2018 New Zealand Family Trip

What is it that makes islands so special? Perhaps they let us feel as though we can truly step outside our routines to try something new; spaces for experimentation and risk taking. Islands are encapsulated and delineated. They are testing grounds, prisons, sanctuaries, playgrounds. They are proof of travel. Arriving at Inlet View at Dusk Stewart Island , an island below the South Island of New Zealand, has tickled my imagination since I first heard of a merino wool clothing company being located there. I always felt that visiting it would be an adventure. In my imagination, the adversity was the biting cold Antarctic winds and rugged accommodation. In reality, the challenges were my aching calves and sea sickness. The walk to Golden Bay with so many stairs! Breakfasts at Inlet View We stayed at Inlet View , on the recommendation of a friend, and relished the chance to play house on an island. The views of Paterson's Inlet were stunning, however the height required ...

Rain-forests thrust life and death under our noses, with sounds, sights, smells mingling moistly in a glorious cacophony of colours. Death and decay are embraced, not mourned. Leaves rot, naked logs sink into the forest floor, bare branches lurch from dizzy heights to the ground. To stand tall in the rain forest, shed your juvenile leaves and branches. Seek the sun. Don't mourn your cast offs; they are already being subsumed by and nourishing those who need them. Love your neighbours and relish the dance together, weaving a forest fabric. Know that there are strengths in community and diversity.  Relish each joyful moment and seize every opportunity, for tomorrow there may be a rat. Just one rat can change everything. Is our future built on a cycle of death and decay, or will a disruptive predator change everything?

Hello, here is another bird info post. Today, I am writing about the New Zealand Weka. This bird is a flightless and large bird. They don`t seem to mind human activity and love pecking around your backpack looking for food. They are however very annoying to farmers who hate seeing their precious food being trampled and stolen in front of their very own eyes. However, I think they are very cute. They are a member of the Rail family of birds. The ones from Stewart Island are usually very strong chestnut brown but they still act the same funny, peckish way. They are usually around the south side of New Zealand, and are rare in the north island. They eat whatever they can get their hands on (or feet on, for that matter) and don`t mind it, though their natural diet is made up of fruit, invertebrates and some small animals. But they have been known to kill and eat stoats and west land petrels. We saw this one at Ulva Island bird sanctuary where they swam at the beach with us (and also ...

Hello! Today I am talking about my trip to the reserve to look for Kiwis. Even though we didn't find any we did hear them in the woods running around. Just in case you are confused that it was most likely they were flying around  they actually can't fly. They may have wings but they are under it's feathers. So it started off by us going to an observation rock. Mum and I left early to go to the reserve to look for some places where we might find some Kiwis. After we did that we waited until dark because they are nocturnal and then we looked for some Kiwis. The first things we saw were some deer walking around. We walked over to a swing mum and I saw when we walked around earlier. I really liked swinging on it because it swung over a really spiky plant. After that we started looking in the bushes. We found a few deer but no Kiwis but we could still hear them running around.

Book Sale! :)  Hello! So, this one will be quite quick, but it was still a fun day.  Basically, because we have to do one cool activity per day (just kind of how it works...) we went down to the library cause there was a book sale we wanted to check out. It was $2 per book which seemed like a really good deal, but I very quickly noticed  the theme. Just about every book was about murder!  I kind of wish there had been a bit more variety there, but I still found one that looked pretty good.  We didn't do much that day since that was all we did... We had bacon and eggs for dinner, because bacon = life and it was also one of the easiest things for us to do.  I'll be back later with another post on Thursday when we went to Ulva Island , but later cause I'm slightly sick at the moment... :( From, Jess xoxo

Today we made it over to Ulva Island. It was a relatively short and sweet trip, but we still managed to cover most of the island trails. Lachie was a bit concerned about motion sickness on the ferry, but the inlet was smooth and the ferry was enchanting.  We took the first ferry over in the morning, and headed off down the paths at a reasonable pace to get some distance from the crowds (there were a good dozen of us on the ferry!). The big drawcard for us on Ulva island was the birdlife, and the photographers were snapping away within minutes of heading into the bush.  We saw our first Wekas at Boulder Beach. They were fearless and keen to explore our bags once we put them down. Within minutes, Jess and Lachie had taken off shoes and socks ready for paddling. Mike, Jess and Lachie ended up in swimsuits. Jess and Mike took the plunge into the freezing water, which was apparently quite refreshing. The children were adamant that they wanted to catch the e...

