Thursday 27th to Sunday 30th September – Someone’s Birthday celebrations

Thursday 27^th September

Okay, so it was my Birthday. No need for any fuss, it’s not a big one after all. Let’s just get it done.  Another important milestone though.  Today is exactly TWO YEARS since I did my last day’s work for the Police. That’s madness. How can it be that long already? I feel like I’ve been away for a month, tops! 

I’ve been doing a little part-time work at the SPCA contact centre the last week or two for ACTUAL money (not a lot of course, it is a charity after all!). And so, today would be no different, apart from the fact that I took in a bag of cookies to treat everyone as a small celebration of the passing of another year on planet Earth.  As soon as the office found out, they sent someone out to get extra supplies – not only a Birthday cake but an entire lunch of fish and chips and extra chocolate treats. Ah, bless ‘em, they looked after me well and I ate far too much:

The day wasn’t finished there.  Simon and I went out for drinks in Pukekohe. We tried out a pub called The Longkeeper first, which we’ve been meaning to do for some time. It was alright. I had a cocktail but we didn’t feel much ambience in the place so we moved on. Back to our most regular eating spot it seems, the Lonestar, because the bar has a nice atmosphere, but mostly because they’d sent me a $20 voucher for my Birthday! I went for a light dinner after my earlier feast, with a cheeky mule cocktail on the side. We didn’t burn the midnight oil too late, it was a school night after all.

Saturday 29^th September– Boat trip to Little barrier Island

As I am working every other weekend now that gives Simon alternate weekends of ‘me time’ and ‘Ruth time’!  This is a ‘Ruth time’ weekend and, as it was my Birthday, I got to choose what we were doing.  In an echo of our travelling days, we headed to bookme.co.nz to see what deals we could snap up. A perfect one – an all day trip from Sandspit to Little Barrier Island. Little Barrier was this country’s first nature reserve, established in 1896 and has the reputation of being the most intact ecosystem in New Zealand and one of the most important reserves of its kind in the world. Approximately 40 species of rare or endangered birds, 14 reptile and 2 bat species, and more than 400 native plants flourish in this pest-free sanctuary. Among many success stories, the beautiful hihi/stichbird, which would have been extinct if not for this island, thrive and are able to be translocated to other pest-free island sanctuaries. Unlike Tiritiri, it is hard to get access to the island, being further away from the mainland and also needing to secure an individual permit from DOC to visit.

 

Today, we would not be setting foot on the island, but would circumnavigate the whole of Little Barrier with Gulf Eco-tours. And, thanks to bookme, we were both going at a reduced rate, essentially $70 each for the whole trip, including lunch.

We drove about an hour and a half to reach Sandspit where we parked up and joined the other nine people on the boat. A nice small number.  I made myself comfortable in full geek-mode in the stern of the boat, binoculars and camera at hand (right). 

We were treated to a beautiful sunny day.  On the way out into the Hauraki Gulf we cruised past Tawharanui Regional Park and Kawau Island, one of the largest islands in the gulf and a popular tourist spot for bird spotting and also wallabies! Yes, that’s right, wallabies were introduced here between 1860 and 1870 and four species remain here.  I’ve heard it’s another good spot to go volunteering – add it to the list!

 

As usual, both Simon and I were scanning the horizon for any evidence of whales or dolphins. But it was one of the other passengers on the deck upstairs that spotted a pair of whales.  I can’t recall what species our captain said they were, but we took a slight detour to watch them for 15-minutes or so:

Then it was on to our first views of Little Barrier:

It was very rugged with steep cliffs the majority of the way around the island.   

The water was crystal clear and also teeming with jellyfish.  There were many seabirds around the periphery - gannets, shags, petrels and terns for example. 

Fur Seal

Pied cormorant

As we circumnavigated the island, we popped our heads into any caves and coves to see what we could find.  The captain had just moored the boat to stop for lunch when dolphins were spotted heading our way. A pod of bottlenose dolphins joined us and played around the bow for a significant amount of time.   

 

The boat was tied off again and we had the opportunity to have a swim or a paddle.  A stiff breeze had stirred up and with the amount of jellyfish we’d seen around us it wasn’t the most tempting offer!

Wrapping up against the cold

 

Plus, we’d used so much time watching the dolphins that we were running late, not that anyone minded. We completed the circumference, spotting a very cute solitary fur seal (left) and ending with a view of the Rangers’ base (below):

 

 

 

A view of Great Barrier Island - On the list of volunteering options

Apparently, there is a family that live on the island and look after it at the moment, with the kids being schooled on-line.  Talk about a remote lifestyle?! 

Leaving Little Barrier in our wake....

On the way back I attempted to get a good photo or two of the petrels that were skimming the water on either side of us:

We were hoping to spot some of the local Orca population on our return trip, but we’d seen so much already so we weren’t overly disappointed when they failed to make an appearance.  We had been due to get back to the harbour at 330pm but it was nearer 430pm instead. Our guide was more than happy to extend the day to make it a thoroughly enjoyable experience for everyone on board.

