TiriTiri Matangi, New Zealand

20th - 21st Feb 2009

Tiri Tiri Matangi is an island off the coast of North New Zealand which, like Ulva island near Stewart Island has had all its mammalian predators removed. A regular ferry service takes day trippers there every morning and brings them back every afternoon. The ferry goes from Auckland and does a stop off near Orewa before heading to the island. I decided to stay in a small hostel in Orewa so I did not have to go all the way down to Auckland.

The place was called Marco Polo backpackers and I booked it ahead of my arrival for 2 nights so I could go to the island and return the following evening. I don't think I have been in a more boring hostel in all the time I have been travelling! Not only was the place too far out of town to walk to any bars (I should have read the small print!) but it also had no TV and no Internet for guests. Also, the only other people staying there all spoke German.

I had the foresight to buy some beers from a supermarket in town, so after I made my usual 'can of meat with microwave rice gourmet meal' in the kitchen, I sat around reading and drinking to while away the night. It turned out that most of the 'Germans' were in fact Swiss except one German woman who joined me in the Kitchen so she could practise her English. She was very annoyed with the Swiss and said that she did not come half way round the world to speak German! Having had the 'pleasure' of working with Swiss people in the past I was not too perturbed about them not including me in their conversation - they were probably discussing how to put together a cuckoo clock anyway.

I got up early the next day and drove to the ferry port which took about 20 minutes. There was already a large group of people waiting for the boat to arrive from Auckland - including a large group of youngsters (bugger!).

Once on the ferry I bought a map/guide pamphlet from one of the several volunteers who were accompanying us on the trip. Before we were allowed off the boat onto the island we were given instructions on what to do once we landed - obviously no mammals were allowed on the trip - including dogs.

Once we landed everyone was allowed to go their own way to look at the birds or simply to go bathing in the bay on the far side of the island. It would be over 5 hours before the ferry returned to take us back so I brought plenty of water and a packed lunch to ward off any hunger pains while I walked round the island (there was no where to get food).

For the first 20 minutes everyone was bunched up together as they walked the marked paths that crisscrossed the island. I hung back so I could get to walk around by myself.

For the next 5 hours I did a leisurely walk around the island admiring the scenery and getting really good views of some of the protected birds. Most of the birds such as the Saddleback I had already seen on Ulva island but there was one bird in particular I had come to see on this island - the Takahe.


Featured Animal - The Takahe



If I had to pick one animal I really wanted to see for each country I had been to on my travels I would say the Great White Shark for South Africa; the Tasmanian Devil for Australia and the Takahe for New Zealand. This flightless bird was thought to be extinct until some where found up in the Murchison Mountains on the South island in 1948. Some of those birds have been trans located to some off shore islands including Tiri Titi Matangi where there is now 13 birds.

I thought that finding one would be hard to do but how wrong was I. About 30 minutes in to my walk I was trying (unsuccessfully) to photograph a bellbird when I heard some rustling behind me. I turned to see a takahe walking out onto the path behind me. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was able to follow it as it walked comically within several feet of me. It was a wonderful experience.

As I continued my walk round the island I got an even better view of a pair of them feeding:




Red Crested Parakeet


Bellbird I managed to get a photo off


A branch or rather a Stitchbird which buggered off before I got a photo!


A shag on the shore (oh! err!)

I finished my walk round the island at the coffee shop near the lighthouse with just enough time to take a quick walk round the gift shop. I almost bought a cuddly Takahe to keep DM and Taz company but decided that 3 was a crowd and they would only start fighting amongst themselves (I think a bit of therapy might have been in order at this stage!)

On my way back down to the ferry pier I managed to see one other very rare bird - the North Island KokaKo (sounds like baby talk!) bringing an end to a very satisfactory outing.


A sort of photo of a Kokako!

After the ferry dropped me off I was in no hurray to get back to the hostel so decided to do a bit of a tour round Orewa looking for an Internet point and some food. In the end I did not find any Internet and ended up getting more supermarket food for cooking in the hostel.

That night most of the Swiss and the German girl had gone. In their place were two middle aged American couples who, judging from their complaining, should have been at hotels rather than hostels. I think I would rather have had the Swiss back!

I had an early night and in the morning quickly packed and left to go to Auckland.

Here's a link to the Tiri Tiri Matangi Site.


