Animals of New Zealand

Whale watching inspired me and I have started planning my coffee table book on New Zealand “wildlife”. I may submit this stunning photo montage to National Geographic as I consider a career change.

When one thinks about NZ, what does one think about first?

But you can see them in the wild as well

Or cleaning up in the vinyards

And if you are coming down a mountain trail

The reason wildlife is in quotes is that, aside from birds, NZ has (or had) essentially no wildlife. A common misconception is that NZ goes way back to Gondwanaland and that what is here is left over from the time of the dinosaurs.But really, at its most submerged (23 million years ago), New Zealand was only a few tiny islands upon which the future flora and fauna were clinging to life. So wildlife developed in a very narrow and restricted environment.

New Zealand is known for its birds, of which there are two varieties: those that fly and those that do not. There are no indigenous land mammals (i.e. predators) on these islands, so why fly when you can walk?

The most famous of the New Zealand birds is the Kiwi, a nocturnal flightless bird that looks like this

Well, they really look like this (courtesy of google images)

(Incidentally, New Zealanders have not always been nicknamed Kiwis. It really began in the late 19th Century when overseas NZ soldiers were referred to as Kiwis. This gradually became extended to the population at large).

We took a few bird pictures of our own this year, some of which are rather goofy looking

This one, with the evil eye tried, to attack me

Some like to hang out on cars (where they like to eat the windshield wipers and other rubber items). These birds live in the mountains.

Many of our photos are of seabirds

Some are best seen early in the morning (Marlborough Sound)

Some are introduced species that will sneak up on you unexpectedly (yes, this is wild)

And finally, my favorite bird photo of the year

There were some other birds prior to the arrival of Pakeha (white) settlers, including the giant Moa. Their fate is well-described in the picture below.

Moa largely sustained the first human settlers (Maori) in their first 200 years on the islands, from around 1250 AD. These birds (like the great wooly mammoth, the saber-toothed tiger, and the Neanderthal) were extinct by 1400 AD, forcing Moari towards the more agrarian existence (supplemented with ‘roast enemy’ on special occasions) noted by the Europeans in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Two winter days on the South Island

Prior to my British interlude, we traveled up and down the South Island during the school holidays, which are beautifully designed for travel. School here is divided into quarters rather than semesters; there are two weeks of holiday between each quarter, with six weeks in the summer (over the Christmas season). This seems eminently sensible to me and avoids the problem of summer regression.

Michelle tried something new on this journey and booked us into a backpacker’s hostel, which are absolutely everywhere on these islands.

It works particularly well for us as dorm rooms come with six beds, and it just so happens…

In the mornings the sun is weak and tepid, as one can see by this photo taken in the morning about 10AM.

Sunrise the day this photo was taken was 8:25 and sunset 5:20. You can imagine how we need to squeeze things into a 9 hours day. Summer travel was significantly different, with 15 hours (and exhausted children) to deal with.

This was our first journey up the coast since the winter snows.

That night we stayed in Kaikoura on the upper east coast. Sunrise the next morning was stunning

All four of the above pictures were taken within 90 minutes of each other. We then went whale watching. The view from the ticket office was rather pretty.The reason why whale watching is so good in Kaikoura (Kai = food & koura = crayfish in Maori) is that there is an offshore canyon three-quarters of a mile deep that comes within a mile of the coast. Whales dive for food practically within swimming distance of the shore.

If you drained all of the water out, it would looks something like this

We saw six sperm whales that day.The water was very calm, which was good, since the last time Michelle and I tried this, my morning coffee and muffin ended up in a bag.

Emily had a lovely time and here is Ben trying to explain something

We traveled up the coast through earthquake central.

This photo was taken in Marlborough, just outside of Seddon where an earthquake struck just two days later.

The day ended as beautifully as it began. After finding DOGFISH HEAD 90 MINUTE IPA in a grocery story in Blenheim !!!! (just down the road from the Mount Riley winery).

Sunset came upon us

 

Interlude 2: Cymru

After the narrow, hedge-lined roads of southwest England, it felt good to move into the more open vistas of Wales. Bypassing Merthyr Tudful, a former industrial mining area in the south of Wales

through Brecon Beacons, a bare grassy moorland (a highland, high rainfall, uncultivated hill) in south central Wales

As one moves up western Wales, the vistas slowly change

where they become less populated and more rocky

Until I reached my final destination: Snowdonia, which has the country’s highest mountain: Mount Snowden (Eryri in Welsh). Instead of hedges, one finds rock walls, along the roads

and dividing the land (look up on the hills)

Unlike England proper, you feel as though you can breathe…..

The hike up Mount Snowden was the highlight of the week (as well as the week’s bathing event). Walking up the road to the trail head

Looking back down the way I have come

Until the actual tramping (Kiwi term) begins

As you cross the pass it looks a bit like thisAnd as I made it to the top I was rewarded with this incredible viewI felt a real sense accomplishment until I passed all of the blind trampers with their guides. They couldn’t see so well, but they could certainly feel the cold, damp, wet day. The one day I looked forward to….I got soaked. As did the camera (which stopped working for the next 12 hours) and the new book on Wales I bought that morning which was nearly twice its prewaterlogged size

One the way down, things cleared up a bit and the view was every bit as beautifulLeaving Snowdonia, one can see the remnants of the Dinorwig quarry across the lake from Llanberis. As late as 1989, 17000 men were producing a half million tons of slate per year

I spent the night on the island of Anglesey, an Old Norse name derived from tenth century Viking raiders. My purpose was to see  Beaumaris castle, one of a series well-preserved castles built by Edward I after Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last native Prince of Wales, lost his kingdom. Beaumaris was one of a series of castles built by Edward ringing the country with castles and colonizing them with Englishmen. The rest is self evident.

The view from the ramparts of and around the town was quite nice

And driving out of town

On the way back to London I passed another of Edward’s monuments to the ages

And goodbye to Wales