9 February 2015 - Te Anau, Fiordland

Yesterday we walked part of the Kepler Track, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks. About six years ago we headed off to Blod Bay but turned back part way; I have no recollection why – time restrictions, exhaustion? If it were the latter, it was a poor one, because it is an easy graded walking track, even if a little more strenuous on the return, as they can be. But yesterday we walked right through to the Bay, the first of the Track shelters just 5.2 kilometres from the start of the track at the Control Gates.

The Control Gates are those on the outlet of the lake, the genesis of the Upper Waiau River, which control the outflow and thus the levels of Lake Manapouri where the underground power station is located.  This power station was developed in response to electricity demands by the Bluff Aluminium smelter, a hydro-electricity scheme which created national division and debate through the 1960s and ‘70s. The gates here at Lake Te Anau are the first of three controls which manage the water in the Manapouri power scheme. Twenty kilometres to the south-east, and about twenty five metres closer to sea level, the Waiau enters Lake Manapouri.

The Kepler Track is a sixty seven circular walk around the Kepler Mountains. Like any Fiordland Track, the weather has a major impact on the walk, often altering the un-bridged stream crossings from one to two metres in depth. The alpine sections of the track require a good level of fitness and may be closed in winter months due to bad weather; other sections are considered moderate with climbs and descents of up to 1,000 metres.

The walk can be done over four days, or three if you exclude the last flat section along the Waiau River. It takes in the lake, rivers, gorges, glacier-carved valleys and beech forest, and it was this latter we were treated to today. And beneath the beeches are great swathes of moss covered forest floor, all just breathtakingly beautiful.  I was also delighted to note the great variety of funghi growing along the track edge; albino white, coal black, spotty red and other varieties of beige or brown one might normally expect. With a bit of imagination, one could believe they were in a world of elves and fairies, of the world of fantasy rather than any other that might have sprung to mind.   As for the whole track ? I have to say I have little interest in undertaking the complete circuit although we have done the more southern section from Rainbow Reach through to Lake Manapouri and part of the section from the Control Gates to Rainbow Reach. We had thought that if the weather kept us longer in Te Anau, we might redo some of these sections.

Another crazy fact about this track is that if walking is just too sedate, there is the annual Kepler Challenge to take part in. Every December about 400 competitors run the entire loop, the less fit opting out for the shorter twenty seven kilometre route known as the Luxmore Grunt. The ascent of Mount Luxmore would have been the next stage of the walk had we continued on beyond Blod Bay today.

Early on we passed several weary trampers completing their trek, with their heavy packs and not a lot of joy on their faces; it would have been one hell of a walk given the temperatures of the last few days.

We lunched at Blod Bay and were glad to leave after half an hour because the local speed boats were starting to arrive with groups of wake boarders and skiers; those who do not rejoice in the peace and quiet of the bush and the joy of sighting a tomtit alight on a branch beside the track.  Besides, the wind had come up and the day looked set to cool down. Back at the camper we enjoyed several cups of hot coffee before heading back toward the town and calling into the Te Anau Wildlife Park, a fancy name for their takahe recovery programme. Here too are caged kea, kaka and an assortment of ducks who all come and go at whim. But we were keen to see the takahe, these rare flightless birds.

The centre was established in the 1980s and seeks to breed and rehabilitate them. Infertile eggs are removed, and fertile eggs fostered between nests at all sites so adults have the opportunity to raise at least one healthy chick, incubated eggs are hand reared and released as one year old birds back into the Murchison Mountains and populations will be established in predator free island sanctuaries. Today there are a mere 260 or so of these birds in existence, but that is a big increase from when Southland doctor Geoffrey Orbell re-discovered them in the remote Murchison Mountains in 1948. No sightings had been made for fifty years and the takahe had been considered long extinct. Imagine the excitement!

Takahe and pukekos, if seen separately, do seem to be very similar, however takahe adults grow to about 63 cm tall, while pukekos only to 51 cm, and are only one third the size of the larger bird.  Takahe breed only once a season, averaging two eggs, but 20 – 30% of the eggs are infertile. The chicks hatch in about thirty days, and the birds are three years old before they breed. On the other hand, pukekos have two to three broods each season averaging five to six eggs. The chicks hatch in twenty four days, fledge and fly at twelve weeks.  It is no wonder that the pukekos are so prolific and the takahe so rare.

We watched a couple of takahe feed from a plastic contraption, admiring their bulk, which was accentuated when a pukeko came up to check out his chance at sharing the feed station.

After our big day of natural wonders, we headed back to Te Anau’s industrial area and were delighted to find our camping space had not been taken by another during the day. 

This morning we slept late despite the warnings that the industrial activity in the area made this less than a peaceful site. On the point of leaving, we received a call from Derek of Nelson, the proud owner of our old Winnebago. He and Chris spent about three quarters of an hour on the phone discussing the best way to do that, and the best way for this. We wished that he might get even half as much pleasure from ownership and travel as we had had in the ten years, and promised to catch up with him as we came north and crossed back to the North Island. We were so very delighted that our precious old camper had gone to a good home, and so quickly; I had been sorry to think of it languishing in UCC’s sales yard. Listening to Chris’s side of the telephone conversation, I had been touched by the fact he spoke of it as one does when a dearly beloved has just passed away; in the present tense rather than the past.

Somehow the rest of the day seems to have got away. We did little but check out the Department of Conservation’s  National Heritage Park office, re-provision for tomorrow’s intended trip north and continue to marvel at the quick resale of our beloved Winnebago. 

We are again back in our industrial yard, our space vacant and waiting for us after our day’s messing about. Tonight there are four other parties, although just as I type this, two more have arrived. The mountaineering couple, so much older than us, have left; obviously their planned flight to Doubtful Sound and hike back to civilisation now a reality with the weather more clement. Our plans to spend a week or less on the road to Milford are so very tame in comparison to theirs. But still, it takes all sorts to make the world go round.

The mountains behind us are now totally devoid of snow; in fact much of the recent covering melted before our eyes over breakfast yesterday. Such are the wonders of nature.