Animals I have seen
Takahe
Kokako
Whitehead
Stitchbird

I spent about 20 minutes at a pond trying to get a glimpse of another endangered bird - the Brown Teal after meeting a guy who had just seen one but had to give up - bloody duck!

Bay of Islands, New Zealand

17th Feb - 19th Feb

Before I headed from Whangarai I made sure that I booked a place ahead for the bay of islands. The place to go appeared to be Paihai (I wrongly pronounced it as pee-high) which seemed to have the most accommodation available. I booked myself into the Saltwater lodge for 2 days before heading off.

At around 3pm I arrived and signed myself into the hostel. The hostel looked like a good enough place to hang out and it had the bonus of free parking underneath it so I extended my stay to 3 nights. Once I settled in I checked out the excursions on offer and after consulting with the receptionist in the hostel decided on a combination dolphin watch / yachting trip with a company called explore NZ. The trip would be leaving pretty early the next morning - that left me the rest of the day to look around the town and get my bearings so I went for a walk along the water front.

The place had a really good vibe to it (it helped that it wasn't raining!) with a good combination of touristy shops and restaurants. What it seemed to lack was a good bar!


Boats and islands


Parasailing

After searching in vain for a good place to have a pint I settled for the bar attached to the saltwater lodge itself. The reason was quite simply - HAPPY HOUR 5-7pm and they had a cheap pizza and pint deal. The pizza was rather small but did the job for the moment. I then had another happy hour pint. I was given a raffle ticket with my pint and in the middle of enjoying it the quiet barman that had been serving me came from behind the bar and went to the DJ's area. He then proceeded to transform himself from mild manned barman to super loud bingo host as he started to call out raffle numbers for the people in the bar - which consisted of me, several (other?) lushes and a large crowd of 19-20 somethings who were sitting in the far corner and lapping it all up.

As each number was called the lucky winner had to go up and do a 'take your pick' from a list of boxes. These gave them chances of proper prizes, booby prizes and karaoke! The major prize was a free skydive but I decided to sneak off before my number came up and I would be forced up to do a rendition of 'baby, one more time' or some other song.

I did another walk around the town looking to get some more food to supplement my meager pizza. Eventually I settled on a large bag of chips (more healthy food!). Afterwards I went back to the hostel - past the raffle bar which had managed to entice more punters inside and was now a 'take your pick'/Karaoke frenzy. It was still early so I went to the bar in the base hostel near my own hostel. At least in the base bars you were guaranteed to have a decent crowd - especially as their own happy hour had only just kicked off :)

While there I got chatting to a Scottish girl Mhairi, her English friend Sarah and Donald, another friend of Mhairi's. Donald was a character to say the least - a middle aged guy in his late 50's (or is that 60's?) from Mhairi's village on the isle of Skye who was travelling around New Zealand by himself. Before I could say "Three, Tui, One" I was in a round with them and was also ordering shots - a great way to prepare for the sailing trip the next day! I eventually managed to force myself to go back to hostel for some much needed shut-eye.

My days on the shark dive boat prepared me well for being able to get up with a hangover and still manage to go on a boat. As I said the trip I booked onto was a combination trip of a dolphin watch followed by a sailing trip on a very large 'America cup' type catamaran.

First the boat headed across the bay to pick up more passengers from Russell then we made our way past lots of small picturesque islands searching for dolphins. It wasn't too long until we found them - a large pod of bottlenose dolphins merrily swimming round our boat and another smaller boat owned by the same company. The smaller boat seemed to be getting all the best views - including having some of the dolphins ride the bow wave of their boat.

I did get to see some great sights including several with babies:



Dolphin riding bow wave of nearby boat


Mother and calf

Dolphin right beside our boat


Mother and calf


We stayed around the dolphins for a good while watching them jump out of the water in the distance (never did get a good shot of that!).

My best attempt of a photo of jumping dolphin

It was soon time to go and rendezvous with the yacht for the second part of the trip. Myself and about 20 other passengers were taken across from one boat to the other on small inflatables. Once on board the catamaran I found myself a nice sunny perch on one side of the yacht as it started its journey.


Our yacht


The sail.

