Taupo and part of Wellington

Maori presence in Rotorua

Lots of activity since Rotorua – on my last day there I just walked around the city to check out the Maori presence (early New Zealand settlers), but it turned out to be a longer walk that I anticipated so my ankle started hurting. More than that my calves were killing me, especially my right calf, because my right leg has been overcompensating for my left leg, even though I try not to at this point (I basically have to re-learn how to walk… while on vacation). Fortunately Rotorua is famous for the geothermal activity in the area, and there is a Polynesian spa with lots of natural hot tubs (water from the ground with nothing added, and naturally heated). They are also supposed to be good for injuries because of the natural minerals in the water. Lesley talked me into going on my last night, so we walked there in the evening with another woman from the hostel. I initially balked at it because I didn’t want to pay money to sit in a tub, but after going I regretted not going EVERY night. The adult pool section has five pools, each a different temperature. The idea is to start with the coolest and work your way up. After five minutes in the coolest pool I already felt like a new person. My calves were SO much happier and looser, and that was just the first pool! They felt better and more relaxed with every pool until I was pretty much walking out of there normally (for reference, I practically hobbled in there). Such a worthwhile experience when a lot of my trip is based on my ability to walk.

The next day (9/18) I headed out on a bus to Taupo. It was only about an hour away, so I showed up at my hostel (The Rainbow Lodge) way before check-in. In the meantime I walked to Huka Falls, which is one of the only things Taupo is famous for (so it seemed). It was a nice leisurely walk along a river for a couple hours, with a spot to take a dip in some warm springs if you brought your suit. The falls were really nice, mostly because of the amount of water rushing past, not necessarily the height of them, but it was still a great sight. I caught the city bus back into town rather than walking the entire thing again, grabbed a coffee at Robert Harris (seems to be a better version of Starbucks for New Zealand; they do have Starbucks, but RH has lots of great drink options and a lot more food options), then headed back to relax at my hostel. As expected, it was not as great as The Funky Green Voyager, but it wasn’t bad. There were a lot more people who all seemed to have their groups, and there were lots of couches, so I just sprawled out on one and watched several episodes of the old show Heroes (you had to pay for wifi so I just didn’t bother).

Huka Falls

The next morning I woke up early, ate a small breakfast, and got a ride to the iSite where I caught my bus to Wellington. It was a long driving day – about 6-7 hours I think – but the views were phenomenal. It was even better when I started watching The Two Towers on my iphone, so I could see some of the same scenery out the window as in the movie! (Not *exactly* the same, but it’s poetic.) I also napped and did some things online (free wifi on that bus!), and generally just enjoyed the view.

I think this is Mt. Doom, viewed from my bus.

And then I got to Wellington.

Wellington was FREEZING. Literally, it was freezing for half the time I was there, or the wind chill made it feel freezing. There wasn’t a break in the clouds the entire time I was there, and it rained on and off for four days. Too bad most of the things I wanted to do were outside! Fortunately their weather website tells you what the forecast is and how many layers you should wear. Every day advised four layers with a fifth windproof layer. Have you seen A Christmas Story? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW4IZ0Flh3M) I felt like that kid getting bundled up to go outside, except that I WISH I HAD AS MANY LAYERS AS HE DID. If the cold wasn’t bad enough, there were practically gale force winds. Seriously – consistent gusts up to 50mph. I nearly got blown over when exiting a bus. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me – I had a schedule to keep to dammit!

The fence

On my first day (the day that looked the LEAST rainy) I took a city bus up to Zealandia, which is a predator-free sanctuary just outside the city. It’s not a zoo, because the animals are free to leave and enter as they please, except for the invasive mammalian predators. There is a massive fence surrounding the entire sanctuary that is designed to keep out cats, rats, possums, stoats, etc. so that the native species can thrive within the sanctuary. They have a double fence at the visitor entrance so that some pest doesn’t accidentally sneak in with the people. They also have traps throughout the sanctuary, and they have an emergency response team that is immediately dispatched if they get reports of an invasive species loose inside (includes a team of dogs that are specially trained to sniff out those species). All of that makes Zealandia a pretty spectacular place – you can see a ton of birds out and about that aren’t constantly hiding from predators. They have a pretty extensive trail system – most of it is contained to the front part of the sanctuary where you can do an easy 2-hour route (I somehow stretched it to 4), but the whole park has a few dozen kilometers of trails.

