A Tour by Night for Children

The lights of the titiwai, or glow worm

During the school holidays Zealandia runs night tours for children. They start out slightly earlier than the normal tour but finish an hour earlier and do not go so far up the valley.
I went out as Assistant Guide one night with a group of very excited children accompanied by just as excited adults. We saw patake, kaka, kawau and baby tuatara, then turned to seeking out kiwi. Though we heard rustles we did not get to see one. The group was a little noisy and spread out which may have been a factor.

We headed up to the gold -mine to see cave weta and have a chocolate drink. The weta have shifted out of the mine at present and are making their home in a lock-up box where the helmets are kept which makes them easy to find and be observed. Makes it tricky to get the helmets out though!

A volunteer in the mine.

While this was going on I had the job of taking small groups into the mine. Wellington had a small and unsuccessful gold rush in the 1860s. Several shafts were drilled about the place including a couple in Zealandia. The mine we were about to enter was the Morning Star Mine, a shallow tunnel of about fifteen metres or so in length. Rail tracks can still be seen curving out of the entrance. Trucks of quartz bearing rock was carted down to the river to be crushed, but nothing was ever found and the mine was quickly closed.

Kids in the mine - or in the middle of Middle Earth. Spot the cave wetas on the wall.

As our tour was tailored for children we did not go in too far, just enough to get an idea of being inside a tunnel. At this point I asked everyone to turn off their torches. There was a collective gasp as above us a myriad of tiny blue lights twinkled brightly. The children were entranced. After a moment I suggested they could turn their torches on again and look at the little creatures which were producing such a bright light.
The glow worms were putting on a brilliant display. During the dry summer there had always been glow worms throughout the valley but in limited numbers, even inside the mine. Now after rain they were returning to their best, putting down little fishing lines and glowing for all their worth.

Glow worms are not worms at all. They are the larvae of the fungus gnat. They set up home under damp banks and in caves. Glow worms are carnivores and put down silk fishing lines with sticky beads to catch their prey.Their glow is produced from a modified kidney at their rear. Many insects have this organ but glow worms are unique in their ability to produce a cold blue/green light from it. This lures small insects which then get caught in the sticky threads. The glow worm hauls up the thread and eats the victim.
 The Maori called them titiwai, referring to the fact that glow worms congregate together making them look like a little fishing village with lights reflecting off the water.

Not all children ventured in but those that did saw a great display.

The light really does shine out of their proverbials!

A close-up of a glow worm's fishing line

A glow worm can put down many fishing lines. In caves where it is still they can become very long.

A glow worm's dinner. They eat the thread to reel in their catch which they can then consume.

Here is a link to a BBC clip on glow worms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBIEmjaoE5w

The Kaiwharawhara in flood

                         

                             The Kaiwharawhara in flood

Damage done to trees by the increased water levels

I went for my usual run down the Ngaio Gorge Track yesterday. After the heavy rain over the last day or two the normally gentle creek was more like a mountain torrent. Looking at the river banks I could see the waters had been even higher during the night - at least a metre higher.
There was a sign up to say the track by the river was out of action, but I decided to try my luck and and used the path anyway. I came across a small washout and a couple of places where water was crossing the path, but nothing impassable.

It was chill to start with,but running and coming out of the bush into the sun solved that issue and the day turned very pleasant. I decided to try a different path home and ran up Onslow Road to Khandallah. It is not the best road to run up being steep. narrow and windy. It also does not have a footpath so I had to be careful of traffic. Thankfully it was light at that time of the day so I got to the top in one piece and had a gentle downhill run to home.

A small lake had formed behind a fallen tree

In places the water was still very high

The Kaiwharawhara looking more like a mountain stream than a city river  ten minutes  from the main street.

There is going to be a wall of water coming down when the dam bursts

Creepy Crawlies

We have finished the audit of the tracking tunnels, and just in time, because autumn and heavy rain have arrived. I have spent time over the past few weeks putting out bait, and bringing in papers with footprints on them, which the owners have left as they wandered in to grab a free feast. Well, feast isn't quite the right word. What has been on offer is peanut butter, rabbit jerky and fresh rabbit. And in warm weather fresh rabbit quickly turns into fly blown rabbit which by maggot locomotion can almost walk off by itself when you open the box.

Proud Mum and babies enjoying a piece of rabbit bait.

I was given routes that took me all around Zealandia, mainly on the main tracks and along the perimeter. On the way and inside the tracking tunnel boxes I saw quite a few creepy crawly bugs lurking about which added interest to my work.

A visiting cave weta with a back leg missing

A beetle scavenging about

Large male tree weta on fence post

Case moth

The papers showed up a variety of footprints but only one of the nasty kind which was mice. All it takes is a slight distortion of the fence or a morepork dropping its dinner to allow a live mouse to get in and they do. Other foot prints were interesting too. Little scratchy footprints meant invertebrates, probably weta. Toutouwai or robins are curious and they go in to have a look and leave distinctive bird prints behind. A smudgy line indicated a tuatara had ambled in and left a tummy print.

Evidence of mice

At one point I noticed a beautiful forest gecko on the outside of the perimeter fence. Of course it was unable to force an entry and I hoped it would be OK out there amongst the mammals. It had a more natural threat as well as I noticed a karearea or native falcon hovering high up above the fence and hunting for prey.

"Let me in! I wanna come in!"

My last foray was on the main path for the homestretch and as it was school holidays every time I stopped to check a box I immediately gained an audience. Such interest has to be rewarded so I had to explain what I was up over and over and show children the footprints and get them to guess what they thought they might be. Dads were extra keen and usually answered before the kids got a look in.

