to botanical matters, we encounter
the Ohau rock daisy, a species known to exist only
in this one place 

Thus; when are taxonomists going to learn that every
individual is a species? See John Dupre, The Disorder 
of Things: The Metaphysical Foundations of the Disunity
of Science, 1993; the last philosophy text I ever taught...

Elsewhere in this blog we have discussed Gabion baskets and their
building; one of the marvels of 19th century civil engineering; here
is one of the larger ones we've seen, shielding the road in this very
earthquake-prone region

Nelson, 2023

Nelson, on Tasman Bay, at the north end of the South Island, is one of New Zealand's prettier towns. Also its sunniest, FWIW. As the gateway to Abel Tasman, it gets plenty of tourists, and it's little more than an hour from Picton and the ferry (if any). For as long as we've been visiting, it's also a very RV-friendly town, with numerous free or low-cost camper parking spaces all over town. We generally have timed our visits for the Saturday and Sunday markets, which mostly feature local arts and crafts. The previous week, just arriving from Wellington, we stayed Saturday night and caught the Sunday flea market. After doing the AT, the Grove, and Wharariki, we stayed Friday night and did the Saturday market.

Previous years' posts have featured Nelson's abundant art deco,
here, its cinema (still a cinema, too)

Three of these large carparks, right downtown;
one features the world-famous Solar Superloo

Walking through ANZAC park 

Willie Nelson?

Christopher Finleyson's Aotearoa (The Land of the
Long White Cloud), 1984, on the side of Nelson's
Power House (old electricity generating plant) 

Entering Nahm, a Thai/Asian fusion bistro, recommended
by Rebecca

Our balcony table afforded views of the harbor's educational and
recreational activities; here, the 8-10  year-old sailing class is towed in

A young woman deftly launches and rights her wingfoil

And flies to the outer harbor; damn, she was good!

The 12-14 year-olds class arrives

Our food also arrives...chicken satay

A riff on Peking duck

Tom yum

Char sui BBQ pork ribs, five spice seasoning; great recommendation,
Rebecca!

1946 Nelson Ladies Rugby Union Club, the "All Hats"; wait, no...

At the Saturday market: "flat food"; even on the wrong side of the 

world, Vicki always goes for a lemon crepe

Saturday market scene

Stimulating the local economy: a greenstone worry pendant; actually
we stimulated the high street outdoor stores even more, several of whom
were having 50% off sales