Ferry to SI

From Wellington, I took the ferry over to the South Island. If the weather is decent you can see the SI from the NI. After arriving in Picton, I immediately headed down to Kaikoura. It is a beautiful small town surrounding a clean sandy bay and surrounded on all sides by mile high mountains. Here is a picture from the hostel where I was staying. I was only here 24 hours, but I wish I could have stayed longer.

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The Beehive

Here is the funny looking Prime Minister's office in Wellington.

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Dolphin Swimming

One of my top experiences here was to go dolphin swimming in Kaikoura. Kaikoura is famous for its marine life because there is a deep continental shelf quite close to shore. People come here to go whale and dolphin watching. I chose to go swimming with dolphins.They make no guarantee that you will see any dolphins and it could have been called off due to the violent windstorm the night before, but at 5:30 am, we were meeting for an early morning swim. We had safety instructions and put on thick wetsuits to guard against the cold. After a 30 minute boat trip, the captain spotted dolphins and told us to hop in.

Immediately there were dusky dolphins visible. The water is perfectly clear and a pair of doplhins approached from my left and swam to within a meter of me! They circled around and swam past. They are approximtely my height and weight, but curiously enough, they swim much faster than I can. With no effort at all, they would race up, look me in the face, and race off. At times they would just a couple feet away and I could see every crease and scar on them. Other times they would swim well below me to the point I could barely make them out. That was quite amazing as well because I could see their progress better from a distance and because their depth emphasized both how huge the ocean is and how fantastic they are at swimming.

It is hard to estimate how long we were in the water because the time flew by. I didn't notice the cold water at all. We hopped in and out at different spots a few times. I think we went for four swims and were in the water for at least half an hour. During that time I saw many dozens of dolphins. At one point a pod of 20 or 30 swam up from behind me and passed all around me like a logging truck heading uphill. It was great to get that dolphin-eye view of the pod and also to see how quick they are.

One of the fun parts of the experience is that the dolphins are free to come and go. All the birds and bats I catch decidedly do not want to be caught or to have anything to do with me, but the dolphins don't mind us, as long as we play nice. They are not fed or trained or anything. They just like to come and laugh at us.

After the swimming, we followed around a pod of 500 dolphins and watched them jump and splash. They did lots of leaps, full sumersaults, and lots of fancy tail-slapping maneuvers. It was a fantastic display. I didn't have an underwater camera, and it was hard to take pictures of leaping dolphins from a moving boat on a moving sea, but I got a few. It really was as cool as you could possibly imagine.

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Otago Wind

Besides great wildlife, the other thing Dunedin and Otago have to offer is WIND.



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Otago Penninsula

From the Scottish-founded Dunedin (edin, as in Edinburgh) one of the top attractions is the wildlife of the Otago Penninsula. This area was popular with Maori for the sea lions that they hunted to extinction (from NZ, not from Earth) and then with Europeans who hunted fur seals to near-extinction. More recently, protection for both animals have seen them return to NZ. Here are fur seals hauled out on the rocks. You might have to look twice to spot them, but there are at least three in this photo.



This little guy is a yellow eyed penguin, the rarest penguin in the world with only about 600 breeding pairs. They actually like to nest in forests and have been found up to 2 kilometers inland. Like everything else here, they have been decimated by introduced predators who destroy the eggs. Here is a better pic and more info. This guy is not trying to fly, but rather to cool off by increasing his surface area as much as possible. We humans were wearing fleece to keep the cool out, but penguins don't usually get cold. The more entertaining part was watching them come in from the sea in the evening. They are a abit skittish of sea lions and so they waddle back and forth for a while before making a break for the scrub. Quite funny. New Zealand also is home to the smallest penguin in the world, the blue penguin. I saw one, but could not get a photo, so here is one for you.


The aforementioned sea lions that keep penguins on their toes and fur seals safely on rocks can be seen here. We got much closer to them because they are not too shy. You don't have to be when you weigh 1000 pounds. There were 6 males on the beach and they spent their time huffing and lunging at each other. They are huge and strong and yet could move quickly as they sparred with each other.


On the same trip I also went to the Royal Albatross center. This is the only mainland spot in the world where albatross nest, so it is an ideal spot to see them. Royal albatross have the largest wing span in the world at about 12 feet. It helps to get close to appreciate how large that is. They dwarf the seagulls. These birds only breed every other year because it takes over a year to raise a chick. I asked some German guy to take a picture of me and the cliffs just so I would have a picture even though there were no albatross around at that moment. Then, after he took the photo I saw that an albatross had just flown into the frame as he took the shot, so now I have a really good picture.