Kaka

I had pretty low expectations as the weather was awful, but I managed to see every bird species listed on the back of the trail map. I can’t imagine what it must be like on a good weather day! I saw… Blackbird, Pied shag, Grey warbler, Fantail, Tui, New Zealand pigeon, Saddleback, Kaka, Bellbird, Brown teal, Kakariki, Hihi, Whitehead, North Island robin, and Takahe (some of those might have English names that I need to look up). They have feeders in a few places along that main trail, so those are great places to see the birds. I sat down by one that was absolutely quiet, and within five minutes a whole swarm of birds came by, led by the Kaka. It was technically the Kaka feeder, so they were the only ones able to open the food catchments (stand on a bar that opens the lid; they are large parrots, so it’s their weight that does it), but the other species came with them to feed off the scraps or just join the crowd. It was a fantastic sight to watch. There was a pair of brown teal (rare native duck) hanging out on the ground, and even though they are much smaller than mallards, one of them was being super territorial and would chase away any mallard that so much as looked in his direction – it was hilarious to watch.

Pied shag

Brown teal

Kakariki

Hihi

Takahe

Since this was my first day out in Wellington, it was also my coldest. I didn’t follow the recommended number of layers, so I had to deal with that for the entire 4-hour walk. But I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take pictures, so my hands were absolutely frozen. I just kept thinking “Harry! You’re hands are freezing!” Bonus points if you know what I’m referencing! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOdxz77-lag). Eventually I caught the free shuttle back into the city and immediately went into the closest café for a coffee. I’ve had more coffee in the last week than I have in the last year just trying to stay warm! I stayed there for an hour looking through my bird guide and waiting a little closer to dinnertime before ordering food. But to my horror, come 4:45 they erased the food menu off the chalkboard!! Turns out they close the kitchen RIGHT BEFORE DINNER but continue serving coffee all evening. No food at dinner, and coffee before bed. That makes NO SENSE. But just as in Rotorua it looked like a bunch of restaurants and cafes shut down right around 5pm. DOES NO ONE IN THIS COUNTRY EAT OUT FOR DINNER?!? I had a very cold day and was looking forward to comfort food, but no! Fortunately, after an hour of frantically wandering around and googling restaurants on spotty wifi connections, I found Sweet Mother’s Kitchen, which had a mac & cheese dish that was to die for. It was creamy, cheesy, comforting, and delicious. It was a Louisiana-style restaurant, so of course it’s the Americans that have fatty comfort food.

I’ll catch up on the rest of my time in Wellington next post.

Wai-o-tapu, Waimangu, and Wingspan: The 3 W's of Rotorua

This is my third full day in Rotorua and I absolutely love it here. This town is so lovely, the people are incredibly nice, and there is a ton to see in the area. It probably has a lot to do with the hostel that I’m staying at – the Funky Green Voyager. This is without a doubt the best hostel I’ve ever stayed in. The staff – Leslie and Andy – are some of the nicest and most helpful people I’ve met. Leslie knew I was showing up with a broken ankle, so she made sure that I had a bottom bunk in one of the rooms (it’s a triple, so $1 more expensive than the dorm, but that’s enough to deter most people, so I’ve had it to myself). She and Andy have helped book all of my daily activities, and since it’s done through the hostel I’ve gotten slight discounts on everything. They have great recommendations and check in at the end of each day to find out how I liked everything. I wanted to go to the Wingspan Bird of Prey Centre (see below), which is not a typical activity for tourists, but Leslie went ahead and checked with a shuttle company recommended by the iSite, as well as the taxi company, to find the best deal for me. The hostel is also in a really convenient location – quiet but close to downtown. I can’t imagine a better experience than this one, so after my first five days of travel it looks like it’s all downhill from here. :-P

