Thursday February 1st – The super/blood/full moon eclipse, the search for Kiwi, following the Finns and a New Zealand wash-out

I'll start with overnight....

Not quite so good picture....

... it was 152 years since the moon had such a busy night and we were due to be in one of the best places in the world to see this triple-hitting event – a super moon (meaning it’ll be close to the earth and thus appear larger than normal) – a red moon (due to the visual effects of the eclipse) and then a full eclipse!  Best laid plans – at midnight when the colours were due to be at their peak the sky had completely clouded over.  Simon then set an alarm for 0330am, unbeknownst to me!  But it was worth it – we had some breaks in the cloud and the moon was still in partial eclipse.  I took a while to get back to sleep after being fully woken up, though I did manage to get one good photo:

Tweaking my camera's settings I managed to get this photo showing some of the shadows and detail on the moon whilst it was just about still in partial eclipse....

A very grey morning greeted us the next day, as well as a warning of torrential rain and flooding nationwide.  We had a full day’s driving planned but first an important appointment at the Otorohanga Kiwi House.  Probably our only chance of seeing a kiwi whilst we’re in New Zealand.   

The best pic I can offer as no photos were allowed in the enclosure

The limited distribution of the Kiwi species in NZ

We arrived just in time for a ranger talk in with ‘Tasman’ the great spotted kiwi.  She was amazing.  Kiwis are nocturnal ground dwelling birds, so their enclosure here forces them to be active during the day (New Zealand time) by having no light in their enclosure, and then when the centre is closed at night the lights are turned on full and the birds go to sleep in their underground burrows.  This species of kiwi was a lot larger than I expected, her gait was incredible and FAST!  She lolloped along at a fair turn of speed when food was on offer!  There are four different species of kiwi, all at risk of extinction from habitat loss, but also some species having a harder time than others due to predation from introduced species, such as possums, and domestic pets.  It seems that the government are taking steps to limit the damage to the populations.  What a tragedy it would be for NZ to lose its native bird, here’s hoping it never comes close to that. 

 

Just an amazing X-ray - look at the size of that egg!!

I give you... the Kea

We got to see some other indigenous bird species and I found a new favourite, the Kea. 

These are Mountain parrots only found on the South Island with brilliant characters and highly intelligent.  They need to create challenges for them to forage for their food, like hiding it in cardboard boxes, because they need to keep their minds busy.

Sadly, they are also endangered due to habitat loss so there is a hotline for people to report sightings to.  I hope we get to see some in the wild when we reach the south island.

Food time, but not just served up on a plate

Spur-winged plover

Although we were there in the main for the kiwis, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see some of the other rare indigenous species being cared for there, so I wandered around for another hour and a half before Simon had to drag me away.

Paradise shelduck

New Zealand Kingfisher

We had a big drive north to do as we have to be a couple of hours north of Auckland for diving at 8am tomorrow. However, I noticed a town called Te Awamutu on the map and, thanks to my geeky musical lyrics knowledge, I recognised this from a Crowded House song.  We love ‘the house’.  A quick google search confirmed that this was the home town of the Finn brothers, Neil and Tim, two of New Zealand’s finest and most talented musicians (in my opinion).  We may have been in a kind of a rush, but that was enough to persuade us to take a detour of an hour or so to visit Te Awamutu museum . 

Sadly, it transpired that the Finn exhibition, the main reason for our visit, had been removed! However, they had retained all the information in scrapbooks and on DVDs, which we were given access to for as long as we wanted! We finished our trip into the town by me sprinting out of the camper through the pouring rain to get a couple of shots of the Finn brothers’ entry on the Te Awamutu wall of fame.  I didn't have the chance to find out who else had made it there....!

The Te Awamutu pathway of fame...

The Finns' post

Back on the road north, we encountered terrible rain which slowed us down so that it was about 4pm by the time we reached Auckland.  A bad time of day to take on the City’s horrendous traffic!

Our plan had been to cook our own dinner but it was clear that the rain was not going to let up this evening.  Having finally made it to the other side of Auckland, we stopped for a Domino’s pizza deal (yes, again, it’s just too cheap to refuse!) before carrying on to a freedom camping spot about 10 minutes from the dive centre. Worried about the potential of being stuck in the mud by the morning if the torrential rain continued, we hunkered down for the night to try and get some sleep despite a roaring thunderstorm overhead.  Would we really be going diving tomorrow if it stays like this?!