We drove home and Si disappeared to the supermarket, apparently to do some important prep for something happening tomorrow. 

Sunday 30^th September – My Birthday BBQs (yes, more than one!)

Last night the clocks went forward an hour for Daylight saving – it’s officially the start of summer here!

Another milestone for you – it’s two years since we completed the sale of our house and became officially homeless.  I loved that place but I don’t regret moving on. Look at everything we’ve done with our time since then!

Si and I were having a relaxing morning when, from outside, we heard a very loud engine throbbing.  What on Earth?! Then it dawned on us – it was the unmistakable sound of a V8 outside our window.  The Kellas’s had also had a busy day yesterday - purchasing Colin the 1977 Dodge Aspen station waggon. 

It’s been a dream of Huihana’s to own a V8 muscle car for years.  We were chauffeur-driven to their place in the new wheels where Steve had gone on ahead to start prepping for BBQ number one – Breakfast of bacon and egg rolls before kick off in the All Blacks versus Pumas rugby in Buenos Aires.   After a brief pause at half-time for BBQ number two – extremely tender pork fillet – the Abs went on to win 35-17. A great start to the day.

For a change I enjoyed a tipple or two as a Birthday treat in the sunshine (left). Other visitors came and went. We spent the rest of the day outside, playing cards before one final BBQ (to keep us going) of salmon and steak before it was Birthday cake time.  I have to say a huge thank you to Steve and Huihana who are supreme hosts and especially Steve for making said cake.  We stayed until 730pm having exhausted all of the hours of sunshine that day.

 

Tuesday 25th to Wednesday 26th September - the BIG NZ pest control debate

Tuesday 25^th September 

How can I write about this concisely and in a balanced way whilst also being informative?  I’ll try my best.  There is a very contentious and unique issue here in NZ. It goes back to evolution and the fact that this fine country separated from Australia about 55 million years ago BEFORE mammalian pests evolved. This led the birds, amphibians and reptiles of NZ to evolve without the need to fly or protect themselves from said predators. The only native land mammals here are two species of bat, now also in danger of extinction. Fast forward to the 1500s when Polynesians were the first humans to discover NZ, followed by Europeans a couple of hundred years later and an influx of alien species – rats, mice, pig, goats, dogs, cats and later possums, stoats, weasels etc. Effect= DISASTER! There are many species extinctions known about (giant Moa for example - pic) but potentially many more unknown and this is the big conservation battle being fought here. A well-respected ecologist has estimated that 68,000 birds are killed PER NIGHT in NZ by these ‘pest’ species.  Now, you know I’m an animal lover and wouldn’t want any animal to suffer in an ideal World. It’s not a quick and painless death with poison and it’s not the pests fault they’re here, they’re just doing what comes naturally to survive. But the consequences of their actions are catastrophic.

I’m not going to explain the whole history and science behind 1080 but it is, in effect just Sodium Fluoroacetate produced naturally in certain plant species as a defence from grazing animals. It is also found, scarily, in your cup of tea, which is just an interesting fact I thought I’d throw in there. So anyway, I digress, I don’t like the idea of using poisons to control animals. It would be great to live in a world where it isn’t necessary. So, when faced with the decision to poison some creatures to save the native fauna or to leave things be and watch all of New Zealand’s unique and precious wildlife disappear it is a tough call.  But my thoughts are that the native birds don’t stand a chance. They aren’t just being out-evolved. They are being wiped out because of human actions of the past so do we not owe it to them to intervene to try and save them for the future? 

It’s seems most people have very strong and emotional views either against or for the use of 1080. As a newcomer I didn’t feel in the best position to understand the arguments, so I’ve been doing research (below). 

Mistakes and using the poison at very high dosages in the past have led to deaths of non-target species and there is a social media frenzy here with the anti-1080 brigade essentially arguing that ‘1080 kills everything’ and that Department of Conservation (DOC) is part of a money-making conspiracy with the manufacturers of 1080! My main question to them is this – why would people who have chosen conservation/ecology as a career and so work in the field fulltime, support the use of any chemical that causes more harm than good to the very wildlife they are working to protect?! The sad fact is that, despite research into alternative chemicals and trapping, 1080 currently is the only tool for the job when it comes to treating large and extremely remote mountainous areas.

It is right to acknowledge that mistakes have been made. However, these errors have led to progress to reduce the amount of by-kill. For example, the concentration of 1080 used in bait pellets now is tiny (whilst still effective against target species), the pellets themselves are too large for small birds to be able to eat and are dyed green – a colour that birds are not attracted to, and the quantity sown per hectare has been massively reduced.

There are all sorts of ridiculous conspiracy theories about the poison remaining in animals’ bodily tissues forever or poisoning the waterways that have all been debunked by science but the anti-brigade seem to choose not to listen to science! As a visitor to NZ back in January I recall seeing ‘ban 1080’ signs around the countryside and looked into it briefly, thinking ‘that poison must be bad’, I can tell I’m not going to like THAT. A genuine but nevertheless knee-jerk reaction to the thought of animals suffering by the ‘fluffy’ animal lover that I consider myself to be!

