Sunset, Sunrise

The day length is shortening considerably now with the bonus of being awake to see the sun set and rise again over this special island. Solar flare activity on the sun indicated that there could be good sightings of the Southern Lights, Aurora Australis, too. The sunset had a slight greenish tinge on 8 March so I went out with my camera, had just turned it on and, on cue, a kiwi pair started duetting about 50m away. I pressed Record and caught the audio. I've amplified it and saved it as a MP3 file but can't find a way to insert this in my blog! Will stick to some pics instead...

Sunset 8 March 2012

Sunrise 10 March 2012

Sunrise over Halfmoon Bay 10 March 2012

Of course I don't have my camera with me on the most stunning days!! I did take it on 13 March for the start of the Round NZ Third Leg to Napier, though had to be back at work by 2pm when the boats were waved across the line. Here they are 10 mins before the start:

It didn't take long for them to reach Napier and they have now set out on the Fourth and final leg to Auckland. Here's the provisional results from Leg 3 taken from www.ssanz.co.nz

Halfmoon Bay

Last, but not least, are some pics of Halfmoon Bay and the township

Playground and South Seas Hotel in background

Halfmoon Bay from Petersen Hill Road

Halfmoon Bay from Bailey Place

Sittin' on the dock of the bay :)

Oystercatcher on Halfmoon Bay amongst the seaweed

The family of three oystercatchers (Mum, Dad and baby) were fun to watch.
Baby spent all his/her time running from one parent to the other begging
for food - and didn't get anything at all!

Ship to Shore: the indispensable village supermarket

A walk in the sun

Walking to my rat line on such a beautiful day was great for the soul. It's so uplifting to watch the sunlight dancing on the leaves and listen to the shrieks of kaka, the melodious notes of the songbirds and the lapping of the waves. It's not easy to capture it on camera but here's a few shots...

Light falling on fern fronds

Hen and Chickens fern

Fruit of Pate (Five Finger)

The tide was in at Deep Bay but there was enough room for 4 ducks to sunbathe on the tide debris.

Deep Bay picnic table - a great place to stop awhile and admire the view

My rat line starts at Deep Bay, runs around the above headland and round the other side before heading over the top and back to the start. Rat numbers have been high lately so we are checking the traps twice a week in the hope to keep on top of the surge. The tally for yesterday was 6 rats - 2 kiore and 4 ships rats including this huge female...

Female ship rat - the knife alongside is 22cm long

Lovely soft belly fur but somehow I don't think rat/merino product
would sell that well!



I couldn't resist a few pics of the village as I walked home but I'll put them in one final (for now) blog!



Shorthanded Sailing

Having got my chimney-sweepers badge, my next task was to check my rat lines over at Deep Bay. Four of the Round New Zealand Shorthanded boats have arrived so took my camera in case they were within shot - my boating knowledge is only a tad more than nothing; let me know if I've snapped any in the following pics!!

Birds following the fishing boat

Waiting for the last two more boats to arrive in the race. Check out the Surreal's website (first across the line at the end of the second leg) http://www.facebook.com/teamsurrealsailing

Vacuuming the roof

The Weather Gods have pulled out all stops for my 'weekend' off. We've had two stunning sunny and calm days and although I worked hard yesterday, today I have just laid back and enjoyed the sunshine.

Yesterday was chimney-sweep day. Armed with the brush set from work, I climbed the ladder and hit my first hurdle; the screws holding the cowling on were stripped. I managed to shift the first one but the second was worse and despite trying all the tricks that Google offered, I had to resort to drilling the stripped screw out. Not a quick job as it took two battery recharges but gave me time inside to wire brush the rust off the woodburner and repaint it with Granny's Black Stove Polish.

Having the ladder parallel to the roof edge made it easier for climbing
up and down - thanks to sister Linda for this advice

The charged drill made short work of the remaining part of the screw but revealed the second hurdle; the cowling didn't want to part company with the flue. Gentle twists and shakes turned into more aggressive yanks but without success. So after wasting all the morning up on top of the roof, Plan B was put into action and I cleaned the flue from the bottom in just a few minutes. I'll know for next time!

Using the small brush first to clean the flue

It was impossible to clean around the cowling without getting bits of coke/baked on soot falling on to the roof. I put up sheets of plastic which worked well early morning but by lunchtime the gentle breeze was having fun blowing it around. I didn't want tar-tainted drinking water but the corrugated roof made it hard to sweep up. Just as well no-one was around with a video camera to catch me vacuuming my roof :)

The swept and painted woodburner - the next
job is to paint the ceiling and walls

The view from the top was great and the day couldn't have been better with korimako (bellbirds), ngirungiru (tomtits), kakariki and tui keeping me company.

