Not only can you use cob to fill in gaps or build walls, you can sculpt it while it's still wet. Rusty had the inspiration to do some sculpting on the columns in their lounge and suggested I do some birds. She did the vines and leaves, and sculpted two fantails and a kiwi.
The rare cob kiwi
A close up of one of the fantails when it was almost finished.
Carrie
We've posted three short movie clips to YouTube.
Tui Singing
The tui has an awesome song so we took this short video so you can hear it. The recording didn't quite get all of the notes but you get the idea.
Natural Waterslide
We mentioned this is an earlier post from the North Island. Thanks to Kerry for telling us about this awesome place! It's a pretty long waterslide ride.
Cobbing a Wall
Most of Rusty & Wal's house is made of mud bricks but the gaps are filled with cob. Cob is a sticky mixture of clay, sand, water, and straw. The best way to get it to stick is to throw it at the wall. It also helps prevent air bubbles. It's really satisfying to throw mud at the wall and watch the gaps fill in. We thought you might like to see how it's done so Matt recorded Carrie and Rusty cobbing.
Our apologies to those of you on dial up since it will take a while for these to load. Enjoy the videos!
Carrie
New Zealand is home to the world’s rarest dolphin, Cephalorhynchus hectori. There are two subspecies: the northern Maui’s dolphin, and the southern Hector’s dolphin. Maui’s dolphin is critically endangered, with recent population estimates at 110 individuals. Hector’s dolphins, by comparison, are doing much better with about 7,000 individuals. Still, twenty-five years ago there were over 28,000 Hector’s dolphins. Why the decline? Fishing, pollution, and harassment by boats and people.
From our land-based perspective the ocean seems vast and inexhaustible. It seems to be a bottomless pot of seafood. Yet we have learned many, many times that our choices in life are linked to the prosperity or decline of other species. Marine life is not immune from our actions.
I was inspired to write this blog post by an article I read called Marine Conservation on Paper by Giovanni Bearzi. The author expressed frustration that many of the lessons learned from exhausting conservation research never get off paper. Recommendations aren’t implemented for a variety of reasons, and in spite of all the talk, things don’t change and continue to decline. Bearzi wrote:
“What the marine environment needs is a mass of people who value and care about it. This means people who not only express feelings of admiration and awe for whales and dolphins, but who also recognize the complexities involved in achieving meaningful protection and are ready to become engaged.”
We have been fortunate in New Zealand and have seen sperm whales, bottlenose dolphins, dusky dolphins, and Hector’s dolphins as well as fur seals, sea lions, and countless sea birds. I, for one, would like future generations to enjoy the same experiences.
The more I learn about marine issues the more convinced I am of my choice to not eat seafood. Vegetarianism aside, I don’t eat seafood for these reasons:
1. In most cases, we simply don’t know what is a sustainable level of fishing or harvesting. How many orange roughies can you harvest each year without them declining in size or number? We need to know much more about the reproductive biology of commercially fished species, as well as others that are unintentionally caught.
2. In cases where we do know how much is too much, economic and political pressures prevent the passing of legislation to protect marine resources by limiting catches.
3. If the laws are passed, they are hard to enforce. For example, illegal fishing often happens around the Galapagos Islands, but the Ecuadorian government does not have enough resources to adequately patrol for illegal (usually Japanese) fishing boats.
4. Bycatch. Indiscriminate trawling, dredging, gill netting, and seining catches anything in its path. The unwanted organisms are thrown back into the ocean, usually dead. At least if you eat a chicken you don’t have to kill a horse, a flock of pigeons, a bunch of piglets, some ducklings, and a turtle to catch the damn chicken.
The least that my seafood-consuming blog readers can do is make sure that the fish you do eat isn’t from a teetering population or destructive fishing practices.
For several years the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California has put out a red, yellow, and green list of seafood products to eat in the U.S. Here’s a link to the national guide. Take a minute to find your region.
New Zealand has it’s own Best Fish Guide by the Forest and Bird Society.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program has loads of information about different types of fish and fishing practices if you’re interested in learning more.
Happy eating!
Carrie
Many times in New Zealand, in both the North and South Islands, we have encountered chickens at rest stops and scenic overlooks. There's a little sign that with a symbol of a tree and a picnic table, perhaps something about a scenic view at the top of the hill, so we pull over for a minute. Then we see numerous chickens- mostly roosters- wandering around the area. Why don't just go ahead and include a little rooster symbol with the tree and picnic table?
