Mason Bay

Summer arrived today after weeks of rain, gales and wintry weather that has tourists and locals hankering for some sunshine; just as well my friends from New Plymouth are hardy souls as the weather disrupted their visit from the start. Our Coast to Coast flight to Mason Bay on Saturday 15 November was postponed when gale-force westerlies swept through. Sweet talking to the weather gods by Stewart Island Flights resulted in a calm beach landing at low tide on Monday afternoon instead. A short tramp to the DOC hut where we dropped our packs and then off to explore the dunes whilst the calm and dry weather held.

Low tide mudflats on Paterson Inlet at the entrance to Freshwater River

Freshwater River snaking towards the west coast

Mason Bay Homestead with Big Sandhill behind

Mason Bay view north - Whenua Hou (Codfish Island) is at top left

Beach landing Mason Bay 17 November 2014

Track outside Mason Bay Hut

DOC's Mason Bay Hut - 20 bunk backcountry hut, $5 per person per night

Jen and I tramped to Mason Bay in October 2012 and struck westerly gales and winter temperatures; our attempt to climb Big Sandhill (156m) was thwarted when we were unable to stand up nearer the top so it was strange walking up there late afternoon this time without even a slight breeze. A dotterel with 3 chicks alarmed as we walked over the dunes so gave them a wide berth.

Big Sandhill from Mason Bay Hut

Mason Bay dunes looking southwest to the Ernest Islands

Fab sand formations created by the wind and rain

Native pīngao/pīkao, golden sand sedge, Ficinia spiralis, found on active
sand dunes and endemic to New Zealand

Spot the trampers heading toward Big Sandhill

Follow the footprints - almost at the top

Interesting rocks along the way - this is a big chunk of white marble

Looking from Big Sandhill down to the sea - Ernest Islands are top left, Whenua Hou at top right

Summit pole on Big Sandhill

We knew that there was a track heading from Big Sandhill to the Mason Bay Homestead (ringed at right) so followed our noses until we found it. We chose the left turn at the junction which took us along a rat line back to the DOC hut (ringed at left). There were lots of interesting plants on the dunes and track, including some magnificent clumps of Earina mucronata, bamboo orchid. I'll have to get my books out to identify most of these dune plants - remind me if I forget to do it!

A magnificent clump of bamboo orchid

Close-up of bamboo orchid flower

I could spend weeks exploring Mason Bay; amazing how the plants adapt to the challenging conditions of the windswept dunes. We saw kiwi prints and probe marks in several places and had our fingers crossed that the kiwi would find us that evening. More in the next blog...

Orchids at home - early November

What a busy month! I'm sorry for the break in blogging but hope my adventures in the second half of the month will make up for it. Whilst I process over 500 photos from that, I'll pop up these early November pics of orchids and fungi from around my boundary track.

Earina mucronata (Bamboo orchid) spikes - not quite opened

A clump of Spider orchids

Close-up of Spider orchid

Another Spider orchid - this one with extra long
lateral sepals and petals

Spider orchids by the dozens

Chiloglottis cornuta - not quite open

My Chiloglottis corner - more than 100 covering a 2sq m patch

I'll have to study the spider orchids in greater detail to find the difference between Corybas, Singularybas and Nematoceras - my understanding is that they are all slightly different forms of Corybas but I could very well be wrong!!

I came across three white fungi as I walked around; again, studying fungal forms could be a fulltime job in itself - I so love the diversity of our beautiful world...

Orchids on the way home

What a stunning day today - calm, blue skies and warm temperatures; the perfect day for slow walking home taking photos of the orchids up the Back Road hill. This is the third year that I've weeded the bank; to begin with it was just the dandelions but now a bigger threat is looming with rampant growth of Lotus, a clover-like legume that might be a good pasture grass but it's a jolly nuisance here. The rhizomes grow behind the bank surface so when I pull the roots out the bank collapses too. Short of painting weedkiller on the leaves, I'm not sure how to tackle the problem.

The hill up to my home is about 500m long with a bank on the right hand side for about 400m, then a bank on the left hand side for the last 100m. The vegetation on the bank gets trimmed in late summer or early autumn to retain visibility for drivers and in September the orchids start appearing. Here's a selection...

Flower bud appearing on ?Thelymitra longifolia



This looks like Aporostylis bifolia but there's only one leaf, not two

A group of Pterostylis (greenhood orchids)

Not sure of this one

Close up of greenhood orchid flower

The ants were swarming over the base of the flower above

Another clump of Pterostylis

A slightly different greenhood orchid - perhaps Pterostylis Montana?

Another close-up of greenhood flower

Greenhood flower just starting to form

Corybas (spider orchid) in flower

What a sweetie

Another clump of greenhoods

A mass of spider orchids

Looking down the throat of a spider orchid flower

Close up of Corybas flower

Side view of Corybas flower

Another side view of Corybas flower

A mass of Thelymitra (Sun orchids) - they're later flowering and won't
open if it's not sunny

What's that?

Another month has ticked over but my Blog14\Oct folder on the computer still has a heap of photos that haven't been used yet. I know! I can put them all in a 'What's that' blog!!

I moved a tyre and this 'thing' was underneath - it looked a cross between
a caterpillar and a slug!

Practising close-up photography on a mozzie

Pink fungi on the underside of a rotting branch - it looks like candyfloss

Close-up of above

Spider and shadow

The worm was under the same tyre as the first photo - its skin had
these lovely iridescent colour

Hissing longhorn beetles - see http://naturewatch.org.nz/observations/1034336

Hissing Longhorn (Tetrorea cilipes)

Close-up of Hissing Longhorn (Tetrorea cilipes)

A beautiful Southern Moon Moth (Dasypodia selenophora)

Underside of Southern Moon Moth

 

Close-up of the 'eye' on the Southern Moon Moth wing