Tiritiri Matangi - An open sanctuary

Thursday 02 April Sunny and warm 21C Drove 20km

After buying some sandwiches for lunch, off to Whangaparaoa and Gulf Harbour to catch the boat to Tiritiri Matanga. The road from Orewa to Whangaparaoa consists of miles of housing broken up with strips of shops and, of course, lots of traffic. There is now a bypass around Orewa, so major road works are taking place on the sea front to change it into a mainly pedestrianised area. I'm sure it will look better by December 2009 when the work is due to finish.

Beyond Orewa, the road seamlessly changes into Whangaparaoa, a peninsular sticking out into Hauraki Gulf. The peninsular seems to be mainly areas of housing, some obviously very expensive. Most of the housing is clustered around a series of small bays such as Tindalls and Waiau. The best named areas go to Big Manly Beach, situated down Lady's Mile Road, and not far away, Little Manly Beach.

Gulf Harbour is a vast marina and housing development on the northern edge of the peninsular, it is all rather impersonal and there doesn't seem to be any hotels, motels or restaurants there either, all things I'd expect to see at a marina of this size. Nevertheless, the boats for Tiritiri Matanga (Tiri to the locals) Island leave from here just before 10-o-clock between Wednesday and Sunday. The wildlife gets two days off each week! The boat actually comes from Auckland and probably leaves as early as 9. Gathered at the marina and waiting for the boat were two school parties along with a handfull of 'tourists'. The kids were quite well behaved though, so it wasn't as bad as it might have been.

Once on board the boat, we got the mandatory safety and bio-protection briefings and then sat back for the 20 minute journey. The weather had changed dramatically from yesterday, light breezes and clear blue skies, the only sign of yesterdays bad weather was a bumpy sea.

Arriving at the island, we were given another briefing by a Department of Conservation Ranger before being divided into groups. The kids disappeared with their guides first and left our group of 6 to set off up the island. Our guide, a volunteer, was very knowledgable, especially about the plants and was able to describe how the island had evolved since it became a reserve in the 1970s. Unlike other island reserves that are carefully controlled and only very limited access is available, Tiri is open to the public, but visitors are encouraged to be responsible and not harm the wildlife.

During our stay on the island, we saw several rare and endangered species of birds. Bell birds were everywhere and we also frequently saw Stitch birds and Saddlebacks, both very rare. The usually Tui were to be seen to as well as Whiteheads and Robins. We also saw lots of red-crowned Parakeets and Pukeko. Up at the lighthouse, wandering aimlessly about, we saw to two Takahe. These birds are extremely rare, perhaps only 300 left on the planet. A large, chicken-sized flightless bird, they are very vulnerable to predation.

After lunch, we abandoned our guide and followed a path along the ridge of the island before plunging down another walkway down to Hobbs Bay. It would have been great to have had time to do some snorkelling in the clear waters, but we only had 25 minutes before the only boat left the island!

On the mainland again, we drove back to Orewa, stopping at two bays on the way. We just had to have a picture of Big Manly Bay, there should have been a 'Little Wimp Bay', but instead there was a Little Manly Bay.

Back at the motel, plans were discussed for our departure from NZ tomorrow over a meal in Orewa.