Northwest view from the roof - looking toward the road
woodshed roof in foreground

 

West view down the drive

South view

 

Southeast view

The camera got a good workout yesterday but I'll keep this blog short and sweet and put more photos in the next one.

Surreal Sailing

Well, my day started off differently! I woke at 4.30am and checked my email for sailing updates. Sue's midnight report suggested a finish around 8.30am unless the forecast wind drop didn't occur. Just in case I decided to head off to Lonnekers and arrived there about 6am. I then watched a sleepy village awaken whilst watching the entrance to Halfmoon Bay in case Surreal, the race leader, arrived.

Early morning looking towards village from Lonnekers

A bit lighter

Neptune's necklace using night-vision mode

Standing on the beach at low tide and listening to the dawn sounds was fascinating. From the quiet throb of a diesel engine to the raucous calls of seabirds; from waves slapping against moored boats to the occasional car driving slowly around the coast road - what a wonderful way to start the day.

All too soon it was 7.30am and time to head off to work; no sign of Surreal which ended up becalmed for a while but finally they crossed the line just before 11am. Woohoo! What an achievement. Now we can do it all again with the next wave of boats (Vingilot, Sunstone and REVS) to arrive.

Almost sunrise over the entrance to Halfmoon Bay

We had two scheduled power cuts today but the Visitor Centre customers took it all in their stride despite the dark shop and no retail system. It was a good chance to have a chat with people and to use our initiative for managing without technology.

So, one more day of work before my weekend - there's some fine weather forecast so hoping to cut more grass around the section and sweep the chimney. We had a maximum of 22.9 deg today and have avoided the bad weather that hit the rest of New Zealand last weekend but I know we'll get cooler weather soon so need to get my fire squeaky clean for the winter.

Enjoy your week...

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Super Impressive Sailing

Stewart Island is gearing up to host the contestants and support crew in the 2012 Round New Zealand race organised by The Short-handed Sailing Assoc of NZ http://www.ssanz.co.nz/ that started on 25 February. All being well, the first boat to complete the second leg is due in tonight after an 'exciting' ride down the west coast of New Zealand amidst the weather bomb that hit over the weekend. Stories of heaving seas with 9-10m swells, injuries, seasickness and gear failure haven't deterred most of the sailors - big hats off to them for sticking it out and I hope the Island turns out in force to cheer you over the line. They stop over here for some well-earned rest and recovery period before setting off for the third leg to Napier on 13 March. Surreal is currently in the lead and making excellent time, ETA is around 2.30am tomorrow morning.

The above race makes my adventure of moving to Rakiura very tame by comparison. Somehow sitting outside on my deck doesn't hold a candle to being in gigantic seas and being tossed around like a cork in a spa bath. Check out the boats and brave crew on http://www.facebook.com/ssanz.inc?sk=app_190322544333196 

I haven't heard any kiwi calls for almost two months and the mud puddles on my driveway have been more like dust bowls so it was reassuring to hear a female call loudly last night and then a male call around 6.30am this morning. A lot of visitors come into the Visitor Centre and ask where they can see kiwi - it would be lovely to have a magic wand so I could magic one up for them! The best odds is the Bravo Adventure Cruise http://www.kiwispotting.co.nz/ that leaves Halfmoon Bay in the evening and cruises to Little Glory Bay. A short walk through the bush brings you to Ocean Beach where kiwi can usually be seen feeding on the beach. When I went on it (in 2010) they had seen kiwi on 188 times out of the last 189 times that they had gone out. Pretty impressive for seeing a wild bird!

Night vision shot of the female kiwi that I saw

There are good numbers of kiwi on Rakiura but it's upsetting to hear a number of trampers/hunters reporting a lot of wild cat sightings, especially over on the west coast around Mason Bay and Doughboy. It would be so good to eradicate all unwanted pests (both animal and plant) and have the whole island as a predator-free bird sanctuary.

I'll leave you with a couple of pics that I took a couple of years ago - the first one is of the Fuchsia Walk (a few minutes from the waterfront) with magnificent native fuchsia trees (kōtukutuku) which are the biggest tree fuchsias in the world...

Tourists standing underneath huge Fuchsia excorticata trees

...and here is a close-up of a Stewart Island robin (toutouwai) on Ulva Island. All the robins are banded before they fledge the nest (University of Otago is studying the effects of inbreeding on small island populations) so you can work out how old the bird is.

Petroica australis rakiura

Have a great week :)