Cars, penguins and albatrosses
Door: Wilem & Michelle
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Willem & Michelle
25 Januari 2014 | Nieuw Zeeland, Dunedin
(In the meantime we are home safe and sound but we will continue to bore you for a few days with the last reports as we really want to finish them because we don’t want to forget what we did….Please let us know if you want to be removed from te mailinglist)
When Michelle goes to the bathroom building in the morning she notices a beautiful beige vintage car on the campground. An elderly man, looking as a real gentleman in vintage clothes, is accurately cleaning every cm of the windscreen. He makes Michelle think of her father who loved taking care of his car and almost cleaned it with a toothbrush and she decides to have a chat.
By the sound of his accent (he could very well have lunch with the British queen) it must be an English man. He is absolutely passionate about his car and tells that there are more of these on the campground and that they will all gather in the center of the town to participate with the 60th Dunedin-Brighton vintage car rally.
Indeed there appears to be an other car right behind our campervan which we hadn’t seen yet and we decide to hurry up a little bit and get to the Octagon, the 8-sided plaza which is the centre of the city, in time to see this event.
When we arrive there the event is slowly starting to get organized but no cars yet and we decide to install ourselves at the best spot for the moment, a terrace on the corner of the street where the cars will pass and for once we take a real English breakfast, yummy!
About an hour later the square is crowded with the most beautiful sputtering vintage cars and motor cycles driven by (partly in vintage clothes dressed) proud owners. A beautiful show flooded with sunshine!
The cars are presented one by one to the public and then are “flagged off” by the mayor.
The square is empty again and we more or less rush back to the camp ground where we will be collected to go to the far end of Dunedin’s Otago Peninsula to see the earlier mentioned albatrosses and penguins. We will get back by boat through Dunedin’s 20 km long harbor (yeah, Michelle really likes to get sea sick ;-)) which has a long and rich history (it all started with a small Maori camp in the 1300’s) and a lot of wildlife.
When we drive on Highcliff Road, which runs along the spine of the peninsula, we understand why people are offering the ride on the peninsula as part of the excursion.
One: the road is VERY narrow and we are very happy not to have to drive there with our big car and
Two: the view either side of the spine towards the Pacific Ocean or Dunedin and harbor are spectacular.
We first go to the Penguin center. This is a place where the most endangered species of penguins, the Yellow Eyed one can live in their habitat without being troubled by stoats, rats and all other mammals which are caught by dozens of traps. And they are provided with a “roof”.
Yellow Eyed penguins do not want to be in sight of other penguins so they normally live and nest in privacy in the forest where they have a roof of branches and plenty of stems between each other.
The problem is that along the coast all the trees have been taken away by the settlers, one of the reasons why there are so few penguins left. At the penguin centre hundreds of native trees are planted but unfortunately these trees grow very slowly so, in the meantime at various places small triangle wooden constructions are built which are chosen by the penguins as their “private homes”.
This conservation project has been the example for lots of farmers in the region how to save the native wildlife and how to build a sanctuary without any external funds. It’s entirely funded by guided tours of the reserve. “This funding provides habitat restoration, predator control, a research programme and on-site rehabilitation care for penguins that are sick, starving or wounded.”
It all started with a grandfather who wanted to give his grandson the possibility to watch the penguins in their own habitat without scaring them. Apparently these penguins fear anything bigger than 20cm. So, he built trenches about a meter in the ground with tunnels of wire mesh covered with green plants on top and at various places, where penguins often nest, horizontal planks with a crack of 15 to 20 cm. This way, what the penguin sees is “something” not bigger than 20cm and that’s OK. Very ingenious!
He all paid this by himself but the project got bigger and bigger and then he started to have a few tourists. Nowadays it’s the biggest privately funded conservation project in New Zealand.
After a short talk about this species and the project we first have a look in the hospital.
The centre had an enormous draw back this year as around 90 percent of the chicks didn’t survive in nature; for no apparent reason the parents left them. Normally one of the parents stays on the nest while the other one is getting food in see but this time both parents didn’t come back. As these animals are completely wild and impossible to domesticate, just feeding the chicks will not work, they simply won’t eat. The only way to keep them alive is to force them to eat in captivity (the scars on the arms of the guide/caretaker demonstrated how difficult that can be) and then, when they are healthy and old enough to live by themselves they are put back in nature which is very easy because they remain completely wild in captivity.
At this moment there are four sick adults and a dozen of a few weeks old chicks. Yellow eyed penguins grow very rapidly and the chicks look enormous!
