It is incredibly difficult country. Some ‘easier’ areas (eg along the South Coast Track) are flatter and safer. There are both pigs and deer there. In NZ they have these excellent DOC (‘Dept of Conservation’) huts all over the place (roughly a solid day’s walk apart with a pack; all have a helipad) which make […]
Venery is one of my passions. This is one of my all-time favourite photos. This was Eddie Herrick circa 1934 in his eponymous creek in Wet Jacket Arm, Dusky Sound, Fiordland NZ with his bull moose. In a moose hunting career in Fiordland which involved Eddie hunting there for nearly three months a year for
I can’t believe it is five years ago today we were there. Time for another trip. We have not seen Long Point, the Slaughter Burn, Big River…I was reminded of this by our jet boat pilot (Roffy) posting this on Facebook yesterday. The trip out to Westies is the journey of a lifetime. Do not
South Coast Track Fiordland NZ: Waitutu to Westies: Read More »
You have probably seen my posts about Westies Hut and about that section of the South Coast Track. We have stayed in the remarkable hut in a sea cave at Price’s harbour – and hope to do so again, next time for a slightly longer period, despite the sandflies. I doubt we will be staying
New Zealand’s Dusky Track a wonderful challenging 8+day trek in Fiordland. My post from this day in 2014: ‘Expect a break from me: tomorrow I am off for ten days’ hiking in Fiordland. In the unlikely event that I capture a photo of a live moose, I will come back $100,000 richer as there is
New (2020) Sighting Below: Some time back I was contacted by a young journalist, Charlie Mitchell from Stuff, New Zealand. I helped him out as much as I could from my experiences. Over the last two days I have been thrilled to read and see what he has put together of the continued existence of
‘Kim Hollows reprises his role as Executive Producer for the first time since creating Ata Whenua (Shadowlands). This is a story of men and machines, of incredible daring and unprecedented ingenuity set in the dangerous and unpredictable New Zealand mountains. Over a 20 year period these helicopter pioneers turned a national ecological disaster into a
If you wonder why I return again & again to Fiordland (& the Dusky Track) maybe this excerpt from ‘Shadowland’ will whet your appetite. (Della’s favourite part, the kakapo @ 37secs in). You may have to buy the complete video as no-one seems to have uploaded it, but it will be worth it. Even more worthwhile is
After you have completed the wonderful journey on the South Coast Track from the Rarakau Car Park to the magical Westies Hut it is possible to continue the journey all the way to Puysegur Point Lighthouse, the Te Oneroa shelter and the ruins of the old mining town of Cromarty way out at Preservation Inlet
NZ’s South Coast Track: Westies Hut to Cromarty: Read More »
Just as the ‘polar bear’ is only a ‘sport’ of the grizzly bear, so every now and then nature throws up another white creature better adapted to an environment of snow and ice like this white moose, one of about 100 such roaming the boreal forests of Sweden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JoHGwSdRak and so like the wonderful white
