24/10
Today we were up early again (still with the messed-up body clock) and off with Ian for another day of seeing beautiful, gorgeous, amazing New Zealand!
Our first stop was to see views from the 'South Head'. It was VERY windy!
Then we went to see 'Tane Mahuta'--the Lord of the Forest. It is New Zealand's largest surviving Kauri tree. Kauris were logged relentlessly and nearly to extinction.
Tane Mahuta is so huge as to be nearly incomprehensible. My jaw literally fell open when we came upon it. I could not believe how big it was!
Its trunk height is 58 feet; its total height is 169 feet. It's girth is 45 feet. BIG tree!
(The fellow in the photos that you kids don't know is Ian Shirley, our tour guide and owner of New Zealand Personal Tours.)
After that we went to the Kauri museum. No one took any photos inside! The furniture made from the Kauri wood was just beautiful. It has a kind of reddish look. Very ornate carvings since that was the style.
Our last stop was at the Muriwai Gannet Colony. There are three gannet nesting colonies on New Zealand's mainland, one at Farewell Spit at the very Northern tip of the South Island, one at Cape Kidnappers near Napier, and this one, at Muriwai beach North West of New Zealand's largest city, Auckland.
Muriwai is one of Auckland's so-called "West Coast" beaches, with good fishing, strong winds and rough waves. These conditions attract not only the gannets, but also surfers. This colony was only established around 1900, with the gannets displacing the white terns which had previously nested here. As you might expect of a maritime bird, they're very good at gliding, with wingspans up to 180cm (around six feet).
Gannets feed by diving from high up into a school of fish near the surface of the water. Just before they hit the water, they hold their wings out straight and bend them so they're pointing completely backwards, so they don't get damaged when hitting the water at high speed. They also take a gulp of air, which fills air sacs in their neck, providing cushioning just like an airbag in a car. Even so, many of them go blind from hitting the water so hard.
Gannets mate for life which is more than you can say about a lot of humans!
We also saw a seal down near the surfers.
Then it was off to the ship and embarkation!
1 comment:
At first I couldn't tell what was on top of that plateau, looked too symetrical... animals did that really? Wow. That had to have been cool to see in person. As well as that ginormous tree. At first I didn't recognize those tiny little specks at the bottom as being people! You!! No wonder they were logged to almost extinction. One tree would build a whole village. tfs
Post a Comment