Woke to a gorgeous clear sky for my day trip to Kapiti Island. DOC permit in hand I headed across the street to meet the boat. There’s no wharf or pier in Paraparaumu Beach so it was an interesting beach launch - first time I’ve done this.
The boat (which holds about 30) is towed down to waterline by a tractor which backs it into water and away we go. Most of our boat was taken up by a school group of 8-yr olds. What a great age. As I told them, wish I’d had such a cool field trip when I was in school. Also aboard was a muzzled Golden Lab and his handler, who we were told later is one of NZ’s top kiwi scientists. He was going over for the day to track and tag the kiwi population on Kapiti.
A short 15 min. later we washed up on the island and had another DOC intro. This one was longer but more interesting than the one we had on Somes Island. Bird identification 101 and a review of island rules - no smoking, stay on trails, pack out garbage, etc. I was rarin’ to go and see me some birdies!
I opted to go up the mountain and the lookout tower there. Elevation change was only 500 m. and the trail had a lot of switchbacks. There was an alternate trail which went “straight up”: the Grouse Grind of Kapiti. No thanks. As it was, my trail felt like enough of a grind.
In many ways it felt like a walk in the rainforest back home: dense forest, many ferns, high canopy. Here however, the trees included more tropical varieties and, most importantly, it sounded different. If I had time/money I’d go back and do some high-quality audio field recordings. I can’t begin to describe the diversity and beauty of the birdsongs. It must be just incredible at 5 am when they awake.
The complete lack of predators on the island is also interesting. Kapiti has been a reserve for over a century. Gradually all ‘pests’ - from farm animals to possums and even rats, have all been eradicated. Any rustling in the underbrush is likely to be a bird. No nasty surprises - not even a snake!
Since we had a full 5 hrs on the island I was in no rush to get to the summit, especially with 40 8-yr olds racing me up. It was great to just stand and listen, and occasionally look up and try to find birds in the high canopy.
The summit did not disappoint and did indeed look like the gorgeous photo on pg. 13 of the Rough Guide to New Zealand. Even though it was sunny and not windy, we noticed a bit of a chill in the air.
The school kids were fun. I asked some “young ladies” who would like to take my picture and they were falling over each other to help. Ah, to be 8 again. Once they and my other boat mates headed down the hill I spread out my lunch, cracked open the wine and had a leisurely picnic. The DOC woman had warned us about the resident wekas (flightless brown birds, kiwi-like with shorter beaks) who were very nosy and prone to throwing unattended lunches and packs over the cliff. I had them and the summit to myself and it went fine. So many great photos.
Alas, about halfway down I took a photo that I decided to delete. As I was doing so, a “Delete All” message flashed that I had never seen before. (I swear!) Of course, I couldn’t stop or undo - it was like those slo-mo sequences where the hero is screaming “noooooo…”.
I nearly cried. All those bird photos, summit photos, Val portraits by 8-yr olds..all gone.
Then I realized how lucky I was to even be here. If this was the worst thing to happen all day, so be it. At least I’ve been downloading photos daily, so I only lost a half-day’s work.
The rest of the way down I started seeing more birds I hadn’t seen on way up. The one I’ve posted above flew close and paused nearby, as if to say: “don’t cry - you can snap me!” Sometimes the universe gives back..
When I was walking back to the beach with the DOC woman, I told her my tale of woe. Lo and behold she had a ‘secret stash’ of trees where certain breeds hung out. So all was not lost.
The sun was already low (winter is on way) when we loaded back on the boat to return to the mainland. After one last long walk on Paraparaumu Beach, I picked up a paua fritter at the chip shop and headed back via train to Wellington. Goodbye, Kapiti Coast..
The boat (which holds about 30) is towed down to waterline by a tractor which backs it into water and away we go. Most of our boat was taken up by a school group of 8-yr olds. What a great age. As I told them, wish I’d had such a cool field trip when I was in school. Also aboard was a muzzled Golden Lab and his handler, who we were told later is one of NZ’s top kiwi scientists. He was going over for the day to track and tag the kiwi population on Kapiti.
A short 15 min. later we washed up on the island and had another DOC intro. This one was longer but more interesting than the one we had on Somes Island. Bird identification 101 and a review of island rules - no smoking, stay on trails, pack out garbage, etc. I was rarin’ to go and see me some birdies!
I opted to go up the mountain and the lookout tower there. Elevation change was only 500 m. and the trail had a lot of switchbacks. There was an alternate trail which went “straight up”: the Grouse Grind of Kapiti. No thanks. As it was, my trail felt like enough of a grind.
In many ways it felt like a walk in the rainforest back home: dense forest, many ferns, high canopy. Here however, the trees included more tropical varieties and, most importantly, it sounded different. If I had time/money I’d go back and do some high-quality audio field recordings. I can’t begin to describe the diversity and beauty of the birdsongs. It must be just incredible at 5 am when they awake.
The complete lack of predators on the island is also interesting. Kapiti has been a reserve for over a century. Gradually all ‘pests’ - from farm animals to possums and even rats, have all been eradicated. Any rustling in the underbrush is likely to be a bird. No nasty surprises - not even a snake!
Since we had a full 5 hrs on the island I was in no rush to get to the summit, especially with 40 8-yr olds racing me up. It was great to just stand and listen, and occasionally look up and try to find birds in the high canopy.
The summit did not disappoint and did indeed look like the gorgeous photo on pg. 13 of the Rough Guide to New Zealand. Even though it was sunny and not windy, we noticed a bit of a chill in the air.
The school kids were fun. I asked some “young ladies” who would like to take my picture and they were falling over each other to help. Ah, to be 8 again. Once they and my other boat mates headed down the hill I spread out my lunch, cracked open the wine and had a leisurely picnic. The DOC woman had warned us about the resident wekas (flightless brown birds, kiwi-like with shorter beaks) who were very nosy and prone to throwing unattended lunches and packs over the cliff. I had them and the summit to myself and it went fine. So many great photos.
Alas, about halfway down I took a photo that I decided to delete. As I was doing so, a “Delete All” message flashed that I had never seen before. (I swear!) Of course, I couldn’t stop or undo - it was like those slo-mo sequences where the hero is screaming “noooooo…”.
I nearly cried. All those bird photos, summit photos, Val portraits by 8-yr olds..all gone.
Then I realized how lucky I was to even be here. If this was the worst thing to happen all day, so be it. At least I’ve been downloading photos daily, so I only lost a half-day’s work.
The rest of the way down I started seeing more birds I hadn’t seen on way up. The one I’ve posted above flew close and paused nearby, as if to say: “don’t cry - you can snap me!” Sometimes the universe gives back..
When I was walking back to the beach with the DOC woman, I told her my tale of woe. Lo and behold she had a ‘secret stash’ of trees where certain breeds hung out. So all was not lost.
The sun was already low (winter is on way) when we loaded back on the boat to return to the mainland. After one last long walk on Paraparaumu Beach, I picked up a paua fritter at the chip shop and headed back via train to Wellington. Goodbye, Kapiti Coast..
