Kiwi in Ohope

We have been staying in Ohope with JB for the last couple of weeks. The weather has been fantastic and we have enjoyed relaxing on the "Best Beach in New Zealand". It's not all about relaxing though we have helped out with the Whakatane Kiwi Trust as much as we can. We have also been playing chefs to JB to help earn our keep! No food poisoning so I think we have done ok.

Playing with a remote control car - think JB crashed it soon after

Surfing without a board

Another handstand

Cooking on the bbq

The end result - amazing fresh fish from the neighbour

Last week was more relaxed so we could enjoy the weather as much as possible. We did manage to get out in the bush with JB and Michelle to help track down a Kiwi chick called Iwik. He needed a change to his transmitter as the battery life is limited. Iwik also needed a health check as he is quite young and the trust monitor the chicks through the early part of their life. It can quite a while to find the kiwi, even with two antennae and four people to try and locate them. There is a lot of tramping up and down gorges, over ridges and along streams. This can be made harder by the bouncing of the transmitter signal off rocks and fences, you can easily be sent in the wrong direction and lose an hour. It strange how time moves so quickly in the bush, you think you have been walking for a few minutes but it will be hours. Iwik was found under some massive dried fern leaves, chicks don't tend to make burrows apparently. He was healthy and quite relaxed at being handled. The weather has been so hot this summer that there is a worry that the chicks can become dehydrated. Janine and I both got to hold him, even at a young age you can feel how strong their legs are.

Hello to little Iwik

Iwik struggling a little

Relaxing after a hard climb in the bush

Kiwi eyes view of the bush

A Kiwi egg, the largest egg in proportion to the bird of any species.

Over the weekend the Kiwi trust had organised a litter pick. The reserve where most of the Kiwi live backs on to an old landfill site. A lot of the plastic bags from the landfill have blown into the reserve. About 30 volunteers, including us and Hanna who came from Auckland for the weekend, spent a few hours collecting what we could. This was challenging as there is no path to follow in the bush, you end up covered in scratches and with cobwebs in your face. Still its great fun fighting your way through and good to help out a worthy cause. It also makes you think about what damage the plastic bags we throw away are doing. After the litter pick some of the volunteers came back to JBs for a BBQ in the sun. We spent the rest of the day and evening chilling out eating and drinking too much.

Some of the litter pick crew

This week we went out pinging, using the antennae to check for signals from certain chicks transmitters. This time we were on our own but managed to find a signal for all the chicks. It is important for the trust to keep a check on the chicks without disturbing them too frequently so the transmitter will broadcast a signal to say the chick is moving. This time all were doing fine although one of them was in a really awkward position which required a bit of work to find.

We have also been out with Michelle to check up on some of the adult birds. The first two on Tuesday were Marie and Wainui who both needed new transmitters. We spent about 6 hours in the bush, Wainui was especially hard to find as his signal was bouncing from the sides of a gorge. In the end he was hidden inside a fallen tree trunk, Michelle had to climb inside to fetch him out. Rather her than us, it was covered in bugs. Wainui wasn't too worried about being disturbed but was still a bit of a fidget. To help out Janine held him while Michelle changed the transmitter and carried out the health checks.

Pinging for kiwi

A Tui calling

Not sure why I am ducking here

Checking a burrow, all exits covered while Lloyd tries to grab Marie

JB with Marie

Marie

Michelle half way into the trunk fetching Wainui

Giving Wainui a cuddle

Not content with tiring us out on Tuesday, Michelle took us out again on Wednesday. This time we were out in the bush further out from Ohope tracking some of the birds local to Michelle's house. We tracked down James but he was so far into his "Summer House" burrow that we couldn't get to him. This burrow is a Kiwi mansion, it may have been around for many years and will be used by a few generations of Kiwi, each Kiwi will extend the burrow. We left James to sleep and headed in search of Rata. He was harder to find but easier to get to, we hiked up and down for quite a while before Janine found his burrow right next to a stream. We had to dig a hole to get to him, something that he wasn't too happy about. In the end Michelle could reach him but he was pretty angry at being woken up. I guess you would be angry if someone broke into your house in the middle of the night and held you upside down by the legs. Rata calmed down a bit when he was wrapped up in a t-shirt and was sat down with Lloyd. Once the transmitter was changed we put him back and tried to fill in the hole we had made. Unfortunately he decided he didn't like the work we were doing so he ran off to another burrow. This isn't a problem as they have a few burrows that they use so in time he will return to this on.

