Mixed bag

We've had great weather here lately; sunny skies and mild temperatures and mostly calm except for last Tuesday when we had some strong gusts of wind. One of them was too strong for my TV aerial which snapped its bracket and toppled on to the deck roof, fortunately without damaging the Clearlite. After several minutes of looking at all angles, I've decided it's a bit hard for me to disconnect the cable and lift it gently up off the Clearlite and will leave it to the experts - it's an opportune time to replace it with a satellite dish and Freeview receiver; my TV has a built in receiver but apparently it's only a terrestrial one, not satellite.

Raylene's dog, Mac, came to stay with me overnight; the first time I've had a dog to look after on my own. I had nothing to worry about though as he found the blanket in front of the fire and I didn't hear another peep from him!

Mac, the sleeping beauty

I've been finding lots of feathers around my rat line tracks and last week saw what appeared to be a wild cat near one of the traps. I checked the traps again on Saturday and found the remains of a freshly-killed kereru and brought them home to bury. The two wings were still joined together and I took the opportunity of having a detailed look and took photos to capture the iridescent colours. Hard to capture with a digital camera but in real life they were amazing. Update 20.10.11 - the wild cat, a large tom, was captured in a live-trap cage a week or so ago. His stomach was stuffed with feathers so great to know that he's been trapped and disposed of.

Kereru wing feathers

I wish I knew more about anatomy and flight dynamics as each feather seemed to be engineered differently from its neighbour.

I'm off to Codfish Island (Whenua Hou) on Thursday and was told today that we're going by helicopter! This is a new experience for me and one which I've been waiting to cross off my bucket list for a long time. We go through a stringent quarantine process to go to the island and I've spent this evening washing all the gear I'm taking in Trigene - an antibacterial/antiviral solution. Last time I went I had to wash my sleeping bag too but fortunately bedding is now supplied - it took several days to get my down sleeping bag totally dry in the NP summer sunshine so very relieved I don't have to do it here. I will be taking my camera so hope to share the experience with you.

Whenua Hou - the hut is by Sealers Bay

I'm back barberry hunting and today James found the biggest barberry tree I've seen yet - a base of maybe 50-60cm diameter with 6 large branches growing from the base and reaching a height of 3-4m. We decided that it was too big to cut down with our Silky saws (folding bow saws) and will get it chainsawed instead. Lots of barberry in the area we were checking and I'm sure it deliberately grows in the most difficult areas to access. If your idea of fun is fighting through supplejack and bush lawyer, slithering through mud and being eaten alive by sandflies then come and join us on the weeds team!

Update 11.10.11 - Here's a photo of the above-mentioned barberry stump - it couldn't be chainsawed at the widest part of the stump but it's still impressive.

Barberry giant - upside down and sitting on a chair.