That Was A Long Day, And Also KEA!!!

On Monday, May 3, we were still trying to figure out how to fit a multi-day trip into the poor weather.  We decided to do a “little” day hike in Mt. Aspiring National Park.  We walked up to the Rob Roy Glacier amidst the snow-capped mountains.  It was very pretty...

mt. aspiring, 3033 meters, in the center

...but if you've seen a bunch of snow-capped mountains before, it was meh.  It was great to put some miles on my boots, of course, but I was actually a little...  bored.  I know.  I'm in New Zealand, hiking through one of the most outstanding national parks, and I'm just not blown away.  Yet.

On the way up the trail, there was a sign warning against feeding the kea.  Kea are alpine parrots.  That's right:  these boys don't fly through the jungle.  They prefer the snow.  Weird, huh?  They have a reputation for being bold, curious, and rather cheeky.  They have learned to open zippers, so you can't leave packs unattended, and they also have a reputation for stealing part or all of boot laces (unfortunate!).  I was a little disappointed that I hadn't encountered one yet.

do not feed the kea

At the top of the trail, Dave and I stopped for a snack under the shadow of the glacier.  Dave said that he was a little bummed that we hadn't seen a kea yet.  I nodded and took a bite out of my apple.  My butt was getting cold, sitting on a rock, so I stood up to stretch.  Behind Dave:

"hullo, there!!!!!"

KEA!!!

He was standing maybe a meter from us, looking right at us and doing that funny swaying thing that parrots do, staring at our backs while we were oblivious to him.  Once we noticed him and gave him attention, he circled us and came right up to us.  He was observing us as much as we were observing him.  He tried to pull some pieces of metal off a post.  He tried to beg for our food.  He tried to pull at my hiking poles.  He almost grabbed Dave's camera.  I was absolutely ENCHANTED.

"are you giving me something?  can i eat it?  can i play with it?"

Of course, we did not feed him.  The only thing he got was a little entertainment, and the only thing we got was a few pictures.

"i am such a pretty birdie!"

Oh yeah, the rest of the day.  We hiked down the glacier path, then out to the Mt. Aspiring hut, then back to the carpark.  It was a full day hike, about 26 km/ 16 miles.  A long day, but the kea made it worthwhile!

Hiking Around Wanaka & Updates

The torrential rains here on the west coast of the South Island have been messing with our hiking plans.  Parts of Fiordland have received a meter of rain in only a few days.  This is one of the rainiest parts of the world, but even a meter of rain has people saying that it's been a wet few weeks.  Many tracks are closed due to infrastructure damage (to bridges, huts, and trails).  The Milford track, which we hope to tramp in the next few weeks, has sections drowned in waist-high flood waters.

We got lucky, with three dry days.  We did a short half-day hike around Diamond Lake to Rocky Peak, and then we did an overnight trip to Fern Burn Hut on the Motatapu Track.  Here are some pictures and comments:



Now, a few updates...

(1) I just posted a bunch of stuff I had written previously, while I was still staying up in the Coromandel.  Posts from here forward will be about the road trip...  so no more auto-posts while I'm away from the internet.  If nothing appears here for a week or two, it doesn't mean I'm dead.  Just means I'm playing outside!

(2)  With any luck at all, we'll take off for a multi-day tramp soon.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rains stay on the other side of the Southern Alps and the trails dry out.  Until next time...  onward and upwards, and happy trails!

It's Eel-ectric!

Once upon a time, Bexie was digging some juicy, dark, clay-heavy soil out of the mostly dried out duck pond muck to use in a salad green garden bed.

duck pond...  the upper few centimeters of earth are dried out and crusty, but the muck below is juicy, blank, and dense.

And then...  out of the corner of her eye...  she saw a large worm slither under the upturned soil.

A really large worm.

