Rotorua to Whangarai, New Zealand

Firstly - sorry for the delay - been busy doing nothing which can become very time consuming!

Right where was I...

16th Feb

I had to make a major decision as to where I wanted to go to after Rotorua as my time in New Zealand was dwindling - I had just over a week remaining to do the rest of the North Island - including Auckland. I had heard a lot of good things about Coromandel Peninsula but in the end I decided that I would try to get to the Bay of Islands.

One problem with that - it was about 400km away and it was already past lunchtime. Also in order to get there I had to travel through Auckland itself. After about 3 hour of driving (including a greasy lunch break of burger and chips) I came to the outskirts of the city.

Things I have NOT learnt: DON'T READ A MAP WHILE DRIVING!
At the very start of this trip I nearly wrote off a hire car (and myself) by trying to read a map while driving. I swore never to do something as stupid again - yet here I was reading a map while driving through Auckland. To be fair there wasn't much else I could do. I was travelling on a multi lane motorway trying to get from one side of the city to the other. I couldn't really pull over to the side of the road and ask for directions as there was no side of the road - just endless slip roads off to various parts of the city. After a couple of near misses and one or two hasty changes of lane ('Same to you mate' was shouted a couple of times) I finally made it across the harbour bridge to the other side of the city.

Now came my next task - the toll road. While I was driving round the south island a new section of motorway called the 'Northern Gateway Toll Road' was opened up to the North of Auckland. On the first day it was opened there were so many cars wanting to use it that it caused tailbacks for miles. It was now my turn to use it.

I had to pay the toll first. Because it's one of these new 'state of the art' electronic tolls there is no actual toll booth on the road. Instead each cars number plate is photographed while you are driving along it and unless you have preregistered online you have 2 days to pay or face a fine. I choose to use the prepay option which meant that I had to drive into the service area just before the road started, queue at a payment machine alongside other drivers and enter my cars registration and payment. For a state of the art toll road it was a bloody long winded way to use it!

Finally I got on the road. What I saw I just could not believe. There must have been about 10 other cars on the road with me and this was still in what should have been rush hour. It was a spectacular piece of road which included a tunnel and several bridges but at a cost to build of over $365million (that's $49m per kilometre) it seemed to me to be an incredible waste of money!

Here is a link to a youtube video of some idiot kiwi who seems to be using a camcorder and commentating while he is driving on the new road - that's almost as bad as trying to read a map while driving! I like the way he nearly veers off the road while trying to turn the camera to a sideways view.

Northern Gateway Toll Road

Apparently the road does now get a lot of traffic on it, especially at weekends when bottlenecks build up as the two lanes of traffic try to merge into one lane to go through the tunnel (who the hell designs these things!)

Things I have NOT learnt:WHEN TO DO A U-TURN (part 1)
After the motorway finished I decided that I needed a spot of food to keep me going so I turned off the main road at the next town which happened to be Puhoi (don't ask me to pronounce it). Unfortunately Puhoi was just a village so had nothing in the way of eateries except for a tea room which was closed.

At this point a person with common sense would have done a U turn and headed back to the main road - but not yours truly! No, I stupidly thought that there was BOUND to be a route back onto the main road once I was through the other side of the village. Even when the road turned into a gravel track I doggedly stuck to my assumption. 4 MILES later when the gravel track turned into a dirt track I finally stopped the car and looked at my map. The map just about showed the road I was on and indicated that in another couple of miles there was indeed a way back to the main road.

I thought 'in for a penny...' so continued on my way up forest tracks, behind logging trucks and over humpback bridges until I finally came to a sealed road that headed back to the main road. One hour later I was back on my way to the North vowing never to do that again (at least until the next time).

My route


Things I have NOT learnt:WHEN TO DO A U-TURN (part 2)
On on on I drove - I was determined to at least get to Whangarai before I stopped and at about half 8 at night just as it was getting dark I arrived - hungry and exhausted. I stopped at the first motel I could find and went to reception to book in. I nearly collapsed when I heard what the price was - $110! A SENSIBLE person would have done a U TURN right back out of there. I just handed over my credit card and wearily took my stuff to the room.

It was really a family room I had booked - as they supposedly had no other rooms available. I mentally added the motel to my 'Places I am going to firebomb' list then drove into town to find something to eat. On the way I passed loads of other hotels and motels with vacancy signs up and a YHA hostel. I got a Thai Curry take away and brought it back to my room so I could gorge myself while watching idiotic American crap on the TV.

The next morning I continued on my way to the Bay of Islands vowing never to waste good money on a hotel room again on this trip.

THINGS I HAVE LEARNT:
One thing I did learn after leaving Whangarai was that any place name starting with WH in New Zealand is actually pronounced as if it started with an F. This probably explains with I didn't have a clue where people were talking about when they said 'Stay away from Fangarai - its a dump!'

Bad News for blog

Things I have Lost/Broken/had stolen

Another set back in me doing the blog I'm afraid. I no longer have my powerlead for my laptop which means that I can no longer use it to do posts. I either left it in my hostel in Iquazu falls or it was taken from my bag when I came out of the bus station in Buenos Aires. I had my first run-in with thieves when I was walking from the bus station to the subway.

I was just merrily walking along when I noticed my shadow consisted of an extra person attached to my backpack. I swung round to see a guy skulk off quickly in the opposite direction. On investigation I discovered he had zipped open my daypack attachment on my larger rucksack. I was actually quite chuffed with myself for stopping a potential robbery and anyway all he would have gotten from that bag was a bottle of clothes washing liquid, several pairs of smelly socks and a headtorch.

It was only later on that I remembered I had placed my laptop power lead in there and it was now no longer there. Not sure what the thief is going to be able to with UK power lead but I hope he tries to change the wires and electrocutes himself in the process - BASTARD.

Its a bit too late to buy another lead now - especially as it will have an Argentine end so I am just going to wait until I get back home to buy a replacement.

I can still write posts on the blog but unfortunately without photos which are all on my now dead laptop.

Things I have learnt
Watch your shadow very closely when walking around with a rucksack. Always look in mirrors or shop windows when you are walking around with a rucksack. Try to have a lock or tied ends for your zips when walking around with a rucksack. Lastly ALWAYS ensure that you have used underwear at the top of your rucksack.

Kaikoura / Picton / Wellington, New Zealand

8th – 12th Feb

After my dolphin swim I headed through Christchurch and on up to Kaikoura.

