D Day +49

Woke up this morning to an absolute storm. 95KPH winds and horizontal rain. We walk towards the pickup point for our tour today and by the time we are close to it our trousers are soaking wet and we think that a coffee is in order as we have enough time.

We are meant to be heading to Zealandia which is an amazing 500YEAR project to return a steep sided valley in Wellington back to the state it was before humans arrived 800 years ago. The first people to arrive were the Maori who had an impact as they introduced the first land mammals (rats and dogs) and then hunted the giant Moa into extinction. Next came the Europeans who introduced more non native mammals which continued to decimate the native fauna (mostly birds and reptiles). They cleared the land first for timber for construction and then completely for farmland. Later on they decided to build an earth dam to dam the stream at the bottom of the valley to provide water for the fast growing Wellington which was followed even later with a second concrete dam higher up. Fast forward and Wellington outgrows the water supply and the dams are considered to be in danger of collapse if there is an earthquake so the top lake is drained and the valley is left as a reserve. A group of people got together with the ambitious goal of returning the pre human state and have already got impressive results in that they have built a fence enclosing the whole 500+ acre site especially designed to keep non native predators out of the site. Along with an eradication scheme they have been entirely successful as there have been no sightings of non native predators in Zealandia for over 10 years. Without the predators the native birds and reptiles are slowly beginning to reestablish themselves and even moving off the endangered lists. There is still a lot of work to do but with a 500 year vision I’m positive they will achieve their goal.

Now the weather is not really conducive to wandering through a rain forest but our guide, Roy another volunteer, leads us out into the sanctuary. Now Roy really knows his stuff and is a mine of information on both the flora and the fauna, pointing out interesting native species and non native species or weeds as he calls them. The weather improves and the rain stops so we stay out much longer than originally planned and are enthralled. Just a few pictures below to give you a feel for the place.

A massive tree fern.

This is a Kiwi burrow. They are nocturnal so we won’t see one during the day

At one point there is a suspension bridge over the valley which allows you to look down on the canopy and get a very different view of the forest. It was paid for by a donation from a friend of the sanctuary.

We were lucky enough to catch some Kaka (NZ parrots) feeding on the way out of the sanctuary. They are not as brightly coloured as normal but instead camoflaged so they are hard to see.

The original water inlet from the resevoir.

We get the last shuttle back to town. All the shuttles are 100% electric LDV vans but they are made in China and my impression and that of the drivers is not very favourable. We’re wandering around to check where the Avis office is so I can pick up the car and we pass a barber that is open so I decide to pop in and get a trim as I’m looking a bit shaggy. The barber is Turkish but fortunately I speak fluent Turkish Barber so manage to get a decent haircut, shave and eyebrow trim but I think something got lost in translation as I got my ears waxed which means I’ll probably be cross eyed for the next week.

It’s about 3:00 but we decide that we could do with something to eat, Now coffee shops shut at 3:00 and restaurants open at 5:00 and we are in the dead zone. However there is always an Irish Pub if you look hard enough. Once again Chris picks the big meal.

Back to the hotel sort out the suitcases for tomorrow, write the blog and day 49 is done.