This afternoon, after our daily hostel cleaning, Seth and I went out with Michael (the owner of Tailor-Made-Tekapo Backpackers) in his 4WD to Clover Hill, located on the bank of Lake Tekapo. Michael, once a farmer, is a keen birdwatcher and knows quite a bit about plants, animals, and all sorts of other interesting things. He is an intriguing fellow--keeps to himself but has a good sense of humour and a kind demeanour. Clover Hill was just like the rest of this region—flat, dry, and treeless. Michael explained that the reason the land is so dead is because it is very dry. This side of the mountain range only gets about 12-16 inches of rain a year. What little that seems to grow also gets its share of sheep to graze it down!
Michael brought his spotting scope and pointed out some endemic birds—such as paradise shelducks, New Zealand scaups, and rare black stilts (these long-legged black curiosities have been recovering from devastatingly low numbers, with only 23 birds in existence in the early 1980s).
Black stilt (photo from Department of Conservation website)
Being an enthusiastic fisherman, our guide then also pulled out his pole and invited Seth to join him in catching “a wee fish or two.” Michael started it off and only a minute or two later reeled in a large brown trout (an introduced species, of course). It weighed in at 4.25lb and was 22inches long. Seth had his turn, but no luck.
When we returned to the hostel Michael gave us his trout and even gutted it for us (which we had no idea how to do) then gave us a lemon and fennel from his garden to cook it with. The fish was very good, though it was a little strange to eat something I watched die just an hour or so ago.
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