I had to stop off at a cafe along the way for some food and drink. I happened to have my camera with me when I went to the toilet. LOOK! I had to take my bag with me to the toilet - it wasn't for another peeping session in the womens toilet! Anyway I took some pics of the jokes on the wall - I am sure you've heard them all before but seeing them on a toilet wall does make them funnier!





Once I got to Kaikoura I booked myself into another smallish hostel. As I could not go on a dolphin swim I decided that this would be the ideal place to do some Sea Kayaking so I booked myself onto a guided tour the next day.

Early the next morning I headed to the Kayak place and met up with the guide and the other people doing the tour. We were taken out to another bay just beyond Kaikoura were we would be going into the water.

We also met up with the rest of the group which turned out to be a French family of 5. Because each Kayak had to have 2 people we were all paired up. I ended up with one of the French couples kids – their small boy call Artonne or something like that. He was about 6 years old and could not speak a word of English. I nicknamed him R2-D2.

So off we went with me and R2-D2 bringing up the rear. Every now and then he would make a vain attempt to use his paddle but he soon discovered he didn’t have to as I was doing all the work.

It was a nice gentle trip and we seen a blue penguin as well as getting up close to some fur seals (yes penguins and seals AGAIN). No dolphins however although apparently its rare to see them when you are sea kayaking. Another lack of forethought on my account as I had hoped that we would be in the thick of dolphins when doing the kayaking – ah well there is always next time I am in New Zealand.


DM wants to paddle.


R2-D2 at the front of out x-wing - i mean kayak.


Blue penguin


R2-D2 is getting bored


So is he!

After the kayaking I continued my journey up the East coast to Picton where I would be able to get the ferry over to Wellington the next day. I booked into tombstone backpackers (so called because it’s just across the road from the cemetery – very jolly!). I picked this place because it got a good BBH rating and it was right next to the ferry terminal so I wouldn’t have to drive too far.

That night I had planned to go to some pubs in the town (the hostel manager said there was a good Scottish pub with live music) but the weather had other ideas as it started pouring down with rain all night. I ended up staying in the hostel and having an early night.

The next day I took the ferry over to Wellington. It’s meant to be a very picturesque crossing of 3 hours but all I seen was mist as we navigated through Queen Charlotte sound.


Wonderful Picturesque Queen Charlotte Sound!

Once I got to Wellington I discovered I had a large disadvantage in having a car as you had to pay everywhere for car parking. In the end I headed out of the city and found another remote backpackers called Moana Lodge. It was another one of those places were you left your shoes at the front. The place was about 15km from Wellington but you could get back into the city by rail – which I duly did. The weather was still not the best and I ended up in the Library on the internet for most of the afternoon before getting some grub in an Irish bar (an overpriced dish which they called Kerry stew).

Before I started getting too comfortable I curtailed my drinking. I would have to drive from the train station to the hostel at the other end so I didn’t want to be pissed when I did it. I ended up having another early night back at the hostel (I think I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms at this point!) Wellington was going to have to be another one of those places I would do on my return to New Zealand as the next day I headed inland to hopefully kick start my North Island adventure.

Things I have learnt.

I thought the place names in the South Island were bad until I got to the North Island. Most of the Maori tribes lived in the North Island so a lot of the towns and villages are still called by their Maori name. I have never seen so many weird place names - none of which I can pronounce:
Whararoa, Pakakarakarakakra (or something) Wakarara, Turangi, Whanganui, Wankers Wrist, Te Pokwawakaroa, Katikati, Kitkat, Kaik-marks-on-my-pants etc etc

Dolphin Swim - Akaroa, New Zealand

I'M BACK!! I have wifi in my new hostel in downtown Buenos Aires so Its back to the blog. I know now that I will never get fully up to date with it before I go home in 3 weeks but as I have no job to go back to and the world has gone to pot in the time I have been away I am sure I will have plenty of time to finish it off when I get back (of course I can go off and do some more travelling as well!)

First I forgot to add in the glossary update from my last post:

Glossary update:

W
Woofing: Woofing is an acronym which stands for ‘Willing Workers On Organic Farms’. Its an organisation primarily set up initially in Australia as a way of working for room and board on organic farms (obviously). Nowadays its used not only for organic farms in Australia but also in other countries and for other things – in the case of Chillawhile people were just working for their board through Woofing – most hostels have some of their guests doing cleaning and maintenance jobs for their keep anyway.

Here’s the website if your interested - except its now called Worldwide opportunities on Organic Farms (make up your bloody mind!)

Back to Akaroa:

7th - 8th Feb

Akaroa is a small seaside village about 70km south of Christchurch on the Banks peninsula. On the other side of the peninsula is Lyttleton the place I looked down on from the the top of the Christchurch Gondola. The Banks peninsula is actually the remnants of an extinct volcano and if you looked at it from above you could see the conical shape of the area.

I arrived in Akaroa just after 3pm on Saturday to a town full of weekend day trippers. I had not booked any place before arriving so was quite lucky to get a bed in the first hostel I tried called Le Bons Bay.

I was shown to my dorm by a middle aged English woman. It turned out that both her and her husband were themselves woofing in the hostel. In fact they were sleeping in the room next to my dorm. Nothing too weird about that except that in order to get to my dorm I had to go through their room! The whole place had too much of an old feel to it – which was confirmed by my bed linen which not only included sheets and a duvet but also a pair of slippers and a hot water bottle!


My OAP bed linen

I quickly got out of the place and did a roam around the town. First port of call was the dolphin place on the pier to confirm my booking for the following day. I wanted to make damn sure that I was going on this dolphin swim.

After that I walked around the area but quickly exhausted all the sights so I headed for one of the pubs for some grub and a pint. Once I had finished the grub (a healthy sausage egg and chips!) I did a bit more walking and happened upon of all things a sulphur crested cockatoo in one of the trees – not your normal New Zealand bird.


A weird garden - someone has a foot fetish!


Cockatoo

I tried to stay out of the hostel for as long as possible which meant trying to get a compromise between drinking and having a clear head in the morning. The second bar I ended up in was showing the final of the Wellington sevens rugby tournament between New Zealand and England. It was a frantic game which England won in the very last play of the game much to the disgust of everyone in the bar.

Finally I went back to the hostel, through the English couples room (thankfully they were asleep) and into my own dorm which already had 2 or 3 other young people in bed.

Early the next day I got up and out for the dolphin swim. Swimming with dolphins is one of those 101 things to do before you die and this was my second attempt at it. I even paid for a cheap plastic camera with underwater casing – similar to the throw away ones you get but with the advantage that you could actually use it again and again with new films.


