TRAVEL TALES | NEW ZEALAND

When the Rainbow Shone Bright Above the Rain-Heavy Mountains

And I sat on the beach enjoying my breakfast

I’m bursting with joy. Sitting down by the lake which is calm and flat this morning I admire the rainbow above the mountains. The forest-covered slopes are hanging thick in the rain clouds as moisture is constantly rising from the lush green landscape.

Behind me, the sun is trying to make an appearance in between the clouds scattered across the sky. A flock of seagulls is feasting on the shores of Lake Manapouri just meters from me, totally undisturbed by my presence.

The rainbow stretching across the mountains isn’t a short-lived phenomenon. Unimpressed by the fast-moving clouds the arch is shining throughout the morning hours. Disappearing now and then, he reappears after just a few minutes again.

I sit back down with my cup of tea and a bowl of oats in my hands. My bum is wet from the sand and I don’t mind the short rain shower pouring down on me. There is a tranquility surrounding me that is hard to describe. A silence flowing across the lake, only cut by the distinct cries of the seagulls.

I can hear a soft but constant sound of roaring water. There must be a waterfall on the other side of a lake or a stream entering the water. I lift my head off my notebook and look across the landscape ahead of me.

A handful of families of ducks and geese are crossing the lake in the light of the colorful shining rainbow. Other birds in the forest are slowly waking up chirping and singing in the trees behind me.

I’m still waiting for a kea or a kiwi bird to exit the bushes and come for a drink by the lake but this shows how far I drifted off into dreamland. Though, can anyone blame me for this? Looking up from my journal I soak in the rainbow just rising from the soaked mountains covered in forest again. I should see if a unicorn comes sliding down its arch. It wouldn’t be too unreal.

And with all the meditating and dreaming I come to realize I can’t stay here forever. David has begun packing up our belongings and I should finish my cup of tea and help him break camp.

Just not yet. I will stare a few more minutes at my friend this morning.

The rainbow.

Walking a few meters up the beach, I see our tent underneath the trees at the edge of the forest and behind a line of bushes. It was a good spot for the night. We were protected for the night and had no branches falling down at us during the hours of strong winds. Inspecting and analyzing the area the evening before certainly paid off.

I smile at David and apologize I left him all alone packing up. He waves off and says he’s happy I’m enjoying the morning. Which I did. And still do. It takes us only a few minutes to take down the tent as well and pack everything back into our bags.

Looking back, I make sure we leave nothing behind but footprints.

I ask David if he wants to head back through the forest or along the beach. He opts for the beach and we stop one more time just to pull the rain covers over our packs. It’s just a slight drizzle but I don’t feel like getting our packs wet now.

Walking along the rocky shore of Lake Manapouri, we listen to the birds now fully awake in the forest and reflect on the night by the beach. Yes, we did pick the perfect spot.

It was peaceful, quiet and still protected from all weather elements.

I turn back and stop in my tracks. The rainbow is still there. Almost two hours after I first stepped out of the tent and looked onto the lake. But now, the arch of the rainbow is a lot flatter.

I turn back and face David expressing my thoughts on whether the height of the bow depends on the location of the sun in the sky. David mumbles something he doesn’t know but it should be some complicated connection between angles and positions.

I remain quiet. Isn’t that what I said? Either way, I’m not in for an argument and only mentioned my thoughts wondering if he knew the answer.

Doing research at home I smiled knowing my scientific analysis had come to the right conclusion. The arch of the rainbow indeed is the highest just after sunrise.

The higher the sun climbs on the horizon, the lower the bow of the colored arch will become. And it makes sense. Because yes, this is all about angles and reflections. You must stand in a position with the back to the sun and the rain ahead of you so that the rays of sunshine will reflect in the tiny droplets of water.

And there you go. A rainbow will be formed.

But you probably knew this already.

Back in the forest, we don’t get far before we stop in the middle of the tracks. An incredibly loud and shrieking sound pierces through the stillness of the morning hours in the forest.

We both raise our heads looking up until we see the bird. In the last branches of a tree’s canopy, it sits atop and sends a high-pitched voice through the lush wilderness.

Soon, two other birds arrive and they hop from one branch to another just before the loud shrieking sound appears again. Some kind of mating procedure? David votes for a male bird marking his territory. I wouldn’t deny that. Who else will pull all the attention on himself than a male creature seeking attention?

But I kept that to myself.

We soon took up our pace again listening to the loud voice of this mysterious bird for another few hundred meters because yes, despite the lush vegetation, this creature’s noise traveled far through the temperate rainforest.

A few older trail runners zoom past us on the Kepler Trail making me feel like a nobody again. But then I remember, I’m not here to prove anyone anything. I’m not here to set a new record, I am here to embrace the beauty of New Zealand’s wilderness.

And I can only do that if I walk slowly.

Talking about which. Do you see that bird? David had stopped already pointing at the bushes saying it must be a fantail. He and I only knew about this bird as the guide of our glowworm tour mentioned these quirky birds.

He said they often sit on twigs and branches next to a trail and wait for a hiker to come by and kick off rocks and dirt with each step making the fantail swing down within a second and grab that bug coming to the surface.

Fascinating. A bird that learned to not only adapt to a surrounding where humans take over but also take advantage of it. It must be a smart little creature.

And then I remember the day we turned around in the forest late in the evening when I watched a bird doing that exact thing. Hopping from one twig to a boulder and a rock following my steps up the mountain. It was a fantail looking for food behind my steps. Now, I know.

David says it’s the same bird we heard shrieking earlier but I want to say that one was a lot larger. But who knows? Maybe it is the fantail making such a fuss when a competitor enters his territory. A busy hiking trail seems like a gold mine for birds waiting for bugs to get kicked into their beaks.

Other hikers starting out the trail see us staring into the trees probably thinking what crazy bird watchers we are and just in that moment I realize I probably turned into one.

And you know what? I’m proud of it. There is so much I have learned from taking pictures of birds and watching quirky creatures across the world fly into unknown lands. They are a fascinating and incredibly graceful kind of species gifted with a pair of wings.

Not long after we are back at the car park, throw the backpacks in our vehicle and take off the shoelaces of our hiking boots. It’s been a wonderful hike, an even better morning with the rainbow greeting us and it is not even noon yet.

Driving out of Rainbow Reach, I now have a different understanding of this location. The name of it, it all makes sense. If you stop here with your car you will be able to reach the rainbow within a two-hour hike.

At the end of the lake is a mountain range known for heavy rains, which ensures constant precipitation but doesn’t allow much of the clouds to move a lot further creating a sunny beach in the rain shadow of the hills.

The perfect spot for a rainbow to grow.

And with those thoughts in my mind, we drive across the countryside of Southland and back into Central Otago. We only stopped once for what was supposed to be a light lunch but turned into a heavy burger meal we should have rather shared than doubled up and one more break to enjoy the views of Lake Wakatipu.

Will we be back? You bet we will.

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