The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

New Zealand part 1: exploring Northland

Kia ora from New Zealand!

Casual tourists to New Zealand may be forgiven for thinking that Auckland sits on the northern part of the North Island. In fact, it is a long day’s drive from the largest city in New Zealand to the Cape Reinga lighthouse, the farthest north one can get in a motorized vehicle.  Fighting through the heavy Auckland traffic the Northland beckons. Auckland encompasses more than 1/3rd of the country’s 4.7 million inhabitants, and like many conurbations, is best seen in the rear-view mirror.

Admittedly, subtropical Northland does not have the dramatic landscapes of the Southern Alps; the land is predominantly rolling hill country, more than half of which is taken up with farming, ranching and forestry. It is bounded to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the east by the Pacific Ocean. I spent a week exploring this verdant land and impossibly blue water on the cusp of the austral summer, but could easily have stayed until the autumn.  With daytime temps in the 70’s, nights in the low 60’s, 15 hours of daylight, and lots of intense sun, one couldn’t ask for better hiking or sailing weather in December!

I hope these photos will help you think warm thoughts during this Christmas season.

A view along the Mt Manaia track, located only a couple of miles from Kiwi Cottage where I stayed. I never did see a Northern Island brown Kiwi as they are nocturnal.
View South from Mt Manaia on Whangarei Heads
Mt Manaia at sunset from the Kiwi Cottage
Smuggler’s Cove, Bream Head Reserve, about 4 miles from my cottage.  I was the only one here on this beautiful Friday afternoon: the 15 minute walk must have been enough to deter others (either that or they had to work!)
Popularly known as the New Zealand Christmas tree, Pohutukawa blooms in December. This impressive specimen is at Smuggler’s Cove in the Bream Head Reserve.
A New Zealand Moorhen (Pukeko) at Bream Head Reserve (zoom)
Peach Cove beach, Bream Head Reserve. The hour walk over a steep ridge discouraged all but the most intrepid beach-goers.
A view along the Peach Cove track. There were more than 1000 stairs down to the cove. The ascent on the return hike was a good cardio workout.
An interesting tree along the Peach Cove track
The Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) Kauri, the largest in New Zealand by volume. Sadly, most of the Kauris were logged out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Te Matua Ngahere, the Father of the Forest. The second largest Kauri in New Zealand, it is nearly 55 feet in circumference. It is in the Waipoua Kauri Forest near the West coast, along with Tane Mahuta and many other massive Kauris. This photo is stitched together from three.
Kauri bark detail
The R. Tucker Thompson in port, Russell NZ. This 85 ft schooner is used much of the year for youth development, but summertime tourists help defray the operating costs.
The Tucker Thompson anchored for lunch on an uninhabited island in the aptly named Bay of Islands, in December and January the summer playground for much of Auckland.
The famous Hole in the Rock from the Tucker Thompson
Some of the Tucker Thompson’s press of sail. In the afternoon all eight sails on this gaff-rigged schooner were set.
The view from up in the rigging. None of the other 20 tourists climbed above the deck.

Stay tuned for the next installment in the Kiwi series of blog posts.

The Vagabond Hiker

All About Alice

To say that the more than 500,000 square miles of the Northern Territory of Australia is sparsely settled is a bit of an understatement.  Evenly distributed, each inhabitant would have more than 2 square miles to roam without encountering another human.  Alice Springs, the third largest town in the Northern Territory, is the definition of remote.  With about 27,000 inhabitants, Alice is situated roughly in Australia’s geographic center. It is the largest settlement between Darwin to the north and Adelaide to the south, each approximately equidistant at about 1,500 km (930 miles) away.

As part of the Red Centre (see my previous blog On the Road to Alice), this country is rich with mountain ranges, waterholes and gorges, which create a variety of natural habitats.  The following photos summarize a series of day hikes I took from Alice, where my brother and I stayed for a week.  All hikes except Trephina Gorge were in the West McDonnell Ranges to the West of Alice, easily the most scenic landscape in the Red Centre.