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Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island (350,000 I think), positioned halfway down on the east coast. It is a really attractive city, although I am not sure how much there is to actually do. I enjoyed the giant Hagley Park, where I saw people playing cricket (pic below, cricket explained here) and punts (gondolas) plying the waters of the picturesque Avon River. It also has a number of museums and outlets for arts and crafts. There is a suburb called Sumner which has a really nice beach and some short hikes, which is where I saw this mass gathering of sailboats. I don't know what that was about, perhaps some sail boat mating ritual. Additionally, the Banks Peninsula extends into the sea from Christchurch. It is supposed to be a really nice place to visit, but there are fewer transportation options, and I didn't really have time.

Christchurch

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Rain Forest

I don't know if I have made it clear how green New Zealand bush is. I have been working in the pine forests, which aren't that green, but if you find virgin space, it is like a rain forest. This is a picture of a tree truck. This growing tree has numerous ferns, mosses, liverworts, club mosses, lichens, grasses, and even smaller trees growing all over its sides. Every tree, stone, log, bank, and slow-moving animal is covered with green stuff.

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Fantail

On the same bat hunting trip, I also saw some great local birds. The fantail is, like the New Zealand robin, not shy around people. They catch flying insects in the air, which means they are extremely acrobatic flyers. To hunt them, they open up their tail like a fan, spread their wings, and hop around to scare up insects. The tail is white and bigger than the rest of the bird so they are visually quite impressive. They are easy to see because people scare up insects so
they will follow people around when they are hunting. However, they are rather difficult to photograph because they are constantly twitching and moving. I have taken at least 100 photos and this is the only good one. He is perched on katote fronds. Enjoy.

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Keruru

I also saw a large group of keruru on the tramp. They look like grossly overweight pigeons and they can open their mouth like the Reach Toothbrush guy so they can eat large fruit and nuts. They are very important seed dispersers because no other birds here can eat the largest fruits. They, like most other birds have been severely reduced by introduced predators, but there were a lot in this area.



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Bats Again

Before I left Kaingaroa I took a fantastic tramping trip. I was looking for short-tailed bats, which is the extremely unusual tunnelling variety they have here. I had looked before without finding any, so this time I went down the east valley of the Whirinaki, based on some advice from a conservation officer. I headed out in the afternoon, and as it got dark, I turned on the bat detector. At 8:30, I finally heard a bat arrive and soon there were a number of them feeding around me. I could hear a number of feeding buzzes, but it was so dark under the canopy that I couldn't see any. I tried flicking on my light and I clearly saw one fly by about 10 feet away! It was very lucky. After an hour, I headed back, and while walking, I had one more bat fly through my light about 3 feet away. These bats are not that well known and few New Zealanders have seen or heard one, so it was a great find.



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Fishing and Bats

In the evening, after we went looking for kiwi, I went fly fishing for the first time. It is a little tricky, but Gareth was coaching me and I generally hit the water with the fly. The motion is not too complicated, although you have to be patient with your timing. The harder part is controlling line tension with your left hand. And if you want to catch anything, you have to have a good knowledge of fish behavior, which I don't. Of course I didn't catch any fish, but I also didn't catch any branches or rocks, so that was pretty good. Gareth said it was quite good for a first effort. The picture is a rainbow trout that Gareth caught on another fishing trip. Poss, the fellow in the back, cooked the fish for one of the freshest, yet least hygenic meals I have ever eaten. No ill effects though.

Then, still on the same day, I took a bat detector to fields below Minginui and I found long-tailed bats foraging for insects. I had already looked a few times, but never found any. It was cool to learn they were there, especially since bats are the only native land mammals in New Zealand and their population status is not well known. On a day like this, with three major firsts, I know I am making the most of my time here.



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Kiwi!!!

A couple weeks ago, on one of my last days in Kaingaroa, I had an exceptional day. During the day, I went out with Andy and Bob tracking kiwi, which was fantastic. As I mentioned earlier, kiwi populations are down 99%, with introduced predators being a major problem for these flightless birds. However, research has shown that after they reach 2 pounds (adults are 5 pounds), they are generally tough enough to defend themselves against stoats, weasels, opposums, and cats. Therefore, in order to help them, conservation officers remove eggs from wild nests and rear them in captivity, releasing them after they reach two pounds.

On this day we went looking for a five month old female, Meme, who was released a month prior and weighs about 2.5 pounds. Since she is radio tagged, Bob and Andy quickly found her and then checked her health. Before letting her go, I got to hold her. When Andy handed Meme to me, she struggled for a few seconds and then gave up. I was holding her like a baby, and after about 10 seconds her head and long bill started to slowly sink backwards and then she fell asleep with her little tiny wing-stumps hanging out. She was sleepy because they are nocturnal animals and she was probably calm because she has been handled before. When kiwi are stressed they lose copious amounts of feathers, but she didn't seem to drop any. Her feathers felt surprisingly like fur and she was as cute as a button. It was quite a rare privilege.

