Tiritiri Matangi Island
In 2024 Mr M and I journeyed to New Zealand. We traveled by rail (and bus after the railroad tracks ran out) from Aukland in the north to Queenstown in the south. New Zealand exceeded our expectations in all aspects. We visited in their fall, our March and April, since it’s the southern hemisphere.
At the beginning of our trip we took a day trip to Tiritiri Matangi Island. The island is about 30km northeast of Aukland in the Hauraki Gulf. It takes the ferry about an hour and a half each way.
Tiritiri Matangi is Māori for “tossed by the wind”.
From about 1840, just after the country New Zealand was founded, the island got a lighthouse and people started farming until there was almost only grassland left. It stayed this way until 1984, when the Department of Conservation, alongside with the WWF, started a replanting program. The aim was to grow a habitat for native birds, reptiles and insects, many of which were endangered on the mainland due to imported predators like rats or cats. By the completion of the programme in 1994, over 280,000 trees had been planted. www.discover-aotearoa.com/...
The Kawerau Track is outlined in blue.
We opted for a guided walk, and chose the Kawerau track:
This is a varied walk that takes in the coastline, replanted bush and also an area of original bush which has some very old trees. From the top of the island there are views across the Hauraki Gulf.
The guides are volunteers and eminently knowledgable. There were two guides for our group of about 8 people. The number of visitors to the island is limited. I was glad I’d reserved tickets months beforehand.
Hobbs beach section of the trail.
Pied Shag (Cormorant)
Understory
I really liked the well-illustrated signage along the trail.
From the sign below “This is a good example of a very old Pohutukawa estimated to be 800-1000 years old”.
“Pūriri is an essential tree to Māori, who use it for various purposes. The wood is durable and rugged, making it useful for carving, furniture, and buildings. The tree also has cultural significance and is associated with healing and protection.” Google AI
I was thrilled to see my first Tree Ferns (little did I know that I’d see them everywhere in New Zealand).
Forest floor
Female Stitchbird
Video of Tui and NZ Bellbirds at a forest feeder. Sound on for the lovely Bellbird song, although there are people talking in the background (1:29).
Tui at a different feeder near the Visitor’s Center.
NZ fantail — “The Maori people consider it bad luck if a fantail flies inside a building. They say the fantail is a messenger and its appearance means death or news of death is imminent.”(Google AI).
Flora
Manuka Honey is purported to have many beneficial properties and is sold worldwide.
Introduced Australian Magpie near the visitor’s center. The numbers are controlled, IIRC there were only a couple of individuals.
Australasian Swamphen or pūkeko
More Australasian Swamphens
We hadn’t seen a takahē during our walk, but at the end there was one not far from the visitor’s center. I almost missed it.
After being presumed extinct for nearly 50 years, the takahē was famously rediscovered in 1948. Geoffrey Orbell, a physician from Invercargill and his party, found the last remaining wild population of the bird high in the tussock grasslands of the remote Murchison Mountains, above Lake Te Anau, Fiordland.
The rediscovery of the takahē launched New Zealand’s longest running endangered species programme. Since 1948, measures to ensure takahē are never again considered extinct have included pioneering conservation techniques for endangered species, captive breeding, island translocations and wild releases. www.doc.govt.nz/...
From Aukland we took the train to Wellington, stopping at Ohakune for a few days in order to explore Tongaririo National Park.
Plants along a trail near our hotel.
Tongariro Nation Park
Tawhai Falls
In Wellington, we spent a day at Zealandia Ecosanctuary.
Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne is the world’s first fully-fenced urban ecosanctuary, with an extraordinary 500-year vision to restore a Wellington valley’s forest and freshwater ecosystems as closely as possible to their pre-human state. The 225 hectare (500+ acre) ecosanctuary is a groundbreaking conservation project that has reintroduced a number of species of native wildlife back into the area, some of which were previously absent from mainland New Zealand for over 100 years.
Kākāpō (owl-faced parrot), a nocturnal, flightless parrot.
A better photo of the North Island Robin
We saw traps in many areas.
Our goal
Eradicate mustelids (stoats, ferrets and weasels), rats (Norway, ship and kiore), and possums from all of New Zealand by 2050.
These introduced predators were chosen because they do the most damage to New Zealand’s native species, and we have the best tools to control them. www.doc.govt.nz/...
Controlling invasive species, banning plastic utensils, and providing walking paths and trails everywhere, New Zealand is by far the most ecologically conscious country I’ve visited. It’s inspiring.
For more NZ, here’s another diary posted June 2024, which includes the South Island.
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging - Vol. 20.24: New Zealand Gardens, Markets, Comestibles, and Such
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Vernal pool, Beech leaf, the path — yesterday
It’s typical midwinter weather in SW Michigan. Some days are above freezing, some below, with nights usually below freezing. The birds are singing and I saw possum, coyote, and deer tracks on my walk.
What’s happening in your backyard or favorite nature haunt?