A kiwi in my hand...

Some experiences in life you just know are going to be remembered for the rest of your life. Such an experience happened to me Friday 27 November.

I better start from the beginning. The Thursday before I was in a meeting with people from DoC (Department of Conservation). Ric was updating them about the progress of the Park and at the end of the meeting he asked if it would be possible for me to go out with them some day. “Sure! Tomorrow morning 6:30!!” Oki doki then!! We were going to Mayor Island – in Maori: Tuhua.

Tuhua is a dormant shield volcano and is situated right on the shelf of the tectonic plate. The seafloor is 400-500 beneath waves just of the island, which is considered very important by Maori because of the presence of black obsidian (volcanic glass). It is used in the same way as flint but can have much more sharp edges. I really wanted to take a piece with me but that is not allowed.

Volcanic glass...

More volcanic glass...

Two layers can be seen after different volcanic eruptions...

Tuhua is owned by Maori and was populated until a few years ago. However the houses weren’t properly maintained while people lived there so the place is very run down. DoC now governs the island and has chosen it to be a part of a release/breeding program for kiwis. They have eradicated all non native species both flora and fauna so the kiwi can breed in peace. 10 kiwis have been released and the goal is to have 100 breeding pairs. In the future the idea is to take kiwis from Tuhua and release them other places in New Zealand.

Well back to the main story: I wasn’t too sure the trip was going to happen because of very strong winds. However the weather forecast was promising and got a call late Thursday afternoon that the trip was on! Bring sun screen, hat, jacket, tramping boots and lunch! Very important with the lunch… ;o)

Friday morning my alarm went off at 5 and I tumbled out of bed. Getting all the things packed and off I went. I met Chris, Dan and Dave at DoC’s office and after a cupper we headed off to the harbour. The boat had to be launched and packed with things for the care taker out there. DoC has just started a care taker program in order to fix up the place and prevent unauthorized people from doing illegal things. The idea is that people can rent the houses for a weekend or so and explore the island.

After refuelling we put the engines to work and at a speed of 25 knots we shot off out of Tauranga Harbour. It took about an hour and I can best describe the trip as either a 1 hour ride on a mechanical bull or a horse where someone put a thistle under the saddle. Not being used to riding motorboats I had to hold on pretty tight but no sea sickness.

We arrived at South Eastern Bay (S.E. Bay) at 9’ish and after unloading different things we headed back out to sea to try and locate the kiwis. They have a little radio transmitter around one of their legs and via an aerial we were able to determine that they were all on the island still and the transmitters still worked. The batteries last about 14 months so they need to be changed before they run out. The aim that particular day was to find one of two youngsters and change the transmitter. The youngsters are still growing so the transmitters have to be changed around every six months until they are fully grown.

Dava and Dan trying to pick up signals...

We sailed around the island and checked that no one was fishing in the marine reserve. It is not allowed to fish within the reserve but some do. They stay right on the edge and once we are gone they will go onto the reserve and fish. Some people just don’t have any moral or sense of what is right and wrong.

We stopped again trying to see if we could pick up a signal. We did so we went ashore and started walking in the direction the signal was coming from. It was off road but the bush wasn’t too thick (not like in Bush bashing episode!) and after an hour or so we started triangulating in order to find the kiwi. Her name is Mako by the way. Finally we had her “cornered” so to say under a big flax. I was told that if she came out I shouldn’t try and grab her because they are very fragile. Instead I should tip her over and then grab her legs. I stood there, trying to be prepared and all of the sudden the bird just came running out and I only saw a small glimpse of it. Darn it! I thought we now had to run around for at least an hour trying to find her again but luckily the young birds only run a few meters and then hide again. That is what she did and she was hiding in a flax not far from the first place. We could see her and she was looking at us hoping that we weren’t able to see HER! Dan was able to grab her by one leg and Dave then took hold of her. I was very surprised to see how big she really was. Even though she was only a third of an adult size she weighed 1,34 kilos. She was trying to scare us by snapping her beak but she never tried to bite. We wrapped her in a towel and that calmed her down a bit and we were able to change the transmitter.

Big bird...

Changing the transmitter...

Measuring the beak...

Weighing her...

Such a beautiful bird...

Memory for life holding Mako...

