11. Mistletoe at Christmas
It was my week out and after the helicopter flight and boat ride across the lake to Te Anua Downs, I finally got to my car with another lodgee, who was also on their week out. I had offered to drive him to Queenstown but first we had to walk with our packs on our backs from the jetty to where the car was parked some fifteen minutes away, and in the heavy rain.
We were about to start walking when the Captain of the boat offered to drop us off at the entrance and we gratefully accepted!. Once there, we walked down the gravel path to where I parked the car some six weeks earlier.
It was pouring with rain and I was feeling a little nervous as to whether my car would start. The battery had been disconnected to ensure it didn't run out of charge. The park is in the middle of nowhere so the safest bet is to disconnect and reconnect the battery when out. I approached the car, I pulled out a crescent then realised I didn’t know how to open the bonnet unless I first got into the car. The remote I had was just an electric button I thought. Fortunately the other lodgee looked at my keys and showed me how there was a small lever that released the key within. The key went into the door lock and when it opened, I reached in and pulled open the bonnet then threw our very wet packs on the back seat.
I knew very little about batteries and what is negative and positive, but I could see a loose cable and I used the crescent to tighten the nut before giving the thumbs up to the lodgee who was now in the drivers seat.
"Nothing!" he shouted over the rain.
Had I tightened it correctly, I wondered? The lodgee got out of the car and took the crescent and retightened the nut and this time I tried starting the car. Nothing. The rain was relentless and by now we were saturated and cold.
The lodgee came around to the door and was scratching his head. "The wipers are working so there must be power." After a moment he lit up and told me to put the key in!
I had no idea there was a place for the key to "go in" but I looked where a key would normally be in a non-push-start car and there was a slot. I slid the key in and tried the push button again. Vrrrrrmmmm!
We slap our wet palms together with a high-five and he closed the bonnet before jumping into the passenger seat. "Let's go!" he laughed.
"Man, that was intense!" I told him with a sign of relief before I drove the car out of the paddock, up the gravel driveway and onto the main road.
I drove for about two hours before dropping him off at his hostel in Queenstown and I continued on for 50 minutes or so to Cromwell. I felt so grateful to have a place to stay with friends as I was utterly exhausted by this stage. It was early evening and I hadn't eaten, but I was too tired to do anything but shower and roll into bed.
I had woken early the following morning after a deep sleep and decided to hit the road early. I was expecting to drive to Christchurch and it was a good five to six hour drive.
It was a sunny warm day and the feeling of freedom was slowly settling into my tired bones. I don't have to do anything or be anything or say anything I don't want to for the next six days, I thought to myself. Amen! I drove for a couple of hours or so, stopping to take photos when I wanted until I suddenly saw the sign to Lake Ohau. I immediately thought of the guide who had told me I would find mistletoe there.
Without further thought I turned left and drove 25km down a long straight road to Lake Ohau village. The view ahead was so stunning, my thoughts dried up and I watched in silent awe at the beautiful view as I drove towards the mountains. The landscape was barren flat land leading up to striking blue mountains.
The village sat on a small hill and I decided to take a quick drive to see where the devastating bush fire took place a few years back. It had burned many of the mostly-holiday homes but now there were new homes built or being built.
I stopped the car and got out to sit on a picnic table which looked out across the lake below. In the very distance was Mt Cook with its snow-capped peak just visible behind some closer mountains. There was an inscription on the chair to a lady who had lived and died there and I wondered if I could live in such a remote but stunning place. I'd get lonely.
Lupin had been flowering along the main road starting from near Cromwell and there was lupin flowering here as well. Pretty shades of purple, pink and white flowers splashed along the shoreline and even though it is an exotic weed, it made the epic view even prettier. I continued on until I found the lodge and got out of the car once I found the entrance.
There was a young lady juggling two calls on the telephone and a walkie radio and she smiled when I walked in. I looked around and immediately sensed the familiarity of "hospo" with the smell of stale beer, dining tables all made up ready for the night's guests, and I could hear the clanking noise from the nearby kitchen.
"Can I help you?" I swung around and faced the lady who was now standing at the reception desk.
"Yes. Um... where can I find mistletoe around here?" I asked her with a blank face. I mean, who even asks that question? I could feel myself go as red as a mistletoe but she laughed and called out on the radio to her colleague. I heard him reply that he was on a break but she insisted that he would want to come to reception.
I expected moments to pass but he literally popped his head around the door and when I repeated my question, he visibly became excited.
"Oh.... its the best year ever! I've never seen it flowering so much. Just keep driving until you reach gravel road and you will not need to go far before you see it. It's beautiful!"
I thanked him profusely before getting back into the car and finding the long awaited mistletoe just minutes later. Before I left he had told me that the epiphyte mistletoe grows on the silver beech trees here and unlike overseas mistletoe, do not harm their host.
The splash of red was very evident as I drove down the road with the native bush on my left and the lake on my right. A large beech tree was near the side of the road and a low hanging branch hovered over the road. I stopped the car and very excitedly jumped out with the camera in my hand.
