birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
We left and headed for Te Kuiti where, just outside of the town, are the Waitomo Caves. We did the 1500 tour which was a good time as there were only 8 of us on it instead of the 50+ when all the coaches arrive between 1000-1430 – be advised! The 45min tour was really good - the echoless ‘cathedral’, huge limestone formations, massive stalactites and stalagmites, holes (tomos) that seemed to drop forever and of course, the subterranean boat-trip into the unbelievable glow-worm caves. As we sailed into the darkness, we rounded a corner and were confronted by an awesome underground constellation above us on the cave ceiling. The brighter they glow, the hungrier they are apparently. Fantastic stuff. We also visited the site’s museum which was full of interesting nick-nacks and a collection of bird skeletons found in the caves that included moas, kiwis, kakapos, huia, cave rail and an adzebill – what a bird that must have been!!
We headed westwards and stopped at the impressive limestone archway at Mangapohue. Water droplets constantly fell from above, the rock walls themselves covered in ferns, leaves and mosses gleaming in the filtered sunlight and surreal formations on the walls and ceilings, tree roots hanging through the holes above, plants clinging to the damp walls at impossible angles...nature at its best! Next we walked through lush native forests to the thundering Marokopa Falls. Now this is a waterfall – complete with an arcing rainbow in its billowing spray clouds, the noise almost deafening and the droplets in the air saturating us in seconds!
Suitably impressed with that we followed the road north along the edge of Kawhia Harbour, stopping in the picturesque bays, one of which held a nice Buff-banded Rail. Drove up through fab karst formations dotted across the rugged hillsides, all unfortunately degraded by grazing but again, in the little valleys and on some isolated tops, rich native forest is regenerating nicely. We watched a group of displaying Wild Turkeys displaying on one such hillside as Masked lapwings harassed a too-low flying Australasian Harrier and a cool NZ Falcon zipped across the horizon. Another wonderful rainbow celebrated the cessation of another heavy downpour, glowing almost unreal in the green valley and we ended up along Hwy31 overlooking a sultry sunset across the harbour – not often I got to see one of them in NZ!!
The following morning, everything was back to normal – rain and hail! Didn’t do much today at all, drove towards Rotorua and hoped the weather improves. Luckily rhe following day dawned bright and sunny so we headed to nearby Wai-O-Tapu and its amazing geothermal features. On the approach to the info centre, we stopped at the amazing mud-pools where it was all boiling, bubbling, popping, squelching and smelling like bad eggs. Amazing – I could watch this stuff all day, like the shots of lava solidifying as it hits the sea or the start of Willy Wonka and all that folding chocolate...! We then bought our tickets and headed back a short distance to watch the Lady Knox geyser erupt. At 1015, one of the staff drops small slivers of soap into the steaming hole which breaks the surface tension between the lower hot water chamber and the higher cold water one, which in turn causes at first a bubbling froth and then a huge jet of water to gush out at least 15m into the sky! Cool! Lovely smells too....
We wandered round the ‘thermal wonderland’ and thoroughly enjoyed it. There are several walks of varying lengths and it takes roughly 75mins to walk out to the Lake Ngakoro waterfall and back, depending on how long you spend gawping of course! The iconic bubbling ‘champagne pool’ was especially stunning, its edges a rich orange colour from the minerals deposited there often obscured from view as the wind whipped up the steam into an enveloping mist tinted pink nearer the water’s surface. The ‘artist’s palette’ was also pretty spectacular as was the ‘devil’s bath’, a crater inside which the water was an unreal shade of vivid green-yellow and changes colour depending on the amount of light reflected and the cloud cover. What a brilliant place and well worth a visit!
We ended up heading eastwards, seeing some Barbary Doves on the way and slept in a cosy motorhome park near Clifton where I managed to superglue the camcorder back together...! The next couple of days were spent driving around the East Cape, visiting art-deco Napier and seeing Captain Cook’s landing site at Gisborne on the way. Spent one night parked on the beach at Pouawa Sandhills where (in brilliant sunshine for a change!) did some evening seawatching and had Little and Fluttering Shearwaters, several Arctic Skuas, Salvin’s Albatross and a Great-winged Petrel amongst the commoner seabirds. The roads across the cape are twisty and awful with lots of ‘peeled-back’ sections ready for re-surfacing and the signage is non-existent so we missed most of the interesting sites! I can’t say I found the Maori people too welcoming either as we drove around and were basically glared at whenever we made eye contact...and we also found out about the disturbing attack on an unfortunate young Dutch couple on their honeymoon who were driving round just as we were (and even in the same sort of van!) when they were kidnapped, raped and robbed at gunpoint from the carpark of a well-known waterfall near Kerikeri by a couple of Maori as they prepared to sleep and were later dumped (alive, thankfully) in a graveyard....nice. Police were now advising people to camp only in caravan parks and it was a stark reminder that NZ, just like every other country in the world, has its darker underside. The tourist board obviously keeps these happenings as low-key as possible but we consequently heard about quite a few other disappearances and murders that have happened over the last few years....so, don’t let your guard or common-sense down and above all else, NZ is still an amazingly wonderful country!
