Tue, Dec 17 - Hiking in Arthur’s Pass National Park

Geoff made us scrambled eggs from their own cute chooks (hens) out back with their homemade bread and intense local raspberry jam; Renee had already left for her job as a park ranger manning the Visitor’s Center.

Christmas baking at the B&B

We drove into the park and stopped at the Dobson Nature Walk and set off on the short trail through tussock grasses mixed with a lovely array of other alpine flowering plants.  Among many others we saw Mountain Flax, tiny orchids, daisies, and the glorious Mt. Cook Buttercup, the largest ranunculus in the world with saucer-shaped leaves up to ~one foot in diameter!

Mountain Daisy, Celmisia sp.

Mt. Cook Buttercup, Ranunculus lyalli

R lyallii leaves

We continued down the west side of the pass, stopping to see more Keas loudly squawking, but no other new birds.  We turned around and found ourselves stuck behind an enormous double truck hauling large boulders over the pass!!  In the mountains, of all places, where there’s no shortage of boulders.

Bob directed us to another trailhead, the Bealey Track, that went through a dense woodland of Mountain Beech draped with lichens, the ground covered in mosses, and the whole area seemingly right out of the Hobbit!

Hobbit land

  We walked over a bridge and over boggy land on wooden boardwalks until we reached some large bounders overlooking the small Bealey River where we ate the delicious sandwiches that Geoff had packed for us.  On the way back we finally saw a pair of  Riflemen, tiny round birds that flit around picking insects out of the mosses and whose song is a rapid series of very high pitched clicks. Our 48th new bird!  As we left I noticed very tiny (~1” diameter plants) bright red sundews.

Tiny Sundew, Drosera spatulata (?)

Mistletoe

We explored a bit more and then returned to our B&B at four to relax. 

 Geoff is cooking us dinner tonight; roast chicken (not their’s, their’s are allowed to retire when they get too old to lay eggs), roast veggies and chili beans.  At seven we gathered for an excellent family-style dinner and then sat around the fire drinking hot chocolate.