It had been quite a while since we'd stopped at a scenic rooster spot but on Monday we were followed by three roosters as we looked for a Geocache on our way back from Lake Tekapo. It reminded me of a partial explanation for why there are roosters at picnic areas.
We spent a few days HelpXing with a family in Raglan. The dinner conversation turned to ill-tempered farm animals (why not?) so of course we talked about mean old scary roosters. They said they had one nasty rooster who was so mean they just took him up to the scenic overlook and left him there with the other roosters. This peculiar practice seems to be self-perpetuating since it's just "the thing to do" with your mean poultry (hens make it up there too sometimes).
These roosters were somewhere up in Northland. I know Matt just posted this picture but it's the only one I could find of roosters at rest stops.
Carrie
Just after Christmas Bill Buskirk and Jay Roberts from Earlham came to New Zealand and we spent a bit of time with them. We had a great time and their visit left us excited about birding. Ever since then we have been keeping track of the bird species we have seen. Our goal has been to reach 100 species (and sub-species). On Monday morning we reached that goal and on Monday evening we surpassed it. At this point we have seen 101 different species (and sub-species) of bird. This is really very exciting for us and we are sure it is not quite as exciting for most of you but, for the benefit of the two (maybe three) people we think might enjoy it, we wanted to share our list with you. The Maori names for some of the birds are in brackets and some of the birds are hyperlinks so you can go read more (I was going to hyperlink them all but that's a lot of work so I got about half way and then I just did the coolest ones). Here it is.
001. Albatross (Royal, Wandering) [Toroa Ingoingo]
003. Bellbird (North Island, South Island, Stewart Island) [Korimako]
006. Blackbird [Manu Pango]
007. Chaffinch [Pahirini]
008. Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo
009. Australian Coot
010. Brown Creeper [Pipipi]
011. Cuckoo (Long-Tailed, Shining) [Koekoea, Pipiwharauroa]
013. Dabchick [Weweia]
014. New Zealand Dotterel [Tuturiwhatu]
015. Grey Duck [Parera]
016. Paradise Duck [Putangitangi]
017. Dunnock
018. New Zealand Falcon [Karearea]
019. Fantail (North Island, South Island) [Piwakawaka]
021. Australasian Gannett [Takapu]
022. Goose (Canada, Feral)
024. Chicken (Feral)
025. Bar-Tailed Godwit [Kuaka]
026. Goldfinch
027. Australasian Crested Grebe [Puteketeke]
028. Greenfinch
029. Gull (Black-Backed, Black-Billed, Red-Billed) [Karoro, Tarapunga, Akiaki]
032. Australasian Harrier [Kahu]
033. Heron (Reef, White-Faced, White) [Matuku Tai, Matuku Moana, Kotuku]
036. Kaka (North Island, South Island)
038. Kea
039. Kingfisher [Kotare]
040. Stuart Island Brown Kiwi (!)
041. Australian Magpie (White-Backed, Black-Backed) [Makipai]
043. Mallard
044. Mollymawk (Shy, Buller's)
046. Myna
047. Oystercatcher (Pied, Variable) [Torea Pango]
049. Parakeet (Red-Crowned, Yellow-Crowned) [Kakariki]
051. Penguin (Blue, Yellow-Eyed, Fjordland Crested) [Korora, Hoiho]
054. Westland Petrel
055. Pheasant [Peihana]
056. Pigeon (New Zealand, Rock, Cape) [Kereru]
059. New Zealand Pipit [Pihoihoi]
060. Spur-Winged Plover
061. Pukeko
062. Quail (California, Brown)
064. Riflemen [Titipounamu]
065. New Zealand Robin (North Island, South Island, Stewart Island) [Toutouwai]
068. Eastern Rosella
069. Saddleback [Tieke]
070. Scaup [Papango]
071. Shag (Little, Little Black, Spotted, King, Stewart Island, Pied, Black) [Kawau Paka, Kawau Tui, Parekareka, Karuhiruhi, Kawau Pu]
078. Silvereye [Tauhou]
079. Skylark
080. House Sparrow [Tiu]
081. Royal Spoonbill [Kotuku Ngutupapa]
082. Starling [Taringi]
083. Pied Stilt [Poaka]
084. Stitchbird [Hihi]
085. Welcome Swallow [Warou]
086. Black Swan
087. Shearwater (Sooty, Fluttering)
089. Tern (Black-Fronted, Caspian, White-Fronted) [Tarapiroe, Taranui, Tara]
092. Song Thrush
093. Tomtit (North Island, South Island, Stewart Island) [Miromiro]
096. Tui
097. Wild Turkey
098. Grey Warbler [Riroriro]
099. Weka (South Island, Stewart Island)
101. Yellowhammer
I hope you clicked on at least one!
