SVSunrise: October 20, 2012 New Zealand is Beautiful

Chinese toons

It is so much fun to be in New Zealand on a 3-day weekend - Labour Weekend - especially if you are in a marina. Families are going out for a cruise to the Bay of Islands with its hundreds of beautiful anchorages or to the east coast bays where we are. New Zealand is so incredibly beautiful!! You might get sick of the word "beautiful" but how else to describe this beautiful country?! Big, burly Kiwi men are hauling sails to ready their boats for racing, race boats are coming in from the Auckland to Russell race and on-lookers and celebrators are all about. There is a food fair in Paihia and a craft fair in Russell.

Tuesday afternoon we left the boat and drove to just north of Auckland enjoying the road we have traveled so often. It is hilly and rural most of the way and, yes, beautiful. We got on a ferry making sure our luggage and food were free of ants, any insects, stoats, possums, seeds, cats or dogs and being sealed so none could get in as we walked from car to ferry. We were on our way to Tiritire Matangi, a predator free island in the Hauraki Gulf where Auckland is. Tiri has been restored with native vegetation and trees and endangered native birds and the tuatara (sort of like a giant iguana) are flourishing there. We went specifically to see the Spotless Crake. It is known to be on that island so how could we miss? We asked the volunteers on the island and they said, "Oh, we haven't seen the Spotless Crake for years!" No, we didn't see it but we saw and heard all kinds of strange and beautiful birds. New Zealand has no native land mammals, although they do have 2 native bats and sea lions and seals on their shores. Whales and dolphins in the sea. They make up for the lack of mammals with every weird and amusing form of birdlife you can imagine. I'll send photos. Too bad I can't send the sounds they make.

We have made several trips to Kerikeri to tend to business, shopping, boat work and a medical appointment about my ear with the "barotrauma". Again, the road is beautiful, rural, winding and one we have enjoyed many times in past years. It is spring in New Zealand and there are lambs in the pastures, wild calla lilies in the pastures and Chinese toons (trees with pink leaves in the spring) in peoples gardens. Heavenly.

We have only seen 2 dead possums on that road where we used to see 20 or 30. They must be making progress in eradicating these pests from Australia which decimate the bird population.