On Tuesday (my first day in Rotorua) I chose to go to Wai-o-tapu and Waimangu geothermal areas. My shuttle picked me up right outside my hostel and took me to Wai-o-tapu. I only had 1.5 hours before the shuttle would come back to take me to Waimangu, so I kind of had to book it. Most of the walk was on a boardwalk with occasional stairs, so I was able to move along quick enough. I had to cut out a couple of things (the waterfall at the very end and some other out-and-back things, rather than the main loops), but I got to see most of it and it was all pretty stunning. I thought of it as the Yellowstone of New Zealand – lots of dramatic views and features. A couple of my favorite features were the Artist’s Palette and the Devil’s Bath. The Artist’s Palette reminds me of that huge rainbow pool at Yellowstone, but you can’t ever really get a good view of that from above. This one had a nice little platform that overlooked the whole thing, so that was really cool. The Devil’s Bath was this bright nuclear-waste-green pool that just seemed so unreal. The pictures don’t really do it justice, but the contrast between it and the bright blue sky was crazy. We also went to see the Lady Knox geyser erupt. This was really weird, because Yellowstone has Old Faithful with eruptions predicted to 10-minute periods, but Lady Knox is a geyser that they induce with a surfactant, which changes the surface temperature. Apparently 100 years ago a group of prisoners was washing their clothes near this geyser, and the soap they used caused it to erupt. Now every day at 10am they drop some soap-like stuff in there to put on a show. Anyways, I managed to get back to the visitor’s center with 20 minutes to spare, so I had my first ever mince beef and cheese pie. It was good! Meat pies are where it’s at; they are filling and super cheap. It’s lunch for under $3USD.

The Artist's Palette

Lady Knox geyser starting
to froth before the eruption

The Devil's Bath

After Wai-o-tapu I went to Waimangu Volcanic Valley. There was still a lot of geothermal activity in Waimangu, but the place seemed much more nature-oriented, whereas Wai-o-tapu goes for the wow-factor. But both were great in their own ways. I wandered down through the valley checking out the various features. There were a lot of benches and open areas, so it seemed like the perfect place for a picnic. Thank god for the benches, because I was starting to realize that the key to my happiness on this vacation is going to be staying on top of my pain meds, especially on heavy walking days, which I had not done that day. This was the most walking I’d done since breaking my ankle, and I was definitely feeling it. My low point was when I had to take a break halfway DOWN a flight of stairs. I felt like I’d aged 50 years, especially when a couple in their 50s-60s passed me after taking the more strenuous route! For crying out loud...

Not amused at being beaten by stairs halfway down

Anyways, this place was much better for viewing the wildlife, namely birds. I got a few good views along the walk, but I wish I had hobbled a little more purposefully and gotten to the end a bit earlier – there was a great bird watching area on the lake where you could see a bunch of different bird species. (I'll post bird pictures when I get around to looking up the names.) But I still got to enjoy it before catching the shuttle back to the visitor’s center. The driver offered a free 30-minute tour of the city, so I stuck around for that. It ended up lasting nearly 2 hours, which was a nice gesture, but I was also pretty tired and just wanted to go back to my hostel. But I saw some cool sights and got a little bit of history, so it was okay.

Two little NZ falcon chicks

Wednesday was a much lighter day, which was really nice. Leslie booked my trip to Wingspan Bird of Prey Centre for the afternoon, so I wandered into town to mail some extra clothes to my house in Australia, shop for a New Zealand bird guide, and grab some brunch. I was successful on all three counts, so it was a good morning. At noon I took a shuttle up to Wingspan. The people there were incredibly friendly. I was immediately rushed over to check out a pair of New Zealand falcon chicks that were just finishing getting fed. The couple of employees I talked to seemed happy to have a bird enthusiast visiting, and they were impressed by my work with Andean condors. They were also very informative about their birds and the center. After that I had about 1.25 hours until their flight demonstration at 2pm. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it turns out I had plenty of time to kill. I walked through the aviary and checked out every bird they had. It was kind of nice that I had so much time because I could take lots of pictures and just watch the birds. There were many New Zealand falcons, three Australasian harriers, a few Moreporks, and the only captive Barn Owl in New Zealand (it was rescued from some kind of accident but had to have one of its wings amputated, so it obviously can’t survive in the wild). Some of the birds were just doing their own thing (or sleeping, in the case of the owls), but a few of the falcons were like puppies in a pet store – they kept hopping around in the front of their cages like they were trying to get a good look at me. After that I still had about 45 minutes to kill, so I wandered up the road to check out the hatchery that one of the staffers told me about. Unfortunately it was just a bit longer than I anticipated, so by the time I got there, I had about five minutes before I had to turn around. It’s a good thing I did, because when I got back more tourists had shown up and they had one of the falcons out for people to hold and feed! Her name was… I don’t even know how to spell it. It sounds like “my right eye”, but slurred together. She stood on my arm and ate meat off my glove, and then immediately perched on my head. Pretty cool!

