New Zealand 2008 page 2

Hein and Wil website

Our trip to the South Island of New Zealand page 2
March 23 - April 28, 2008

Clicking on any of the photos will open a new window with an enlargement.

Last updated October 28, 2008

Oamaru: a city with tens of thousands of shags (left) and also a few sheep, but better known for its colonies of Blue Penguins (Korora, below left) and Yellow-Eyed penguins (Hoiho, below).

It has also this wicked cliff side path giving access to a geological feature known as a "pillow lava" and a beautiful beach with lots of paua shells for Wil and birds for Hein.

Oystercatchers in flight (above)

Reef Heron in flight (below)

Above is Bushy Beach near Oamaru where the Yellow-Eyed Penguins are nesting and where they come ashore later in the afternoon in one's and two's. We even saw a trio walking across the beach to the bushes on the cliff. While waiting for the penguins the New Zealand Fur Seals are very entertaining as well.

It started to rain in Oamaru so we hopped over to the westcoast near Greymouth (on the mouth of the river Grey) where there are some fantastic sandy beaches as well (above). As on the previous visit the sturdy weka seems to be here a pretty common bird capable of defending itself against all kinds of predators brought in from Europe and elsewhere.

On our travels we came also across this commemorative plaque honouring Abel Tasman (click on it to see bigger picture) who plied the waters here in on Dec.18 and 19, 1642 and essentially discovered New Zealand for the Europeans. Many geographical names in New Zealand still carry the name Tasman :i.e.: Tasman Sea, Tasman Glacier, Mt. Tasman, Abel Tasman Nat. Park

Back on the east coast I went for a short hike in a tidal flat type environment and came across this little fellow: a Black Stilt in the wild!(above)
In correspondence with the Black Stilt Conservatory in Twizel (Department of Conservation) we established where this bird was born and released in the wild. It had not been seen for many years, and they were very appreciative hearing (and seeing) about their lost bird.

Kaikoura: an amazing place just about 100 km north of Christchurch on the east coast. Situated on a peninsula with a backdrop of the Seaward Kaikoura Range (with a hint of fresh snow on it).
Offshore there is the head of a submarine canyon where nutritious upwelling water feeds a wealth of marine life: seals, dolphins (many different species), whales (many different species) and a host of birds feasting on the abundance of fish.

We stayed here for more than a week doing beach walks, Hein went swimming with dolphins, on albatross boat trips, and.........