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Published: November 13th 2008
15th September 2008
In Leigh we take our Marine Reserve tour on the glass bottomed boat, we see snapper, some rays and a solitary seal. We also visit some caves. The whole trip is about an hour. We spend a little time on the beach, I’m still a little unsteady and take a slight fall on the slippy rocks. I bang my camera but no damage done as far as I can tell. We then hit the road towards the Bay Of Islands. It’s getting late so we pull over in Whangarei. The coastal road is all picture post card stuff.
16th September 2008
We’re up early and off to Whangarei Falls via the native bush forest and tree top walk. INCREDIBLE!!! The forest is full of native trees including the most impressive tree ferns. You expect dinosaurs to appear, I wish.
After about a 2hr walk we arrive at the 26 metre high water falls, again it’s like a film set and the Hateo River was gin clear and very inviting if the water wasn’t so bloody cold.
In the afternoon we went to the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre. This is a charity based
centre helping injured birds, I always like to show my support and make a donation. We were introduced to Robert Webb the curator. Robert had just brought in an injured, 8 month old North Island Brown Kiwi. I immediately struck up a rapport with Robert and he offered to give us a private tour of the enclosures. Robert took us into the enclosure of their most famous resident ‘Sparkie’ the North Island Brown Kiwi. Sparkie had lost a leg in a hunter’s trap, poor thing hopping around. The Kiwi’s feet are massive and look very prehistoric; not surprising this is an ancient family of birds. We also spent time with Harris Hawk, which I held, some Moreporks (native owls), Kingfishers, Red Crowned Parakeets and even a New Zealand Falcon. Another famous resident was ‘Woof Woof’ the Tui who spoke in very clear English and whistled ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’, amazing. I was very impressed with Robert’s rapport with all the birds, he was very gentle and the birds trusted him. You can’t fake that, the animals always know. Heather who was Robert’s assistant also displayed the same passion for the work, good people and an honour to meet them.
Before leaving Robert let me use the office phone to enquire about some diving trips - he recommend a company called Dive Tutukaka that goes out to the Poor Island Marine Reserve ran by Marine biologists. This is one of the island premier dive locations with Dolphins, Orcas and even occasionally Blue Whales. Robert spoke to them for us and told them we were his friends and to treat us well, a very nice gesture.
We said our goodbyes and headed off to Tutukaka. We arrived just before dusk, booked our dive for the next day and were given permission to stay in the harbour car park. We found the Snapper Bar which the entire local fisherman used. We ordered beers and one of the best cheese burgers I’ve ever had. Very full we retired to bed.
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