Atareta checking me out

Check out Mojo's bell (above his tail)

At that point they started the flight demonstration. They brought out two birds over the course of an hour – Atareta and Mojo. Atareta was stunning and really well trained (she was one of the puppy-in-the-window birds). She flies really well in breeze, and it was a bit windy that day which was perfect. She flew all around and would come in to chase the falconer’s lure, which he would pull away at the last second. He did this a few times until she went up really high to do her nose dive, and then he let her grab it. They did this a few times, and then he let us have her eat from our glove. The second bird to come out was Mojo. He was also well trained, but he liked to be more of a “cheeky bastard”. Every time he got his food rewards, he shot off into the tall trees behind the center. He did this partly so we wouldn’t steal it from him (he was rescued as a chick and raised at the center, so he’s kind of imprinted on humans and doesn’t know if he’s a falcon or a human), and partly because he likes to take his trainer by surprise every time he starts swinging a new lure around for him. The trainer would swing it around and call him in, but Mojo would hide in the trees and actually pay attention to which direction the trainer was looking, so when he turned away THAT’S when Mojo would fly in and try to get the lure. Since he disappears into the trees so often they attach a bell to him to help them figure out where he is. Apparently only once did he take off and not return until the next morning. But in 25 years they have only had one falcon fly off and never return. Pretty good!

INCOMING!!

The flight demonstrations are obviously for education and outreach, but the center also functions as a rehab center and captive breeding program. Many of the birds that they have were injured (broken wings, shot, hit by cars, etc) and are unable to be released in the wild. A number of others were raised or rescued as chicks, but they imprinted on humans and so are also unable to be released (like Mojo). These birds are either advocacy birds that participate in the flight demonstrations, or they are involved in the captive breeding program. They are much more successful at releasing chicks into the wild when they are born in pairs, like the ones that I saw (that way they imprint on each other rather than humans). Feel free to check out their website (http://www.wingspan.co.nz/index.html) if you want to learn more or donate to a good cause!

I chatted with a couple of the staff members before leaving, and as my shuttle was about to pull away one of the women ran back out to give me their most recent magazine. Super nice of them to do! They really are amazing people. Speaking of amazing people, my shuttle driver joins the growing list (maybe everyone in New Zealand is just amazing…). She worked for a company called Grumpy’s, but she was anything but that. She picked me up at my hostel 10 minutes early, which seems unheard of for shuttle companies. She was very friendly and gave me some suggestions of things to see/do in town and answered my random questions about New Zealand. She showed up at Wingspan around 2:50 but waited a good 10-15 minutes until the demonstration was over and I had chatted with the staff. She seemed pretty interested in the birds and was asking me all about the center. As if my day wasn’t good enough, when she dropped me off at the hostel I gave her a $50 and was digging around for the last $4 in coins, but she told me to not bother and that $50 was just fine. Super generous of her! And of course when I got inside, Andy and Leslie wanted to hear about Wingspan and how I liked it. What a great day.

G’day from down unda!

Well I made it to New Zealand and have survived my first few days here! The flights weren’t terrible, but stretch from Honolulu to Sydney was the longest flight I’ve been on in my non-infant life. I slept though half of it on and off, so it wasn’t terrible, but I had my dang space boot taking up 80% of my leg space, so it could’ve been better. Next time I’ll probably stick it in the overhead bin and bring a flip flop to wear to the bathroom. I say “next time” because traveling in a boot is awesome. I got wheel chair rides to all of my gates, skipped every line imaginable, and got an upgrade to the comfort section on my interisland flight so that I wouldn’t have to walk as far down the plane. Too bad that was for the shortest of my three flights, but I’ll take it. It was almost annoying how attentive they were being – I waited until they dropped me off at my gates and then got up and walked to the bathroom or to a food stand. I gotta stretch sometime! I was really enjoying the treatment on my first flight of the morning, from Hilo to Honolulu. They got me a wheelchair without me even asking and upgraded my seat and blah blah blah. I was pretty pleased with myself until the last passenger got on the plane – a double amputee they had to wheel all the way to his seat across the aisle from me. Aaaaand then I felt like an asshole.