There has been a build-up of tension recently due to a 1080 operation planned for the Hunua Ranges. So, in an unexpected turnaround, I now find myself in support of this operation as a volunteer in the kokako recovery project with the hope that the near extermination of rats and possums in the forest will lead to a bumper breeding season for all birds, not just the kokako. The drop was due to take place during the fine weather week when I was on Tiritiri but the anti-1080s applied for a court injunction to stop the operation and this postponed everything for a week.  There was a worrying few days there when it looked like social media hysteria would win over fact and science – scary! Thankfully, due to all the evidence and arguments to support the drop going ahead the application was eventually dismissed.

This leads me to what I ended up doing today (about time I hear you say). Following the drop everything possible is done to remove any of the baits that have landed on or around tracks or roads that are accessible to the public and therefore could pose a risk to human or animal.  This means walking each of these tracks a minimum of three times… in BOTH directions slowly to look for the things. A heck of a lot of man hours. Planned like a military operation, I made my way to the secret rendezvous point at 730am to receive instruction:

Highly organised chaos

I was allocated a team by the Auckland Council Rangers and we were provided with a vast quantity of health and safety information, personal protective equipment, radios, secret call signs and radio codes in case of protesters overhearing radio traffic. My team today was tasked with clearing the land at the 440 Mountain Bike Park on the northern boundary of the Hunuas.  There were six of us and several different tracks that needed checking before the park was due to re-open this weekend. 

 

Yikes -  that's steep!

Just like with ski slopes, the tracks were graded by colour with the black runs being the most extreme. There were these wooden ramps set up that I find it hard to believe people are brave enough to cycle down! 

One of the tracks through the pine forest

A bait containing 1080

Thankfully, we were able to walk around these obstacles but the tracks were steep and slippery enough as they were.  As we wandered through the pine forested area I found a couple of things that made me nervous. Firstly, a dead blackbird, susceptible to the effects of the poison as they eat insects from the ground, and then a dead fantail. Of course, I don’t know what these birds died of but the obvious conclusion would be as a result of the 1080 drop. Maybe I’d been wrong? Maybe this stuff kills everything BUT the stuff it’s supposed to kill?! In a strange way I started to feel more comfortable when we then started finding deceased possums, four in total, and saw no more bird casualties for the rest of the day. Here’s what a pellet looks like on the ground (right). As I said, the colour and size are designed specifically to try to target the pest species and the vast majority of this block consists of grain holding a tiny percentage of actual poison.

We managed to dodge most of the hail storms and I only fell over the once. It was a good day for meeting more Park Rangers and getting to ask them questions about their jobs.

We were done by early afternoon and returned to sign out safely from the operation headquarters.

Wednesday 26^th September

There were far fewer of us today, but more faces that I knew as colleagues from my usual mid-week volunteering had also offered to help as the Ranges were closed to everyone not involved in the operation. Even better than that, I was paired up with Robin who I know well and we were sent to do a track that I haven’t had a chance to do yet, the Massey and Cossey loop track.  We were sent to walk clockwise, whilst another pairing walked the loop in the opposite direction. This led to competition – we didn’t want to miss any baits and then discover that the ‘boys’ had found them on a piece of track we’d already supposedly ‘cleared’! Robin and I were also being audited by a lady from Auckland health department. Not us personally, but the entire process is carefully audited by other government bodies to ensure that public safety is at the forefront of the operation. It was slow process, but we didn’t want to miss anything.  

Despite being super-cautious we didn’t find a SINGLE BAIT before stopping for a break half-way round by the reservoir! 

 

We thought team 2 were joking when they told us they’d found 12! Not expecting to find any more, we set off to complete the loop. But we did find some! Evidence of how important walking tracks in opposite directions is. Some of the baits are only visible from one direction due to being obscured by foliage. Test yourself – can you spot the bait in this image (below)? Not easy is it? But we found four more. 

Spot the bait competition

I got to visit the Giant Kauri for the first time as they're usually out of bounds for their protection

We covered a greater distance today than yesterday and I was tiring by the end of two long days walking in a row. But it was nice to see some parts of the Hunuas, like the giant Kauri trees (right) and the Falls (below), with no tourists around to get in your photos!  

Hunua Falls (with NO tourists in the way!)

I’d done my bit to get involved and experience the process of organising a 1080 drop, and the aftermath, first-hand.  I wonder how many of the anti-1080 side spend hours in the bush actually doing that and getting hands-on with pest-control to save the wildlife they are supposedly so passionate about?  The real proof of the pudding will be during this summer.  I will be making my own judgement on whether I notice an increase in the numbers of birds and wildlife I see when tramping in the Hunuas. I will hopefully be able to tell if 1080 has killed everything or has in fact given the native wildlife a fighting chance this breeding season. 

Good luck birdies, it’s time for you to get busy!