As there is only one chick alive left in nature we are very happy to see the ones in the hospital. (There is no guarantee that we will see the one chick in nature, because it’s really a natural environment). They are beautiful, big grey “soft toys”. Unbelievable to hear that they are so wild. This penguin is the third largest in the world which is quite big, in average 70 cm.
In an old rattling minibus we are brought to the farmland behind the coast where the penguins live and breed. From a hill we see the many young planted trees in a fairly flat landscape with here end there these “plank constructions”, the hide aways. We will be down there in a few minutes.
On the way to the trenches, as always here in New Zealand, the guide/caretaker tells about wildlife and fauna. The sun has vanished and it’s cold and stormy. We see lots of red-billed gulls with beautiful deep red beaks and legs and polka dot black and white wingtips, all with the nose towards the wind, fur seals and Little Blue penguins in their mini-houses built by the sanctuary. And also an adult penguin on the beach on his way to the sanctuary! (we didn't expect to see that because we were told the adults would return much later)
After having walked for 15 minutes in a labyrinth of trenches we get to the viewing hide where the chick might be nearby; near or in his nest. And yes, it’s there! Unfortunately so close to the gap that you almost could touch it but it’s difficult to see him. Nevertheless we are thrilled. As told above the adult ones are at sea.
An other rattling bus brings us down to the harbor where the boat is waiting. The next stop will be Taiaroa Head at the far end of the peninsula. It’s “freezing” and the wind is getting harder and harder and Michelle hopes that the sea will not be to rough! The good thing about so much wind, though, is the fact that albatrosses not always leave there nesting places but if there is wind they do and we will certainly see flying albatrosses!
On board we all get wonderful warm long jackets and excellent binoculars and sail towards Taiaroa Head. On the way we see lots of jags and fur seals and indeed, when we arrive at Taiaroa Head, we enjoy the majestic glide of the albatrosses, one after the other.
The King Albatross is the largest flying bird. What makes their flight so special is that they are more gliders than fliers; you hardly see them flap their wings, in fact only when they take off and after that they use the upward wind from the waves. A wonderful sight!
This time Michelle doesn’t get seasick and she enjoys, like the others, the trip back to town via the long harbor where, next to having the company of an other little blue penguin we saw a few spoonbills.
The minibus waits for us at arrival at the harbor and we can be dropped off where ever we like. Apparently we should go to George Street for the restaurants in Dunedin, an advice we take and we indeed we end this wonderful day in a nice cosy restaurant.
When Michelle goes to the bathroom building in the morning she notices a beautiful beige vintage car on the campground. An elderly man, looking as a real gentleman in vintage clothes, is accurately cleaning every cm of the windscreen. He makes Michelle think of her father who loved taking care of his car and almost cleaned it with a toothbrush and she decides to have a chat.
By the sound of his accent (he could very well have lunch with the British queen) it must be an English man. He is absolutely passionate about his car and tells that there are more of these on the campground and that they will all gather in the center of the town to participate with the 60th Dunedin-Brighton vintage car rally.
Indeed there appears to be an other car right behind our campervan which we hadn’t seen yet and we decide to hurry up a little bit and get to the Octagon, the 8-sided plaza which is the centre of the city, in time to see this event.
When we arrive there the event is slowly starting to get organized but no cars yet and we decide to install ourselves at the best spot for the moment, a terrace on the corner of the street where the cars will pass and for once we take a real English breakfast, yummy!
About an hour later the square is crowded with the most beautiful sputtering vintage cars and motor cycles driven by (partly in vintage clothes dressed) proud owners. A beautiful show flooded with sunshine!
The cars are presented one by one to the public and then are “flagged off” by the mayor.
The square is empty again and we more or less rush back to the camp ground where we will be collected to go to the far end of Dunedin’s Otago Peninsula to see the earlier mentioned albatrosses and penguins. We will get back by boat through Dunedin’s 20 km long harbor (yeah, Michelle really likes to get sea sick ;-)) which has a long and rich history (it all started with a small Maori camp in the 1300’s) and a lot of wildlife.
When we drive on Highcliff Road, which runs along the spine of the peninsula, we understand why people are offering the ride on the peninsula as part of the excursion.
One: the road is VERY narrow and we are very happy not to have to drive there with our big car and
Two: the view either side of the spine towards the Pacific Ocean or Dunedin and harbor are spectacular.
We first go to the Penguin center. This is a place where the most endangered species of penguins, the Yellow Eyed one can live in their habitat without being troubled by stoats, rats and all other mammals which are caught by dozens of traps. And they are provided with a “roof”.