Anyways, my long flight from Honolulu to Sydney was on Jetstar, which is a budget airline that I’d heard gives you absolutely nothing for free. No food, no water, no checked baggage, no seat choice, nothing. I was expecting the plane to be falling apart, like the opening scene to the TV show LOST. I prepared for a doomsday situation – brought my USB battery pack good for 10 full iphone charges, two water bottles full of water, two ham and cheese sandwiches, beef jerky, dried mangoes, a bag of pecans, a clif bar, and there was probably even an emergency flare in there somewhere for when we inevitably plummeted into the ocean on our plane that was probably made from salvaged parts. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was a newer model plane called the Dreamliner, which was pretty snazzy! The seats were 3-3-3 and everyone had an entertainment player at their seat. The entertainment player cost $10 to use, but there was a USB port on it so I could charge my phone and watch the movies that *I* brought! The windows were really big (bigger than normal) and there were no shades because they had adjustable tinting! It worked surprisingly well, and it was really nice because you could block the direct sunlight but still see outside. Wonderful. The people next to me clearly sprung for the works, because they had the “comfort package” delivered, which included a blanket and something else. Pillow maybe. Neither of them ended up using what they paid for, so that was a waste. They also paid for the entertainment players which was funny, because the selections were horrible. I did way better by putting movies and TV shows on my phone. The guy next to me started watching mine too, haha. The best part was when they came around to start serving lunch. They obviously have a list of who had pre-paid for food and went around serving those people first. When they got to our row, they handed me a package of shortbread and a little thing of water. I knew immediately that this was a mistake, so I ripped it open and stuffed my face before they could take it back. :) That was of course the appetizer, so when they came back with the entrees they apologized and said that they couldn’t give me one. I didn’t care – I still came out ahead!

Sky Tower, viewed
from my hotel

I had a short layover in Sydney, waited way too long for the city bus in Auckland, got to my hotel at 11:30pm, and crashed by midnight (which was 2am Hawaii time, meaning I had been up and traveling for 23 hours). I stayed at the Kiwi International Hotel. It was a very simple room – just a bed, sink, and desk, but I think it’s safe to say that that was the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in. It might have had something to do with the fact that I’d been napping in airplane seats all day, or that I’d been sleeping in a sleeping bag for the last seven months, or maybe it was just a really awesome bed. I put my earplugs in and slept like a baby. Fortunately I wasn’t jet lagged, just tired from the day of travel. Hawaii is two hours ahead but a day behind, so I completely lost my Saturday. I left at the crack of dawn on Friday and arrived just before midnight on Saturday. Weird.

My first day in Auckland was very uneventful. I woke up at 7:30 but didn’t bother leaving my hotel until around noon. I got brunch at this little French place not far from my hotel, then wandered around to find out where my bus stop was for the next morning. Auckland is surprisingly hilly, so I wasn’t looking forward to doing the trek in my boot with all my bags. Eventually I wandered back to my hotel to rest and watch TV shows (I have a broken foot – don’t judge me!), and then went out again for dinner at Al’s Deli. I got this really delicious salad with roasted red peppers, goat cheese, chorizo, fried chicken, and some other stuff. After eating the last bits of food in my cupboard for a week in Hawaii (which didn’t include much in the way of fresh produce, if you can imagine), a good salad was exactly what I needed. That was also a good learning day for me – I learned that walking around a lot and not staying on top of my pain meds is a bad idea. My ankle swelled up from only a couple hours of walking, and it was hurting more than it ever had. Granted, I’d never walked for a couple hours on it, and I was always taking plenty of meds, so this was a bad combo. Good to get that figured out on a day that didn’t matter, because the next day was way more important!

I woke up early with the intentions of running across the street for a fresh bagel at Al’s in time to run back across the street, grab my bags, and catch a city bus most of the way to the InterCity bus stop and then walk the rest of the way. As soon as I saw the continental breakfast at my hotel I dropped all of those plans. Of course, as soon as I sat down with my plates of food I noticed a sign that said the breakfast was $15 to be paid at the bar. Dang it! But… no one ever showed up at the bar, so free breakfast! When I checked out the guy at the counter convinced me to just take a taxi straight to the bus station because the hills would kill me with the ankle AND the bags. He was probably right. The taxi driver was really nice – as soon as he saw my boot he ran up to help me with my bags. Funny, because he said “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t notice your ankle at first!” like he wasn’t going to help me at all, until he noticed the boot. Whatever, I’ll take it! He even took my bag into the bus station for me. Nice guy! But no tipping in this country. Very strange to get good service and not reward the people for it. But the locals are very against it because they don’t want foreigners setting a precedent.