We also drove up onto the Coromandel Peninsula and stopped at Opoutere Beach to wander through the pine forests to Wharekawa Spit where I finally found gorgeous NZ Dotterels breeding upon it.
View attachment dotterel newzealand (1).bmp
Also here were North Island Kakas, Variable Oystercatchers, Spotted Dove and Eastern Rosellas. Headed up to Hahei Beach and as we now weren’t talking (again!) I went to look at the stingrays in the aptly named Stingray Bay and Dawn went to look at the impressive Cathedral Cove (as seen in Prince Caspian). Gorgeous views were had from the carpark overlooking Mercury Bay with its myriad of islands. We later cut across the cape on a horrible dirt road and visited the huge Square Kauri tree which was over 133ft tall with a 30ft thick trunk!! Apparently the 15th biggest on the peninsula it towered over the surrounding canopy. What must NZ have looked like before most of these giants were felled?? We finally parked up alongside the Firth of Thames with an amazing sunset as our backdrop.
The following day we finally arrived at Miranda and dropped into the info centre where, bizarrely, the only foreign fieldguide they sold was for Fiji, our next destination – result! We parked up back down near to the track out to the hides and wandered out towards it, buffeted the entire way by the relentless wind....grrrr!
View attachment wrybill (4).bmp
The star bird here was undoubtedly the endemic 50-or-so Wrybills we watched scurrying around, looking bizarrely monotone against the greenery. Also here were c3000 Barwits, a surprise Hudsonian Godwit that’s been around for a while apparently, 11 Sharp-tailed and a Curlew Sand, 3 Red-necked Stints, c1500 Knot, c500 White-headed Stilts, Variable and SI Pied Oysters, Caspian and White-fronted Terns, Black-billed and Kelp Gulls, Grey Teal, Masked Lapwing, White-faced Herons, Skylark and a Great White Egret. A great place to lose a couple of hours! We decided to head north as we had arranged a kiwi trip for the following evening so we drove across the impressive Auckland Bridge and drove until we got bored near Dome valley where we parked up in a truck stop. Unusually we were soon joined by about five other vehicles which no doubt had to do with the recent nastiness. It was quite fun actually as one of the vans had 3 Swedes with a guitar in it who kept us entertained. The downside was the huge lorries rolling past all night with their headlights blazing through the curtains...oh well, safety in numbers!
We reached Waipu Cove the following morning and found Johnson’s Point Drive easily enough. We parked at the end of it which overlooks the cove itself and out on the dunes opposite I found 6 beautiful Fairy Terns, 2 of which were on nests – much to the joy of the DOC officer that pulled up and wasn’t aware they bred this far down...!
View attachment tern fairy (7).bmp
These birds are still considered a subspp at present but hopefully they will be split soon as there are actually only about 30 left, of which only about 10 pairs breed!! Species status will obviously increase protection given them and can’t come soon enough in my opinion. Also in the bay were NZ Dotterels, Variable Oysters and a few Knot. We then drove further north towards Helena Bay and found the signs to Teal Bay easily enough and parked up beside Ohwae Stream, about 1km past the village. Looking up the creek there was a flock of 20 Brown Teal feeding and resting along it, not the most interesting-looking endemic but certainly rare!
View attachment teal brown (10).bmp
We reached Kerikeri and as this was near the nastiness and they were still at large, we opted for the excellent Pagoda Lodge. We cooked up dinner and headed for Detlef and Carol Davies’ home, ‘Birder’s Rest’, just outside town. They offer accommodation and run trips to look for North Island Brown Kiwi and can be reached at [email protected]. Detlef, an ex-Cambridgeshire man and Carol, a vocal Scot, live in a lovely home and are truly welcoming. We left for the nearby Marsden Cross Reserve at about 2020 and were soon hunting for kiwi, red-filtered spotlights in hand! We heard at least 3 males and 2 females, at times frustratingly close, but the long grass aided their secrecy. We even saw footprints on the beach but nothing else although we did have excellent views of a Morepork and I couldn’t fault the Davies’ commitment in trying to find them for us – we didn’t leave the site until 0015!! But it was all to no avail and we got back to the campsite by 0115, gutted and totally knackered!