A Sturt Desert Rose at Ormsiton Gorge along section 8 of the Larapinta Track.  At 223 km, the Larapinta is one of the most famous long distance tracks in Australia. On that day we were only on it a short distance before diverging onto the Ormiston Pound Walk loop.
Ormiston Gorge Water Hole. After the recent rains, we needed to wade across the stream in crotch-high water to complete the Pound Loop walk.
Panorama Trail view at Trephina Gorge Nature Park, the East McDonnell Ranges, in the early morning. Hot days necessitated early starts.
A remarkable Ghost Gum at Trephina Gorge Nature Park (composite photo)
Our 4wd Mitsubishi Pajero at Palm Valley trail-head, Finke Gorge National Park. A “serious” 4 wheel drive road of about 20 km had to be navigated to reach the trail-heads for our two hikes that day.
Clifford at Kalarranga Lookout, Finke Gorge
Morning vista from Kalarranga Lookout, Finke Gorge
A Ghost Gum along the Mpulunkinya Trail at Finke Gorge National Park
The Vagabond Hiker celebrating his birthday on a boulder amongst the Red Cabbage Palms at Finke Gorge National Park
Early morning shot of the West McDonnell Ranges from the road to Standley Chasm, starting point of section 4 of the Larapinta Track
The ridge to Brinkley Bluff summit on section 4 of the Larapinta Track
The view South from Brinkley Bluff summit. 360 degree views were on offer from this local high point on the Larapinta Track.  It is a popular dry camping site halfway through this section of the track, though I encountered only one other group that day.
The Vagabond Hiker on the Brinkley Bluff ridge-line high above the surrounding land

Despite the title of this blog, it would be remiss of me not to at least mention in passing our 2,700 km road trip odyssey from Alice back to Sydney for our departure flights from Australia.  Most of those three days were naturally consumed by driving and sleeping (fortunately, not at the same time!) but we did manage two early morning walks.  Below is one photo taken from each.  Quite a contrast to the Red Centre.

Pastoral view from the southern flanks of Mt Remarkable, Melrose, South Australia
Morning reflections on the Murrumbidgee, Hay, New South Wales (photo courtesy of Clifford).  A major tributary of the Murray, the Murrumbidgee is the 2nd longest river in Australia.

The Road to Alice

The road trip my brother and I made from Eden, New South Wales to Alice Springs in the Northern Territories covered more than 3,600 km (2,200 miles) and took seven days.  With this much time to drive into and appreciate the Outback, we were able to stop and enjoy some of the most interesting sights on the way, including kayaking the Kings Billabong along the Murray River in northern Victoria, going on a sunrise hike to Wilpena Pound in Flinders National Park in South Australia, seeing Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Kata Tjuta rock formations in the rain, and hiking the iconic Kings Canyon National Park rim walk (also in the rain!) in the Northern Territories.  The photos below highlight some of these adventures.

Clifford and a rotted tree creating an interesting sculpture at the Kings Billabong, off of the Murray River in northern Victoria
Pelicans on the Kings Billabong. Billabongs are isolated ponds left behind after a river changes course.  This one was engineered into a reservoir in the late 1800’s to irrigate the fields in the nearby arid lands.
Wilpena Pound in the early morning light, Flinders Ranges National Park, South Australia. Pounds, a term I had not previously heard, are relatively flat areas surrounded by mountains.
The Vagabond Hiker at Arkaroo Rock, Flinders National Park.  Still recovering from a several day bout of gout.
A Mallee Ringneck Parrot at Pound Gap in Flinders
An atmospheric Kata Tjuta overlook panorama, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.  Kata Tjuta means ‘many heads’ in the local Aboriginal language.
Late season seed pods at Kata Tjuta
A misty landscape at Kata Tjuta’s Valley of the Winds
A rare cascade at Kata Tjuta. Unlike the sandstone of Uluru, the rock formations at Kata Tjuta are conglomerate.
Uluru (fka Ayers Rock), the 2nd largest monolith in the world
The Kitchen Cave, Uluru. The site is sacred to the local Aboriginals who do not want visitors to climb The Rock.  Due to rains, it was officially closed anyway the day we were there.
Rarely seen Uluru cascades.  The rainiest weather I have experienced in two months in Australia was in the desert in the Northern Territories.
The Uluru base track at the point we turned back. Although it was flooded out, the trail had not yet been closed.
Uluru Aboriginal rock art
A gushing Uluru waterfall
A geologist enjoying the rock strata at Kings Canyon National Park
A Ring Tailed Dragon showing his camouflage along the path at Kings Canyon creek
Kings Canyon from the trail up to the rim
Kings Canyon rock textures and vista from along the Watarrka Rim Walk
Perhaps a Mains Frog at Kings Canyon brought out by the rain
The Garden of Eden, Kings Canyon, featuring relict cycads.  Note the rain drops on the pool.
A temporary pool on Kings Canyon South rim.  It rained almost continuously for more than two hours while we were hiking along the rim.
Not quail, these are Spinifex Pigeons at Kings Canyon
Panorama of Kings Canyon South Wall vista
A gorgeous Kings Canyon Holly Grevillea

Next week my travels will take me to Vancouver Island in Canada.  I will do one more short post from my latest hiking photos of the Alice Springs area, possibly later this week during a 2,700 km road trip odyssey back to Sydney.  Meanwhile,

Happy trails,

The Vagabond Hiker

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