Kiwi Spotting on Motuora

Denise and I, and a few friends took a overnight camping trip on an island called Motuora a few weeks back. The island is a wildlife refuge and a indigenous tree sanctuary.

The island used to be used for farming, thus the indigenous trees were clear cut for grazing and farming. A conservation group has now taken over the island and is trying to replant the indigenous trees to provide a safe haven for the Kiwi birds that are also being introduced to the refuge. History lesson over!


So here we are arriving on the island. A water taxi took us across the open waters where we had the island to ourselves. Notice the heaps of gear that everyone brought for a one night stay..... You would think we were staying for a month.

Anyway, we made camp and settled in that morning. The whole purpose of the trip was to help the conservation group plant some trees the next day, but the day we arrived was for exploring the island and having a bit of fun.

Not to worry, no one got hurt even though it took several shots to get a descent action shot. Yep, we were acting like a bunch of teenagers.... I particularly like my perfect ten point dismount. Nice!

We tramped around the coastline exploring every little nook and cranny. Denise discovered these little sea creatures a low tide.
The rest of the day was great. We played a little bit of coed touch rugby, a bit of soccer, and then had a pasta dinner feast. We even had the chance to go on an evening hunt for the ever illusive nocturnal Kiwi bird, but none were ever spotted. We had everything to get us ready for a hard days work planting trees the next morning.


But as fate would have it, the weather took a turn for the worse, and a huge storm was brewing over the near by seas and was heading our way. We had to take the early water taxi home the next morning for fear that the water would be too treacherous to navigate in the afternoon. So no trees were planted. But a good time was had by all, except for one or two people on the boat ride back. The size of the boat, and the size of the swell made me ask twice where the life jackets were hiding. The seas were all ready angry with a swell up to about 8-10 feet! Small boat plus angry seas equals shat in pants....
We made back to the dock safe and sound a little disappointed by that fact that we were unable to help out planting trees, and unlucky that we could not catch a glimpse of a Kiwi. But we did have a blast, and I am sure there will be another opportunity to go back.