The Green Dragon

My bus left at 8am and took 3 hours to get to Matamata. Ever heard of it? It’s this little town of about 6,000 people settled somewhere in the countryside between Auckland and Rotorua. Why did I go there? Because it’s the starting point for tours heading to HOBBITON!! Day two of my trip and I was off to see the hobbits! It was a walking tour, so I wasn’t sure how I’d do, but it turned out just fine. Minor hills, slow pace, lots of stopping. Sheesh, do I sound old or what? Anyways, the countryside was beautiful! Everything was so green and lush. There were TONS of sheep all over the hillsides, and it being the start of spring there were little lambs EVERYWHERE! They were adorable and bitty. Our tour only had eight people on it, which was shocking. There were tours earlier in the day with over 30 people. The max they can take on a single tour is 41, which seems ridiculous; there’s no way they’d all be able to get their pictures in in the short amount of time that they stop at each hobbit hole and vista. We definitely lucked out with that one. Everyone on our tour had seen the movies, but I was the only one to read the books. We picked up our guide at the gift shop, where people who drive themselves meet up with the tours. From there we headed over a couple hills and then got our first glimpse of The Green Dragon (the bar).

First view of Hobbiton!

We parked at the bottom and then started our walk into Hobbiton along the path that Gandalf takes into town in his cart at the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring; Frodo runs down to greet him on the hill by the path and says “you’re late”. Remember that? Well it was right there! There were hobbit holes of all sizes so that different actors could stand by them and make them seem shorter or taller. Each hobbit also had some occupation, and that was definitely evident based on the props surrounding each hobbit hole – the baker, gardener, cheese maker, bee keeper, etc. We got to see inside a couple hobbit holes, and I even got to go stand in a doorway, but for the most part all of these are external features with absolutely nothing inside. In fact most were made out of plywood and flimsy materials because they were going to deconstruct the whole set… until they realized that it could become an attraction. As a result they have to do the occasional maintenance, which was unfortunately the case during my visit – Bilbo’s famous house had a bunch of scaffolding right next to the door! But you still got the idea. They are also in the process of building an event center or something, so they had to drain the lake in order to lay the foundation. We didn’t get quite the same majestic view that Bilbo had from his house, but it was still pretty amazing. On our way out we walked by Sam’s original house and then the house he has at the end of The Return of the King, where he goes home to his wife and children (fun fact: the girl running to him was his actual daughter, and the baby Rosie was holding was her actual baby).

Bilbo's house!! Don't mind the scaffolding...

Sam's house that he shares with Rosie

The Green Dragon

Hmm, other interesting things I learned: the wood fences outside each house look super old, but they are barely 10 years old – just painted with vinegar and covered with a bunch of fake moss that they plastered and painted on! The tree on top of Bilbo’s house is fake and has a thousand fake leaves, each attached by hand (but when they filmed The Hobbit they had to change the tree and make it look 60 years younger). When Gandalf walks into Bilbo’s house and bumps his head in the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, that was totally accidental, but the actor stayed in character. The little pond near the garden was manmade, and after they made it a bunch of frogs moved in and were SO LOUD they could barely hear the actors, so they had to relocate the frogs for the duration of filming. The massive tree by the lake that was featured at Bilbo’s birthday party was the main feature that sold this place over 11 other candidate farms. The farm owner had to sign a confidentiality agreement before he was even told what the filming project was, and after being told it was for The Lord of the Rings he said “the lord of the what?”. And I think the last tidbit I remember is that when Merry and Pippin set off fireworks from the back of Gandalf’s cart, Pippin let out actual screams when they exploded, which they kept in the movie to his dismay. Phew! Whirlwind tour. But it wasn’t quite over – before leaving we got 20 minutes in The Green Dragon for a free drink! I got the Sackville Cider and bought a delicious cranberry and chocolate chip muffin. Definitely a great day.

At that point we went back to Matamata where I caught a bus to Rotorua where I’ll be for the next few days. Got several things planned while I’m here, so I’ll keep you posted!

The End of Summer

Okay, continuing on with summer – I FINALLY got a good manta snorkel trip! I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I went snorkeling with the mantas back in April, but it was an awful trip. I booked a night snorkel instead of a sunset snorkel (supposedly more mantas later at night), but the day of the trip the company had to take their boat out of the water, so the rescheduled me with their sister company. Unfortunately their night snorkel was full, so I had to settle for the sunset snorkel. That was like a zoo – there had to be at least 10-15 boats and 200+ people in the water. There wasn’t any room! Everyone is supposed to hold on to these surfboards with lights that shine down into the water and attract the mantas. There were so many people that I was bumping into other groups without even moving. We also waited 35 minutes before we saw one single manta swim the length of the groups and then off into the deep. That was it. An 8 second glimpse of a manta as it swam along the ocean floor. Nice, but not what I was hoping for.