It was an almost mesmerising experience. We were gently sailing along (slightly too slow for my liking) on a calm blue sea past beautiful islands. There were scantly clad women sunbathing at the front of the boat and best of all you could get nice cool beers. Each person could get a drink from cooler boxes and put a mark on a tally sheet so they could pay up at the end of the trip.


Sea and islands

At lunchtime we anchored beside one of the islands and had a hot buffet of beef, chicken and various salads - at last proper food! The drink tally sheet was looking interesting at this point with myself and some other guy neck and neck in the lead - a challenge if ever i saw one!

After lunch we were allowed to go to the island for walking, swimming, sunbathing and even kayaking. I am sorry to say all I did was sit and try to rid myself of the beer buzz that was filling my head. After we got back on board I decided not to indulge in any more alcohol and just sat wishing I had stuck to cokes.



Kayaking at island


View from island beach

On the way back they were able to put up the spinnaker (that's the big sail they put at the front of yachts when they are going downwind) so we were able to go a lot faster on the return journey. At around 4pm after dropping passengers back off at Russell we arrived back at Paihai. Once I settled my drinks bill (which thankfully was not as bad as it could have been) I returned to the hostel for a kip before going out for the night.

The night was basically a rerun of the previous night as I met up Donald, Mhairi and Sarah plus some other people which included Annette - one of the Kiwi experience people I had met on the south island and who I had already bumped into in Taupo. Not only did she know Mhairi and Donald but she was in fact from their same village! It's a small world - but I don't think you could cover it in a kilt!

As I got more and more drunk the conversation turned to scuba diving and before I knew it I was booked onto a diving trip the following day. Unfortunately (see glossary update) I awoke the next morning to find the sky was overcast and any chance of going diving would be a out of the question. The heavens soon opened up and for most of the rest of the day it poured down. I knew the bad weather would catch up with me eventually - all I could do was sit around the hostel and hope the rain would subside.

I tried to extend my stay in my hostel to the Friday night but it was booked up. The people at the hostel did try to get me booked into other places but they too were fully booked. It was a real pity - even with the rainy weather Paihai was a great place to stay.

I had one last night's boozing with Donald and co (vowing to make sure I go to Skye over the summer) then the next morning I checked out ready to head back down towards Auckland.

BEERS I HAVE DRUNK
Lions red Beer: The happy hour beer I had in the raffle bar. Nice enough for the price!

ANIMALS I HAVE SEEN
Bottlenose dolphin - obviously
Black Petrel - while watching the dolphins

GLOSSARY UPDATE
U:
Unfortunate Adjective
According to online dictionary its meanings are:
1. suffering from bad luck: an unfortunate person. (see www.rays-conservation-travels.blogspot.com for examples)
2. unfavorable or inauspicious: an unfortunate beginning.
3. regrettable or deplorable: an unfortunate remark.
4. marked by or inviting misfortune: an unfortunate development.
5. lamentable; sad: the unfortunate death of her parents.

Rotorua, New Zealand

15th Feb

The day after my skydive, which seems like a lifetime ago now, I headed to Rotorua which is where they have all the hot springs and geysers. Its also one of the top places for Maori culture.

On my way there I did a couple of detours. The first was to Huka falls just outside of Taupo. This is where the Waikato river, which drains lake Taupo, is funneled through a narrow gorge to create incredibly powerful rapids and falls. This one river system is able to supply 15% of the total power of New Zealand.

Bridge over troubled water?

Last and biggest falls

Some guff about the falls

It was not the most spectacular waterfalls I have seen on my trip (Iguazo falls are still to come!) but I certainly would not have liked to fall into the water none the less!

My next detour was about another 7 miles up the road - the Craters of the Moon. This is the most recently active (only started bubbling up in the 1950's) of the many thermal parks around the volcanic area of Rotorua. The park consisted of a mostly elevated walkway around hot springs, thermal vents and a couple of bubbling mudpools.

To be honest I was slightly disappointed. Most of the vents were small and looked like someone was blowing cigarette smoke out of holes in the ground. The walkways did not allow you to get close to the larger vents. A sensible precaution given that the vents shift position from time to time. Given my luck it was definitely sensible - I could just see me peering into one of the vents and ending up getting a superheated steam facial!

Open air sauna

Large steam vent

Very quick video of mudpool which I gave up on because I've seen more bubbles when I farted in a bath of dirty water!


