A Bird's Life in Fiordland

Its finally happened. After going through all the stages; denial, shame, confusion. I have come to accept and love a change in me.  Granted, I have never been one of the cool kids and perhaps its a sign of my age, but there is no going back from this.

It turns out I'm really into birds. Say hello to a new bird watching recruit.
Frankly I blame New Zealand and Fiordland. Because before the move there I would of never have realised how awesome birds are.  Being set apart from the rest of the world for so long, new Zealand has a unique ecosystem.  For except for some bats and sea mammals, new Zealand's native animals are made up of birds and lizards.

From the crafty Kea, the world's only alpine parrot, to the whistling blue duck, the forest is filled with wonderful bird life.

I've begun appreciating the smallest feathered friends. Ones like the fantail and black robin, who'll dart around you trying to warn you off their patch.  They are so tiny and yet have a lot of guts. I like that.

Then there are the flightless birds, the chicken like Weka and the reclusive Kiwi bird.  One of my fellow bush workers was able to get this photo but so far I've been unsuccessful - they are just too quick for me!

My favourite of them all has to be the incredibly cheeky Kea. These birds are so smart its scary.  But they have such character and will happily pose for photographs (while its friends still the distracted photographers lunch!)

My photo success with Fiorldand birds has been limited to the less shy birds.  I only have one zoom lens for my cannon and its not all that.  Also, contending with sand flies means standing still can be a little tricky.  But let these photos be a testament of my inner bird-geekness and love of all things feathered. Except, ostriches.  They're just creepy.

Picture of Kiwi by  Andrew Knowles. All others by me.

The seals of Kaikoura

Found on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island, the small township of Kaikoura is a pretty special place.  Not only is it a landscape where sea and mountains meet, it also posesses unique access to whales, dolphins and other marine life.  Due to very deep oceans just off the coast, animals such as sperm whales, which are usually found far away from land, come to feed. 

But when I spent a few days in Kaikoura, I didn't go and swim with Dolphins or spot giant mammals from a boat. I took pictures of Seals. A lot of pictures.

I just think seals are awesome.  In the water, lazing in the sun, from pup to bull, it doesn't matter.

I think they are so cool I even payed to swim with them.  Taken out on a boat to where the inquisitive adolescents live, I spent hours watching, dancing and playing with these amazing creatures.  There is also nothing so cute as over twenty seal pups playing under a waterfall.

I think they are by far my favourite New Zealand Mammal.

Preparing for Launch

This morning I took this picture.  With a fresh coat of snow, England is looking beautiful and a bit like Narnia - minus the lion.  Or perhaps I'm already looking through rose tinted glasses.  After a perfect weekend involving a fantastic friend and my super-duper family, it's easy to see its appeal.
And now that I've finished working the nine to five, my Monday morning certainly felt a lot brighter.

But go I must.  In a week and a half I'll be making my way to the Southern Hemisphere and I've a lot to organise.  To a normal person, this is no biggy. However, to a procrastinating dreamer like myself, filling out forms, sorting out appointments and carefully packing up my life is a little tricky.

No matter how much time I have to prepare, I cannot help but leave 95% of the details of travel until the final hour.  Oh what joys this preparation week will bring.

At all times, I must tell myself the following

"...I must not waste my week watching CSI. I must not waste my week watching CSI. I must not waste my week watching CSI..."

Honestly, most days I wonder how I'll make it out of the house.

Five reasons why I love Vanuatu

It's no secret that my fragile little mind was blown away by Vanuatu.  here's a few reasons why.

1. Volcanoes. Whether its the splendour of mount Yusar (above), a lava pit on Ambrym or the extinct volcanoe of Ureparpara, I have never experienced such a show of mother natures As the ground shook with every explosion, all I could think was how fragile our existence is.Geology certainly does 'rock.'

2. Creatures of the sea. Turtles, whales, dolphins and dugongs all inhabit this part of the world. Excluding the dugong, I was fortunate to see the others in abundance.

3.  Beautiful people. There may have been exceptions, but on the whole, Vanuatans were warm and friendly to us travellers.

4. Mystical Jungle.

5. Outriggers. Best form of transport. Ever. Instead of riding their bikes around the estate, kids will cruise the waters on these bad boys.

So if you're planning on a trip to the South Pacific, be very careful.  Falling in love with Vanuatu is very easy, you may never want to leave.

Wildlife in the South Pacific

Sailing the Pacific Ocean, I had presumed our ship would be inundated with sea creatures along the way. I thought open water would include regular visit from Dolphins, wanting to hitch a ride on the bow - or whales taking a breather near by.  Very Naive and very wrong. In our major open water crossings (OZ to NZ - NZ to Rarotonga - New Caledonia) we were stalked by Birds and attacked by flying fish, but had very few Whale sightings. It was closer to land that most interactions took place.  When animals did come out and play, they certainly were memorable.  Here are my top wildlife highlights sailing the South Pacific.

Starting with the Smallest - Crabs. In Suwarrow the abundance of hermit crabs creeping along the beach fascinated me. It also led to some crab races and placing them on another crew member's head.* And then at night we got to see the big daddies. Meet Mr Coconut Crab.

These guys are huge when fully grown. Unfortunately it takes a while for them to grow up big and strong, and in many islands with a human population, they have found themselves on the menu and in fewer numbers.