Matt
On Monday evening we returned from a great weekend with Rusty & Wal at Lake Tekapo. Tekapo is in the Southern Alps up near Mt. Cook. We left midday on Friday and met up in the evening (we drove our car separately because we didn't all fit in their station wagon).
On our way out of Waimate we followed signs to the Waimate Sheepdog Trials. We've been wanting to see some for months but had pretty much given up hope until we saw the signs! We watched them bring sheep down from a hill, through some gates, and into a pen. The first shepherds who trained dogs to do all the sheep herding work for them must've been thrilled to pieces. It was awesome to watch the dogs work. Unfortunately, our camera decided to stop working for some unknown reason while we were at the sheepdog trials. This was a huge bummer since we were headed to one of the most spectacular places in New Zealand.
Thankfully, Rusty and Wal let us take some pictures on their camera so the images are courtesy of them until further notice. Rusty's parents also spent the weekend at Lake Tekapo with us and it was lovely to meet them. We passed the evenings playing Chinese Checkers and Monopoloy (the British version).
On Saturday we did some Geocaching around Tekapo with Rusty, Ami, and Shannah. We released a Travel Bug whose mission is to make its way to Chicago to be reunited with us. Then we went with Wal and Rusty's dad to see Mt. Cook. At 3700+ meters it is New Zealand's highest mountain. It was a beautifully clear day and the views of Mt. Cook were spectacular. Just as we were arriving at the Mt. Cook villiage we saw a NZ falcon dive-bombing a harrier! This was our first falcon sighting.
On Sunday we did more Geocaches in the area. DOC has a black stilt breeding center near Lake Pukaki (next to Lake Tekapo) that we planned to visit on our way back to Waimate on Monday. We called at 3 pm on Sunday to inquire about bookings and learned that the last tour of the season (i.e. until October or so) was THAT DAY at 4:30! So we hopped in the car and hurried off to make our bookings.
The Black Stilt is an extremely rare bird. There are about 100 birds in the wild and the population is intensively monitored. They suffered extensive habit loss during river modification for hydroelectricity. Wide, braided rivers favored by the black stilts have been altered by dams and canals unsuitable for their lifestyle. We got to see these birds up close at the breeding center. We were hoping to see them in the wild too but we had no such luck. We did manage to see a different rare bird, the Australasian creseted grebe. They can't walk on land and spend their entire lives in water or in flight.
On Monday we finished the rest of the Geocaches in the area and came back to Waimate via some cool limestone rock outcrops. We stopped at a place called Elephant Rocks. It is probably the coolest natural playground I've ever seen, and we tried really hard to make all of our friends appear spontaneously so that we could play capture the flag or ghost in the graveyard or something. It didn't work so we just ran around and climbed on rocks.
In the evening we stopped at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony to watch the penguins come in for the night. We saw about 60 penguins in all. They gather together offshore and then come to shore in groups of 6-20. Then they wander up to their nests for the night. We watched two starting to collect nesting material. They are the world's smallest penguin. Tiny little things!
Just so you know, we're planning to go quite a few posts during these last two weeks in NZ. Check often!
Carrie
Our friend Elizabeth just returned to Dunedin for the first time since December. In the meantime she was in the U.S. and then in Suriname. We convinced her to come to Stewart Island with us, so we met her in Dunedin on Tuesday. It felt nice to return to a place we were so familiar with. We spent the night at Elm Lodge (where we worked in October) before leaving Dunedin early Wednesday morning. Dunedin (45°52'28.42"S, 170°30'12.20"E) is pretty far south in NZ, but the ferry departure point in Bluff ( 46°35'54.84"S, 168°20'21.98"E) is still 3 hours further south. We just barely got on the 11:30 am ferry to Stewart Island (46°53'49.62"S, 168° 7'37.35"E).
The water separating the South Island and Stewart Island is the Foveaux Straight. The ferry was MUCH smaller than the Cook Straight ferry between the North and South Islands. The ferry to Stewart Island was a catamaran and we could see all the passengers (and the captain and crew) in the one room.
It turns out that this was the most exciting boat ride of my life. There were 2-3 meter swells with the wind against the tide. That basically means that being on this boat was like riding a roller coaster. All of the passengers even gasped and screamed and then laughed nervously together. There were at least 20 stomach-dropping falls as we went over the waves. The crossing took about 70 minutes (slightly longer than usual) and the first 30-45 were really rough. Lots of people on the boat got sick, but the three of us were ok.