Yellow Eyed penguins do not want to be in sight of other penguins so they normally live and nest in privacy in the forest where they have a roof of branches and plenty of stems between each other.
The problem is that along the coast all the trees have been taken away by the settlers, one of the reasons why there are so few penguins left. At the penguin centre hundreds of native trees are planted but unfortunately these trees grow very slowly so, in the meantime at various places small triangle wooden constructions are built which are chosen by the penguins as their “private homes”.
This conservation project has been the example for lots of farmers in the region how to save the native wildlife and how to build a sanctuary without any external funds. It’s entirely funded by guided tours of the reserve. “This funding provides habitat restoration, predator control, a research programme and on-site rehabilitation care for penguins that are sick, starving or wounded.”
It all started with a grandfather who wanted to give his grandson the possibility to watch the penguins in their own habitat without scaring them. Apparently these penguins fear anything bigger than 20cm. So, he built trenches about a meter in the ground with tunnels of wire mesh covered with green plants on top and at various places, where penguins often nest, horizontal planks with a crack of 15 to 20 cm. This way, what the penguin sees is “something” not bigger than 20cm and that’s OK. Very ingenious!
He all paid this by himself but the project got bigger and bigger and then he started to have a few tourists. Nowadays it’s the biggest privately funded conservation project in New Zealand.
After a short talk about this species and the project we first have a look in the hospital.
The centre had an enormous draw back this year as around 90 percent of the chicks didn’t survive in nature; for no apparent reason the parents left them. Normally one of the parents stays on the nest while the other one is getting food in see but this time both parents didn’t come back. As these animals are completely wild and impossible to domesticate, just feeding the chicks will not work, they simply won’t eat. The only way to keep them alive is to force them to eat in captivity (the scars on the arms of the guide/caretaker demonstrated how difficult that can be) and then, when they are healthy and old enough to live by themselves they are put back in nature which is very easy because they remain completely wild in captivity.
At this moment there are four sick adults and a dozen of a few weeks old chicks. Yellow eyed penguins grow very rapidly and the chicks look enormous!
As there is only one chick alive left in nature we are very happy to see the ones in the hospital. (There is no guarantee that we will see the one chick in nature, because it’s really a natural environment). They are beautiful, big grey “soft toys”. Unbelievable to hear that they are so wild. This penguin is the third largest in the world which is quite big, in average 70 cm.
In an old rattling minibus we are brought to the farmland behind the coast where the penguins live and breed. From a hill we see the many young planted trees in a fairly flat landscape with here end there these “plank constructions”, the hide aways. We will be down there in a few minutes.
On the way to the trenches, as always here in New Zealand, the guide/caretaker tells about wildlife and fauna. The sun has vanished and it’s cold and stormy. We see lots of red-billed gulls with beautiful deep red beaks and legs and polka dot black and white wingtips, all with the nose towards the wind, fur seals and Little Blue penguins in their mini-houses built by the sanctuary. And also an adult penguin on the beach on his way to the sanctuary! (we didn't expect to see that because we were told the adults would return much later)
After having walked for 15 minutes in a labyrinth of trenches we get to the viewing hide where the chick might be nearby; near or in his nest. And yes, it’s there! Unfortunately so close to the gap that you almost could touch it but it’s difficult to see him. Nevertheless we are thrilled. As told above the adult ones are at sea.
An other rattling bus brings us down to the harbor where the boat is waiting. The next stop will be Taiaroa Head at the far end of the peninsula. It’s “freezing” and the wind is getting harder and harder and Michelle hopes that the sea will not be to rough! The good thing about so much wind, though, is the fact that albatrosses not always leave there nesting places but if there is wind they do and we will certainly see flying albatrosses!
On board we all get wonderful warm long jackets and excellent binoculars and sail towards Taiaroa Head. On the way we see lots of jags and fur seals and indeed, when we arrive at Taiaroa Head, we enjoy the majestic glide of the albatrosses, one after the other.
The King Albatross is the largest flying bird. What makes their flight so special is that they are more gliders than fliers; you hardly see them flap their wings, in fact only when they take off and after that they use the upward wind from the waves. A wonderful sight!
This time Michelle doesn’t get seasick and she enjoys, like the others, the trip back to town via the long harbor where, next to having the company of an other little blue penguin we saw a few spoonbills.
The minibus waits for us at arrival at the harbor and we can be dropped off where ever we like. Apparently we should go to George Street for the restaurants in Dunedin, an advice we take and we indeed we end this wonderful day in a nice cosy restaurant.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
