Early Monday morning we headed on a launch in the Queen Charlotte Sound out to Motuara Bird Reserve. The goal was to to see Little Blue Penguins. We were surprised to find out that we were the only ones on the island. Maximum stay is 2 hours so a boat would fetch us then. A few other small groups did arrive a short time later. As we hiked up the path, we discovered little nesting boxes for the Little Blues. Some boxes were empty, some had only eggs (real? Or fake?) but 3 boxes had very annoyed penguins sitting on eggs. This was a thrill as the only Little Blue we had seen was dead. washed up with the tide in Abel Tasman. Bird life in NZ is really threatened due to introduced predators. So there is a serious abatement program going on. Traps abound on all NZ tracks. Amazingly enough, we saw an extremely rare (1000 left worldwide) bird which planted itself at our feet and squawked around a bit before disappearing into the dense bush. We had to ask a naturalist what it was. A Saddleback.
The next boat was larger with a sound system that was understandable. It deposited us at Resolution Bay on the Queen Charlotte Track. The signs indicated a big detour so as not to shortcut through a private resort. But the signs (never in kilometers but always in time to hike) indicated we had plenty of time. We hiked steadily up to the saddle where we finally found a longdrop (out house), some picnic tables, and benches. We dawdled there feeding the Weka birds and ourselves. As we descended we found that we had very short time and a long hike to go to meet the boat. Oops. Hiking very fast we were lucky that the boat was a bit late or we would have missed it. Arghh. Exhausted, we sat upstairs in the wind and sun and winter jackets relaxing for the an hour or more to town. Arriving in Picton, we were delighted to find our host waiting for us. Don't know how he found out we were on that boat (which we barely were). Lovely dinner back downtown. Food here really good.
No comments:
Post a Comment