The acid test

So up to an awesome sunny morning and beautiful light on the flanks of White Island as we anchored at this remarkable active volcano.  Breakfast was had as we waited for the local guides to arrive, and I took the time to put the finishing touches to my lecture to be given later in the afternoon.

We then boarded the Xplorer and headed into the shore, and then disembarked and met with the local guides.  I have to say I did think to myself ‘What could possibly go wrong?!’ as we set foot on the shoreline and then started to head through to the caldera.  This extremely active volcano has been the infamous site of a number of explosions over the past, that have resulted in the loss of life...not recently I might add, but when it was mined for sulphur a number of ‘incidents’ occurred.  With these in mind we donned our hard hats and armed ourselves with gas-masks and followed the guide.  I’ve visited a number of volcanic places before – Rotorua, Taupo, Iceland...but I have to say this place takes the cake.  The steam was intense and swirling at times, then opened to provide beautiful views across the moon like landscape.  In between bouts of wheezing and coughing, when you realised you should have donned the mask, I managed to take around 1500 photos over the course of a couple of hours.  I was quite shocked at how harsh the air actually was when breathing sometimes, and you really did need the mask when it was at its worst.  The local guides were excellent though and as well as providing excellent information on the safety aspects, also knew their stuff with regards to the volcano and its history.

We wandered up past several insanely active fumeroles and up to the crater lake which cleared every now and then to reveal the rich green waters.  Then across to a great overview spot, and back through to the almost completely destroyed sulphur factory near the shoreline.  All this over about 2 hours, and as I say, managed a pretty significant number of photos.

We then got back on the ship, and as we had lunch started to head along the northern coast of the island to do a circumnavigation of the island.  We cruised around Volkner Rocks, seeing a couple of distant grey ternlets, before then heading along the southern coast and towards East Cape.  The birds started to come as we did so, with good numbers of Buller’s and flesh-footed shearwaters and Australasian gannets, the odd black petrel, and then as the afternoon proceeded a couple of Pycroft’s petrels, quite a few Cook’s petrels, the odd grey-faced petrel, and a good number of white-faced storm-petrel.  A few fluttering and the occasional little shearwater, but no black-winged petrels.

I gave my lecture during the afternoon – on the origins and evolution of New Zealand’s wildlife and the extinctions and endemism we have here, and then spent the rest of the afternoon in beautiful conditions on the bow birding.  Pretty much the same species, but a gorgeous afternoon with hot conditions around 10 knots of wind (following so very warm) and almost no swell.  We did see two albatross at a distance, but landed on the sea, and not sure what they were.

Late afternoon we started to round East Cape, and then as we dined on potato and bacon soup and pork belly short-beak common dolphins came and rode alongside the ship, leaping from the waves for about 10+ minutes, again less than 20m away from my table!  Absolutely ridiculous!

As we anchored

You know it is going to be a tough day when this is the view from the breakfast table!

Intrepid explorers begin

Bleached wood

It all seems so big when you have scale

The fumeroles

Fumeroles and sulphur

The crater lake

1,2,3...1,2,3...

More vents

The remains of the factory

The mercury was rising

So up, out of the Hotel (after eating far too much for breakfast – why do I do it to myself!), and boarded the buses to the ship, which was alongside at Princes Wharf, just along from the bottom of Queen Street.  At first glance the ship seemed very small, but once onboard it became apparent that whilst small (63m in length) the MV Oceanic Discoverer is actually extremely well laid out and spacious on the inside.  Lovely bar/lounge/presentation room upstairs aft, and spacious dining area aft below.  Nice big windows on both public areas as well, and the cabins seem more than adequate.  The bow is open as well, providing excellent views during calm weather.

So we departed the dock at 1000 hrs and headed out to the west of Rangitoto Island, towards Great Barrier.  As we steamed in overcast but calm conditions we quickly started seeing a few birds, with Buller’s shearwater being the first of the tube-nosed seabirds.  Fluttering and flesh-footed shearwaters came quickly after, with Australasian gannets diving and white-faced storm-petrels not too long afterwards.  The eyes were out for NZ stormie of course, but no luck there.

As we got out a bit further the first Cook’s petrels came past, and then we encountered small numbers on the water as well.  Little Barrier could just be seen through the haze off to the west.  Just before lunch at 1300 we had a small group of about 20+ short-beaked common dolphins come right in to the bow and then disappear off in the wake.

