This amazing ecosanctuary, which evolved from an original idea for a giant aviary in 2005, now has a whole ecosystem for plants, invertebrates, birds and reptiles. It is in the Orokonui Valley found under Mt Cargill.
There are tuataras there, but my main target for the visit was to get a good picture of a Tui, which had been evading me the whole holiday. My hunt didn’t last long, because as Lynn and I made our way to the Tui Trail we were rewarded with instant views of them in the trees. The best place for viewing, however, was the bird feeding station, where they spent some time drinking water.
It was lovely to see the two white tufts on the breast and the iridescent blue on the back.
The Tui is quite large and is found throughout New Zealand whereas the Bellbird is mainly found in the South Island and South of Waikato in the North Island. It is quite a bit smaller than the Tui and easily camouflaged with its green and brown colouring. They both have beautiful bell like calls.
On our way towards the Kaka Track the New Zealand Robin suddenly flew onto the ground in front of us. It has completely different colourings from the European Robin, but the same legs, body shape and stance. This one seemed remarkably tame and almost posed for us.
We were very fortunate to see a Kaka hop down from a tree onto the feeder. I was able to make a video of this and the Bellbirds that became very excited and flitted from branch to branch.
After our excitement with the Kaka and the Bellbirds we carried on the track towards the Takahes. Lynn pointed out that people coming a couple of minutes later would have no idea there were Kakas up in the trees, but as we had seen one ascend we could see others; impossible to photograph of course. As we came round the corner for the Takahe area we were overwhelmed to see two Takahe. This flightless bird is the largest member of the Rail Family and at one time was thought to be extinct, but was rediscovered in 1948 in a remote valley of the Murchison Mountains. They have been mostly kept on remote islands away from predators so it was wonderful to find them in this ecosanctuary on the mainland.
After our amazing time at Orokonui Lynn was very keen to show me Port Chalmers where my Great, Great Grandfather and family had landed after their epic voyage from Scotland. We stopped on a hill overlooking the harbour, where there is also a statue of Captain Cook and Lynn took a few photos.
We descended the hill and came into a beautiful bay where Lynn was keen to have lunch at a lovely pub with a view across the bay.
Mungo, Lynn’s Fox Terrier had joined us for our trip and hopped up beside me while Lynn was away.
After and excellent meal of fish and chips washed down with some New Zealand wine we set out on an exploration of Port Chalmers. It has a current population of 3000 and a little museum with lots of interesting items., mostly on shipping. The museum had a record of Holy Trinity Church, which had been designed by R A Lawson, my Great Uncle, who also designed Otago Boys School.
After a good wander around Lynn drove us up to a lookout point., which gave beautiful views across the harbour.
It was another amazing day enjoying nature and scenery with a touch of family history.