New Zealand North Island Tour Jan-Feb 2012: Thur Jan 19 (Birds on the Brain):

After breakfast, a 20-min walk down Queen St brought us to Pier 4 where we boarded theTiritiri Matangi Kit, the prettiest ferry there. It was a perfect day: sunny, but with enough clouds to turn the water a dappled gray-green.

While queuing for the ferry, we noticed a Clydesdale of a touring bike: a folding bike painted flat black with black Ortlieb front and rear panniers and even a black roll (tent?) on the rear rack. The only things that weren't black were the really tall head tube and seatmast which were polished chrome and as thick as my wrists. We foung the owner and he explained that it was a Dahon frame but totally customized otherwise, the most interesting thing (to me anyway) being the internal 14-gear hub.

Enroute to the bird sanctuary, we stopped briefly at Gulf Harbour, a picturesque little town modeled after Portofino, with its red clay roofs. Its harbor was crowded with sailboats, reminding me that New Zealand had the highest number of sailboats per capita.

Tiritiri Matangi is a scientific reserve and a sanctuary for rare wildlife, free of introduced pests. In the past, Maori and European settlement had decimated the natural wildlife and forests so about 35 yrs ago, conservation efforts began with birds and plants being reintroduced.

Diana guided us to the lighthouse/visitor centre via the Wattle Track introducing us to various trees (notably the pohutukawa/Christmas), silver and black fern trees and the huge flax plants as well as the various bird species. Unfortunately we didn’t see any red-crested parakeets but we did see tuis, bell birds, saddlebacks and even one blue penguin (in his burrow with the plexiglass lid).

At the visitor centre, Greg, the island's most (in)famous resident menaced Nancy (he was almost in her lap!) to the point where she was reluctant to finish her sandwich. The cunning old bird (a 19-yr old Takahe to be exact) also startled Martel into dropping some cheese by pecking Martel's toe, then promptly gobbled up his prize. It was hard to be mad at him though after hearing how he'd lost his love, Cheesecake, to the younger Takahe introduced to the island a couple of years ago.

After lunch, hiking and swimming, we caught the ferry back to AKL.

Dinner was delicious and fun chicken burritos prepared by Martel and Carole.

Most are anxious to leave Auckland, which, though pretty, is after all, full of people, noise and hustle-bustle.