Day 174 Tiritiri Matangi

We seem to have a bit of luck as far as the weather goes.  It looks like it is going to be a nice day for our trip to the island of Tiritiri Matangi.   So, we got ready and headed over to Gulf Harbor to catch the ferry.

It was only a 20 minute ride on the ferry and as soon as we got past the coast we got our first view of Tiritiri Matangi. 

Tiritiri Matangi

The island of Tiritiri Matangi or “Looking to the Wind” lies about 4 km off the coast of Whangaparaoa Peninsula.  The 220 hectare island was farmed up to 1981 when the leases were cancelled.  A reforesting program was started in 1984 and continued until 1984 with a total of over 250,000 trees being planted.  

Today the island is a wildlife sanctuary that is pest free.  That has allowed many birds that were once native to the island to return.  The DOC has also introduced a number of rare birds that came close to extinction to prosper.  New Zealand is known as the Island of birds and it was very obvious here.

 We arrived at the island, listened to the welcoming and rules speech before heading up to the lighthouse and small visitor’s center.

On our way up to the lighthouse we got our only look at a couple of Brown Teal.   The Brown Teal is a rather nocturnal  small dabbling duck species endemic to New Zealand.  The Maori name for it is Pateke.  This bird is on the endangered list with as few as 1000 still surviving on the outlying islands. 

        

Brown Teal

Just prior to getting to the lighthouse we met the guest of honor for the island.  Greg is an 18 year Takahe that has been here his whole life.  He was a little worse for wear as he had just been in a fight.  It seems that his mate left him and he has been trying to win her back with little success.  The Takahe is flightless.

    

We stopped at the lighthouse long enough to have a coffee and study the map of the different trails around the office.  We even had a Fantail join us in the café.  We decided on the direction we wanted to go but  stopped at a water station and took a few pictures of two types of birds that getting a drink.  The Tui and the Bellbird have both prospered with the safe haven the island provides.



Tui



Tui



Bellbird




Fantail



We started on our hike along the east coast track that gave us an elevated look at the coast.  Today wasn’t only about the birds.  The scenery was pretty awesome as well especially along the first part of our walk.

It was during this part of the walk that we say a number of birds with the tui and bellbird being the most prevalent.  We also got a look at the Red Crowned Parakeet, more Takahes, Welcome Swallow and a Wood Pigeon.



Bellbird




Red Crowned Parakeet
























Takahe




Tui




Wood Pigeon
























Welcome Swallow



We did see other birds but were not able to get a good picture of them.  Kathy says that the pictures weren’t blog worthy.  On our way to the west side of the island we travelled through the only area that was original forest.  We came across one of the island’s oldest Pohutukawa  Trees, estimated to be 800- 1000 years old.  You can see from the picture of the sign that it is actually two trees.  It was quite interesting to look at.

We continued on our walk through the forest just enjoying the day.  We listened to the birds and marveled at the terrain.  However, the island isn’t that big so we shortly came to the west coast.

We followed the coast until we reached the ferry.  It was waiting there and we thought it was early but it hadn’t left.  They only allow one trip per day with a maximum of 150 people at a time. 

So we hung around the wharf until it was time to go.  We were treated to one last look of Grey as he had wandered down to the boarding area.  We were told that this was the first time he had ever ventured this far from the lighthouse area.  It is a 15 minute walk via the road and a 25 minute walk on the path.  He must have taken a pretty good beating and wanted the safety of the people. 



Greg the Takahe



It was time to leave so we said goodbye to Grey and boarded the ferry for the short ride back to the van. It was getting late in the day so we just drove back to the campsite and settled in for the night.  It was a great day.