We took a few measurements and after that I was lucky to get to hold Mako! She was so soft and very beautiful. She had whiskers which are used in pretty much the same way a cat uses them. We let her free in the same place as we found her and I think she was happy about that.

We started the trek back to the boat and headed back to S.E. Bay where we picked up Chris. He had stayed with the caretaker to do some plumbing. He was very surprised that I chose to go with Dan and Dave instead of working on the plumbing with him...he he! We had lunch (the very important lunch) and took off around 3 pm. Went around the island one more time and then it was time for the bull ride again. So very different from sailing where ship works with the waves instead of cutting through them.

The tui birds were watching us...

Sea urchin or kina in Maori...

S.E. Bay...

S.E. Bay...

After a bit of cleaning the boat was put back and we returned to the office. I was one big smile the whole day and was so happy I got this opportunity. I was home at 6 pm and I went to bed pretty early that night. But happy...! :o)

Big engines...

Mako is let free again...

Tauranga ASB Breast Cancer Women Only Walk - 21 October 2009

On 21 October Holly and I took part of a Women Only Walk in support of the fight against breast cancer. Thousands of women dressed in pink walked through Tauranga and it was a really uplifting the see so many people there. Pretty much all of us know someone who has been stricken by this awful disease and it is easy to loose hope. However I do feel that it is a battle that can be won if we put all that we have into it.

Holly, Karen, Lilli, Fiona and me...



Holly made a really cool bra with bees...


Words are not necessary here...


Holly and Ric bustin' some moves....


A sea of pink....

Rotorua - the sights, smells and sounds...

New Zealand is known for many things and one of them is geothermal springs and one of the best places to experience them is in Rotorua. I went there a couple of weeks ago and the first thing I noticed getting out of my car is the allways present smell of sulphur aka rotten eggs. Instead of being annoyed by it it sort of reminded me of Esbjerg. Well, now that has come to and end for Esbjerg hasn't it? I visited the Rotorua Museum which is the old bath house from the 1800 hundreds. Europeans discovered the healing powers of the thermal pools and this resulted in bath houses all over the place. Not as grand as this one but many people came to heal different alements.

The Rotorua Museum - the old bath house

The area was also famous for it's pink and white terraces (Otukapuarangi meaning the fountain of the clouded sky and Te Tarata meaning the tattooed rock in Maori.). They were considered to be the 8th wonder of the world and were formed large amounts of siliceous sinter spouting from the geysers leaving silica deposits. The were sadly destroyed in the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera which could be heard as far away as Blenheim and the effects of the ash in the air were observed as far south as Christchurch, over 800 km south. In Auckland the sound of the eruption and the flashing sky was thought by some to be an attack by Russian warships.

It must have been beautiful...



Painting of the terraces...

After reading a bit about the history I went out into the Goverment Gardens. A very pruned park with a few hot pools. The smell of eggs was especially strong there. Yum...! Maori cook food in the ground where there is thermal activity. Sometimes in the hot pools. It is called hangi and taste fantastic!

Cool to think this is a vent from the core of the Earth...

I visited Ohinemutu. A small Maori village by Lake Rotorua. I am absolutely blown away by the wood carvings Maori do. The small church was filled with wood carved ornaments and the marae (meeting house) is one of the most amazing houses I have ever seen. I had a really nice talk with a young woman about the history of the place and also a bit about Danish history. We also talked about different kinds of tourist and she told me that a lot of German people visit the village. While we were talking 5 people came into the village and well what ya know? German tourists!! Are there any left in Germany I wonder....?

A little interesting thing about the church is that all the graves are on top of the ground. It is not possible to bury people in the ground because of the thermal activity.

The church



The marae in Ohinemutu

The faces on the marae scare evil spirits away.

The last thing I saw was the mud pools. They look really tempting to hop into but after a few minutes you'll be boiled and ready for eating so I resisted. I really wish I could put a smelly picture in here. It's a "treat" for your nose I tell ya...!

Mud frogs lept all over the pool...

Don't you just love the sound...?

The TECT All Terrain Park Discovery Day!

One of the major things I have been involved in was the TECT All Terrain Park Discovery Day. It was a day designed for the user groups (and contractors) to come up to the park and display and tell about what they propose to do in the park. It also was a Western Bay of Plenty District Council & Sport Bay of Plenty Live To Play co-event designed to encourage families to get outside and be active.