My last stop before Rotorua was another set of thermal springs except these ones were meant to be a lot more impressive and included a geyser. However when I found out the price of the entrance and the fact that the geyser was not due to erupt until 10am the following morning I decided to give it a miss. I could always come back the next day - which unfortunately I did not do (another thing to come back and see). I did take photos of some of the carvings outside of the park.


Looks like he's having trouble - a bit of constipation perhaps?



Judging from where the cobweb is this one is constipated AND getting no action!

I drove on into town and after some extensive searching I found the hostel I had booked into - the Funky Green Voyager which had a nice laid back feel to it. The manager (whose name I forget) was very helpful in finding me things to do around Rotorua. As I was in the heart of Maori culture I decided to book myself onto a traditional Maori Hangi banquet and show at the Mitai (pronounced like the cocktail - so it must be good!) Maori centre that night.

At 8pm a bus picked myself and 5 other people from the hostel up and took us to the centre. There were loads of people there - at least 100 all in a large marquis. After some Maori greetings from the host (and a couple of well earned beers) it was time for the banquet. For a traditional hangi meal all the food is cooked underground in a large pit. We were all taken out to see the food being uncovered before being served:


Uncovering the food for the Hangi meal

The meal was great with Beef, lamb and Chicken with loads of potatoes and lots of salad. I had not eaten that well for several days!

After the meal we were all lead down to the local sacred stream to see some Maoris paddle up in a war canoe (called a waka)

Statue on way to river:

I always wondered what happened to Beavis!

Oxford boat crew relaxing on their day off?


Then it was back up to a large theatre for the main performance of the night. It was here in front of a backdrop of a traditional Maori village that the Maori men and women performed a selecton of songs and dances culminating in their tribes own Haka.




'Oh bugger I just followed through'


Tapanga two heads was the star of the show!

Finally, to end off the night we went back down to the river to be shown glowworms and the sacred spring of the tribe. Water companies have offered millions to the tribe to get their hands on the water that bubbles out from this spring as its some of the purest in the world. I just liked the big eels that swam around it.



Although at times some of this show seemed to be a bit tacky it was still good to see and quite enjoyable. They also were able to make light of some parts of their traditions (eg the fact that instead of disfiguring their faces with tattoos they used paint instead for these ceremonies) while keeping faithful to their ways.

However, they didn't know how to make a Mai Tai cocktail!

Millford Sound, New Zealand

2nd Feb

Milford sound was one of the ‘Must do’ items on my list and one of the reasons for hiring a car because I thought it was off the bus routes. So I had to justify to myself why I ended up getting a bus tour there rather then driving. The justification was easy. It was a 4 hour trip there from Queenstown and a 4 hour trip back. I just would not enjoy doing such a trip in a day and I did not think I would have enough time to do it over 2 days. In the end it was a very god decision.

We all boarded the bus at just after 8am and our very Kiwi bus driver took us on our way while giving us information about various lakes, mountains and towns.

We passed by lake wakitipu and its dramatic mountain backdrop (used in lord of the rings) and on through farmland (a good time to catch some shuteye) until we reached Lake Te Anau and had a stop at the town of the same name for some much needed breakfast.

Then it was onwards to the sound up into the spectacular mountains which seemed to get higher and steeper as we went.

Eventually we came to to the homer tunnel set into the mountainside and only wide enough for one set of traffic at a time. We had to wait for our turn to go through which meant that everyone could climb out of the bus and take in the massive cliffs that surrounded the valley. There was even the obigitory kea trying to scrounge some food off the tourists.

Going through the tunnel was quite spooky as there was only a few feet left on all sides for the bus then we burst out into the other side and could see the long windy road down to the fiord beyond (used in several sportscar ads).

We arrived at the ferry at about 1:30 and immediately boarded and started getting our large free bufet lunch (part of the package). I ate mine as quick as possible (which for anyone who knows means VERY quick) as I did not want to miss a minute of the scenary outside.

We steamed out of the harbour and spent the next 2 hours cruising in some of the best scenary I have seen in my life. The cliffs and mountains rising straight out of the sea were just breathtaking. We even managed to see some dolphins (though I did not get a got photo of them)

Towards the end of the trip we went close to one of the waterfalls and anyone at the front of the boat got a real soaking.