Unfortunately DM could not come with me as I might lose him :(

We were soon on our way fully kitted out with wetsuit mask and snorkel. It wasn’t long before we seen our first dolphins – 2 or 3 of them. Boy were they small! Unfortunately these ones were too intent on feeding to bother with us. For the next 2 or 3 sightings it was the same thing – the dolphins came and had a look then swam away.

Finally a group of them decided to hang around and we were in business. We quickly got in the water (there were about 8 of us swimming) and waited for them to come up close. Some people were given stones to knock together in order to make sound waves in the water.

The next 40 minutes (that’s how long you are allowed in the water with them) were probably some of the most comical in my life. These tiny dolphins (about 1,5 metres) were darting in between our group while everyone was trying to get photographs of them. There were only about 10 in total but sometimes it just seemed that every time I looked one way the dolphin would appear just behind me. I actually thought it was like a scene out of a bad pantomime – he’s behind you – no he isn’t – Yes he is.

The experience did not turn out to be the life changing event I had anticipated. For one thing the dolphins were just too quick and the water was too murky to get a good look at them underwater. For another thing my photos when I got them developed turned out to be probably the worst shots anybody could ever take. My only excuse is that with digital cameras these days I am used to having what I see in the view finder on the actual photo. This camera was the old type – view finder at the top, lens in the middle. This resulted in great shots of my fingers!

Worst underwater shots ever

I have to say I still loved the experience and would do it again – with a bloody good underwater camera this time!

Things I have learnt:

Even if you are ‘touching cloth’ as I was after my swim it pays to make sure there are urinals in the public toilets you have just entered. I did not and soon realised I had inadvertently gone into the women’s toilets. (the sanitary towel bucket was another giveaway). Before I could rectify my mistake two Kiwi girls came in to go to the loo. I had images of myself being carted off in a police van to the sex offenders centre so I decided to just sit it out (literally). The two girls both went to separate cubicles – one right beside me – then proceeded to shout a full conversation while ‘doing the business’ – I thought they would never shut up! Eventually they left and I quickly cleaned up (wiped my arse) and ran into the men’s loo so that I could wash up and cooly exit the facilities as if nothing had happened.

Featured Animal:

Hectors Dolphin.

The dolphins I was swimming with are called Hectors Dolphin. It is only found in New Zealand is the smallest dolphin in the world and pretty rare with only about 7,000 in existence. Thankfully New Zealand has set up marine reserves in areas were they are most common – like the Banks peninsula.


Hectors dolphin


There is also a subspecies called the maui dolphin which inhabits just one area in the north island. This species is one of the rarest dolphins in the world with little over 100 specimens. With that number things do not look good for its survival as it only takes 2-5 deaths a year from boating accidents or net entanglements to produce a reduction in the numbers.

More info

Queenstown, New Zealand

Jet boat - 31st Jan

Queenstown is probably the most famous adventure resort in the world. I decided before I left Wanaka that I was going to stay there for at least 3 days and Party!

I arrived a little after 1pm and booked myself into the large Base hostel which I knew would be used by all the Kiwi Experience people. Once I had done that I decided to immediately set about doing something so I went to the Base travel desk and booked myself onto the local Jet boat ride at shotover gorge for 3pm.

At just before 3 I made my way up to the company office where myself and several other people were placed on a shuttle bus to take us up to the starting point. The trip only lasted 15 minutes before we were there.

We all got kitted up in raincoats and a lifejacket before jumping on the boat. I was at the back with another couple who turned out to be a girl from Ireland and her English boyfriend.

After the obligatory photo we were off down the river.

The boat trip basically consisted off the driver heading straight for rocks before turning at the very last minute. From the back it looked as if we were going to hit them everytime. We hurtled down through the gorge doing this sort of thing until we entered a more open area of the river. Here the driver did their trademark 360 turns.

Up until this point nobody had really been soaked but on the turns the people at the back (me!) got the full force of the spray.

It was all very enjoyable and was over in about ½ hour which was a pity.

Afterwards we all went up to the visitor centre where we could purchase a photo pack for the trip. As part of the deal Base had I had a voucher which entitled me to one photo free of charge which I duely collected – much to the annoyance of a old English guy who started giving out stink about having to pay full whack for his photos (wanker!) . I had the choice of going back on the next shuttle or hanging around so I decided to hang about to see if I could get some shots of other jetboat trips. After waiting what seemed like forever (but was probably only 5 mins) I assumed that there were going to be no more trips and went to get a beer.

Of course half way through the beer I heard the jet boat starting up again. I managed to get a small sequence of long cistance shots before it carried off down the gorge.

That night all the Kiwi ones were in the base bar. Two of them had done a skydive in Wanaka early that morning and still seemed to be on an adrenaline rush from it saying it was the best thing they ever did (having now done mine I can well believe them!). Others on the bus had already done the small bungy jump on the way in to queens town. It’s regarded as the very first Bungy in the world and is a mere 43m off a bridge.

I was still saying I had no intention of doing an bungy jump or canyon swing. It was a good night which involved rather too much drinking. The hostel held a prize game of killer pool which I put my name down for but was I was soon out of contention having squandered my 3 lives with some rather bad misses.

Everybody was talking about what they were going to do tomorrow. Some were going to Milford sound, some were doing the big bungy like Nevis or the Ledge as well as the canyon swing. I decided I would go white water rafting.

A group of us ended up in the New World bar up the road which had better music and was open late then it was over across the road for a Ferg Burger. I thought I would help the eradication of pests effort by having a bambi burger (deer being another mammal pest). Then I went back to base to sleep it off.

Facebook pics

White Water Rafting - 1st Feb

I somehow managed to get up early enough the next day to book myself onto an afternoon white water rafting trip run by the same company who do the shotover jetboat.

Again we were taken by bus up to the same place as the jetboats only this time we had to put on a complete wetsuit before transferring to another bus that would take us to the rafting start point. The journey took over 45 minutes (not the most comfortable journey to do in a wetsuit!) and took us down skippers road which is one of the most dangerous gravel roads in New Zealand with needle sharp corners and 100m cliffs.

Eventually we got there and I was teamed up with the rest of my crew for the journey down stream.

Things I have learnt.

