Birds & Worms

Monday we got even more, for us, adventurous. Remember who you are dealing with here, and despite that we have hiked to the top of a bird sanctuary island, hiked on glaciers, now we're fording streams and hiking through the rain forest. With boots on and carrying slickers in case it rains no less. This big time adventure for us!

We're off to see the Fiordland Crested Penguin. I started the day with a fear of penguins, harkening back to my days in Catholic schools. After a very nice breakfast with a couple from Tucson (the wilderness here is also crawling with Americans, the lodge has us all isolated in our wing), I overcame my fears. We donned out boots and our guide Corey drove us down the highway to the secret entrance to the rain forest and the beach to see if we would be lucky enough to see some penguins.





Corey gave us a thorough tour of the rain forest, pointing out the different varieties of fern, such as tree ferns, hen and chicken and kidney ferns. Lots of lichens and moss along with tall Rimu trees and listening to bell birds. We forded about 3 streams and eventually popped out of the rain forest onto gray gravel-like Munro Beach. Munro Beach is one of the nesting places for the Fiordland Crested Penguin, aka Tawaki in Maori. They stand about 70cm tall and nest here in the spring. After the chicks are mature all the penguins go out to the open sea for as long as 5 months at a time. Never touching land. They sleep floating on the water and go as far as Tasmania, south of Australia. But no penguins were around.






Corey put down a tarp, told us to sit down and how to behave so that the penguins would venture out. They nest up the hill in the bush. They're endangered with only about 1500 known pairs.

We behaved and got eaten alive by sand flies, the only native insect we have seen in New Zealand. In about 10 minutes a penguin ventured down the hill, peeking around a rock in our direction. He evidently felt safe and waddled and hopped (like Jerry on Boston Legal) toward the beach. He hesitated and then dived in the surf. In a short time a few more penguins came for a total of 6 that we visited with. We watched them body surf, yeah they body surf looking behind them for a wave (and seals which are predators) and catching a wave to the beach. They stand up, may get knocked down and then dive under the next wave to ride back in. Either just like humans or we're just penguins. They congretated on the beach, looked like they were having a discussion and then headed back in for a dip or back up the hill to the roost. A very rare experience being able to see them in them in their natural habitat. The penguins were pretty far away and photos do not do them justice.






Back through the sand flies and the forest to the lodge for an afternoon of laundry. A nice dinner again, this time joined by 6 more Americans (one extremely loud and obnoxious) and a couple of Brits. Fortunately we were seated with the Brits and the sedate Americans from Tucson.


After a very nice dinner of Little Bo Peep or cod we all joined Corey for our night time nature walk. This time to see the glow worms. He walked down the highway, there are no cars to worry about, to a very moist cliff full of glow worms. If you kept moving they moved like twinkling lights on a Christmas tree. We headed back to the lodge. Corey told us to listen for a bird, a native owl actually, that would say "More Pork". John, our lodge host had said one hadn't been seen in a year. I heard something, mentioned it to Corey and he took off up a hill with his flashlight to come upon a young owl who sat there and stared at us. We never did feel that the owl was saying "More Pork" although the Kiwis are certain of it. The English woman was as confused as we were.

A stop at the lodge for a Bailey's and in for the night.

Tomorrow, a long drive to the Queenstown area.