Rata fighting while we change his transmitter

Putting Rata back in his burrow

We feel incredibly lucky to have been able to help out with the Kiwi Trust and to encounter wild Kiwi. We've learnt so much from the guys and girls at the trust a massive thanks to JB and Michelle for putting up us for the last couple of weeks. We had also planned to head into the bush one night to listen for Kiwi calls but the recent amazing weather has plunged the area into drought. The reserve is now closed due to the fire risk so we cannot go in, hopefully some rain is on the way.

Lastly here are some amazing sunrise pictures we took on the beach one morning.

Janine had a Dirty Dancing moment

Mountains of food and volcanoes

Back in Auckland after the weekends driving we decided to take in a little culture and history at the Auckland Museum. It's a pretty varied collection of New Zealand stuff from Māori artefacts to  natural history exhibitions and World War II pieces. We were in there for ages, Boyd especially loved the war history sections and we all found the Māori history parts very interesting.

It might be a long wait for a beer Janine

Māori carving

Thursday was our last day in Auckland for a while so we gathered Cam, Rebecca, Hanna and Janine's parents and went to a Mongolian BBQ all you can eat buffet. A couple of hours later we all rolled back out again feeling like we wouldn't need to eat for a week. Leaving Auckland also meant we had to move out of Cam and Becs (and Toby the cat's) house. We were sad to go but have really enjoyed living with them. They made us very welcome in their home and we will stay in touch and hopefully see in the UK at some point.

Toby saying hello

On Friday afternoon we hit the road again with Hanna, this time to Whakapapa in the Tongariro National Park. It was about 4 hours in the car but luckily it was not as hot as our previous 4 hour journey with her. We met up at a campsite with JB who kindly erected the tents before settling down to some food and a few beers. The next morning we were up insanely early at 5.30am to start the famous Tangaririo Crossing. This is usually an 8 hour long hike from one end of the park to the other over the mountains. At the moment Mt. Tangariro is erupting so most of the 2nd half of the crossing is closed. Instead you have to turn back when you reach the look out over the Soda Pools at the Red Crater. It still an epic trip and totally worth it if you are feeling fit enough. Janine did the crossing in the snow in June 2007, she loved seeing it in a different season and how much the landscape changes.

On the drive to Tangariro

At the start of the trek bright and early

Looking nice and relaxed half way up

Walking across the Southern Crater

Sunrise over the Southern Crater

Mt Ngauruhoe was used as Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings films

Going up the mountains was hard work but you just had to be careful with your feet. Coming down was easier physically but get quite slippy due to the loose rocks. All of us slipped over at some point although Janine's fall was particularly special as it was on the flat. One of the high points was seeing the sun rise over the mountains as we were hiking. As soon as the sun hit you it was boiling which was a shock. We all fried as I forgot the sun cream.

Rest stop

Can't go much further at the moment

One the Soda Pools

On the way down it got a little foggy

Golem impression

Flowers still grow very high up

How did we only see this on the way down?

Still a long way down

Easier going on the boadwalk

This bee farm was close to our camp grounds

We had arranged to call JB when we were finished so he could give us a lift back. Technology failed us though, my battery had died, and we faced a long walk back to the camp grounds. Luckily about 10 minutes in a nice British lady and her son offered us a lift most of the way back. We were so grateful as it left us with only a 20 minute walk at the end, we were even more grateful when we found out the access road to the car park is the same length as we had already walked up the mountain. It would have taken us hours to get back! Needless to say JB was a little surprised to see us stroll into the camp looking quite fresh. The afternoon was spent relaxing and napping in the sun with a few cold ciders.

The next morning was a much later start as we took our time sorting out and packing up the camp. Once the cars were packed up we drove around Lake Taupo to the town of Taupo. After some exploring a cafe by the lake was found for lunch, I had another epic burger, they are monsters over here. The rest of the afternoon we chilled out by the lake in the sunshine. We said our goodbyes to Hanna and jumped in JBs truck for the 2 hour drive to Ohope. I was nice to get back to home comforts after a couple of nights in tents, especially to sleep in a proper bed, I think I'm getting old, sleeping on the floor isn't as easy as it used to be.

Looking out over Lake Taupo

Duck going for a swim in Lake Taupo

I cut off her legs here but she was actually in the water