The final part of the trip was to a specially constructed underwater viewing platform. Because of the amount of fresh water that enters the sound there is a layer of fresh water on top of the saltwater with the result that the waters become very dark very quick. The platform was built to show off the black coral and fish that wopuld normally be down at least 50m but could be seen at 10m.

It was quite good but after 15 minutes looking out from the cramped, floating platform I started to feel very queasy and wanted to get back on the boat and back to the pier.

The bus ride back was uneventful and everybody just tried to sleep.

After a quick shower I went across to the Ferg bar with some of the Kiwi Experience crowd and had possibly the largest messiest burger I have ever had in my life - accompanied by the largest chip - I could not even eat half of them. Then it was on to my last nights drinking with the Kiwi bus crowd.

As per usual we started in the base backpackers bar but quickly moved onto the world bar where I decided to indulge in some of their cocktails which came in teapots! you drank the concoction through the spout.

I also seen on the list of shots a thing called an Irish car bomb which was made up of a jameson and bailey shot in a glass of dark ale. You dropped the shot into the beer glass in the same way as a jagger bomb and then drank the nasty result. I thought it was funny at first to see something called an Irish car bomb but then In my drunken haze I started thinking about all the people down the years that have been blown to pieces back home by them and I startd to feel really angry at the use of the name. How would a yank feel if they called a cocktail the 911 aircrash? How would a Spaniard feel about a shot called the madrid trainbomb - its just not right!

I went to bed very drunk and quite angry vowing to give them a piece of my mind the next time I went to the bar - which obviously didn't happen as I left the next day to go to Stewart island.

Here are my photos of the milford sound trip



Glossary update

S
Sweet (as) Kiwi term used in just about every sentence to describe that things are good and ok. Our bus driver used it ALL the time as did every other tour and bus operator. It was actually quite quant.

Things I have lost/broken
Nothing - I actually found a nokia mobile phone charger in my room which had been left there by some other forgetful person so I nicked it for my own use - sweet!

Healesville, Australia

31st Jan

On new years eve I went to another wildlife sanctuary - this time Healesville which is about 60km from the centre of Melbourne.

I arrived just in time to see their parrot bird display which was fun and also managed to see their birds of prey show which was even better.






Info on Corella

Wedge tailed Eagle

And again!

Osprey

As per usual my camera batteries gave out in the middle of the bird of prey display but I am sure you are all fed up with me posting pics of Australian animals.


'Us dingos don't count as Aussi animals - we're just blowins!'

It was a really well set out place with a good enclosures (esp the bird ones) and information. I even got to see a platapus (no pics I am afraid). The only downside to the trip (other than the batteries) was the distance I had to drive to get there and of course the place was full of snivelling little kids.

Featured Animal - Short Beaked Echidna

For a while I thought I was never going to to see an Echidna but once I saw one they seemed to start being all over the place. They are very common all over Australia especially Tasmania where they are often seen at the side of the road.

The Echidna (also know as the spiny anteater) is a monotreme. Monotreme's are a very old order of mammals that lay eggs. The only other surviving monotreme species is the playpus. There are other species of echidna in New guinea but only the short beaked occurs in Oz.

The word Monotreme means single opening in greek. That means that their urinary, defecatory, and reproductive tracts all open into a single duct. To put it another way the female echidna takes it up the ass to reproduce. This may explain why they walk so funnily. I think the male has some sort of penis (or else he would have to turn his rectum inside out to do it!).

Here is a short video I took of one.



I am reminded off a very old childrens program I used to watch called fingerbobs which has this bearded guy called Yoffy creating animals out of his fingers. Brill show but an Echidna walks like a fingerbob especially flash the tortoise or prickly friend the hedgehog - basically like a guy has a finger up their hole.

St Kilda Penguin parade 23rd Nov

On Fri 23rd Nov I went down to St Kilda to go on a guided tour of the little penguin colony at the end of the pier. I had been put in touch with one of Prue's friends Tiana who is doing a PHD on the penguins and has open nights to show people around the colony as the penguins come into shore at dusk. I decided to go down early to have a look around St Kilda before going to the tour. So here is another pictorial tour: First stop off the tram was into a small park which had this plaque.



