Island weather

What a difference an hour makes! Two hours ago the sun was shining brightly without a cloud in the sky; an hour ago the sun was still shining although with a distant rumble of thunder as I checked my rat traps and rebaited them - and now it's pelting down with water running down the flue and hissing loudly as it drips on to the wood burner! The temperature dropped from 13.2°C at 11am to 6.7°C in 45 minutes. I wonder if the sun will be shining again by lunchtime!!

Our township of Oban seems to have escaped the worst of the winds that must increase in intensity as they spread away from the centre. Our highest gust over the last week was 85km/h (47 knots) and the shade house survived (yay!); I added more weight to the frame and tightened ropes but can see that a stronger gust could still lift it up without too much trouble.

Shortest day has been and gone but it's actually darker in the mornings at present as the moon wanes. I try to walk to work without using a torch in the hope that I come across kiwi heading home for their daytime sleep but no luck yet!

Shortest day at Oban, Stewart Island

I'm toying with the idea of getting a lower-priced Android tablet - maybe a HP Slate 7 or a Google Nexus 7; I used to be an early adopter of new technology but now feel that the technology world passes me by. Not having a landline or reliable mobile broadband signal is frustrating but I'm convinced that mobile technology will improve on the island so understanding what tablets/smartphones do will keep me in the loop. Any advice or suggestions are warmly welcome - or should I just stick my head in the sand and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist!! In addition to the tablet, I'll also need a mobile broadband hotspot (Huawei E587) that connects to the yagi aerial.

Still a number of rats about although had a clear run at Deep Bay last Tuesday. I took the telemetry gear out with me to see if I could get any signals from kiwi with transmitters on that were released at Ackers Point over the summer. I'd seen a lot of kiwi sign the week before but didn't get a peep from the 4 transmitters I was listening for. Each transmitter is on a different frequency so at regular intervals I'd turn the receiver on, unfold the blue aerial 'arms' and point it around the vegetation, then repeat with the next frequency. Unfortunately there were no 'beeps' to be heard this time but maybe the kiwi were all snug in deep burrows so will check again another time.

Check out a Taranaki kiwi hunt here http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/8857864/Arduous-hunt-for-elusive-kiwi

Gotta go, it's 12.30pm and the sun is back out!!