Shhhh! Sleeping Kiwi.

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Meme says "hello".

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Mt Ruapehu

On the way to Tongariro is the snow-clad Mt Ruapehu at about 9000 ft, which was Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings movies. This last erupted in 1996.

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Tongariro Crossing

Before I left the North Island, Shane and I did the Mt Tongariro Crossing, which is one of the eight Great Walks in New Zealand. It is a 10 mile walk, but there is a very steep 3000 ft ascent (The Devil's Staircase) that made it kind of difficult. Nonetheless, it was a great walk, with perfect weather. The walk is a little south of Turangi in the center of the island, and it was clear enough to see Mt Tarakani, which is on the west coast. It is the green circle south of New Plymouth on the map. The pictures are in reverse chronological order.

This is the departing view of the Red Crater in the foreground with Mt Ngauruhoe in the back and part of Tongariro on the right. The sign said that if you fall in the Red Crater, you won't come back out. When we were on the ridge to the right, at the top of the mountain, there was steam rising out of the ground, which was quite hot. It was a bit unexpected and a reminder that these are active volcanoes.



Here we are standing near the Red Crater and looking down on the blue and green lakes. The lakes are cold and nothing lives in them, but they are pretty colors due to dissolved minerals.


On our way to the peak, we walked across this volcanic crater that is on the shoulder of Tongariro. The mountain used to be 50% taller before this eruption. I forget when that was, but it was centuries ago.


After the painful Devil's Staircase, but before ascending Tongariro, we stopped at the base of Mt Ngauruhoe. My book calls it "the most dispiriting walk in the country" so we just admired it from below.

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Go Duke!

Congrats to the Duke Blue Devils for winning the ACC Tournament for the sixth time in seven years with an outstanding victory over Georgia Tech. Woo hoo!

Wellington

Wellington really reminds me of San Francisco, although I have never been to San Francisco. It is a city of 400,000 on a bay, with much of the city build on steep hillsides. There are a lot of roads that are shockingly steep and extremely winding. The most central part is built on reclaimed land, so it is flat and pedestrian friendly. It is a pretty walkable and attractive with lots of small shops and restaurants. My guide book says it has more restaurants per person than NYC. It also has quite a centralized nightlife area, much more so than DC. Overall, the capital of NZ seems like quite a nice place to be.

May 3 Update: Now that I have been to San Francisco, I can say that the two cities are pretty different. For one thing, San Francisco is much much larger and more urban than Wellington. SF is also much more vibrant, ethnic, and diverse with it's large Chinatown, Hispanic Mission district, plus Little Italy in North Beach, Japantown, and the hippie and gay neighborhoods, to go with the modern downtown financial district. SF also has about 1000 homeless people for every one in Wellington. I have been in some big American cities (foreign ones too) and I have never seen as many homeless people, although very few ask for money. The other difference that I noticed right away is the colorful wooden Victorian homes that are so widespread in SF. I think most of Wellington was built much more recently, plus no self-respecting Kiwi man would live in a pink or powder blue house. The only thing that I was initially correct about, is that both have lots of hills and a bay that is too cold for swimming.

Kiwi Parliment

I visited the Parliment, both taking a tour, and sitting in the gallery while Parliment was in session. The executive building is known as the "Beehive" because it is this funny rounded building. Directly next to it is the actual Parliment building. The building is "Edwardian Neoclassical" whatever that means. It is a pleasant grey marbley building, but not nearly on the scale of the US Capitol. The debating floor is a rectangle with 120 small desks crammed into the space. While I was there, they were discussing educational testing standards, which has been an ongoing scandel here, plus the 18 month sentance of that Indonesian terrorist, and a new "core benefit" (welfare) plan that is supposed to simplify payments.

Since all questions have to be put to cabinet members, the government (Labour Party,Greens, and Maori Party) gets to control most of the action. Therefore, the opposition (National, NZ First, ACT) mostly just yells and jeers the whole time, since they don't get to make speeches. It was quite entertaining. The PM, Helen Clark was there and I also saw the Rastafarian MP. Security here is a lot more relaxed than the US, although there are metal detectors. I saw Helen walking through the halls before the session, and the guards seemed unarmed.

Perhaps the most interesting bit was to here about the committee meetings. Apparently, that is where a lot of work gets done. The guide said that anyone has the right to address the committees. Obviously, in the US, you have to be invited, but he made it sound like all you have to do to get in here is ask. There is no age limit and you do not even have to be a citizen. There must be more limits if the committee is discussing national security, but it is still an intriguing system.

One last tidbit is that the Parliment is only 400 meters from a major fault line, so the entire building rests of a few hundred lead and rubber pedestals that will dampen any earthquakes.

Pohutukawa

Pohutukawa will grow in amazing places, such as a cliff face in Whakatane.

