Tiritiri Matangi Island

Birds, birds, birds! Today another lovely Aucklander took me to Tiritiri Matangi Island, a nature preserve. In the 1800s the island was basically cut to the ground and a number of invasive animals introduced like rats and opossums. The result was the decimation of the local birds to the point that many species were brought to the brink of extinction. It is worth mentioning that lots of these birds were fairly dumb and spent (and still spend) most of their life on the ground. Some can fly, but they often elect not to. In the '80s conservationists replanted native trees across the island and slowly reintroduced some of the native birds. Today their numbers continue to increase and overall it's a beautiful story in successful conservation.

We took a ferry to the island and had a guided tour where Sarah, our guide, helped us spot numerous birds while telling the story of the island. A couple of the others on the tour were avid birders. Thankfully I befriended a guy who was taking loads of photos with a very nice camera and lens. He will be sharing his shots with me which is good because my camera is total shit compared to his.

Towards the end of the tour our guide called and excitedly pointed into a tree. Hiding only feet away was a  kokako. In the entire world there are roughly 400 of them left. Seeing this is like seeing Santa riding the Loch Ness Monster. While I'm not that into birds, seeing something this rare nearly brought a tear to my eye.

After all the bird watching I spent a bit of time in the crystal clear water, trying to avoid getting water in my eyes on account of the lasik I had a couple weeks ago. Thankfully I'll be able to swim in under two weeks. I can hardly wait.Read more