When we arrived on Stewart Island the weather forecast really wasn’t looking too good for tramping. It was cloudy and windy with plenty of rain in the forecast (and snow at higher elevations). Our tramping schedule was pretty tight because Elizabeth had to be back in Dunedin on Saturday so she had to get on the early morning ferry back to Bluff. We were planning to take a water taxi to a hut and then hike to two more huts for Thursday and Friday nights. We were misinformed at the information center when the lady told us the watertaxis weren’t running that afternoon that we arrived, which put us a day behind schedule because we couldn’t start tramping that day.
Instead, we spend the night at a hostel in the little town of Oban. It’s the only town on Stewart Island and its year-round population is about 350. I think they have at least as many tourists as residents!
On Thursday morning we changed our hiking plans because of the weather and our schedule. We arranged for a water taxi to take us to a nearby island bird sanctuary, then come back a few hours later and take us to Fred’s Camp, a hut along the trail.
Ulva Island (46°55'48.25"S, 168° 7'45.86"E) is a predator-free sanctuary. No possums, stoats, rats, mice, rabbits, or deer. This makes it a great place for some of New Zealand’s more sensitive birds like the saddleback. Matt and I were excited about bird watching so we walked the trails pretty slowly and spent a long time staring into the trees. Poor Elizabeth wasn’t nearly so captivated, but insisted that she was having a good time watching us fall off the path. The weather wasn’t very good though. There was a constant light drizzle and it was cold. I don’t think the birds liked the weather much more than we did because we didn’t see as many birds as we had expected.
Elizabeth did have fun on the rope swing. What a view!
After a few hours of walking around Ulva Island we met the watertaxi to take us to Fred’s Camp (46°55'46.95"S, 167°58'39.26"E). This was exciting boat ride #2. It was a tiny little boat and the inlet was quite rough. The boat lurched wildly front to back as we went over waves and sea spray often obscured the view. Every time we smacked into a wave it was jarring to the spine.
This picture of Elizabeth and Ian (our excellent water taxi driver) hardly demonstrates the turbulence, but you can at least see that it was a miserable day in a small boat.
We made it safely to Fred’s Camp and found that there were already 5 people in the hut- three hunters and two kayakers. We knew from the DOC office that the hunters would be there but it was a fuller house than we expected. Instead of trying to hike to another hut through knee-deep mud and water, we were just going to spent two consecutive nights at Fred’s Camp. We decided we’d better get on good terms with the hunters right away since we’d be there with them for two nights and a whole day. That night cards were played and Speights was drunk until late in the night by all, so everything was ok.
Fred’s Camp during a moment of sunshine.
We slept in on Friday since the weather couldn’t seem to make up its mind. It would go between sun and hail and drizzle. We saw dolphins swim past the hut twice (going one direction then the other) but didn’t get a close enough look to see what kind they were. That afternoon we went out for a hike to look for kiwi and stretch our legs. No kiwi, but Matt found a kiwi poo and some beak holes in the ground. I found a different kiwi poo about 50 meters down the trail with more beak holes in the ground. This was just 5 minutes from our hut so we decided to sit and wait for kiwi on Friday night. We sat there in the dark in a fine drizzle listening for kiwi snuffling sounds for an hour and 15 minutes. We heard two kiwi call to each other but they were far away. Somewhat discouraged, we turned in for the night. I’d read in a book that Fred’s Camp was a good place to see kiwi, but for us it was just a good place to see kiwi poo.
A water taxi picked us up from Fred’s Camp at 7 am on Saturday morning so that Elizabeth could catch the 8 am ferry back to Bluff and then take a bus back to Dunedin. It was just after sunrise, so Matt and I asked to be dropped off at Ulva Island again. We thought we might have a chance of seeing a kiwi there and at least we’d hear and see more birds.
We started a loop around the island at 7:15 as Elizabeth headed to the ferry terminal in the water taxi. The dawn chorus was starting and we walked quietly with our eyes peeled for kiwi. Amazingly, Matt spotted one off the trail among some ferns. For a split second when he was trying to point out its location, I was terribly afraid that I wouldn’t see it at all! I saw it when it moved again and we watched for a minute or two before it disappeared over a rise. Success in less than 30 minutes on the island!
Matt decided to name the kiwi James, after his friend James Brosch who has a certain affinity for these flightless birds.