1. Don’t say you have done white water rafting before because that means you will get put at the front of the boat like I was. The people at the front have to do most of the rowing and get most of the soaking!
2. When you come to a ‘gentle’ part and are allowed to jump out into the water to swim about, DON’T. Jumping out and swimming around is all very well but then you have to try to haul your big ass back in again and I am just not fit enough. When I did manage to get back in (with help from other members of the crew) I spent the next 5 minutes trying to grab my breath. My very tightly bound lifejacket was acting like a boa constrictor on my lungs and I honestly thought I was going to have a heart attack!

The trip would probably have seemed like a very good and exciting introduction to most other people but this was my third time white water rafting and in comparison to the other two experiences in Australia and Costa Rica I found it quite tame.

For one thing it was too expensive at $169 for what was basically a 90 minute trip. For another thing although they had some reasonable rapids they were all at or near the end of the trip so the first part just seemed like an amble down the river (still the scenery was good and we did get to go through a rather cool tunnel at the end).

I am pretty sure there are better and cheaper places to do this in New Zealand.

Once again I met up with the Kiwi Mob and drank for most of the night in Base backpackers. I had been trying to think what to do for my last day in Queenstown and was eventually decided to go on the Kiwi Experience run day trip to Milford sound the next day. The ones that had been on it that day said it was fantastic and several of the others were doing it the next day so I thought why not. It meant an early night though so no World Bar.

Punakaiki, New Zealand

27th - 28th Jan

I had promised both Sam and Brecht that I would try to see them again so after I filled up my running on fumes car in Westport I drove down the West coast to Punakaiki. I booked myself into the Te Nikau Hostel which was about ½ mile away from the Volunteer house.

Once I had booked into the hostel I called into the volunteer centre to say hi to Brecht and the new volunteers who all turned out to be Korean. I found out that Sam was actually staying in the same hostel as me as he his girlfriend had come to visit. When I went back to the hostel I bumped in to them making their tea.

As the pub was too far away to walk to and stagger back I decided that after I had my own food (some tin of something with microwavable rice) that I would return to the Truman trail which was were I got the good sunsets the previous time I was there.

The sunset was not as good as the previous time but its still a great place to go last thing at night. The weather was far worse this time which meant that I managed to slip on my arse on some wet rocks.


Sunset


Slippy rocks - with the indent of my bum!

After the sunset I went back to the hostel to have an early night. Te Nikau is not really a hostel but a set of lodges set into native woodland . Each lodge was self contained with kitchen and bathroom. My lodge was about 50m from the main reception and slept 7 people. The good thing about the lodge was that there was no bunks. The bad thing was that that my bed and two others were all set end to end. This wasn’t really bad for me but was potentially lethal for the Swedish girl who was in the next bed. Why was it lethal – well let’s be honest 6 months travelling has not been kind to my feet - which stink. This is not normally a problem to me as my nose is at least 5 feet away from them. Unfortunately this girl would not have that luxury!

So before I went to bed I resolved to get my feet as clean as possible so I spent some time in the bathroom washing my feet in the sink - yes the sink! I know what your thinking – why did he not just have a shower. Trust me when I say that my feet needed special attention that a simple shower could not handle! I hope that Swede realises the antics I went through to make sure she had a smell free night. I probably kept her awake anyway with my snoring.

The next day I met up with Sam and the volunteers who were – guess what - gorse bashing. What they were doing was clearing a path so the DOC people could get Quad bikes into the midst of the gorse to finish them off with sprays. We also tried to make a path through to the beach through some really thick gorse but ended up giving up before lunch. I said my final farewells to the lads and then headed off on another long journey to Franz Joseph Glacier.


Gorge near Punakaiki


People I have seen/met:
On the way back from the sunset beach I seen this idjit who, having crossed the barriers was taking pictures on other slippery rocks close to the edge of the cliff. Myself and a number of other people stood and stared in disbelieve (Actually what we were doing was waiting for a freak wave to come and wash him away!) Luckily (or unfortunately depending on how evil you are) for him it never happened

Idiot photo taker - sorry for the shaky photo it was very dark and I wasn’t going anywhere near any cliff edge!



Things I have learnt:
Never leave your food on the ground for even a minute when there are wekas about, I was transferring my food from the lodge to the car and set it down on the ground to go and get more stuff. When I got back a weka was busy rummaging through my food! The crafty wee bird!

Facebook pics

Driving in New Zealand

THINGS I HAVE LEARNT

I have learnt several valuable things about the road system and driving habits of kiwis while I have been driving round the country:

1. In most parts of New Zealand the speed limit is 100kph which is about 60 miles an hour. In a lot of places the road is so windy (see glossary update) that this is an just not possible. I thought Tasmania had windy roads until I came to New Zealand!

2. Sometimes especially on the south Island there are large distances between Petrol Stations so you should always try to keep your tank as full as possible. I realised this fact while driving from Nelson to Punekaiki as my fuel tank went dangerously low. I tried to save on fuel by constantly putting the drive stick into neutral while going down any steep hills. It was working very well too until I mistakenly put the drive stick too far – into the reverse gear! It made a very strange noise and then stalled. It would have been ok if I stalled on level ground but I was still motoring along at 60kph down windy roads only without my power steering or my servo brakes! I eventually got the thing to stop at a lay-by and decided not to try that again! I got to a petrol station with fuel to spare in the end.

3. In order to save money the New Zealand road authority have come up with a novel idea – only have one lane on their bridges. It seems that over half the bridges in the country only allow travel one way at a time. Luckily the people here have pretty good road manners so it is is never really a problem. I can just imagine them trying that in Ireland – you would have people driving their cars into the middle of bridges and then refusing to reverse as another car comes in the opposite direction. Sometimes its not just cars you have to share the bridge with – they also have instances of trains using them as well:


Combination Lefthand drive, Righthand Drive, Railtrack Bridge!

4. Another novel thing they have in New Zealand is that if you are turning left at a crossroads and the driver opposite is turning right into the same road you are then you have to give way – not the other way around. I am sure I have buggered this up at several crossroads.

Of course the best thing about driving in New Zealand is the scenery which, because you are actually driving the car rather than dozing on a bus you actually get to see. I have been on mountain drives that have been breathtaking and coastal drives that are every bit as good as the great ocean road in Australia.

Glossary update:
K:
Kaikoura: (sorry Forgot this from my last post)Maouri Place name: Means – Meal of Crayfish (its very famous for them)
My first attempts at it consisted of things like Kinkykara, Kockykia, and KickyKocky

W
Windy: English Adjective. I said the roads in New Zealand were Windy to a German who had not heard of the word so asked me to spell it which I duly did. Of course this confused him even further as it is the same spelling as Windy as in the weather is very windy today! Trying to explain English to other people is very hard!