I wonder if it should have read: 'We knocked down the first building in St Kilda to make way for this plaque'? On through the park past the war memorial (post to follow)



On past the luna fun fair (which was closed) to the beach crowded with sun seekers and swimmers:



Er - well it should have been crowded with sun seekers and swimmers this being effectively late spring/early summer but then I am here so of course it was freezing cold, windy and there was a storm on the way.

Another beach full of babes!

On to the pier to see where I had to meet everyone. By this stage a gale was blowing and it was hard to even walk down the pier. It reminded me of walking along any seafront in Ireland. I felt right at home!



Back past this clock tower



Then I ran out of things to see and went to the esplanade hotel for some beer and food (ok I was cold and hungry and thirsty!)



I had probably the worst meal I have had so far in Australia. I ordered a burger with everything and after 15 mins was given a piece of meat that looked as if it had been zapped by a laser cannon. The bap wasn't much better and was more carbon than bread. Not a good meal at all! The place looks good for live music etc but I wouldn't recommend eating there.

I still had nearly 2 hours to kill so went down to the main street with all its tacky shops (including some sex shops with dubious Santa costumes displayed) looking for a half decent bar. I eventually found one which was good enough and supped on some pots (that's half pints to you and me) while it began pouring down outside. Eventually it was 8pm and I headed back to the pier:

lovely weather for penguins!

I think I seen this scene in Ghostbusters

I got there in good time except that after 15 mins nobody had turned up. I texted Tiana only to get a reply saying they had cancelled due to the weather. Wimps! I told her this was Balmy weather in Ireland! The rain had ceased by this stage and the wind had died down as well so it turned out to be an excellent night to view penguins so I decided to do my own wee tour. There is a section of the breakwater which is not closed off to the public where you could see some of the penguins come to shore.

There is something quite magical about watching animals at night and these penguins with their comical walks and noisy chatter were fantastic to see. There was plenty of light from lamps to see them with the naked eye and you could in some instances get really close to them. My camera was not up to the job due to no flash photography being allowed but I put it on video mode which has slightly better night vision:

This one walked right past me (if you can see it in the bad light)





There is another video here but I have not been able to upload it yet - will do so in Melbourne

Featured animal - Little (or Fairy) Penguins:

Its the smallest penguin in the world and breeds around the coast of Australia and New Zealand. Here is some info from the boards around about the area.



At the start of the pier I also seen a notice about future work being done to enhance the pier and help protect the penguins. The next day I queried the developments with Tiana who replied that she was really excited about the enhancements as it would mean they would be protected from people. Apparently all sorts of dubious people such as druggies and drunks go to the end of the pier to lark about after dark (thanks for the warning Tiana!) Penguins have been disturbed and even in some case deliberately killed by some of these assholes.

That probably explains why these people were also there when I arrived:
police divers

When I asked what they were doing one policeman told me that they were looking for evidence of a crime - a weapon which had been thrown into the water.

As I said earlier - I felt right at home :)

BEERS I HAVE DRANK:
Castlemaine XXXX Gold. Normally I wouldn't go anywhere near this beer but it did say Gold on the tap so I assumed it must have been different from the normal crap. It wasn't.

PEOPLE I HAVE MET/SEEN:
Or rather heard. On the tram down to St Kilda there was a women talking on a mobile phone who was possibly the loudest talker I have ever heard. Shouting would be more like it. The funny thing was that at the end of her (far too long) conversation she said to the person at the other end of phone. 'People say I talk very loud on the phone' Your bloody right ya do dear - my ears are still throbbing!

ANIMALS I HAVE SEEN
Rakali: Water Rat with webbed feet: As well as the penguins I was also lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one at the pier.

GLOSSARY UPDATE:
C:
Cactus: Aussi Expression: Buggered, Dead. eg "this bloody washing machine is cactus"

Fame! I want to live forever etc etc

Getaway Presenter Catriona Rowntree

Getaway at the Grampians 20th-22nd Nov

After my days conservation work on Fri 14th Prue had a big surprise for me. She was inviting me to take part in the filming of their Grampian holiday for Getaway. Apparently its one of the most watched programs on Australian TV! Me a TV star - how could I refuse (free room and board as well!)

So on Tue 20th Myself, Prue and another volunteer Sheena headed back up to the Grampians to do more mammal trapping - this time while being filmed. After picking up the rest of the CVA crew at Balarat (Jane, Phil and Sarah) we arrived back at the hostel.