After lunch small groups of kahawai started to be seen breaking the surface of the water, obviously feeding right on the surface.  Associated with many of these groups were fluttering and Buller’s shearwaters and often small groups of white-faced storm-petrels.  The sun gradually cut through the cloud and by mid-afternoon it was a beautiful day with flat calm conditions and only a light breeze.  We did manage a single little shearwater before getting into Great Mercury and our anchorage at Coralie Bay on the eastern side of the island.  We launched the Xplorer, the shallow draft tender they use on this ship and everybody was aboard for a cruise along the coast of the island.  We saw a few pied cormorants, gannets, and red-billed gulls before turning to head into Coralie Bay for a landing.

On the way in I managed to make what will hopefully be my biggest blunder of the cruises...if it gets any bigger it will be embarrassing!  There was a bird that looked (at a distance I might add!) like a brown booby, and before brain stopped mouth, I was getting excited and had identified it for everybody....all over the wireless microphone they have onboard!  In light of the two records for northern New Zealand within the last week or so this was not as stupid as it sounds...except that as we got closer it turned out to be a young pied cormorant with a very strange dark neck and upper breast!  Way to go you plonker...oh well!

Anyway we landed onshore, seeing paradise shelduck, variable oystercatcher, and several flying New Zealand dotterel, amongst other bits and pieces.  A short walk along the beach and then back on the Xplorer, before heading back to the ship, where I blurted out again (before brain could stop mouth!) – DOLPHINS.  It then appeared as if I had been tricked by a cruel wave before a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins luckily appeared again moments later and then came right in and played beside the boat.  They played between us and the ship for 5 minutes or more before heading off.  An excellent first day onboard, and there is still the Captain’s Welcome Cocktail party to go!

So as it happens the cocktail party was excellent, being accompanied by jumping dolphins right beside the ship.  Even sitting at dinner we had dolphins leaping clear of the water, doing flips, and quite blatantly performing what had to be promiscuous acts right there in front of us (knew those big windows in the dining room would come in handy!), literally less than 20m away!  What a day!

Great Mercury

The booby...or was I the booby?!

Right beside the ship!

During the cocktail party

A thrill for them or us?

Against the sun!

Playing 

From the dinner table!

Up, up, and away!

So sitting here in a Hotel in Auckland I remember why I don’t choose to live here (not that I ever seriously considered it).  Having left Hawkes Bay this morning on the 7am flight from Napier (agh...up at 5am), where it was beautiful and sunny and warm, we arrived into a muggy overcast Auckland.  The traffic from the Airport to the Hotel was another raw reminder...  So tomorrow morning it is onto the MV Oceanic Discoverer with Lindblad Expeditions for two cruises.  The first is Auckland to Milford Sound, stopping in at White Island, Gisborne, Napier, Wellington, Kaikoura, Akaroa, Dunedin, Stewart Island, and Fiordland, with the turn around in Milford Sound and a reverse cruise northwards.  Should be an enjoyable three weeks and hopefully February pulls through with the weather!

In stark contrast to today, yesterday was spent roaring around the rather unseasonably green expanse of rural Hawkes Bay.  We spent about 6 hours in a helicopter basically flying over the catchment of the Tuki Tuki River – one of Hawkes Bays biggest rivers.  The purpose of this was to trace the river from the mouth near Haumoana, to the headwaters in the Ruahine Ranges, taking in as many of the main tributaries as possible, giving us an overview of the habitats and ecological values of the river.  I was onboard as part of a contract to determine the values with respect to birds, and so spent most of the time looking through the lens of a camera, documenting the various habitat types.  Hopefully, I can transfer the GPS track I recorded to the images taken (using a process called geo-tagging) and thus get an idea of exactly where I was when I took each of the roughly 3550 images during the course of the day!  Yeah, yeah, yeah, heard it all before...I am heavy on the shutter button!

The weather was fantastic with clear blue skies and almost no wind, so it really was a joy to be up above the world and seeing it like this.  You really get an fantastic appreciation for the lay of the land from the air, and it gives you a great appreciation for how much diversity there actually is along some of these rivers.  We had lunch right up in the headwaters of the Makaroro River, which is one of the main tributaries of the Waipawa River, which in turn flows into the Tuki Tuki.  It is only after seeing these rivers fro mthe air, that you realise the massive catchment of this river.  The afternoon was then spent a little further south, in some equally impressive country.

I’ve posted a few pics of the day, but obviously with the number of images I have to sort, these are by no means the best from the day or representative of anything...they just caught my eye as I quickly scanned through them!