So fast forward to August – I had arranged with the original company (Splashers Ocean Adventures) to get a discount on a future snorkel trip since my first reservation got messed up. Alex (from game nights), Kelly and I went over to Kona for a snorkel night which I carefully planned around the new moon (the mantas are attracted to lights because plankton (their food source) is attracted to lights; when there is a full moon it’s like one giant light source so the surf board lights are less effective). There are two also two sites that the manta tours go to – the Sheraton Hotel south of Kona (where my first trip was), and the Garden Eel Cove just off the coast by the airport. The Sheraton location is where the mantas have learned to go because of the bright lighting from the hotel over the years, but the airport location is where they hang out naturally, for whatever reason. Luckily this tour went to the airport spot, so I got a totally new experience.

When we got to the spot we could already see a manta or two from the boat! There were also maybe four boats there already, but most were from the earlier trip and were heading out soon. I wasted no time and got in the water first. Once everyone else got in position around the surf board, we only had to wait a few minutes for a manta to come over. It swam under us a couple of times and then started doing its signature somersaults right under the board. It got so close, it was incredible!! So at that point I was pretty content – we got a manta swimming right up to us repeatedly. Way better than the first trip. A few minutes later another one came over, then another, and another, and another! We were at five mantas for quite a while, so I was over the moon (this was more than most of my friends had seen on their previous trips). One difference between this spot and the Sheraton spot was that there weren’t any lights stationed on the ocean floor, and there was only one other boat a ways away, so we only had the lights from our surf board. In other words, it was quite a bit darker. So when our five mantas all happened to swim out of the light long enough for it to shine to the bottom, we saw that there were at least another five swimming down there! Our guide – who was giving us fun facts and answering questions the whole time – was also pointing out when new mantas would arrive, and she was freaking out at how many there were. Her high count was 12, but it was so difficult because they kept moving and getting blocked by shadows. It was absolutely amazing!! Before this our guide had seen at most 8 mantas at one time under one boat, so this shattered her old record. It was insane how many there were and how close they got! They bumped into my legs a couple of times, and there were so many of them that they had a couple collisions with each other – very funny to watch such graceful creatures bonk heads. After that experience I’ve decided that I can never go on a manta snorkel trip ever again, because it will never be as good as what I saw that night. I’m pretty glad that first trip was awful, because I wouldn’t have gone a second time and had such a spectacular viewing! If only I had a waterproof camera… I’ll have to get some pictures off of Alex.

Another fun adventure I had was a snorkel trip followed by camping on the beach. Dom, George, and I headed over to Kona side and spent a solid couple of hours snorkeling at Two Step (the place I snorkeled with dolphins back in March or so, and have returned several times since). We spent a solid couple of hours in the water and saw some awesome fish and even two eagle rays! It looked like an adult and a youngin’, as the small one was less than half the size of the larger one. The adult was still smaller than the mantas, but they were very cool to swim with and see during the day. After that we met up with some of the others from the guys’ house and other techs from the park. We headed up to Kekaha Kai State Park (the beach that we took the party scraper to over that really sketchy lava road), and from there we hiked 20 minutes to get to Makalawena Beach. We were planning on camping there, but the guardian of the beach – a really old guy with a long beard and a big walking stick – told us we couldn’t stay, so after watching the sunset we hiked halfway back to the first beach and found a nice little area to set up camp. We had a fun evening chatting and watching planes fly in to the Kona airport. The next morning Dom, George, and I rolled out just before sunrise, so we got to watch it happen on our walk back to the car. Beautiful!

Sunset at Makalawena

Camping spot right by the water

Sunrise on the walk to the car

On a smaller scale, I also started adventuring around the park a bit more. I tried to go on some decent walks after work a few days a week (when rain didn’t stop me). I walked to the Jaggar Museum a few times (overlooking the crater), across the Kilauea Iki Trail (the one that I did with some of my crew on our first weekend here), and generally along the Crater Rim Trail. It’s amazing how the view changes every day depending on the weather, the clouds, and the volcano emissions. It’s easy to forget how lucky I am to be living in a national park next to a VOLCANO! Especially when you consider the eruption back in April and the poor visitors whose trips entirely overlap with a storm.