A REALLY large worm!

hint:  they're not worms

There were baby eels living in the muck of the dried out duck pond!  And not just one eel--in only a few minutes, we liberated a half-dozen from only the top 20 centimeters of soil in a square meter patch.  They thrashed about and were really difficult to grab until they dried out a little.  We forced them to slither into the mouth of a jug of water.  When we turned the water jug upside down and the contents went plop-plop-plop-plop into the creek, some of the baby eels just rested on the sediment for a while.  I reached into the water and ran a finger along its spine.   It was unexpectedly soft and oh-so-slimy.  Now I understand the saying, "slippery as an eel"...  it's descriptive and very true!

Jon postulates that the eels swam into the duck pond during the last wet season.  The last time Tuateawa had any rain of note was a great storm and flood in November of 2009.  This means that the eels had been in the muck for at least 4 months, and perhaps as long as 7 or 8 months!!!

When we got home, I cracked open one of our books about New Zealand natural history from our library.  I wanted to know how on earth these fish could live out of the water!  What I learned was more bizarre than I could have imagined.

(Begin eel tangent)

Bexie's Vegetarian Mushroom Gravy

I don't really like potatoes...  unless they're smothered in this gravy.  Rock on.

• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 c. diced mushrooms
• 2 T. oil
• 2 c. vege broth or water
• 3 T. nutritional yeast
• 1 vege bouillon cube
• 1/2 t. onion powder
• 1/2 t. garlic salt
• ~3 T. flour

Saute onions and mushrooms in oil until soft, 2-3 mintues.  Add remaining ingredients, except flour, and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently.  Slowly add flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, and whisk thoroughly to combine.  Continue adding flour until gravy reaches desired thickness.

Apartments for Bugs

On the scale of bizarreness from "common housefly" to "outlandish freak of your nightmares," the puriri moth sits somewhere around "imaginative Hollywood creation."  It's the largest moth in New Zealand, with wingspans up to 15 cm/ 6 inches.  Basically, it's the size of a small bird!  Strangely, this gentle giant only lives 2 days.  Its mouth parts don't work, so it doesn't eat.  It lives in its adult stage just long enough to breed.

adult female puriri moth.  photo credit:  Tony Wills, 2007

Even though the adult form of the puriri moth lives for only two days, the caterpillar form can live for up to 5 or 6 years.  The grubs gnaw their way into a tree and form a little burrow where they will sit.  And sit.  And sit.

checking out burrows--occupied and formerly occupied--in a kohekohe tree.  it's like an apartment complex for grubs!

close-up of an occupied burrow in a putaputaweta tree in our backyard.  there's a puriri moth grub waiting in there!

close-up of an unoccupied burrow in a putaputaweta.  the grub has emerged as a moth, but the hole in the tree remains...

eventually, the tree forms a scar over the burrow.

Recently, a scientist caught on camera for the very first time a puriri moth hatching out of its chrysalis.  It's awesome to see its wings unfurling.  The footage is here.  I definitely recommend that you take a look!

Pigs Do Fly

This is the laziest bird I've ever encountered:

"i'm not moving.  you can't make me move."

It's a wood pigeon.  He was hanging out in a cabbage tree in our front yard.  I walked within 8 meters/ 25 feet of him and took a picture of him; he looked at me.  I walked within 5 meters/ 15 feet of him; he ate a few more berries.  I walked right up under the cabbage tree; he turned his rear end toward me.  I extended my hand and took a picture.

He pooped.

Fortunately he missed, but I was again surprised by how placid and nonchalant most New Zealand birds seem to be.  This is what millions of years of evolution without humans, much less any other land mammals, will produce.

"how do i look from this angle?"

Wood pigeons, or kereru in Maori, is beautifully colored in gem-tones of emerald, amethyst, ruby, and sapphire, with a cream white belly and a perfectly round, sunset-colored eye.  Very pretty.  They're quite large, and they seem like they'd be dense and heavy and very nice to hold in your lap, like a cat.  When they jump off a branch to fly, usually the branch moves and they do not, not until they flap their wings hard to keep their large bodies afloat.

But I'm not writing about kereru because they're cute, fat birdies, even though I do like me some cartoonishly adorable, chubby birds.

"and how about this?"