Alrighty Mom, here's the deets on the North Island trip;
Monday the 20th we all piled back into the vans and headed off towards Napier. About halfway into our 5 hour drive we had a brief stop at Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Center. The center has captive breeding programs for many endemic NZ birds; here's their
website if you want to learn more. If you've never seen a kiwi bird, google it. They are the silliest looking birds ever. The first time I saw one running around I could not stop laughing. They are nocturnal and quite endangered, so it's very very rare to just see one running around...but they're super fun! Here's a
youtube clip of one...get ready to giggle. :)
We arrived at Te Angi Angi Marine Reserve later that afternoon, and had a short presentation there. Last spring, some heavy rainfall followed by an earthquake caused the already eroding hillsides to experience massive land slips that destroyed parts of the reserve.
On the beach in the reserve. The slip on the left side fell into the ocean. Although they've been working on clean-up for the last year, the original beach is now covered in ~15 feet of mountain.
For this field trip, we had group research projects to work on; half of which were marine projects at Te Angiangi, so the marine people stayed there for the night, and the rest of us working on terrestrial projects had an hour drive to Havelock North, where we stayed the rest of the week.
Tuesday the 21st we spent the day at the Cape Kidnappers sanctuary, on the sand dunes of Ocean Beach. Our research projects involved monitoring the health of the dune systems both inside and outside of the sanctuary fence. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day to work outside, but I again learned the value of wearing sunscreen in New Zealand; I put on sunscreen at least 4 times throughout the day and still got completely fried.
The area of the sanctuary we worked at.
I decided I should show what one of the pest traps they use all over the reserves/sanctuaries/national parks. There are different models for different animals, but all basically the same.
And, here's a close up of one of the "predator proof" fences that close off many reserves. The mesh is small enough that nothing can slip through, the hood on the top keeps things from climbing over, and there's a skirt underneath the ground to keep things from digging their way in. Simple, yet effective, and actually quite expensive.
Doin' work, surveying the dunes and stuff.
That night, the rest of the group that was at Te Angiangi joined us and after supper we took a drive up to Te Mata peak to enjoy the sunset and some ice cream. Perfect.
Yes, Mom, I brought that sweatshirt.
The next day, Wednesday, we took a trip back to the Cape Kidnappers sanctuary so we could see more of it than just the beach we were on the previous day (and so the marine people could see it too). The whole idea of this specific reserve actually kinda confuses me. It has a predator proof fence and an elaborate trapping system, but they acknowledge that's it's a "leaky" system because there is a main gate in the fence to allow vehicles in/out, where pests can get in. And, it's on private land, some of which is farmed. AND, one of the land owners is this rich dude that runs a high-end lodge and golf course...on the reserve. When Dad found out I was going to Cape Kidnappers, he said something along the lines of "oh yeah, there's that golf course there." so it's quite a well-known course. (Which, I just looked up the green fees...for 18 holes, it'll set you back $385 NZD! That is....$315 USD). I like golf, but to me golf courses and wildlife sanctuaries don't really go together. Although, I suppose it could be used as a model for more "real life" situations; showing it is possible to farm and golf and live on land yet still have a healthy, functioning ecosystem.......
Sorry, I'm rambling. :)
Here was my attempt at getting a picture of the golf course for Pops from the van window. All I can see are the golfers.
Here's a better picture.
More of the reserve. Here's a fact; Why is it called Cape Kidnapper's? When Captain James Cook first reached this part of the east coast in 1769, he had a Tahitian that spoke English on board to help translate with the Maori. When the Maori saw the Tahitian, thinking he was one of their own, they thought Cook had abducted him, so took him from the ship. Cook then called it, Cape Kidnappers. Learning is fun!
The Cape is also home to 3 gannet colonies. They are migratory birds that spend the other part of their life in Tasmania. The smell really bad, but have this super awesome territorial dance that I couldn't stop laughing at. Also, whenever a big gust of wind would come, all the juveniles would start flapping their wings (without actually flying anywhere), to get them prepared for their long flight to Australia.
Juvenile gannets.
The cool rock is yet ANOTHER cool feature of the cape. This is the hook of Maui. The Maori story says that Maui used this hook (baited with his own blood) to fish up the North Island from the ocean. The Maori name of Wellington is Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui, which means "the head of Maui's fish" (if you look at it on a map, it kinda looks like a stingray) AND, there's another gannet colony there on the rocks.
Thursday the 23rd we spent the day at Boundary Stream Mainland Island. Rather than having a fenced in area, Boundary Stream is considered a mainland island since it...well, doesn't have a fence to rely on for pest control.
That night we were having a BBQ and got treated to the BEST SUNSET EVER!
Friday we spent the morning back at our research sites (the marine students went back to Te Angiangi the night before) to finish up our projects, and it was once again beautiful out. Such a nice break from the often dreary weather of Wellington, which we headed back to in the early afternoon and were greeted by some typical gusty winds when we arrived. :)
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