View attachment morepork (2).bmp
We headed westwards and stopped at the impressive limestone archway at Mangapohue. Water droplets constantly fell from above, the rock walls themselves covered in ferns, leaves and mosses gleaming in the filtered sunlight and surreal formations on the walls and ceilings, tree roots hanging through the holes above, plants clinging to the damp walls at impossible angles...nature at its best! Next we walked through lush native forests to the thundering Marokopa Falls. Now this is a waterfall – complete with an arcing rainbow in its billowing spray clouds, the noise almost deafening and the droplets in the air saturating us in seconds!
Suitably impressed with that we followed the road north along the edge of Kawhia Harbour, stopping in the picturesque bays, one of which held a nice Buff-banded Rail. Drove up through fab karst formations dotted across the rugged hillsides, all unfortunately degraded by grazing but again, in the little valleys and on some isolated tops, rich native forest is regenerating nicely. We watched a group of displaying Wild Turkeys displaying on one such hillside as Masked lapwings harassed a too-low flying Australasian Harrier and a cool NZ Falcon zipped across the horizon. Another wonderful rainbow celebrated the cessation of another heavy downpour, glowing almost unreal in the green valley and we ended up along Hwy31 overlooking a sultry sunset across the harbour – not often I got to see one of them in NZ!!
The following morning, everything was back to normal – rain and hail! Didn’t do much today at all, drove towards Rotorua and hoped the weather improves. Luckily rhe following day dawned bright and sunny so we headed to nearby Wai-O-Tapu and its amazing geothermal features. On the approach to the info centre, we stopped at the amazing mud-pools where it was all boiling, bubbling, popping, squelching and smelling like bad eggs. Amazing – I could watch this stuff all day, like the shots of lava solidifying as it hits the sea or the start of Willy Wonka and all that folding chocolate...! We then bought our tickets and headed back a short distance to watch the Lady Knox geyser erupt. At 1015, one of the staff drops small slivers of soap into the steaming hole which breaks the surface tension between the lower hot water chamber and the higher cold water one, which in turn causes at first a bubbling froth and then a huge jet of water to gush out at least 15m into the sky! Cool! Lovely smells too....
We wandered round the ‘thermal wonderland’ and thoroughly enjoyed it. There are several walks of varying lengths and it takes roughly 75mins to walk out to the Lake Ngakoro waterfall and back, depending on how long you spend gawping of course! The iconic bubbling ‘champagne pool’ was especially stunning, its edges a rich orange colour from the minerals deposited there often obscured from view as the wind whipped up the steam into an enveloping mist tinted pink nearer the water’s surface. The ‘artist’s palette’ was also pretty spectacular as was the ‘devil’s bath’, a crater inside which the water was an unreal shade of vivid green-yellow and changes colour depending on the amount of light reflected and the cloud cover. What a brilliant place and well worth a visit!
We ended up heading eastwards, seeing some Barbary Doves on the way and slept in a cosy motorhome park near Clifton where I managed to superglue the camcorder back together...! The next couple of days were spent driving around the East Cape, visiting art-deco Napier and seeing Captain Cook’s landing site at Gisborne on the way. Spent one night parked on the beach at Pouawa Sandhills where (in brilliant sunshine for a change!) did some evening seawatching and had Little and Fluttering Shearwaters, several Arctic Skuas, Salvin’s Albatross and a Great-winged Petrel amongst the commoner seabirds. The roads across the cape are twisty and awful with lots of ‘peeled-back’ sections ready for re-surfacing and the signage is non-existent so we missed most of the interesting sites! I can’t say I found the Maori people too welcoming either as we drove around and were basically glared at whenever we made eye contact...and we also found out about the disturbing attack on an unfortunate young Dutch couple on their honeymoon who were driving round just as we were (and even in the same sort of van!) when they were kidnapped, raped and robbed at gunpoint from the carpark of a well-known waterfall near Kerikeri by a couple of Maori as they prepared to sleep and were later dumped (alive, thankfully) in a graveyard....nice. Police were now advising people to camp only in caravan parks and it was a stark reminder that NZ, just like every other country in the world, has its darker underside. The tourist board obviously keeps these happenings as low-key as possible but we consequently heard about quite a few other disappearances and murders that have happened over the last few years....so, don’t let your guard or common-sense down and above all else, NZ is still an amazingly wonderful country!
