TRIP REPORT : Summer Camp – Rakiura National Park / Stewart Island and Catlins, eastern Otago

28 December 2006 – 11 January 2007y 2007

Thirty-nine members of the Wellington and Otago Botanical Societies joined in all or part of this trip.   We spent eight days on Stewart Island based in Oban and a further six days based at the Tautuku Outdoor Education Centre in the Catlins.

On Stewart Island the party was somewhat spread out each day.

Two groups (one of eight and one of nine people) made the tramp between Mason Bay and Freshwater Huts and took in Rocky Mountain, using a water taxi between Freshwater and Oban and flying between Mason Bay and Invercargill.

Sixteen of the party chartered the catamaran Aurora for the day to visit Port Pegasus and botanise ashore in North Arm and the sub-alpine flora on the track to the base of Bald Cone.   Four people climbed Mt Anglem.   Every one spent a day on Ulva Island, some returning for a second day.

Around Oban individuals visited most of the walks and took in some of the tourist attractions.   These include the highly praised underwater viewing from the glass-sided boat, and some inshore fishing.

In spite of the other attractions, some serious botany was undertaken.   Vascular plant lists have been updated for the following areas :
•   Back Road, Horseshoe Bay
•   Garden Mound
•   Golden Bay Walk – Halfmoon Bay
•   Kaipipi Scenic Reserve
•   Ryan’s Walk – Halfmoon Bay
•   Ulva Island
•   Bald Cone, Port Pegasus
•   Fuchsia Walk, Oban
•   Raroa Walk, Oban
•   Maori Beach Scenic Reserve
•   Mason Bay to Freshwater Hut
•   Mt Aglem Track
•   Rocky Mountain, Stewart Island

We enjoyed the varied flora in the areas visited.   However we were dismayed at the lack of many species in the forest.   Close to human habitation, edible species such as fuchsia, five-finger, pate, mahoe, Raukaua edgerleyi and lemonwood were plentiful, forming a “green wall” at the sides of tracks.   Elsewhere these were almost absent leaving an understorey of crown fern and Coprosma foetidissima with no young trees such as kamahi and Griselinia littoralis.   We also noted that there is virtually no epicormic growth on the mature Griselinia littoralis.   Quite what the deer are living on now is open to question.

Of the sites visited only on Ulva Island was there a substantial understorey.   Even here, after more than 25 years without deer browsing, the understorey and regeneration is not fully restored.

On the way to Tautuku most of the party visited Curio Bay to see the fossilised remnant of forest, and some visited other reserves.   Over the next five days we visited local reserves and observed the penguins at Nugget Point.   On the last day most of us walked the two northern sections of the Catlins River Walk.   Members of the party often went to different sites so that at the end of the stay we were able to update the vascular plant lists for the following locations :
•   McLean Falls
•   Tautuku Nature walk
•   Tautuku Beach dunes
•   Tautuku Peninsula cliffs
•   Tahakopa Coach and Circle walks
•   Shanks’s Bush QEII, Papatowai
•   Cathedral Caves – Waipati Beach
•   Lake Wilkie, Tautuku Bay
•   Catlins River Walk

Many of us took advantage of the DOC Summer Programme and attended a lecture by Fergus Sutherland at the Owaka Community Hall.   He spoke on the geology of the Catlins, which gave a new perspective on the landscape and generated some discussion in the following days.

Allison, supported by John Knight, gave an evening PowerPoint presentation “Co-evolution in the Galapagos Islands”.   This gave an interesting coverage of the reptiles, birds and plant and their interaction.   It brought home the impact of environment on the evolution of divergent species.

Leaving Tautuku Outdoor Centre on 11 January quite a few of us visited Nugget Point, and one group spent a few hours at Awikiwi Reserve south of Balclutha.

Participants :   Bev Abbott, Ted Abraham, Margaret Aitken, Beth Andrews, Robyn Bridges, Rita Chin, Barbara Clark, Gael Donaghy, Audrey Eagle, Ian and Jill Goodwin, Bryan and Robin Halliday, Barbara Hammonds, Richard and Margaret Herbert, Chris Horne, Graeme Jane, Allison and John Knight, Gordon and Sheelagh Leary, Rodney Lewington, Barbara and Kaaren Mitcalfe, Donella, Peter and Freya Moss, Mick Parsons, Emil Schmieg, Darea Sherratt, Robyn Smith, Val Smith, Alf and Kirsa Webb, Yvonne Weeber.

Rodney Lewington

A Stewart Island delight: usually an unseen forest

Some of us were fortunate enough to experience a forest without the usual emergents, canopy trees and shrublands.   The sky was not the limit for the ‘tree tops’ – it was the surface of the sea that restricted any emerging.

A comfortable way to explore this forest was in a boat with sloping windows that enable you to see sideways and below.   With the engine silenced, we drifted through a soundless forest of bladder kelp fronds.   They appeared to dance as they bowed to the current’s whim.   The beauty of the motion was enhanced by the glowing, warm, apricot-shaded light shining through the semi-transparent kelp.   The surrounding water was in shades of aquamarine, a colour no human hand could duplicate as background scenery to a choreographic display.

Further down, the eye followed the swaying stems or ‘trunks’ of the kelp forest to where they were rooted in the gleaming white sand, ten or so metres below.   There a shrubland of gently waving, brilliant green, sea-lettuce added yet another colour treat to the scene.   We felt transported to another world of graceful movement, form, and magical colour.   It was certainly a highlight for this plant enthusiast!   Oh yes, there were fish, a few large ones in the depths, and small butterfly fish flitting among the ‘tree-tops’.

Audrey Eagle