As luck would have it, there was lightning, thunder and a hard rain when we awoke at 6:00 am on Sunday morning, January 13th . At 7:30 I called the tour company thinking surely they would cancel our morning trip to Mou Waho Island. I was told that “it was clearing up.” I asked him if he was on the same island as I was, as it was pouring at our hotel, and he said, “oh yes, the sun is beginning to shine.” Despite our skepticism, we went to the dock anyway and met up with Chris Riley, Eco Wanaka, the owner and guide. He convinced us that the weather would improve so we decided to hop on his boat along with a Canadian family of three which was about the maximum number of passengers the boat would hold.
Chris was correct about the weather which turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day and we were so glad we didn't cancel! This was one of our favorite excursions so far in the two weeks we had now been in New Zealand. It is hard to see, but there is a magnificent rainbow over the mountains.
Chris is absolutely terrific! His knowledge, enthusiasm, stories and energy made for a wonderful five hours.
After a somewhat short boat ride dodging the tree branches and logs in the water we arrived at Mou Waho Island where we began the trek to the top of a small mountain whose peak was 450 feet.
The hike was great with Chris telling us about the island’s history. There was a boat-builder settler who lived there during the 1860 gold prospecting times who made a small fortune building large sailboats he sold to the gold miners. He lived and built his boats on the island as it had the timber he needed and the mainland didn’t as it had been deforested by the Maori.
Chris showed us the plants and fauna on the way up,
and when we got to the top he showed us an amazing lake, quite large, fed only by rainfall. The secret of the island is that is an island with a lake that has an island in the lake. There we had some tasty tea and biscuits.
After a few minutes two very curious Buff Weka birds came out to see us up close. Wekas are a rare native flightless bird previously extinct on mainland NZ until it was reintroduced to Mou Waho Island. They are nosey curious birds and on this small island have no predators. There were 15 placed on the island and now they are thriving. Of course, Chis knew some of the older birds by name. The one in the photos is Sally.
Chris has a real passion and enthusiasm for preserving the environment. He grew up on a farm in the North Island, worked around the world as a scuba diver and photographer and sailed an 82 foot sailboat to Alaska and did ice diving in the Arctic where he was photographing icebergs.
The entire hike was punctuated by some fabulous views of Lake Wanaka.
Every trip Chris brings to this island he plants a native tree so we held our tree-planting ceremony at water's on our way back to the boat.
Before returning to Wanaka, we motored past some cascading waterfalls.
It was a great morning.
The last photo is one we took of Mou Waho island later in the day on our high country farm life excursion. Jerry took this photo with his Canon G11. Its almost surreal. Doesn't it remind you of The Hobbit?
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