I am doing a book review of a Book called Last Will by Liza Marklund. It`s a third person story about a dark woman who murders many people for money, called the Kitten, and a crime reporter named Annika. It starts off with Annika at the Nobel prizewinners dinner when a mysterious women rudely pushes through the crowd and stamps on Annika`s foot. She is the Kitten (though only the readers know that) and she has a pistol with a silencer in her handbag. She walks up and shoots someone in the leg....And another person in the heart. After the event everyone is reviewed and questioned by the police but when they get to Annika they suspect that she`s seen the suspect. She is, however, not able to write any articles. I`m guessing it`s going to be a mystery where they try and find out who it is and more murders happen over time. I rate this book a 4.5 out of 5 as I like the book a lot though at times it is hard to know when they switch around from the kitten to Annika but the rest seems ex...

Hello! Today I am talking about my trip to Ulva Island. It started one day before we went to Ulva Island it may sound weird but it does make sense in the end. So as I said it started in the morning when we were supposed to catch the nine O clock ferry but everyone slept in so we decided to take the twelve O clock ferry instead. At twelve O clock we opened the door but it was raining so we couldn't so we decided to do it the next day. On the ferry the next morning we heard someone who knew a lot about the birds that live there and he told us about a lot and a lot of things about them. He told us about a bird that I am very interested in called the Stewart Island Robin. Sadly it was one of the only ones he didn't know much about even though he encountered it in real life and I also think he went mad and took a lot of photo.

So... yesterday. We didn't do much at all, but I have lots of pictures from the afternoon.  So, yesterday we spent most of the morning working on our blogs and sitting around. Map of our hike!  It wasn't till the afternoon that we decided to go back down to the town to see what there was to do. We checked out the information centre and checked out some of the hiking trails. Eventually, we went back out to look through some of the shops and think about where to go. Mum and I were the last ones left in the clothes shop. I think it was made of Merino Wool or something like that because everything there was really soft, and really expensive! So, I left the really  nice pair of pants there and went back out to where we all kind of met up at the playground. Fish and chips place!  Then, Dad decided that we would go do one of the hikes and we headed off on our seemingly endless walk... We walked around the edge of the island before cutting up to another beach. Af...

White Faced Heron Kaka Tui New Zealand Pigeon Weka Takahe

This bird is special as they breed anytime of the year. The female lays one smooth white oval egg. If this egg is lost the female may lay another egg in the same nest. It takes 10 to 11 weeks for the young pigeon to leave the nest. The incubation period of the egg is 29 to 30 days and is carefully watched over by both of the parents. Usually these birds devote a quarter of their daylight hours to eating. As these are purely herbivorous this is very surprising because the plants they eat do not provide much energy. We saw this bird in a tree near to our house so dad and I decided to take a few photos. A feeding or roosting bird will usually fly from its perch circles around and either goes to its original position or it goes to a taller tree. They are usually silent but it is described as a soft oooo when feeding or resting. Both genders look the same. I also have to say that it is very big for a pigeon. Take our Australian crested pigeons times that by three and that is r...

 Hello! So, yesterday was Tuesday... I think... But I'll do Monday first. Monday Mum and I at the playground before breakfast On Monday, we got up and left the hotel place as soon as we were ready, and went out to find breakfast. Dad had found a small cafe that got really good reviews! When we got there, we discovered it didn't open till later... So we went off to the playground that was just a little way up the street. It wasn't a very good playground, but it was still fun. However, I have made one very important discovery: New Zealand has the worst  swings ever!  All the ones I've seen so far anyway... What happens to be my only picture with the sign in it!  After that, we went to The Brown Trout cafe for breakfast... While we were in there, we connected to their free wifi and I used it to message Issy and send her a few pictures. All five of us on the slide at lucnch!  After that, we did a bit more driving around trying to pass time to make su...