Australasian Gannet (from Kaikoura, where we went whale watching)
We’re back, and a bit bedraggled, but a good time was thoroughly had.
A Gannet nesting colony on the end of Farwell Spit – which is the northern most tip of the South Island of New Zealand and a Ramsar site.
One of the highlights of our trip was Stewart Island. We rented a little house called “Bell Bird Cottage” which had a resident Tui that spent his days frenetically singing and defending his territory. Tui have the most amazing combination of clear melodic tones interspersed with discordant burrs and rasps, and they pretty much never stop singing unless they are in flight. I got an audio recording of one, and if I can figure out how to get it off my portable HD and onto the web I’ll post it.
Off the coast of Kaikoura is an underwater canyon where male Humpback Whales come to feed and bulk up before heading back north to join the females.
This one is named “Little Nick” for the little nick in his tail fin.
They were riding the bow wave as our boat returned to the harbor. They were so fast that it was nearly impossible to photograph them.
Also at Kaikoura, at the well named “Seal Point”. This one is fairly young (and for some reason makes me think of Family Man).
This one is an adult female.
I woke up taking someone had said my name.
Wonderful pictures keres. Trust me, if there was a rocky beach near by, that would be me. 🙂
That’s perfect … 🙂
Henry is a Tuatara. They are known as “living fossils” because they predate lizards and snakes, and teeth for that matter. They have tooth-like projections on their jaw bones (instead of teeth in sockets).
Henry is single (by choice) and over 130 years old. A recent attempt to offer him a 20-something girlfriend just made him cranky.
I think this one was in his thirties.
Young Tuatara are a bit wary, as full-grown Tuatara eat them.
Lots and lots and lots of sheep. Everywhere you look – sheep.
Our first day in NZ was spent wandering around the Christchurch Show grounds, where these sheep were being judged.
I love this one … you’ve captured it so well …
Beautiful photos keres … thank you and welcome home!
More please. 🙂
Yep there’s more, but I need to take a break now so that I can make a run to Hobart to stock up on supplies, and to wash Luna.
We’re out of practically everything in the house, food, of course, since we didn’t leave anything that might spoil, but laundry soap and other necessities as well.
Thanks for coming back and posting more — I’m having a great time feasting on your pics and imagining what a fine trip it must have been.
but it will take me awhile to get through all the photos. Besides, I figure I can milk this trip for at least three or four more Dog Blogs. 😉
Excellent. I’ll just consider that my bestest Hanukkah present. 🙂
Which makes you very easy to shop for. 😉
Well if you think that was too easy, I’m always open to being more difficult and asking for something really hard like (can you guess what’s coming) … the wiki Tasmanian bird page. 😉
keres — I’m w/ Andi … I can’t wait to see more too.
[The dog is washed and the groceries are purchased and put away.]
This little charmer is one of the twenty (or possibly a descendant) released onto Ulva Island in 2000. Ulva Island is a small island (about 500 acres) located inside a bay of Stewart Island. It has been actively restored as a wildlife habitat and many species of rare or threatened birds have been released there for safe-keeping.
Fortunately for the human visitors, the S.I. Robins are caught and weighed, tagged, etc. once each year, and it must be a pleasant experience for them as they have no fear of humans. If you scuff the leaf litter with your feet they will come over to see if you’ve turned up anything nummy. They also watch while you are eating your snacks, in case you drop any little bits (humans are so messy).
This young one has yet to be tagged.
This is a good shot of what Ulva Island looks like on the ground. It’s temperate rain forest dominated by ferns. Many of these species predate the break-up of Gondwanaland. New Zealand (along with some parts of Tasmania) contains the only extant remnant forests of that ancient super-continent.
Curled fern fronds are very much of the New Zealand iconography, starting with the Maori carvers and continuing into the present. The Ultra-macho New Zealand Rugby team has a silver fern print on their black jerseys and even the cap I bought has a stylized fern leaf stitched onto it.
Thanks. I got really lucky that this shot turned out. Under the rain forest canopy the exposure times were around 1/15 sec. I took several shots of everything in hopes that at least one would be viable.
That’s really beautiful. It looks a lot like the rain forests in Olympic National Park.
Wonderful photo diary, keres!
I had never heard of the Tuatara, but followed your link, and then some.
Tuatara are interesting – and a bit weird…
* They are capable of holding their breath for nearly an hour
* Tuatara have one of the slowest growth rates of any reptile
* Tuatara keep growing until they are about 35 years old
* They will share burrows with birds, but a male might bite off a baby bird’s head if it is hungry – which doesn’t make it a very good house guest!
The above Tuatara all live at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery in Invercargill, which started the first captive breeding program for Tuatara. While we were there, not a single one moved, other than to turn its head a little bit. Apparently life as a Tuatara is largely spent waiting (they only breed every three to five years or so).
Welcome home Keres. It’s good to see you.
Thank you. It’s good to be home. We actually got a bit of rain this morning, so home’s looking a little less parched this afternoon.
What wonderment! And here I am, thrilled when I get to go to the beach! Thanks, Keres, for an absolutely fantastic picture blog of your vacation. (I had a picture of a kitty and a horsie, but never mind.) 🙂
Awwww. Post the kitty and the horsey. I’m happy to get to the beach as well.
Great to see you back, with fabulous pictures to boot. So glad you had a good time.
We did have a good time and thanks to Imogen’s pre-planning, it was largely smooth sailing all the way.
Hi Keres,
I haven’t been around in a while and I see I’ve missed a lot. Looks like you had a fabulous trip. New Zealand is on my list of dream trips along with Australia, Tasmania and Hawaii.
I love your photos as always. Maybe I could be a stowaway on another of your trips some year? LOL