We also drove up onto the Coromandel Peninsula and stopped at Opoutere Beach to wander through the pine forests to Wharekawa Spit where I finally found gorgeous NZ Dotterels breeding upon it.
View attachment dotterel newzealand (1).bmp
Also here were North Island Kakas, Variable Oystercatchers, Spotted Dove and Eastern Rosellas. Headed up to Hahei Beach and as we now weren’t talking (again!) I went to look at the stingrays in the aptly named Stingray Bay and Dawn went to look at the impressive Cathedral Cove (as seen in Prince Caspian). Gorgeous views were had from the carpark overlooking Mercury Bay with its myriad of islands. We later cut across the cape on a horrible dirt road and visited the huge Square Kauri tree which was over 133ft tall with a 30ft thick trunk!! Apparently the 15th biggest on the peninsula it towered over the surrounding canopy. What must NZ have looked like before most of these giants were felled?? We finally parked up alongside the Firth of Thames with an amazing sunset as our backdrop.
The following day we finally arrived at Miranda and dropped into the info centre where, bizarrely, the only foreign fieldguide they sold was for Fiji, our next destination – result! We parked up back down near to the track out to the hides and wandered out towards it, buffeted the entire way by the relentless wind....grrrr!
View attachment wrybill (4).bmp
The star bird here was undoubtedly the endemic 50-or-so Wrybills we watched scurrying around, looking bizarrely monotone against the greenery. Also here were c3000 Barwits, a surprise Hudsonian Godwit that’s been around for a while apparently, 11 Sharp-tailed and a Curlew Sand, 3 Red-necked Stints, c1500 Knot, c500 White-headed Stilts, Variable and SI Pied Oysters, Caspian and White-fronted Terns, Black-billed and Kelp Gulls, Grey Teal, Masked Lapwing, White-faced Herons, Skylark and a Great White Egret. A great place to lose a couple of hours! We decided to head north as we had arranged a kiwi trip for the following evening so we drove across the impressive Auckland Bridge and drove until we got bored near Dome valley where we parked up in a truck stop. Unusually we were soon joined by about five other vehicles which no doubt had to do with the recent nastiness. It was quite fun actually as one of the vans had 3 Swedes with a guitar in it who kept us entertained. The downside was the huge lorries rolling past all night with their headlights blazing through the curtains...oh well, safety in numbers!
We reached Waipu Cove the following morning and found Johnson’s Point Drive easily enough. We parked at the end of it which overlooks the cove itself and out on the dunes opposite I found 6 beautiful Fairy Terns, 2 of which were on nests – much to the joy of the DOC officer that pulled up and wasn’t aware they bred this far down...!
View attachment tern fairy (7).bmp
These birds are still considered a subspp at present but hopefully they will be split soon as there are actually only about 30 left, of which only about 10 pairs breed!! Species status will obviously increase protection given them and can’t come soon enough in my opinion. Also in the bay were NZ Dotterels, Variable Oysters and a few Knot. We then drove further north towards Helena Bay and found the signs to Teal Bay easily enough and parked up beside Ohwae Stream, about 1km past the village. Looking up the creek there was a flock of 20 Brown Teal feeding and resting along it, not the most interesting-looking endemic but certainly rare!
View attachment teal brown (10).bmp
We reached Kerikeri and as this was near the nastiness and they were still at large, we opted for the excellent Pagoda Lodge. We cooked up dinner and headed for Detlef and Carol Davies’ home, ‘Birder’s Rest’, just outside town. They offer accommodation and run trips to look for North Island Brown Kiwi and can be reached at [email protected]. Detlef, an ex-Cambridgeshire man and Carol, a vocal Scot, live in a lovely home and are truly welcoming. We left for the nearby Marsden Cross Reserve at about 2020 and were soon hunting for kiwi, red-filtered spotlights in hand! We heard at least 3 males and 2 females, at times frustratingly close, but the long grass aided their secrecy. We even saw footprints on the beach but nothing else although we did have excellent views of a Morepork and I couldn’t fault the Davies’ commitment in trying to find them for us – we didn’t leave the site until 0015!! But it was all to no avail and we got back to the campsite by 0115, gutted and totally knackered!
View attachment morepork (2).bmp
. Off to Hope Gap tomorrow ... Wryneck, Pied fly ... still wanting 