The weather was much better for this second visit to Ulva Island so we saw many more birds. I think we’re getting really good at identifying saddlebacks. We also saw 11 wekas. Wekas are also large brown ground birds so they are mistakenly identified as kiwis by the uninformed tourists.
The New Zealand Robins are very curious (and rare). They like to eat the bugs disturbed by our footsteps, and they can be attracted even closer by moving aside some leaf litter. They land within inches of you. I was moving aside leaves for one and left my hand resting on the edge of the trail while it pecked at bugs a few inches away. Then it hopped over and bit me on the knuckle! The same one later pecked at Matt’s shoe. I’m not sure if it was telling us to move more leaves or if we seemed edible.
After returning from Ulva Island we went out for lunch in Oban to celebrate our kiwi sighting. Then we did the only Geocache on Stewart Island. We had to go at low tide to keep our feet dry. The tide pools near this Geocache seemed particularly colorful and exciting. We found tons of beautiful shells and interesting critters.
On Sunday morning we caught the 8 am ferry back to Bluff. It was much smoother than our first crossing! We didn’t mind one bit. We stopped at the Tuataratarium (as Matt likes to call it) in the Southland Museum in Invercargill (46°24'19.41"S, 168°21'11.86"E) to see the tuataras then spent the rest of Sunday and Monday exploring the Catlins (eg. 46°27'2.62"S, 169°49'12.73"E). We met Elizabeth for lunch on Tuesday in Dunedin and now we're back in Waimate. Phew! Thanks Mom, Dad & other devoted fans for reading the whole thing.
Carrie
0700 hours...
Ulva Island off the coast of Stewart Island off the coast of the South Island in New Zealand somewhere in the Pacific...
Despite months of nay-sayers who claimed it could not be done Carrie and Matt set out in search of the evasive Stewart Island Brown Kiwi. Having awoken before dawn to meet their boat the two adventurers made land at the Ulva Island docks known haunt of both the aggressive Black-backed Gull and the duplicitous Black Shag. At this hour even these shady, fly-by-night dealers were nowhere to be seen. As the sun slowly crept up over the horizon our heros proceeded inland armed only with soft footsteps and a monocular
After forty minutes of stealthy sneaking they spotted their goal. A mere two meters away in the brush trying to look like a bush stood the Kiwi bird. Hunters and hunted stared into each other's eyes for but a moment. One tired from a night of eating the others tired from awaking at dawn in uncomfortable beds. The Kiwi moved on over the ridge leaving only a memory and this picture as evidence.
Stewart Island is the best place to see kiwi in the bush. It is an hour’s ferry south of South Island and the third-largest island in New Zealand. We really want to see a kiwi in the wild so we’re off to Stewart Island for 5 days to give it a shot.
We’re meeting Elizabeth in Dunedin tonight and driving south to catch the ferry from Invercargill on Wednesday morning. Then we’re doing a three-four day tramp through the bush. Stewart Island is supposed to be a great place to see other birds as well. We’re hoping to see a few new ones in addition to a kiwi. Look for a post about Stewart Island on Monday.
Carrie
P.S. Elizabeth has actually been gone from NZ since December but just returned to Dunedin! We're really excited to see her again.
The Banks Peninsula, that little piece that sticks off the east coast of the South Island, is just two hours drive from Christchurch. We didn't go to the Banks Peninsula during our first visit to Christchurch in August, but the timing worked out just right for us to spend a week there. I had to wait a week between my first and second rabies shots, so we spent a week on the Banks Peninsula. For the nth time the Quaker community has been amazingly generous. First of all we stayed with Julian, Bridget, & family in Christchurch. We met them at summer gathering in Dec-Jan and saw Julian again while we were staying in Wellington. Julian put us in touch with another Quaker family from Christchurch who has a bach (beach/vacation house) in LeBons Bay on the Banks Peninsula.
Derry & Elizabeth generously let us stay at their bach for a week while we explored the Bank Peninsula. What a cool old house! It's probably the oldest house we've been in in New Zealand. The newspaper they found covering the upstairs walls was from 1881 so it's at least that old. It had the feeling of a good guest house that was loved and lived in. The house had 14 beds in 4 bedrooms, plus a sleep out! Obviously they enjoyed being able to host lots and lots of people when the occasion arose. There was a great collection of books, games, and puzzles.
For the first three days at the bach the weather was cloudy, drizzly and generally kept us inside reading and doing puzzles. We drove to the nearest sizeable town (=has a petrol station and small grocery) and hardly saw anything but mist and clouds. Above a certain elevation we were simply in the clouds and couldn't see a thing. We did a lot of reading and listening to Harry Potter books on mp3.