Representing the reptile family is the chilled out hippy of the ocean - The turtle.  I mean let's face it, lizards and sea snakes just can't compete with the laid back philosophy of these guys.  Our first sighting was in Aitutaki but it was in Lamen Bay that we swam with these beautiful creatures. I never imagined we would see so many in one location munching on the sea grass.

Again with Suwarrow, but Crabs were not the only marine life flourishing without human interruption.  Reef sharks and other bigger scarier ones were thriving in the atoll.  And although we saw the odd reefy and a mako, we never saw them in such pacts as in Suwarrow's waters. So incredibly graceful and no matter how small the shark, my adrenaline always kicked in when I spotted one!

Well...I had to really. No marine wildlife composition would be complete without the trusty Dolphin.  From Oz the New zealand, stretching across the islands, there they were, ready to greet us.  Differing in Shape and size, the majority of the time they wanted to play. Seeing dolphins was a good indication that we weren't too far from land. It is also worth noting that fake killer whales played a similar roles to dolphins, but with a weird nose.

Sea birds were one of the few marine wildlife to venture with us in deep open water.  My favourite was when a Albatross would follow us for hours on end, circling us, watching for food.  We were also joined by Gannets and closer to land, the odd tropical bird.  Very close to land and parrots would pop by.

But finally  a picture of the most amazing sea creature in the south pacific.  I am still boring people with how amazing swimming with humpback whales in Tonga was.  It remains one of the best experiences of my life and would love to do it again.  The sheer size of these guys blew my mind and left me humbled.  As time went on in the South Pacific we had a lot of whale sightings, predominately in Tonga, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.  Every time someone yelled 'whale' from  on deck I would rush up like a kid at Christmas.   

 There is also one group of South Pacific wildlife I need to Thank. To all the the wahoos, mahi mahi and tuna who so kindly took our lures and made it onto our dinner plate.  Thank you  for the sacrifice - you tasted delicious!!! 

* please note no crabs were harmed in these activities. In fact, I'm quite sure they rather enjoyed the break in routine.

Riding a geriatric horse

Horse riding - Vanuatu style.  

Of course my horse was rather 'mature.' With no teeth and little energy to carry some British chick on his back, I spent a lot of the time feeling guilty. He also didn't really want to move once knee deep in the water.  None the less, we made it through parkland and beach all the way back to the staples, without my horse dying.  

One of my favourite moments was when 'the Swede' was rescued by a Vanuatan knight in shining armour!

A great day playing with horses.

* last two pictures via the swede, who keeps a blog here. its looks amazing and makes me want to learn Swedish.. 

Twin Waterfall

On Vanua Lava Island, which we past heading to the Banks islands, we stopped off at a place called 'twin waterfalls.' Like the title gives away, this village lies next to two brother waterfalls that jetted out at such a power, this is as closest a picture that I dared. I feared of the water spray would reach my  on my camera (AKA - my baby) or I'd slip into the water pool. But fear not readers, soon I will track down the pictures of someone who wasn't a big scaredi cat.  

With the waterfalls filling a large pool good for swimming (and deep enough to jump from the rocks), some of the locals tried to teach us water dancing. In this women use the water like a musical instrument. My attempts to master this art form were rather clumsy, but by the end I kind of had it figured...sort of.

Whilst ashore we were also given another distinctive dance and singing (I'm seeing a trend here), complete with costumes and flowers. However, rather than being same same but different (don't get me started on string bands), the singing was absolutely beautiful and unique to what I'd heard before.

Yet it wasn't the waterfalls or the dancing that really struck me about this place. There was two things I really remember.

1. The image of a very small child taking a pet parrot around with him on a stick.  Cute at first sight before realising the parrots wings were badly mutilated and therefore could not fly. I like to think this wasn't done by humans and the child had rescued his new found friend from an accident.

2. One boy using his out rigger - pictured below - to catch the waves and surf them. Legend.

Twin Waterfalls - Another great location brought to you by Vanuatu and The Soren Larsen.

Swimming with whales

Best. Day. Ever. 

In my life time, there have been few moments where I can pin point a life changing moment. These are usually heartbreaking moments, but I'm happy to say, this time around, I experienced nothing but joy.

There are a lot of places around the globe where you can whale watch but Tonga is the only one, to my knowledge, that offers whale swimming.  with this in mind, we decided to use our day off in Neiaufu doing something a little different.

Booking with a reputable company, our guides were quick not to give too much hope of getting into the water with the whales. It was early in the migration season, the whales may not be interested and it was a good idea to make the most of the day (accepting it as a whale watching expedition, a great way to see the landscape and also a snorkel at a reef) .  Our guide went through the rules and regulations (only four people in the water at a time,  whate the safe distance etc) and we left on a small boat in search of some very big animals.

We were not left disappointed.  After about an hour sailing about and sighting whales, we were in the water ready for our first encounter.  Being so close to these huge mammals was one of the most humbling experiences of my life - yes, I can hear myself, and yes I sound like a new age hippy,  but never mind.  Still I cannot get over the size of the humpback whale. 

The first whale was sleeping upside down when we snuck up on her.  When she woke up she swam alongside us before diving down into the depths.  

Three encounters later and I feel hooked. 

I want to swim with whales everyday.

* Thank you for Mr M.C for taking these awesome pics.

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