Fallen red mistletoe petals and stamen littered the ground below and I wondered how long it had been flowering for. I climbed the small embankment to get closer to the plant and realised the low-hanging branch was actually the mistletoe. I guessed the plant had been there for many years and noticed its root system had wound itself around many of the branches of the beech. It takes four or five years for mistletoe to develop into a mature tree and prior to that, they are very vulnerable to possums who eat their leaves, flowers and fruit. Thanks to the possum, deforestation and fewer tuis and bellbirds, the plant has been in decline, even as recently as the1990's where some mistletoe species are now listed as endangered and one species is already extinct.
It was the best Christmas present ever to be standing under a flowering mistletoe. I had wanted to see one with my own eyes for years now. I followed the roots as they twisted around the silver beech branches and watched as the tiny black lassioglossum sordidum native bees darted in and out of the flowers.
Canterbury University has been conducting research at Lake Ohau for several yars and it was there that they discovered that our native bees were opening the buds themselves. Scientists initially thought only birds like the tui and bellbird could open the flower buds of the mistletoe but this clever little bee has found a way to open them and drink the nectar, taking the pollen with them and transferring it to the next flower.
The lassioglossum use their mandibles to bite the end of the bud and push with their legs to open the bud, which are about five times the length of the bee. It doesn't always work but when they bite in the right place, the bud pops open to reveal the harvest.
No other bee anywhere else in the world has been shown to be able to open large explosive bird-adapted flowers. Just how the bee learned to do this is the wonder of co-evolution.
It is good news for the mistletoe and the more we learn about this relationship between the native bee and mistletoe, the more likely we can help with increasing its numbers again, although we still need the birds to disperse the seeds.
Interestingly, I saw many honey bees drinking the nectar of the already open flowers and I have to wonder if they can learn the trick from the native bees in time. There were also a couple of bumble bees on the flowers no doubt drinking the nectar from opened flowers as well. The humming sound coming from the tree sounded so magical.
Maori call mistletoe pikirangi which translates "climbing to the sky" and as I looked up at the tree, it really did look like the flowers were climbing up into the sky. Being an epiphyte, the seed is taken by a bird, like tui and bellbird, and dropped into the tree where it begins its life. Mistletoe therefore is usually found high up in the tree's canopy and unless you were looking up, you would never see its pretty flowers.
New Zealand is home to eight unique species, three of which are called the "beech mistletoes" because they grow mostly in southern beech forests.
In the Lake Ohau area there is the red mistletoe (Peraxilla tetrapetala which has bright red flowers and insect galls (bumps) on its leaves. There is also Scarlet mistletoe (peraxilla colensoi) that is similar to red but has larger leaves and flowers, and yellow mistletoe (Alepis flavida) which has small yellow-orange flowers.
After I visited a number of mistletoe trees, getting in and out of my car numerous times, I decided that I had seen both red and scarlet mistletoe but despite my best efforts, didn't find any yellow. There are more rare and endangered species that have green and white flowers but not here.
I watched a car drive past towing a boat so I followed it into a DOC park. There were three campervans parked up and after I looked at the time and saw I had lost a couple of hours with my mistletoe exploration, I decided to pitch a tent and stay the night. I found the perfect spot under a beech tree with flowering mistletoe and I watched as the sun went down over the lake and felt so incredibly happy.
I was walking along the lake shore admiring the crystal clear water when I bumped into a heavily bearded bush-looking man. He introduced himself and I realised that I had met his wife and child earlier when I first arrived. He suggested that I follow the road to the end in the morning as I would see even more mistletoe.
It was still bright at 7pm but the wind had picked up so I decided to have an early night. I zipped up the tent before getting into my sleeping back and zipping it right up to my neck. I was on a thin air mattress but felt warm and comfortable as I drifted into a long and much needed sleep.
The following day I drove to the end of the road as the Aussie guy suggested. I stopped at The Temple campsite and did a quick walk through the bush. I sighted more red flowering mistletoe amongst the beech forest. I drove to the very end of the open road and if I had a four-wheel drive, I could have carried on to historic Red Hut... but I was keen to get up to Christchurch and see my daughter. The dramatic mountains were so close and thick snow covered the peaks and valleys. The wind was cool and the morning air crisp and clean. It was an awe-inspiring moment and I vowed to come back and stay in that hut one day.
Along the way back, I saw some beehives along the road and later a truck with beehives on it was driving towards me. I motioned for it to stop and spoke with the young beekeeper. I asked him what the bees were collecting and he replied manuka, of course. I told him how I saw the bees on the mistletoe and he was surprised. It was his parent's business and he was helping them out. “It's hard to make a crust these days in the beekeeping industry, he said. The marketing of manuka over the years has almost turned it into a single honey industry but I would love to try mistletoe honey.” he continued. “I know it would taste so sweet!”
It was the best experience ever - mistletoe, native bees, camping. Loved it!