Matt built a 14-story card house with our 3 decks of cards and many of theirs. Then he tried to make a hole in the middle to stick his arm through and it all came down.
I did this 1000-piece postage stamp puzzle all by myself. Somewhat insanely, I worked on this puzzle for 7.5 hours straight from start to finish while listening to Harry Potter and eating chocolate chip cookie dough. Matt didn't put in a single piece.
Last Friday the weather cleared up spectacularly. We really would've missed out on the amazing Banks Peninsula landscape if we'd only been there for those three dreary days. Friday and Saturday were both beautiful so we did a lot of Geocaching and went to some great places. The scenery is very dramatic with huge hills and beautiful bays. The Peninsula is the remains of two extinct volcanoes, one centered on Akaroa harbor and the other centered further north towards Christchurch. The Banks Peninsula was once a volcanic island, but gradually the Southern Alps eroded and the debris formed the Canterbury plains, eventually connecting the Banks Peninsula to the mainland.
This is looking roughly west across Akaroa Harbor with the ocean in the background.
We found Geocaches at two different native bush reserves that had HUGE totara trees. In September Matt and I each planted a totara in Waimate to offset some our emissions for coming to New Zealand. Some day our trees will look like this...
...or like this!
My favorite Geocache from the Banks Peninsula was on a tiny little peninsula (43°46'19.66"S, 172°55'33.12"E) at the northern end of Akaroa Harbor. It's a good example of why we love geocaching, because we might have considered it but probably wouldn't have actually hiked out there. It was the site of a large Maori pa (fortified village) but when it was attacked by other Maori there was no escape and many, many people were killed there.
We thought we were supposed to take the narrow path along the ridge of the narrow bit but it was terribly treacherous and eroded. We were walking on a tiny ridge only about 20 cm wide in some places at least 10 m above the water. It wasn't until we got to a dead end that we realized there must be an easier way. Indeed, there was. We could simply walk along the shore. But, our efforts were not in vain. While navigating the narrow ridge I spotted two Hector's dolphins on the west side of the peninsula. The Bank Peninsula is the favorite hang out of the Hector's dolphin.
You can see the steep, narrow bits behind me. I saw the Hector's dolphins off to the left.
On Saturday night we were going to do one last Geocache in LeBons Bay in the hope that we might see blue penguins coming in for the night. On the way we ran into two Israeli girls looking for a campground that closed 2 years ago. It was dark and they'd only been in Christchurch so far in NZ, so we suggested they stay the night with us at the bach since there certainly were enough beds. The next day we took them Geocaching and had a nice time hanging out with them playing cards and board games. We told them all the great free camping places we found since they were also traveling around in a station wagon on the cheap.
Keren and Hadas Geocaching with us in LeBons Bay.
On Monday we went back to Christchurch and stayed with Julian & gang again. Tuesday I got my 2nd rabies shot and we headed to Waimate! That's where we are now. More on that later. One post is enough for tonight.
Carrie
Matt asked me to draw him a fantail, a NZ robin, and a saddleback. The saddleback is a really rare NZ bird that is almost exclusively found in predator-free sanctuaries. We saw two a few weeks ago on Motuara Island. I just finished drawing the saddleback last night and I think the head on this one came out particularly well.
Carrie
We ended up spending the night in a backpackers in Nelson (which is a lovely city) and then, after a bit of creative directional driving we took a brief stop back in Picton and headed south to Kaikoura. Our plan had been to stay with a help exchange hostel for several days while we went out in search of whales. After one night and (therefore) one day's work we decided that the situation wasn't going to work out. As far as we could tell the entire hostel was run by one overworked and over hyper woman 24/7. Let's just say that her style of work and ours did not go well together. Instead we got a room at another hostel in town.
We have been searching for whales since we first left Los Angeles in the plane. Neither of us had ever seen a whale. Whenever we were within sight of the ocean one of us would usually say something like "Ok whale, breach... Now!" We did this not because we believe that we have the power to command the whales (if we did we would be one of the planeteers and together we could create Captain Planet) but rather because just imagine how cool it would be if it worked. However, much to our chagrin, it never worked. Whenever we would talk with people along the way we would eventually mention how much we wanted to see a whale and invariably they would say "Well, have you been to Kaikoura?" The way we "planned" (stumbled through) our trip we had entirely avoided Kaikoura which is here (42°24'8.30"S, 173°40'50.03"E). Kaikoura used to be a whaling town (back in the day) but now a days they have figured out that they can make tons of money by taking tourists on boats and showing them whales.