Last evening was spent having dinner with friends at our local restaurant – Pipi Cafe – and I was a little shell-shocked to say the least to discover that the MV Polar Star – my home for almost six weeks in Antarctica, had just hit a rock south of the Antarctic Circle on the Antarctic Peninsula!  Sounds like all onboard are ok, and contrary to media reports, the ship was not evacuated.  The hull was not breached and it sounds like she has been given the go ahead to at least steam northwards towards the top of the Antarctic Peninsula.  My thoughts are with the crew, staff and passengers currently onboard as well as those back at Polar Star Expeditions.

Hastings city with the Race Course in the foreground.

The rivermouth looking west towards Napier.

The beautiful Tuki Tuki River valley, behind Te Mata Peak (on the right), looking south.

The Tuki Tuki Valley looking north.

The Tuki Tuki Valley looking north, with Mt Erin in the background.

Nearer the headwaters

Our lunch spot

Up in the hills!

Near the hills

On the plains

On the plains

End of the counts...and gannety goodness!

Well another fine and hot day out doing bird surveys around Napier today.  Managed to get the last of the counts done so very happy and relieved based on the fact I only really had a day up my sleeve before heading away.

Overall I think bird numbers were very good - with possibly a few more tui and bellbird compared to last year.  However, it is always hard to tell until you get the data entered and can do some preliminary stats.  So will have to wait on that, but in general bird numbers within the city environs appear very healthy.  I'll be working on the report to the Hawkes Bay Regional Council over the next few days.

Later this afternoon I headed out to Cape Kidnappers with my parents and Mum's Uncle and Aunt from the UK - Janet and Wilf.  They have heard a lot over the years about Cape Kidnappers I am sure, with me having done my PhD on the gannets out there, and no doubt seen the odd photo in the past.  However, this was their first visit, and I think the first time Mum and Dad have been out there, overland at least, for a few years.  So a few changes with the golf course and Lodge out there.

Anyway, the wind had picked up a little, but it was still hot, and we stopped in at the Black Reef colony first.  This colony has certainly expanded up onto the cliff top since my work out there in 1999-2002, but the rocks and islands have thinned out a fair bit.  So part of the increase may be from displaced birds.  However, the nice thing to see was the very good numbers of chicks present this season.  It sounds like other colonies - such as Muriwai up near Auckland - have had complete breeding failure this season.  But, here at Cape Kidnappers all looked good, with some chicks even looking like they were only a week or so off fledging.

We then headed across to the Plateau colony and same deal there - lots of chicks and although a few dead ones around, but on the whole looked pretty healthy.  Spent a bit of time having a look and taking a few photos in the strong winds and then headed off as the people walked up the hill from the beach driven tractor and trailer tours.  We zoomed back along the gravels roads towards home...I could smell dinner cooking!  Did manage to get some nice pics though!

Here I come!

Not too far to go till fledging

Feed me - feed me!

Still a wee way to go till fledging

Where is my nest again?

A little bit late with the weed for the nest honey, but better late than never right?!

The weed carrier

Coming in low over the grass

The rain hath stopped...

Thankfully the absolutely rubbish wet weather we have had almost since I got home a week ago has ended!  It was over 30 deg C when I arrived home a week ago, hot hot hot the next day and then temperatures plummeted and the rain started.  We had more than 200mm of rain in most places around Hawkes Bay by the sound of it...good for the plants at our new section though!

So with all the wet weather it was a chance to catch up on computer work, getting all my images from the six weeks away backed up (I ended up keeping around 18,996 images from the Antarctic trips) so have deleted the chaff and renamed them all, imported them into Lightroom, and backed them up to another drive to send to the UK (as well as local backups).  I'm yet to keyword them all, but that will evolve over the next few weeks...hopefully!  Plus, there has been the grind of catching up on emails, long overdue tasks, and a little bit of sleeping in...

But today with the halt in rain and promise of sunshine it was back to the real world and over to Napier to finish off my bird survey contract with the local Hawkes Bay Regional Council.  I did the bird survey work down at Porangahau in early December before I left for Antarctica - see the blogs from that work - and so need to get the surveys on Napier Hill done.  The work is to assess the effect of possum control on bird populations, both native species and introduced, and so surveys done the year before control, will be compared with those conducted since.  The significant increases in most native species I recorded last year were great news to the Regional Council, who have since continued the control, and hence me continuing the surveys.

So the day started overcast and gradually got warmer, and it was nice to be out on the ground doing bird surveys again.  By late this afternoon the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and it was warm!  So another couple of days surveying the same area and it will be all done for another year.  Then time to do some helicopter surveys of one of the local rivers (for another contract) early next week, before flying to Auckland on 2 Feb to join the MV Oceanic Discoverer for most of February.  Phew...

The view from the 'office' today