We met up with Ranger Mike and headed out to set up 2 sets of traps. The film crew would not be meeting us until the following day as they were staying in some luxury accommodation rather than the hostel.

Early Wed morning (we were allowed to lie in until 6am this time) we got up, had our breakfast and headed out to meet the film crew. Then it was on to the first lot of traps.

Before we checked the traps the crew did some filming of Catriona getting her gear on and doing serialising her boots. Then off we went to check the traps. Unfortunately all the first set of traps were empty so we had no luck at all.

Sylvia giving trap talk

Before checking the next set of traps the film crew had to do some car shots. For one of the shots they placed a camera on the front of Mikes 4x4 and then filmed him and Catriona chatting while driving along. Having been in the car when Mike is driving I realised just what a risky thing this was for the camera! Another shot they wanted was of the Park Rangers and the Conservation Volunteers Vehicles driving down a dirt track. They had to do the shot twice as there was too much dust in the first one. So it was take two and Action! I resisted the urge to wave at the camera on the way past.

Preparing the camera

Cleaning the cars window

The second set of traps was a lot better. Mike had picked it because on previous occasions they had caught lots of swamp rats and a snake. Sure enough we got loads of 'Swampies'.

The getaway crew filmed the processing of a swampy, an antichinus and a skink. I was not at the filming of the antichinus or skink but I heard that upon seeing the 'Critters' (that's what the park rangers call all the animals) both Sheena and Catriona shrieked and nearly jumped out of their skins. Its all on film too.

My first acting involved walking through the thicket to get to one of the traps. So myself and Phil had to go into the bush for about 50 feet and then walk back past the camera. I nearly fell in my attempt to make it look nonchalant. Then when they set up the equipment Catriona went and impromptly asked me a question while they were filming. I wasn't even prepared for it! I can't remember exactly what she asked but I know that in my answer I said it was great to see the 'Wee Critters'. After that all I could think was 'I Can't believe I just said Wee critters! - You eejit Raymond!. She also asked me about my Carbon offset as I was on around the world trip. I'm sure I balls the whole thing up and it will end up on the cutting room floor.

Swampy

Peek a boo!

After the trapping it was on to Lunch at Mackenzie Falls where they did more filming of us looking at one of the falls and had Catriona do more talking. Then it was back to the Hostel.

filming at the falls

They producer wanted to get footage of the accommodation at the hostel and then film us relaxing after a hard days trapping in front of an open fire with wine and cheese. It was all very sophisticated. Prue got to have her hands being filmed pouring out the wine. Then it was more questions from Catriona directed at Sheena, Phil and Myself. My question was about the people you get to work with on these trips. Again I am sure I cocked it up but I muddled through anyway. After the filming was complete the film crew rushed off and left us to make our dinner.

The next day we had to check the traps one more time. The first set that had produced nothing the previous day was still as barren except that on my line of traps we caught a Heath mouse. This was one of the species we were hoping to catch (the other being a Bandicoot). So the film crew came over and filmed Mike processing it before Catriona got to let the critter go. I didn't get to see much of this filming as I was busy taking the traps back to the cars.

The second set of traps only produced another selection of swampies - no bandicoots or snakes. I couldn't find one of the traps on my line and by the time I got back to the cars the film crew had packed up and gone having gotten all the footage they needed. So I never got to be in the group photo with Catriona. I was going to take a photo of her too - getting DM's autograph!

After they had gone we had to go back to the Park Rangers office and clean all the traps before heading back to the hostel for lunch, to pack and to head home.

I think everybody had a great time. The film crew were all friendly and Catriona turned out to be a really nice woman - eager to chat and seemed to be genuinely interested in what we had to say. We all talked about our moments of fame. Prue's hand shot. (She was saying she should become a hand model). Sheena's screaming and my 'Wee Critter'

Hopefully Conservation Volunteers will get some good publicity when they get round to showing it next year. As for me. I will be back home in Ireland by that time so I should be well away from Australia before I have to squirm at my accent!

Here is the getaway website. Look up the Montague Island Video which is another Conservation Volunteer Holiday which Getaway did a piece on.

Getaway web site


Things I have Learnt:

Apparently the pub next door to the hostel is frequented by another famous Aussi Chopper Read!

Let's hope I don't have to move him into my 'People I have met' category!