Busker World Festival Christchurch, New Zealand

23rd-24th Jan

Once I had booked into Base for 2 nights and done some internet time at the library I was ready for a nice relaxing weekend in Christchurch which was holding the world busker festival that week.

Myself and Brecht headed to one of the main venues for the performers – the Arts Centre where we paid a $2 cover charge to get in. By the time we got there the first couple of acts had already finished but we were just in time to see another act start – the goldfish bowl man!

The goldfish bowl man did a quite funny performance involving juggling, balancing and unicycling. He got various members of the audience to help him out with his act.

His final trick was to flip a plastic goldfish from his feet into a bowl on his head – while on a unicycle – which he performed at the second attempt.

The next act was an American woman who hula hoped. Although she was very good at what she did she did not really get the audience going with her chat and tricks. I think there is only so much you can do with hula hoops – even if you are able to twirl 70 hula hoops.

The last act was the most spectacular and consisted of two guys and a girl – all from Canada – doing acrobatics using a ‘Russian pole’ - basically a large beam the two fellas used to fling the girl up in the air so she could do acrobatic tumbles. After some tumbling one of the guys did a juggling routine which included doing 5 batons at once – something the fish man was unable to do. They finished off with a finale of another acrobatic tumble.

All in all a nice change from the usual and we thought for only $2 until the show finished and they all came round with buckets to try to gleam more money out of everybody. They were all buskers after all.

The busking show finished at about 8:30 which meant that for a Friday night it was still pretty early and I needed more entertainment (drink).

So we headed out looking for a band and found one in the local Irish bar of O’Sullivans. Here we seen an Irish band called ‘Black Velvet Band’ who did a really good set of Irish music interspersed with some country (yuck) and rock music. Brecht ended up buying one of their cd’s. I resisted the temptation – especially when I seen that they had only actually performed 1 song of the cd – the one from OH Brother where Art thou. Still it was a good performance which had a lot of Kiwis and other drunk people up on the rather small dance floor. I was too busy drinking to bother with that!

Things I have Learnt:
Not everybody immediately associates Celtic football club with Ireland. I had to explain to Brecht that even though Celtic were in fact a Scottish team that quite a lot of Irish people supported them and that was why they had a Celtic top displayed amongst the memorabilia in the pub. I said that because all the actual Irish teams were crap that they had to support one team that was at least partly successful. To be honest I think it’s a bit daft myself but then I support an English team myself because all the Irish League teams are shite.

On Saturday I had to sort out what I was doing about the rest of my time in New Zealand. During my volunteer time I had decided on 2 things:

1. I needed more time in New Zealand in order to do everything I could and
2. I needed to hire a car rather than go on one of the buses. This would give me more freedom to go where I wanted to in the time available.

As far as the buses were concerned my mind was made up on Friday when I seen upwards of 40 people get out of a KIWI bus and queue up to book into the Base Hostel. It looked like a conveyor belt – not my scene at all.

When I phoned the Quantas office I got some good news and some bad news. The good news was I was able to extend my time in New Zealand – by just over 1 week. The bad news was that I also wanted to extend my time in South America but unfortunately because of problems between BA and Iberia airlines I was not able to do it – so I am definitely back in April (god help you all!)(

For the second task I managed to hunt down a car company which would hire a small car to me for $25 a day – I would pick it up at noon the following day.

Once I had accomplished all that I went to join Brecht who had been watching some more of the busker entertainment out at the park round the corner.

I arrived just in time to see Bendy Em do her routine. Bendy Em turned out to be A contortionist. It made a change from all the juggling. Her pieste de resistance was placing herself into a 18inch box after which she sent round the money bucket at which time we legged it!

That night we went to another busker session – this time it was more of an adult theme.

The first act was the Rubber Band Man (where do they come up with these names!) Basically he was a comedian who put lots of rubber bands on his face as part of his routine. He was actually quite funny – I am not painting a very good picture (No photos I am afraid as the hall was too big – didn’t have my camera with me anyway!)

Two Jokes he told (which you have probably heard)

A blond is standing at the side of a river when she sees another blond across on the other side. She shouts over to her. ‘Excuse me can you tell me how I can get to the other side of the river?’ The other blond looks up and down the river then says: ‘You are on the other side!’ Well I laughed!

Two pregnant women are sitting knitting outfits for their future kids. One says ‘I hope my baby is a boy because I am knitting my outfit in blue’ The other one says ‘I hope my baby is spastic because I have fucked up the arms!’ Hey he said it not me – come back!!!

The next act was very weird – A Japanese clown who used a duck quacker to make sounds. Again he did a lot of physical comical work some of which was very skilful – like standing on 3 chairs balanced one on another.

The next two acts were simply stand up comics – one a famous Kiwi who talked so fast I couldn’t understand hardly anything he said. I thought it was just me until I talked to some other Kiwis who couldn’t understand him either. The next act was better – an Aussi from Adelaide. Can’t remember any of his jokes probably because of the last act who turned out to be a sword swallower. The swallowing of swords I could handle it was the last thing he did for his act that was a bit much to take. He pulled the host on a skateboard using nothing but fishing line with the hooks attached to the inside of his eyelids! YUCK!

After the sword swallower the show ended and the money buckets came out – that was our cue to leave! We ended up back in O’Sullivans bar where the Same band was doing much the same routine as the previous night – except that it was full of even drunker people – most of which, like us, had come from the busker venue just up the road.

Busker Pics

Conservation Volunteers NZ - Week 2, New Zealand

Monday 19th Jan

For our second week of volunteering we were heading back towards Christchurch through Arthur’s Pass to Craigieburn Park. We did a quick stop for provisions in Greymouth and then another stop for some lunch, food (and beer in my case!) in Arthur’s Pass.

Our old friend Long John was still prowling around looking for scraps of food:

Stumpy


For our accommodation we would be staying in an Education Centre used for schools groups. It was right in the middle of a beech forest with some great views of the mountains beyond. It also had some weird occupants inside:



Hey my armpit smells


What do you mean I fly like a girl!


What did I just hit!