We have, in our trip, tried to keep our totally touristy things to a minimum. I'm from Washington, DC and I know that while 20 millions tourists visit DC each year hardly any of them ever leave the National Mall. As such they miss out on tons of the really great stuff that DC has to offer. This being said the National Mall is full of really incredible stuff that shouldn't be missed. In the same vein there are things in New Zealand that are so popular for a reason. We believe that whale watching in Kaikoura is one of them.
So on Friday the 23rd we set out in a boat with about 50 other people to look for the (it turns out not so) elusive Sperm Whale. The reason that Kaikoura is so good for whale watching is that right at where Kaikoura is there is a huge, very deep sea canyon only a short distance off the coast. You can sort of tell how dramatic the sea shelf is there by looking here on Google Earth (42°31'40.52"S, 173°34'36.89"E). The light color is about 60-80 meters deep the dark spot is about 2,000 meters deep. On board the ship they had a very cool animation where they show where we were on the water and then they drained the ocean and showed what it looks like topographically. It is stunning how quickly the land drops off. This super deep water is what attracts marine mammals to the coast there. There are several sperm whales that live in these waters year round. The canyon is also a very popular migration route for all sorts of whales.
On our trip we saw two sperm whales. There is something truly awesome about seeing something alive that is so big. The whales come up from the bottom after about 30-45 minutes of diving and then they float on the top for about 10 minutes while they catch their breath. Then it is a deep breath and right back down again. While they are breathing you can see them and they are amazing but not all that show stopping. They mostly just sit there breathing from their blowhole. Since the vast majority of the whale is below the surface the bit we see is perhaps less striking than hoped. However, they really make up for it when they dive because when they do they always give a beautiful view of their huge tail. It was amazing.
After some time spent watching the whales it is hard to believe how anything could surpass the thrill of seeing such huge creatures but the real show stealing performance came next. The whales are not the only creatures that are attracted by the deep ocean and the food it brings. Kaikoura also has a resident population of Dusky Dolphins. There are between 800 and 1000 dolphins that all live right there. Dolphins are cool enough as it is but this particular species is know for being incredibly acrobatic. It is hard to convey the scene even with pictures but try to imagine 1000 dolphins all jumping and leaping, some doing single and double flips, in every direction. It was spectacular! However, our trip to see the dolphins with the whale watch boat was not the best experience of our Kaikoura stop.
Last Thursday was my birthday (happy birthday to me!) and for my birthday Carrie gave me a dolphin swimming excursion! So this morning at 5:00 (very very morning) we got up and took off for our 5:30 dolphin encounter. Once again we donned the stylish look of the wetsuit and snorkel (I think it will catch on some day before long) and took off in search of marine wildlife. Being up so early we got to see the sunrise over the ocean which was really nice.
The people who took us out to the dolphins do not bait or entice the dolphins at all. Pretty much if we want them to pay attention to us we have to make ourselves interesting. The boat dropped us off into the water and we all started swimming in circles and diving down a bit and making noises through our snorkels. These are all things that the dolphins seem to enjoy. One woman said she sang the Welsh national anthem through her snorkel to critical acclaim. I'm sure that some of you out there reading this have had this or a similar experience but aside from having done it yourself I just can't describe it sufficiently. Like I said above, there were between 800 and 1000 dolphins in the water with us and in the 45 minutes that I was actually in the water I don't think I went more than a total of 30 seconds without having dolphins all around me. They were incredible. They like to swim around you in a tight circle and see if you can keep up. I thought I was doing pretty well until they would switch up the direction all of a sudden and that usually resulted in water in my snorkel.
After the actual swim they drove around in the boat at slow speeds and we got to take pictures and watch the dolphins from above water while the guide told us interesting facts about their behavior and ecology. I'm going to post the best of the pictures here. Some of them are from this morning and some of them are from the whale watching the day before. In the two days combined I think I took about 650 pictures.
This morning we went sea kayaking for the first time. Our hosts, Helen and Derry, are kayakers and graciously let us take their kayak to sea! Matt and I have both done a little bit of lake and river kayaking, but this was our first time on the ocean. We paddled around two small islands near shore that are full of birds. Heaps of spotted shags hang out there and some are starting to make nests so we saw them fly right in front of us with beakfulls of nesting material. We also watched some terns diving into the water for fish. 
Shortly after our little kayaking trip, Helen & Derry headed out for a two-day kayaking trip. We've had an excellent time exploring Golden Bay from their home. The weather has mostly been beautiful. Takaka, the nearest town with a grocery store, seems to have a lot of artists and hippies so it makes for interesting shops.