The biggest job was to contact all the user groups and this was somewhat difficult. I might have said it before but Ric said: "It's like herding cats!" Which is SO true! Just trying to get a hold of them is quite challenging but I did and we had 9 groups upthere on the day. They brought cars, dogs, horses, SAR-equipment (SAR = Search And Rescue) and motorcycles. 15 contractors showed off some of their pretty awesome machinery. Among others a machine that can turn a large tree into chips within 90 seconds! Fuuun....!

Two very mellow sleddogs...

Native plants going in the ground...

One word: Wow...!

The scouts built a ropebridge...



The kids loved the horses!!



I admire guys daring to do this...

1 minute it's a tree, the next a bunch of chips...!



A cool little portable mill. 2 chainsaws and one blade...

We had 4 choppers there! How cool is that?! 4!!! The TECT Rescue, the M*A*S*H, and two other showing how to use a monsoon bucket and one giving an air show. I really wanted to go on the M*A*S*H chopper but time flew by so fast and all of the sudden it was 3 pm and time to go home. Well, after cleaning up that is...

The TECT Rescue Helicopter



Filling the monsoon bucket...



And now putting out the fire with the monsoon bucket...



Man! This guy can really fly!

I also arranged a scavenger hunt for the kids. They had to find different things around the hub site and they did an awesome job! We have a problem with a plant called crocosmia and they had to pick 5 plants out the ground and also collect pine cones. Other plants they needed to draw a picture of because the plants were native. We want those to stay in the ground...! I had also posted 8 signs with English, Maori and Danish words on them. For example: Horse - Hoiho - Hest. They all got a prize for their effort and it was fun doing something for the kids.

A lolly scramble from the chopper...

We had hoped to see 300 people up there.We would have been happy with that number. Conservatively we guesstimate that 600 turned up to see what it's was all about....!! It was an amazing day!

Now we face the summer and things are starting to happen at the Park. Trails are going to be built and hopefully by the end of summer we are going to have an official opening of parts of the Park. Should be very exciting...!

I got a little ride on Fox. He was amazing!

Hooray for everything...

Hurra hurra for mig...!! :o) Fødselsdag jeg havde!

Havde bagt en rigtig god svampet gulerodskage med et tykt lag flødeostglasur og Bedstes Krydderkage hvilket Ric og Jarron blev vældig glade for. Jeg spiste også et stykke eller 3...!

Solen skinnede det meste af dagen selvom der var blevet lovet regn. Et eller andet må jeg have gjort rigtigt. Men så alligevel ikke da det var meningen jeg skulle med over på en nærliggende ø for at deltage i nogle ildslukningsøvelser. Skulle med en lille færge men den kom aldrig tilbage så ventede på havnen i 2 timer. Spiste frokost, fik mig en lille lur, spiste lidt kage og til sidst gad jeg ikke mere og kørte tilbage til kontoret. Ric og Jarron var lidt kede af det ikke lige gik som det skulle men jeg nød solen og dagen.

Da jeg kom hjem stod der den smukkeste blomster på mit bord!! Wow!! De var fra Lærke og Frederik (mor Helene hjalp med at finde dem på internettet) og blev helt rørt til tårer. Har aldrig fået blomster på den måde før!

Er de ikke bare smukke....?! :o)

Om aftenen var jeg inviteret op til Ric og Holly, som havde lavet en dejlig vegetarlasagne, salat og hvidløgsbrød. Pigerne havde bagt en dejlig chokoladekage, så fik hele 3 kager! Vi hyggede og snakkede og jeg viste dem det kort jeg har sendt til Martins fødselsdag. Vi var flade af grin alle sammen så hvis nogen har set og hørt kortet hjemme ved familien Hjul Ottesen så ved I hvad jeg skriver om...he he...

Ja det ser ud som om jeg har hånden i kagen...*g*

Om lørdagen var jeg ude at spise med en veninde jeg har mødt til yoga. Vi tog over til the Mount og spiste super lækker indisk mad og bagefter fik vi et par drinks downtown Tauranga. Det var en rigtig hyggelig aften men må være lidt gammel for jeg var egentlig grydeklar da vi tog hjem klokken midnat. Oh well...