When we arrived we were met by another Ray our contact who showed up in a rather unusual car for a ranger - an old VW beetle. Ray showed us around and then took us to where we would be working for most of the week - cutting down and pulling up small pine trees

First a bit of background. At some time in the 50's some twat in the then forestry service had the bright idea of planting some pine trees in areas of Craigieburn forest. They did this to try to stabilise areas of skree which they believed had been unnaturally caused by grazing of introduced animals. By the time they had figured out that the skree was perfectly natural and was supposed to be there the pines had natured and had their seed blown all over the valley below. Even then they did nothing until recently when pine trees started sprouting as much as 17km away for the initial site.


Ray's Beetle - not your usual ranger car.

They have now, finally, decided to try and tackle the problem. That’s were CVNZ come in - we were given the job of tackling a single side of one small valley.

So off we went in a totally haphazard way of cutting, lopping and pulling up any pines we seen - until Ray got us to stop and do it right. In order to catch all the pines - including the tiny seedlings we had to go up the hillside in a line as if we were searching for a body.

It was slow and methodical and pretty darn boring as well but it was the only way to be sure we got every tree.


The valley we were working in - this is where they filmed the Cronicles of Narnia!


Cutting down pines


Get out of the road DM!


DM Helping cut down a pine


Taz proving devils can climb trees




Alpine flowers we will be saving from the pines



Tuesday 20th
We worked all day Tuesday going up and down the valley cutting down any pines we came across. By the end of Tuesday I was ready to hunt down the bastard who planted the trees in the first place (if he was still alive!) and string him up by his short and curlies. Anyway by the end of Tuesday we had completed our first side of one small valley and we could stand back and admire our work.

The only problem with standing back and admiring our small valley was that we could also see the other valleys that stretched back up the mountainside and were all covered in pines! Ray had told us that they had a 3 year plan to eradicate all the pines in the area using various volunteer groups, rambling groups and contractors (for chain-sawing the large trees). I think he is living in wacky-baccy land if he thinks that. In 3 years time the part we were doing would be still sprouting pines from dormant seeds in the ground!


Wednesday 21st Jan

On Wednesday we were given a reprieve from the pines and went checking stoat traps instead. As I have already said stoats are a major problem in New Zealand and Craigieburn was no exception. The traps were placed every 100m just off to the side of one of the way marked tracks in the forest. We split up into 2 groups of 5 - one group taking the odd numbered traps and one taking the even numbered. In my group was me, Lukas, Sam, Karl and Sun. The other group consisted off Karl, Lisa, Sophie, Kate and Brecht.

What we had to do was quite simple.

1. See if there were any stoats caught in the trap
2. Check the trap works by setting it off
3. Check and replace any bait
4. Reset the trap

In practise it was anything but simple. For one thing each box had not one but 2 traps in it (to try to catch a stoat or rat which would come in to feed on the first one caught!) The second thing about these traps are that they are designed to snap a stoats spine in several places and as such are very strong - able to take a misplaced finger off with great ease.

To set the trap you had to pull back the mechanism using your fingers in such a way so that if it sprung by mistake it did not take your fingers with it. It required a lot of strength using your thumbs as leverage on the box. Once the first one was done you had to be doubly careful when doing the second one which was set up to spring in the opposite direction. In our group we each took it in turn to set the traps (except Sun) in order to give the others time to recover the feeling in their fingers from pulling the traps.


Checking the Traps


One dead Stoat


Which looks like its been grilled

Halfway through doing the traps we ran out of fresh bait to put in them so could not do any more. Instead we climbed up to the top of helicopter hill to look at the views on the valley below.

After coming back down from the hill we continued to check the traps but did not bother to reset them as we had no fresh bait. By the time we got back to the centre we had found 4 traps with stoats in them out of about 60 checked traps. I am not sure if this is a good or bad tally - but at least the traps are working.

Wednesday night was my turn to cook. This time I decided to make an old Irish recipe - sausages and champ! It was quite weird what happened - I did all the preparation for the champ by peeling the spuds and chopped the spring onions then started boiling the spuds. Sam had volunteered to make his special gravy but had to do a vegetarian version as both Kate and Lisa did not eat meat.

The spuds were half boiled when I started grilling the sausages (Lisa and Kate had veggie burgers). Then I boiled the spring onions in some milk (as per recipe I hunted off the internet!) The spuds were ready to be mashed which I managed to get Brecht to do. In the end I ended up doing nothing! Sam was feverously working on his gravy (which was not ready) and Brecht was frantically mashing the potatoes. All I had to do was watch and turn the sausages - It was great.

The meal went rather well (even though I say so myself) I am not sure what the Koreans made of my champ as they had probably never tasted it before. After dinner two cakes were produced as we celebrated Obama officially becoming President of the USA (rather strange as none of us were actually Americans) I did the usual thing of drinking my beer outside on the porch.


Thursday 22nd Jan
Back to the pines. This time we started on another part of the valley which had a lot more trees in it.

Heres the before and after pictures.


Before


After - only another million or so to go!

The sun was belting down by this stage which made the work all the more tiring. We did manage to get a good bit down however although we did give up quite soon after lunch – it was just too hot!

Friday 23rd Jan
On our last day we tidied up the education centre and once Ray came back to take back the keys we made our way back to Christchurch.

It was there we said our goodbyes. Lisa, Karl, Kate and Sophie were all heading back to the North Island to continue with volunteering. Lukas was heading home to Germany. Me, Brecht, Sun and Karl were all staying in Base that night. Brecht was going to be heading back to Punakeiki on Monday with Sam to continue on that project.

All in all I am really glad I did the volunteering. I learnt a lot about what is happening in New Zealand in terms of conservation and met a lot of great people. The only criticism I would make is that I would have liked to see a proper plan for the pine eradication - I just got the feeling we were like sourcer's apprentices chopping up broomsticks only to see twice as many take their place - it was very disheartening. Still it’s a good reason to come back to New Zealand to see how things have gone.


Things I have learnt:/
Communications

Belgium is a funny country. Its made up of two sets of people who seem to have nothing in common and speak totally different languages and yet seem to get on reasonably well. Brecht is a Flem and can’t speak much French and Sophie is a Walloon and can’t speak hardly any Flemish.

Through out the two weeks when we travelled on the mini bus I sat between them and used my diplomatic powers to mediate between them (ok I stuck my oar in when ever I could – as in telling them about the Belgium sketch on Not the nine o’clock news which nobody knew about – young whippersnappers) I tried looking it up on Facebook but could not find it.

Sophie had problems understanding a word I said anyway (nothing new there).

Eg when I said the word Outside to her she thought I was saying something in Flemish like Ouut-Sede.

Mind you it wasn’t just me she did not understand. While listening to her Shrek 3 sound track she asked me to explain what they were saying in a certain song.

