Glenorchy to Paradise

It was a chilly night where I was camping, so I hit the snooze alarm a couple extra times to stay cozy for a little longer. I heard someone drive up and figured they were probably going to hike the Glacier Burn trail that started where I was camping. I could hear them getting packs ready. I wasn’t curious enough to get out of my warm cocoon for a look. Then I heard a motorized racket from the meadow opposite the campground and I just had to take a peek and see what was up. A helicopter had landed and it was picking up the “hikers”. Apparently they were going Heli-Hiking. The probably got dropped off in the high country and are hiking their way back down.

Well, since I was finally up, and the weather was very nice again, I took off to explore the area between Glenorchy and Paradise. I stopped frequently along the way for the spectacular mountain views. When I got to Paradise, I decided to press on and took the road all the way to the end at Chinaman’s Bluff. There were dire warnings on signs along the way about the condition of the road and how many places you had to ford deep streams that have no bridges. I was concerned for awhile, but it turns out that the road was fine, and I didn’t have to ford any streams that came up even close to the windows, so no problem. I think they were just trying to scare people off. That’s fine by me. I even went well beyond where the 4x4 photo tour vehicles had stopped. At the end of the road is a nice campground and a trail going way up the Dart River. I walked up the trail for about an hour and found some more nice scenery.


Last night, there was a beautiful sunset with alpenglow on the mountain tops. I just opened a window on the side of the motorhome and shot from there (didn’t want to put my shoes back on).


There were some clouds early this morning and as they burned off I had this “window” of a mountain peak.


This was just before I left my campsite.


On the road between Kinloch and Glenorchy.


The Dart River coming out of the mountains that were my destination for the day.


This is one of the warning signs at the start of the Glenorchy-Paradise Road. They surely don’t mean me!


I think there must be some sort of a law in New Zealand that you must have a mountain view at your farm.


The sheep stick their heads through the fences to eat grass on the other side (it’s greener, don’t ya know), and they loose a little bit of wool in the process. You could make a sweater just by picking wool from a fence.


This little lamb has had enough grass and wants some milk now.


Along the way.


This is at the end of the road. From here I go on foot.


This meadow is about a mile across.


The trail re-enters the forest after crossing most of the meadow.


This is on the trail through the forest.


Hey, I haven’t photographed a fern for a couple days. I’ll have to do something about that!


It’s springtime in the Southern Alps, so lots of new growth.


Lots of really big trees in this part of the forest. This is all part of Mount Aspiring National Park.


This view is what I was trying to get on my hike. The trail doesn’t come down to the river, so I had to blaze my own way down.


This view is from the same place, just looking downstream instead of upstream.


This is another spot I had to bushwhack my way down to.


This is the floodplain of the Dart River on my way back down to the big meadow.


This is Paradise. They even clearly marked it with a sign. If you are a Jihadist and reading this, here is where you will go and those white fluffy things in the field are the virgins they promised you. Hope you don’t get a rug burn.


More new leaves budding out near Glenorchy.


Crossing the Dart River near Glenorchy.