Waiatoto 
                      (The River of Blood)

No it did not gets its name from the color of the water, but from the bloody battles that took place along its banks.   The Maori (pronounced Merry by the New Zealanders) were the first indigenous people to live on this land.   The Waiatoto River had something of great value to them.   Rocks.   Not just any rocks, but Green Stones, which were obsidian.   Obsidian is a very hard rock that they could make into war making tools.  Green Obsidian is found in droves in this river bed, which drains down from one of NZ's largest mountain, Mt. Aspiring (just a bit over 3000 meters).  

The Waiatoto flows down the northwest side of Mt. Aspiring, then makes a sharp turn to the west where it flows 20 some km to the Tasman Sea.  The picture above is that curve in the river.   It was as far as we could get at this level of water.  The water was clear and light green .   Just beautiful.

We lucked on to a website that described NZ's only Jet Boat tour that would take you from the sea to the Alps.   We could not resist.   Our guide was Ruth, who along with her husband Wayne,  run this river jet boat from Hannah's Clearing on the West Coast just below Haast.  A jet boat has a very shallow draft of less than one ft. and is driven by water sucked in then shot out the back in a jet.   It goes really fast.    Really Fun.

Our Guide Ruth

Ruth started flying when she was in her teens, and ran a bush flying service in NZ for years.  She met her husband, Wayne, while she was flying small planes around NZ, but she sold the business, and they bought this Jet Boat business in Hannah's Clearing.   She exudes confidence when she is flying up or down this river at 50 kph (31 mph) dodging rocks and big logs or snags.  It was a great ride.   But the best part is that she stopped often to explain what we were seeing and the history of the river.  It was a great 3 hours.  

The NZ government runs a Nature Preserve for many km along this river where they have a project to assist the engendered Kiwi birds with the birthing of their eggs.  Kiwi's mate for life and the female lays 3 eggs per year.   But the Stoat's (a small weasel) brought in on British ships in the late 1800's to rid the island of rabbits (which the British also brought to the island), are a vicious little creature that loves Kiwi eggs.   They nearly put the Kiwi into extinction.  The conservation process has been to rid the island of those mean ole Stoat's, and then help and preserve the Kiwi eggs.    Much of that process is going on along the banks of the Waiatoto.   In this preserve alone, they started with two breeding pairs of Kiwis. and are now up to 54 pairs.  Unfortunately for us, the Kiwi is a nocturnal bird, so we wee unable to see any along the banks of the Waiatoto.  

 This waterfall high up the mountain......














Flows into the Waiatoto below.

 

There was one other couple on the boat with us, Alan and Suzanne from Te Anau, New Zealand.   They were a very nice couple and fun to be with.   They invited us to their home in Te Anau, which is on our agenda in 10 days as we get to the very south part of the island.   Cool.   These New Zealanders are a very friendly group, you know.  

The first picture of Ruth above was taken at the mouth of the Waiatoto as it poured into the Tasman Sea.   To be able to run from the ocean 20 km up the river, until rocks prevented us from going further, was really  a great adventure.  

We even spent time on the river bank looking for Green stones.