It sounds like ‘She is high’ or ‘Cheesy Buy’ She said – I do not understand.
I had a listen and was soon able to put her right – he is saying ‘It is I’

One intellectual conversation I had with the two Belgium’s (what are they called!) concerned how to say bands which have numbers in their names.

Eg Blink 182 would be said as Blink One-Eight-Two in English

But how would you say in French? Sophie said she called them Blink Cent Quatre-Vingt Deux but I argued that that translates as Blink One-hundred and eighty-two not blink 182. Apparently in Flemish its blink hondert en tween tachtig. Yes intellectual conversations indeed!

Animals I have seen:
Rifleman – Craigieburn 19th Jan
Bellbird – Craigieburn 19th Jan
Tomtit – Craigieburn 20th Jan

Tomtit

Facebook pics

Conservation Volunteers NZ - Week 1, New Zealand

For the two weeks from 12th – 23rd Jan I was booked in to do more conservation work this time for conservation volunteers New Zealand which is basically a recently formed arm of Conservation volunteers Australia and has only really been in operation for the last two years.

I learned later that the organisation had only recently – as in the start of December, started projects in the South Island. The North Island is where they had been doing most of their work.

Mon 12th Jan

I had to be ready to be picked up at 7:30 that morning and so was outside with all my stuff for 7:20. If there were other people doing the same volunteer work then they should have gotten the same 3 nights accommodation as me and should have been waiting outside as well. There were some people including some quite cute girls but they ALL got shuttles and buses so I was left there on my own (bugger!). I was beginning to think my worst nightmare would come true and it would only be me on the trip.

At around 8pm Sam our team leader turned up and introduced himself to me. There were in fact two other people also waiting – a Korean couple called Karl and Sun (easy to pronounce thank good!) so there were at least going to be 3 of us. We put our stuff in the bus and then Sam dropped a minor bomb shell in telling us that he had to pick up another volunteer from the airport at 12:30 so would not actually be leaving until after 11:30. We were given the option of staying and doing our own thing or coming with Sam to pot around the botanic gardens etc. As I had seen them before I decided to have the time to myself and went and had some breakfast before going to the library for more free internet time.

Finally we were on our way via the airport were we picked up Brecht, a Belgium from the Flemish part of the country. ( I should point out that any attempt at proper pronunciation of his name requires spitting out your tonsils! ) Then we were on our way to the other side of the island where we would be working.

The journey there was split up by several stops on our way through Arthur’s Pass. The scenery was amazing and would have looked even better in springtime when there would be more snow on the mountain tops.

We stopped for some lunch at Kura Tawhiti Scenic Reserve - an area of impressive limestone rock outcrops from the mountain side. You are all probably getting fed up with me putting pics of rocks on this blog so I will do another link to the facebook if you want to have a look at the pics! (to be honest my photos do not do the place justice – I bet it would be a lot better at sunset!)

Then it was through Arthur’s Pass (more pics on facebook)

We did another food stop at the town were we got our first look at the cheeky Kea parrots including this sorry looking thing with only one leg! I nicknamed him Long John Silver – because he’s a one legged parrot (parrot / pirate - geddit? Suit yourself!)



Having only one leg didn’t seem to stop him stealing food at every opportunity he could get!

On again past the Otiga Viaduct where we watched some mountain bikers slogging their hearts out to climb up the valley (suckers!).

Eventually we arrived at our volunteer house in Punakaiki (see Glossary update) where I was introduced to the other volunteers who had already been there from the previous week.

I think its best to do pics as I introduce the gang (even though these pics were taken the following week!)


Lisa from Newcastle, England


Kate from Leeds, England


Brecht the Flem!


Sophie complete with built-in earphones - also from Belgium but from the French speaking part


Karl from Lancashire, England


Lukas from Germany - in one of his rare awake moments


Sun and Karl from Korea


And finally Sam are volunteer coordinator who was from England.


Of course everyone with the exception of Sam was half my age so I naturally thought this was going to be crap – fortunately it wasn’t.

Another member of the team Dave the project manager was arriving later on and I was told two interesting things about him.

1. It was his birthday that day – 55 years old and
2. He looks like the Movie star Will Farrell! (I do not have a photo – will nick one off one of the others off facebook when I get a chance)

Another thing I was told was that no Alcohol was allowed in the Volunteer centre due to insurance issues (aaagh!) Thankfully you could drink outside or at a local pub which just happened to be 100 yards away from the house – happy days!

As soon as Dave arrived and the others produced surprise birthday cakes it was off to the pub for some drinks to celebrate. We played some games of Pool and also watched as Kate and Karl played the longest game of darts I have ever witnessed in my life (double 1 finale which Kate eventually won!) before heading back to the house for our first nights sleep.

Unfortunately as I was one of the last to arrive I was stuck with a top bunk for the week – great!

Glossary Update:

As well as normal English place names in New Zealand there are also Maori names which have their own meaning. They all seem to have rather a lot of P’s K’s T’s U’s and O’s, and I was constantly making a mess of saying every single one!

P:
Punakaiki – Pun-a-Ky-kee. Maori - from puna (spring) and kaiki or kaika (lie in a heap).

Various attempts by me to say it included:
Pocohontas, Puky-kaikee, puny-kacky and Punaranium

I did eventually get it right (I think!)

Beers I have drunk

Monteiths Celtic – very nice ale!

Tuesday 13th Jan

Our first work day started with some Gorse bashing – oh joy! For anyone who does not know what Gorse is it’s a type of bush from Europe which has extremely prickly branches!

First we were given a bit of a introduction to the project we were going to be working on which I think deserves mentioning here.

The place we would be working on was originally farmland hallmarked as a mining operation by rio tinto which is one of the largest mining companies in the world. What they were supposed to be mining was the mineral ilmenite which, we were told was used in the production of poison gas in WWI! They decided against actually mining it and gave it over to DOC (Department of Conservation) for developing back into a natural habitat (probably not a big market for poison gas anymore).

The project was going to take 10 years in total and CVNZ volunteers would be helping DOC in doing some of the finer work such as what we would be doing on the first day – removing Gorse from along a stream to let the native plants grow back. The project had literally only just started so we were doing some of the very first work carried out.

But the real benefit of this site is because in the hills at the back happens to be the ONLY nesting site in the world of the Westland Petrel:

Rather than bore you with the details of it here is a link just in case you are interested:

Featured animal: Westland Petrel: (Maori Name Taiko)

Because this site will be placed back to native habitat it will ensure the continued survival of the nesting site as the place could have been a prime candidate for construction of houses which could have disturbed the birds.