Cloud factory

I think my last big adventure of the summer was my camping trip to Pololu Valley. I’d been there a couple times before, but this time we decided to spend the night. I went with Kristen and Kelly who worked for Alex on an Elepaio project for the USGS. They also live in the park, but in a different house. Kristen actually just finished up with that project and switched to our project for the fall and winter, so now she’ll get to spend some time in Hakalau. Anyways, we headed up on a Saturday afternoon with a stop at the Big Island Brewhaus in Waimea. They have some excellent beers and delicious burgers, so a stop was inevitable. We also picked up some malasadas (sugar coated donut things with optional fillings) as snacks and for breakfast the next morning. Basically we ate our way up the coast until we finally made it to Pololu. We hiked down, set up camp, lit a fire, and hung out for the evening. There was only one other group spending the night, but they were on the other side of a hill from us, so it was like we had the place to ourselves – it was great! I woke up with sunrise the next morning and hiked around a bit to enjoy the scenery before the crowds showed up. They definitely show up early, considering how out of the way the valley is, and the 20 minute hike down to the beach. But it was a great trip and I would love to do it again.

Camping by the water again! Hard to NOT do in Hawaii

An interesting work-related thing that I got to help with was a rat-trapping study that’s being done as part of the Elepaio project. They are trapping, tagging, and releasing rats, and then trapping again in the early spring right before the bird breeding season. I think it’s to get an idea of abundance, but in the spring they’ll also be putting out poison and “dispatching” the rats that they do trap as they are one of the main Elepaio nest predators. Anyways, I went out for a day to help them check traps and set them up in a new site (turns out rats like coconuts). I got to ear tag a few of them, which was fun and smelly – the cages smell like rat pee. It was fun because they came up with an easy way to ear tag them; normally you would grab the rat by the scruff, but a few of them have gotten away. Instead, they get the rats into a plastic bag with the corner cut out so that only their heads fit through, and then you can tag their ears without anything getting in the way. Easy peasy! And kind of adorable. Except for the rat pee.

Unfortunately I can’t help with the rat stuff anymore, or go to Hakalau to train the new fall/winter techs, or go on any big adventures anymore. But I *can* post two blog updates in one weekend. Why? I broke my ankle during my last stint in Hakalau. :( I was walking around the net trail at our Koa site checking nets like I’ve done a thousand times, but this time I stepped in a hole that was semi-hidden by overgrown grass and I heard and felt something pop. Damn! I knew it was bad as soon as I stood up, but I assumed it was sprained like when I tripped while hiking back in 2012. I hobbled back to the truck to look for an ice back, and then scooted to the banding tent (fortunately this happened at Koa, where the banding tent is 20 feet from the road). For the next week I iced it, elevated it, and had it wrapped in an ace bandage, but I figured it’d be smart to get it checked out before leaving the country (did I mention that? More later). Turns out I fractured my left fibula! Bummer. The ER doctor didn’t even notice it until the X-ray technician pointed it out. He already told the nurse to re-wrap me in an ace bandage, but ran back in and said “Change of plans. I just saw the x-rays – get the space boot!” So I’ve been wearing this boot for a little over a week now, and on Thursday I’ll be switching to a slightly smaller boot that’s easier to walk in. It means that I’m sitting at home on the couch for my last weekend in Hawaii while everyone else is on various hiking/camping trips, but that’s okay – it’ll give me time to clean and start sorting my things (if I ever stop binge watching TV shows, that is). It’s actually kind of good that I waited to get it checked out because the orthopedic doctor I saw said that if I’d come in any sooner he would’ve put me in an actual cast. That would’ve definitely messed with my travel plans!

Yes, travel plans… have I mentioned that I’m going to Australia for my next job?! I have a nest searching position in Canberra from mid-October to mid-January! But before that I’m spending a month traveling around New Zealand for fun. Finally getting to cross these countries off my bucket list! Unfortunately the ankle is a bit of a hindrance, but I’m making do and adjusting my plans. I guess I’ll just be seeing the country in a more leisurely fashion than I was initially hoping. I leave on Friday, so this new adventure is just around the corner! I plan to keep updating this blog for this upcoming adventure, so stay tuned!

One last thing – I discovered a really cool website that shows global weather, wind, ocean currents, pollution, etc. It’s particularly interesting to watch while all these hurricanes are hanging around Hawaii. Check it out at: earth.nullschool.net

Until next time, when I’m down under and a solid half-day ahead of most of you!