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The Kiwi Diminutive

People here tend to shorten everything with a y. Sometimes I get thrown off, but less often now.
Brekky = Breakfast
Sunny = Sun glasses
Brolly = Umbrella
Telly = TV
Volly = Volunteer
Uni = University
Trany = Transmitter
Welly = Wellington
Sammy = Sandwich
Toasty = Grilled Sandwich
Mozzy = Mosquito
etc.

The Maori Stutter

I don't know why, but Maori seems to repeat everything. Here are a couple place, plant, animal names:
Pukapuka
Pekapeka
Pekepeke
Huhu
Kaka
Ongaonga
Rewarewa
Tiritiri
Mingimingi
And it goes on and on. I'm sure there is a good reason, but I don't know it.

The Beach

I finally made it to the beach. There is some statistic about how 98% of New Zealanders live within 25 miles of the ocean, or something close to that. However, Kaingaroa is one of the furthest spots from the beach in the country, and I have been working, so I had not been. Shane and I finally got out to Whakatane, on the north shore (but not Northland) east of Coromandal. It is east of Tauranga on this map.

It was only the third time I have seen the Pacific and the first time I have seen the South Pacific, although it is far enough south to be a bit cold, even in summer. Since most people live near the beach, surfing is a major pastime, so I thought I would give it a go. The waves were not Maui huge, but they were a lot bigger than in NC or on the Jersey shore. It took a lot of time and effort to finally get out to the breakers, but I actually rode the first wave all the way to the shore. Of course, I didn't even try to stand up, but you have to crawl first. It was definitely a fun ride and nothing like the splashing around I have done in the past. After some recovery, the second time went as well as the first, and I even kept my eyes open for most of it. After that, I had a dry spell where I couldn't catch a wave. Then Shane and I both got too far down on the face of a wave and got sent through the wash cycle. It was pretty exciting stuff. I don't think I am cut out to be a surfer, but it was a great afternoon.

A Fitting End

I have wrapped up my falcon work, but it doesn't mean that I'm done in New Zealand, and it doesn't mean the end of the Falcon Blog. Whew! I will be travelling around Aotearoa and doing some more touristy things. I also still have a couple good falcon pics that I have not had a chance to post yet.

My last day was a pretty good one. I have been radio tracking the falcons for a couple months now and it was really slowing down. The juveniles were getting more independent and the adults were not even really around the nest that much. Tracking them was not much challenge, and there was less to see. During the last week, however, we also had to track the juveniles. Of the 10 we were looking for, 9 have left their parents. These little guys are mostly grown up and living on their own. Even though it was extra work, we got to explore some new territories and see the little ones that we banded move on.

On the last day we got to check on a special falcon. The Birds of Prey Trust had an orphaned chick and so Rich got permission to add it to a wild nest. He said falcons aren't smart enough to count. Even though this has been down with other falcons, it has never been done with New Zealand falcons. Our very last job was to check on this bird and we found him perched on a ponga, silloueted by the late afternoon sun and surrounded by his adopted brother and sisters. We got a bit closer and he flew off. It seems pretty certain that the first ever transplanted New Zealand chick will make it. And then we drove off into the sunset...

Glow Worms

New Zealand does not have fireflies, which is too bad, but they do have glowworms, which are quite cool. Although they are called worms, they are actually the larvae of a gnat. The "worms" are found in caves, embankments, or on the side of fallen logs. They produce sticky threads which hang down from the cave wall and the worm produces a bright green glow from one end which serves to attract nocturnal insects. The insects are trapped in the strings and eaten
by the worms. Shane and I took a nighttime walk in the Whirinaki forest and we found glow worms everywhere. At a good embankment, the scattered lights look exactly like stellar constellations. It is a great treat to find them. I have a picture I took with a flash, so you can see the worm. It is right in the middle, although it is harder to make out the glow.
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New Zealand Robin

Birds in New Zealand tend to be very curious and not at all fearful of people because humans first arrived around 900 years ago. One good example is the New Zealand robin. It is a small grey bird, with long, black, and startlingly thin legs. They find invertebrates on the ground by listening for the sound of movement and then grabbing something crawly and yummy. They like to be near people because we
scare up insects for them to eat. At our main campsite, there are several robins and every morning when I emerge from the tent, one
comes down to look for breakfast. Recently I was tying my boots while a robin searched for breakfast about 18 inches away. Typically, when we eat dinner on the bench, a robin comes and perches on the end of
the bench, 3 feet away, and watches us dine. Normally, it is only possible to photograph birds if you invest in very high quality
equipment, but with these guys, I could easily snap some good pics. Check these out.



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Ariteatea Rapids

Ariteatea Rapids, near Taupo, are now controlled by a hydroelectric dam, which releases water on a set schedule. This makes for a diverting little trip as the river goes from empty to raging in about 10 minutes.



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