For most of the morning and afternoon we slogged away at the gorse concentrating on one side of the stream’s bank. Another good thing about being at the start of a project is the tools are new – I had the pleasure of using a large ratchet lopper which is probably the best thing since sliced bread for dealing with things like gorse (I want one for back home for helping CV Fingal!)

That night after tea Dave took a group of us in the minibus to Bullock creek for a walk down to the creek itself. He drove us up through an impressive gorge before we walked the rest of the way there which took about 40 minutes – only to find that the creek was dry. Well dry is not exactly the right term. There was water but the whole area was made of limestone complete with caves and underground rivers. Apparently Bullock creek had recently diverted underground – so no river.

Another thing about Bullock creek is that it is the scene of a terrible tragedy. In 1995 14 children on a school outing fell to their deaths from a viewing platform that gave way. Here is some info and the plaque in their memory.
InfoPlaque


Wednesday 14th Jan

At the start of the day we continued our gorse bashing until we were rudely interrupted by a very large cow that had somehow gotten on the property and decided to chase us out of the field!


One very big and angry cow!

After morning tea our guest Rueban arrived. There is Blue penguin colony on up the coast from Punakaikia and on Rueban who is involved with the colony was supposed to show us how to make nesting tunnels for the birds.

However when he arrived with all his gear etc and we looked at the plans it soon became apparent that we were not making nesting boxes but stoat traps!

Things I have learnt:

Some people may be shocked to see conservationist's building traps to kill animals but here in New Zealand stoats, rats and especially possums are a big problem. They are not native animals and compete with or kill the indigenous bird life which has already caused several species to go extinct.

In fact I learnt that New Zealand is one of those weird places where you are encouraged to hunt – to misquote a phrase from animal farm ‘two legs good, four legs bad’. Basically if it’s a wild mammal then kill it with the blessing of the DOC.

Reuban showed us a stoat pelt before we got to work on building the traps. We were soon beavering away but ran out of nails and had to stop and return to the gorse bashing – once Sam had gotten rid of the cow!


One very dead stoat!


One very alive cow being chased away by Sam

That night it was my turn to cook and I decided to make some chilli. Things did not quite go according to plan and I managed to burn the rice before getting it right at the second attempt!

Thursday 15th Jan
More Gorse bashing only this time in a different area around a pond.


DM Thinks he can steal my Loppers but I know better!


Just one more squeeze and I will be free forever HA HA HA - who said that?

After lunch we changed from gorse bashing to bamboo bashing before finishing early so that Sam could take us to see the pancake rocks.

Punakeiki is famous for having strange groups of rocks which are supposed to look as if they are stacks of pancakes. The place also has blowholes which are best seen at high tide on particular days. Thursday afternoon was supposed to be the best time to see the blowholes that week.

Although the rocks were unusual the lack of any weather (the blowholes are best in stormy seas) meant that the blowholes were quite tame in their spouts. Still it was a very interesting place. (more pics on facebook) I seen some interesting animals including this: Its called a hokey cokey – very rare – only one in existence!



After tea I went on a walk up the river path trying (unsuccessfully) to take photos of the amazing gorge and its plant life. The West coast of New Zealand is one of the wettest places on earth and as a result the mountainsides are covered in lush vegetation except that this vegetation looks as if it should have dinosaurs eating it. The whole area has a prehistoric look to it which is totally amazing to see. Anyone who says that New Zealand reminds them of the mountains of Ireland or Scotland needs their head examined. It is a totally different world!

Beers I have drank:

Me, Sam and Brecht went for a couple of pints in the bar that night where I tried the following:
Monteith’s Dark Ale: Even nicer than the celtic – almost a stout.
Monteith’s Summer Ale (bottle) A very sweet beer with honey and ginger – not sure about it – a bit too fruity!

Friday 16th Jan
Our last day of working in Punakeiki involved looking for seeds from the native Kowhai tree which would be propagated and then planted as seedlings later on in the year. In order to get there we had to pass a herd of cows and duck under some electric fences. I resisted the temptation to see how many volts went through the fence – I still remember my run in with the electric fence at the monkey sanctuary in South Africa!

After lunch we went to Greymouth to get provisions. I made sure I got proper provisions – 6 pack of Mac’s sassy red – yum yum. It was Sophie’s birthday today and after tea (which she insisted on cooking) and surprise cakes we went to the beach to make a fire from driftwood while having a few bevies to celebrate.


Sophie blowing out her birthday candles

You are not allowed to drink in the volunteer house – doesn’t stop you drinking OUTSIDE though – except it meant going in and out of the house to partake!



Drinking on porch outside - NOT inside!


Beach fire


Beers I have drank:
Mac’s Sassy red:

Macs Gold lager

Sat 17th Jan

It was just as well that we had Sophie’s beach party on Friday night as on Saturday and for most of the weekend it lashed out of the heavens! Saturday was spent inside trying not to bored stiff. I could now see how the area has such a rain forest.

Luckily the rain let up for a while - just long enough to go with Sam to a nearby beach to get some photos of a fantastic sunset.

Sun 18th Jan

Sunday was just as bad as Saturday – Rain, Rain and more rain. It did manage to brighten up just long enough for me to go back to the pancake rocks and see a much better blowhole display:





Check out the following Facebook link for other pics:

CVNZ Week 1

Animals I have seen:

New Zealand Harrier – Punekeiki - 13th Jan
New Zealnd Falcon – Punekeiki 13th Jan
Unlike other countries New Zealand does not have many types of birds of prey so I can be pretty sure that these are what I seen while doing the gorse bashing.
New Zealand Pigeon – Punekeiki 13th Jan – a massive bird – the second largest pigeon in the world
Tui – Bullock creek 13th Jan, A fantastic songster bird
New Zealand Robin – Bullock creek 13th Jan. When I seen this rather drab bird I commented on our robin being much more colourful. He must have heard what I said as it darted out of the bush right at me!
Pied shag – Pancake rocks 15th Jan
White-fronted tern – Pancake rocks 15th Jan

And last but not least the weka which I first seen on my first days gorse bashing.



The weka is a flightless bird which unlike the nocturnal and shy kiwi is as bold as they come and will readily come out in the open and near humans as if they don’t exist. It got to the point that I got fed up finding that every rustle in a bush ended up being a bleeding weka!