Grand though some of the famous New Zealand walking trails are, unless you are a serious hiker getting past the treeline seems to present a real problem. For example a couple of days ago Elaine did a 15 mile return hike on the Routburn track from Glenorchy and still failed to clear the trees. Similarly though I haven't done it yet, I have been told that it's also a 7.5 mile hike to clear the trees from the other end of the Routeburn at the Divide. That's 7.5 miles there, 7.5 miles back. Now, impressive though these forests are, dominated by wonderful bryophytes and ferns, and alive with birds, I really did want to try to get above the trees and see some of the alpine flora of New Zealand.
Today we found a route up to The Remarkables Ski area which allowed us to drive up to 1550m with not a tree in sight. From there we then hiked up to Lake Alta at about 1800m, before climbing even further to over 2000m. At this height we were very much in amongst scree and boulders and the there were plenty of alpine flowers about, though I didn't see a single bird.
This is a Lord of the Rings location, Dimrill Dale and the Doors of Durin at the entrance to Moria. "Speak friend and enter", just don't ask me to chuck a stone into the water.....
This I believe is snowy woolyhead Craspedia incana. That's about as good as it's going to get, most other plants I haven't been able to identify with certainty yet but I will endeavor to do so over the next few weeks.
I think that this is a type of hebe but it's unlikely that I'll ever get it to species level from a photo.
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