For the Glenview-ites reading the blog, you'll understand that I just had to follow a sign that said "The Grove, 1 km." 
It turned out to be a beautiful little scenic reserve full of nikau palms (NZ's native palm), rata, and other native plants. We had a great time watching fantails flit around us looking for insects to eat. There were also awesome limestone formations. It would be an excellent place for kids to play all sorts of imaginitive games.
We also visited the incredibly clear Te Waikoropupu Springs (Pupu Springs for short). They said it is the clearest water in the world, second only to water under the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
This picture hardly does it justice. People used to be able to dive or snorkel at certain times, but it is now closed to all human contact with the water. The springs are sacred to the Maori and they are trying to control the spread of a noxious algae, didymo. You can't touch the water, fish in it, or fill your water bottle from it let alone fall in it because didymo can reproduce itself from ONE CELL stuck to your damp bathing suit or shoes and take over a river.
Tomorrow we're leaving Golden Bay and heading towards Kaikoura. We're planning to spend tomorrow night in Picton and drive the rest of the way to Kaikoura on Wednesday. Whales, here we come!
Carrie
Kerry (aka the batgirl) emailed us today to say that they caught a young male bat last night and named it "Grosso." Kerry has been naming the bats in alphabetical order by sex, so Grosso is the 7th male bat. I'm not sure what letter they're on for females, but it was 'E' when we visited a few weeks ago. I actually got to briefly radio track the bat named Carrie. They've been flying through the names (i.e. catching a lot of bats) since we left in December. In two months we only caught Bernie and Carter!
Carrie
On Wednesday we took the ferry back across the Cook Straight and we are now on the South Island for good. Wednesday night we spent at a DOC (Department of Conservation) campground outside of Picton (which is where the Ferry lands).
Thursday morning we got up early, rented a tent, and took off for the Queen Charlotte Track. The way the track works is that you take a boat from Picton (41°17'18.41"S, 174° 0'29.73"E) to Ship Cove (41° 5'39.28"S, 174°14'3.22"E) and then walk back towards Picton along the sound until you are picked up and returned to Picton. On Google Earth you can actually see the track. It is the small white line starting from Ship Cove. Instead of just taking a boat to Ship Cove we decided to splurge a bit and go on a "eco-tour" on the way out there. We saw 7 bottle-nosed dolphins which was the closest we have come to seeing whales so far so that was really exciting! The Dolphins were right under the bow of the boat where we were sitting. They were so close we could have grabbed on and gone for a ride but our guide said no (you have to pay extra to go swimming with the dolphins).
After the dolphins we went to Motuara Island (41° 5'40.16"S, 174°16'22.42"E) which is a wildlife (which means birdlife) refuge. DOC has removed all of the vermin from the island and released native birds there. I don't know if we've mentioned it before now but ever since Bill and Jay from Earlham were here Carrie and I have been having tons of fun birding. We've seen 77 species so far since Christmas and this one morning gave us the last 7! We saw 5 King Shags (which basically only live on this rock (41° 4'38.21"S, 174°21'40.10"E) and there are only about 300 of them so that means that we saw 1.67% of these birds), Fluttering Shearwaters, New Zealand South Island Robins (which are really cute and not shy at all. They eat the bugs that our walking disturb so they are often on the path around people), Wekas (which look like ducks without bills and were pretty demanding when it came to our lunch), South Island Bell Birds (which have a gorgeous song!), one Yellow-Crowned Parakeet, and two South Island Saddlebacks (which was amazing because these birds are very rare!). Ok, I know that was a really long and convoluted sentence but I don't feel like going back and rewriting it. Feel free to liberally insert punctuation as you see fit.
This is a weka under our picnic table.
You get the idea how close it was to the camera from this one.
After such a stellar morning it was going to be hard for the next three days of hiking to live up and that proved to be the case. The weather was perfect and the track was beautiful but terribly boring. I don't actually feel like going into all of the details but essentially it was three days of uncomfortable sleeping, long walking, and the same view over and over again. It would have been more fun as a bike ride. Oh well.
Now we are in Nelson couchsurfing here (41°16'40.79"S, 173°17'10.17"E) with a great guy. We will be here tonight and tomorrow night and we'll be leaving Wednesday. We have great internet here so we'll update accordingly. Hope you're all well.
Matt
P.S. I just went and figured out how to insert links to the posts so I hope all the blue text is more helpful than annoying.
