New Zealand—Paihia, February 1 & 2, 2025

 Auckland to Paihia—February 1, 2025

Saturday was a travel day and our first Intercity bus trip and it turned out better than I anticipated. The bus was comfortable, clean, and the driver was professional and set the tone before leaving Auckland by announcing that any misbehavior or untoward comments would not be tolerated unless you wanted to be left on the side of the road. Of course, she said it more professionally than that, but the message was clear.

Saturday morning on an Auckland balcony.

We strolled along the harbor to pass some time before 1PM bus.

She (and her dad) had the same idea. Just meandering.

This mural is painted on an apartment building opposite St. Patrick's Cathedral.

And we're off north to Paihia.

Intercity's coaches are fabulous.

Paihia—February 2, 2025

Home for the next three nights.

This was blooming on our balcony.

On Sunday we went to the iSite tourist information booth to ask about visiting the Waitangi Treaty Grounds only to find out that about 70,000 people would be attending the Waitangi Day Festival. Well, that settled that, so we satisfied our curiosity by exploring its website, reading about the treaty online, and looking at the grounds from the harbor. So, between the cruise ship arrival the day before and the celebration, we decided to take the ferry across the Bay of Islands to Russell, another cute and historic town.

The view of the Bay of Islands while walking from our motel into town.

Cruise ship anchored off Paihia. We were warned about being invaded by passengers Monday.

Where we had dinner Saturday night. Good food and good value.

The wharf to catch the ferry to Russell.

Artsy benches at the Paihia pocket park by the wharf.

Black billed-gulls the size of arctic terns waiting for french fries. Sorry guys, we didn't have any!

This one walked up to me—hoping.

This sticker was pasted on the trash bin in the pocket park.

And next to that was this water bottle refilling station.

And here's a close up of the sculpture.

 

 

 

We had hoped to take a long walk, and even attempted one, but by 11AM it was 82F, so we turned around and spent some time cooling down in the shade at the town's pocket park near the wharf while figuring out our next move. Basically, we decided to purchase a few items at the grocery store, return to our air conditioned studio, and wait out the midday heat.

We walk past this place on our way to town and it makes me giggle every time.

Waitangi Treaty Grounds from Paihia wharf.

Shops and restaurants next to Paihia's wharf.

Williams House, now Paihia's library.

Big tree on the Williams family grounds, now a park.

This tree is also on the Williams family grounds. Loved its look.

This is the tree we look at from our studio balcony.

New Zealand—January 31, 2025

 Auckland, January 31, 2025

Today we visited Tiritiri Matangi Scientific Reserve and took a guided tour of this plant and bird sanctuary. Pam was our guide and is one of hundreds of volunteers who have dedicated their lives to reclaiming this island from the Hobbs family who farmed and ranched the island, destroying its natural habitat over a hundred years. Read a brief history about Tiritiri Matangi here. 

And this link provides great information about visiting the island. And this is the link I used to plan and reserve our excursion. Take a moment and look at the links referenced in this paragraph.

Although we enjoyed our 80 minute boat ride to the island and a 3 mile guided walk, we discovered that birds are elusive creatures. Our excursion today reminded us of the Jimmy Stewart movie Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation when John McGiver takes Jimmy Stewart out birding. It's hilarious because Stewart agreed to go birding with McGiver, because it would improve his son in-law's chance at a great job. Well, McGiver drags Mr. Hobbs (Jimmy Stewart) throughout the bush on a hot day only to mostly see barn swallows. The running gag of this escapade is when Stewart says in a hushed tone, "Oh, and what's that little fella over there?" and McGiver responds, "Baarrnn swallow."

On our Tiritiri Tatangi excursion today, we relived Mr. Hobbs' experience. There were birds, but we mostly only heard their call and Pam, our volunteer guide, would stop, cock her head and say, "Did you hear that?" She would then follow it up with identifying the bird. This went on for 3 hours. We did actually see a few Kererū's, a north island indigenous pigeon that has been transplanted to this island to save it from extinction. We also saw one Forrest Parrot. What we did see plenty of were Bellbirds. In fact, it became our "baarrnn swallow". 

So this page is going to show lots of indigenous plants that were meticulously replanted by volunteers from 1983-93 and have since grown thick and lush.

This photo shows the island when most of the indigenous plants were wiped out by cattle and sheep ranching and farming. But once the island was handed over to the Department of Conservation and became a dedicated reserve for endangered plants and birds, it has become an amazing reclamation project.

Okay, here are some of the pictures taken during our guided walk along the Wattle Trail.

Check out the smooth water and blue sky.

Look how lush the island is today after being handed over to the Dept. of Conservation in 1984.

These are some of the birds we expected to see.

 

 

 

 

One of three rangers giving us the leave no trace talk.

Our ferry crew anchored off the pier and waited for us.

This insect weighs more than a house sparrow. Enlarge the description.

The Puriri is shown above.

Bird house scientists use to study nesting pairs.

Shown below. These ferns are ubiquitous on both islands.

Oh, and they grow to be giants.

Right it's a Bellbird.

Hard to believe this jungle was a grazing pasture.

Another Bellbird

Pam, our guide talks about all the birds we didn't see.

The island is back to its lush origin.

Enlarge and read. Nest shown below.

Built in 1865 the lighthouse was fully automated in 1984.

The rangers are scrupulous about this and make sure invasive plant life isn't accidentally carried to the island on the soles of visitors' shoes. Before boarding the boat for the island everybody has to disinfect and scrub the soles of their shoes at a cleaning station.