He has walked more than halfway past the 64km long Lake Te Anau which he will round before heading towards the Te-Anau Milford highway, his final destination. However, it was unclear how much longer his journey would take, given the variables of the weather and terrain. The weather had holed him up in a hut in recent days, with his Friday Facebook post saying the Fiordland rain was proving its reputation, “being both relentless and apparently inexhaustable”. He had taken a short side trip down to Hankinson Hut for the night, where there was heavy rain and gale winds and the Wapiti River was a “brown muscled beast writhing past the hut”.
Another serious threat is the disease toxoplasmosis, spread through cat faeces and washed into the ocean. MĀUI63 believes that by identifying and locating individual dolphins, decisions can be made to protect them. Co-founder Dr Rochelle Constantine, who has been studying marine mammals for 25 years, says the dolphins are “our most urgent conservation problem”.
UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND
MÄui are the world s rarest and smallest dolphin. “We currently don’t have a robust understanding about Māui dolphin distribution, particularly during winter months and at different times of the day and night,” she said. “Of critical importance for conservation, we don’t know how often dolphins use some areas that fishers are operating in, which is where there could be remaining risk of entanglement.”
Jones, on his One in the Wilderness Facebook page, posted on Thursday night he was preparing for his next leg to Lake Manapouri. He had made good progress on the opening six days, especially as the terrain had been “twice as hard as expected”. He began the journey on February 6 by walking 8.5 hours to Teal Bay hut on Lake Hauroko, where he stayed with five hunters for the night. This was followed by a 12-hour trek on Sunday which was very slow initially due to having to bash through scrub to access the Princess Mountains. He camped under a tarn underneath Helena Peak with “incredible” views out to sea.
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Nugget Point in the Catlins is a must-visit stop on the Southern Scenic route and offers spectacular panoramic views.
Are your summer holidays at an end and are you already dreaming of your next trip, perhaps during the next school holidays or the next time you can squeeze in a long weekend? When the leaves on the trees begin to change colour and the magnificent mountains are lightly dusted with the season s first snow, it s a perfect time to set out on one of New Zealand s most wonderful adventures. The 600-kilometre Southern Scenic Route is a leisurely drive, which takes in five provinces and promises a host of experiences you ll never forget.