Kia Ora, Aotearoa: November 19, Haast to Fox Glacier

We set out from Haast and it was a beautiful sunny day. Everyone always asks us where we're going next, and envious when we say we have no idea. North is all we know for now.

Our cave at Haast

About a half hour up the road from Haast, I noticed a hole in the woods, so pulled over.

We walked down the hole and came to a stream...

We saw the hole continue on the other side so we waded the stream...

And 5 minutes later we came to this. There was not another soul, nor signs of one.

A pile of dried seaweed on the beach

Fortunately, our rig came with the optional boot drier attachment

Heading on up the road from there we stopped at a salmon farm for lunch. Outside there were several big tanks containing salmon at various stages of development. Swimming around the outside of the tanks were HUGE trout that make their way in there from the river so they can gorge on the stray Purina Salmon Chow. I've taken the pictures with ducks in them for size reference. They say the Fisheries department comes frequently and traps the trout to return them to the river.

After lunch we continued up the road and stopped at Lake Moeraki. There are some beautiful lakes with decent fish counts but the bush grows right to the edge of the lake. I tried fishing from the boat launch and finally caught a trout small enough to eat!

Someone had also left this little gift at the boat launch

There are several species of deer that inhabit the islands. They are all classified as vermin. So consequently as far as big game hunting is concerned there is no season, no license required and no limit. Also spotlighting at night is legal.

Tree

Further up the road we came to Bruce Beach. This place is kind of a cult spot where everyone stops and makes stone cairns and leaves "message rocks".

Doreen, you're in big trouble now!

This is one of several beaches we stopped at that instead of sand they had this

Plus the view was great!

Once we made it to Fox Glacier we decided to stop for the day. We checked into our room and then headed to Gilespie's beach. This was the location of a huge gold dredging operation in the 1860s. There's still some old junk, oops, I mean artifacts laying around.

This is a Tui. It is a very interesting bird. In fact, one of New Zealand's better (debatable) beers is named after it. Ugly little bird actually, but it has some interesting features. First off it has two little white testicle thingies dangling from its neck. It has a dual voicebox so makes the wierdest call I've ever heard. Hearing the call is not as weird as watching it though. He stretches his neck way out, the feathers around his neck get all puffed up, his testicles get puffed out, he opens his mouth real wide, sticks out his tongue and acts like he's retching up a cheeseburger while making this lovely music.