While in Auckland, many encouraged us to take a trip to a local bird sanctuary island about 30 minutes away. Most people take a day trip with the local ferry, but Chris and I saw that there was a bunk house available to reserve space in and I decided that was the better way to visit because the main birds I wanted to see are nocturnal (penguin & kiwi). Weekend bookings were completely filled for the rest of our time in NZ, so we decided to take the kids out of school for two days and go over a weekday. That was over a month ago and as time got closer and our time in New Zealand shrunk, our desires changed this family trip into a girl’s trip.
Tiritiri Matangi is a pest free bird sanctuary and research island. It derives its power from solar and all water is through rain catchment. You need to bring all your food (and bedding) with you and you take all your rubbish off with you.
Aleah and I packed two sandwiches, two steak salads, some meat/cheese & crackers and granola bars for our 29 hour visit to the island. We arrived on the island and started our visit with a guided walk hosted by Friends of Tiritiri Matangi volunteers. After our walk we met with the ranger in the bunkhouse with the other 10 people who were staying the night. At this point the ranger told us that the ferry for the next day was cancelled and we could either depart on the return ferry today (in 2 hrs) or stay an additional night and depart on Friday’s ferry. However, the weather on Friday was looking worse and there were no guarantees that the ferry would run on Friday either.
We decided that Aleah needed to get back. We had tickets for the local school musical for the following night and other things she didn’t need to miss. I hemmed & hawed over staying or going and finally decided that I didn’t have any compelling reason not to ride out the adventure on the island. With Aleah gone I should be able to make the food last the necessary days, and to add to that, a departing family gave me some curry & rice to make my life even more comfortable. I took Aleah down to the ferry and waved her off and then headed back to the bunkhouse to pack in.
The main reason I wanted to visit Tiritiri Matangi was to watch the little blue penguins come in at night and hunt for the rare little spotted kiwi. When I have done this in the past it has always been with a small group of people. Walking alone through a dark wood while the trees blow and howl with a storm around you is quite a different experience. As I’m walking I tell myself, there are no predators out here, there are no snakes. The scariest thing is probably the giant weta, a large grasshopper looking insect. When looking for kiwis you are really listening for the rustling of them on the forest floor. As they walk and move leaves with their large feet and bill looking for their daily meal of insects. So not only is it dark and you are by yourself, which is a little scary, you are also purposefully listening for rustling sounds all around you while trying not to picture a mass murderer jumping out behind you as you are stranded with only a few (7) other people on this island during a fall storm. I’m pretty sure movies have been made about this scenario.
Watching for the little blue penguin is a lot less scary of an undertaking because it is done at the seashore. The penguins gather offshore, but close enough that you can see them with binoculars, in a large group called a raft. When they decide it is dark enough to protect them from predators they all swim to shore together and run to their burrows above the rocks. I started watching them a few minutes before sunset and listened to them calling to each other and play around in the water. By an hour after sunset it was too dark to see them anymore and they still weren’t making any move towards coming in to land. Darn it! Come on penguins, I got stranded so I could see you!! I finally moved to the area of rocks that I had previously scoped out as their burrows based on droppings and feathers and decided to wait there with my red light on. Success! Not long after moving I began to hear the sounds of penguins approaching and witnessed a few hoping about just feet away from me. It is amazing how well they climb rocks when only using their feet. And it never fails to surprise me just how small they are!