Each time I finished my fingers were as inky as the animals who had frequented the tunnels and no doubt there was an aroma of ripe rabbit and the odd maggot hanging about me but I enjoyed being given the opportunity to be involved in this pest identification work.

Eradication comes next, I suppose.

A steep section of the perimeter fence

Tinakori Hill

Te Ahumairangi

Our autumn weather has been mild and the ground dry underfoot so running on trails rather than foot paths is still a very pleasant option.
Instead of running my normal circuit I chose to return home via the Tinakori Hill or Te Ahu Mairangi, best known as a backdrop to parliament and providing some of the steepest streets in Wellington, which is saying something.
It used to be covered in exotic pines but a storm about fifteen years ago ripped through them and left a twisted rubble. It has taken a while, but finally native forest is growing up through the remnants of the pines, and it is becoming a very pleasant place to walk or jog through. As you climb you are rewarded with beautiful views of the city and the harbour. Today the sky was sparkling blue and the views spectacular. I stopped often to catch my breath and gaze over the city.

View over the City with Stadium in foreground

The ferry departing for the South Island

In places trees that have survived the storm have grown together over the path making a tunnel like effect with subdued, dappled light filtering through. There were many twists and turns plus side tracks but I chose to just keep heading on up following the Northern Walkway signs.

A cool tree-tunnel to run through

I popped out on Weld Road, an extremely steep street and headed down into Wadestown and home deciding this will be  a more pleasant route to take as it keeps me away from traffic for a longer period and offers such spectacular views.

                    

Aussie Rulz!

The Sydney Swans (I think)

Wellington had the opportunity to watch a sport as yet not often played in New Zealand even though it has

been played in Australia for 150 years or more. Aussie Rules, or more officially Australian Rules Football was played at our stadium for the first time. It was the Sydney Swans against the St Kilda Saints, both Australian teams. The Sydney Swans are hoping to make Wellington its second home and to play one or more games a year here to lift the sports profile in New Zealand.
As a result Wellington was filled with Australians over ANZAC Weekend and I spent an interesting evening in the stadium as a bar manager in a voluntary capacity, raising money for my dragon boat team.
Thank goodness the weather was mild as the players run about in sleeveless shirts called guernseys and short shorts. It is a very athletic game rather like rugby and basketball mixed up.

The game in full throttle.

As I minded my bar I tried to fathom out what was going on, alas without a lot of success. The goal posts have extra bits and I think you get more points if you kick the ball over the middle bit. The scoring board had three rows of figures for each side, the last one being the total score. The gentlemen playing the game in their little skimpy outfits were always worth a watch however.
They play four quarters which made my job harder as every half hour there was a break and everyone came out to fill up again. Therefore more alcohol was consumed, and also the game ended up going on for over two hours.
At one point a very intoxicated Australian lady was found in the toilets having fallen over. I deserted my post at the bar and escorted her to the first aid room. She wasn't drunk she told me, but just a bit dizzy and depressed. She had fallen out with her man but had decided to come over to New Zealand anyway for the holiday they had booked. She had obviously tried to drown her sorrows without success. I suggested she forget her Aussie bloke and look around for a Kiwi instead while she was here. This did not go down well and she flung herself on me for a big cry and cuddle and nearly knocked me flat as I was having trouble keeping her on her feet as it was. Fortunately I spied the information booth and we weaved over to the lady in charge there who fortunately had a wheelchair with her. We sat our sad lady down and called for the medics to come to us. I extricated myself from her and headed back to my bar not worse for wear but certainly damper.

Things were going well at the bar and people were generally in good spirits which were not totally of the alcoholic nature. The Australians were very curious about my role  and once I explained, they wanted me to check their IDs, see if they could still walk in a straight line and have me check that they had no more than four bottle of alcohol about their person. They found me and my job most amusing, but frankly I was 'over it' and was glad when we could finally shut down and I could clear off.
I checked in with the medics to check on my lady. They had dropped her off at her camper van. I privately hoped she did not wander out of her van and fall off the wharf during the night, but wandered down  town and found the perfect man instead.
I returned my gear and slipped into the stadium to watch for a bit. There seemed an awful lot of people on the pitch and not all of them players - water boys, coaching types and advisors also seemed to be trotting about as well as medics doing running repairs.

I had had a long day as I had been up at five am. to help organise and serve tea and coffee to officials and people who had attended the Dawn Service. I was on the coffee and rum stand and was most amused when a very high ranking police officer in the queue accepted his cup then as he left grabbed another cup and deftly added the tot of run in that cup into his own.
It was time to call it quits I thought and departed before the game ended to avoid the crowds. Will the game catch on here? I have no idea but it was certainly different, and in New Zealand's cooler climate those young men playing in their wee outfits could suffer purple knee and red nose syndrome, not to mention other pieces of anatomy also getting rather cold!

Surrounded by Saddlebacks

A tieke posing on a display nest box                         Photo: Carol Smith

I set off to do my first solo tunnel tracking audit. The weather was dicey, but not raining so it was decided to go ahead.  My route was to head to along the Fault line Track, then up the eastern side of the fence. To complete the loop I was to go down the Eastern Firebreak to met up with the main track again. I was pleased as it is a long time since I had walked to the end of the valley and I had never been down the EasternFirebreak.

 It was surprising to see how quickly the bush is recovering from the drought. The ferns are looking fresh and the trees are greening up. The birds were enjoying it too, talking noisily and feasting on the autumn seeds and berries on the trees. Beyond the top dam I came across a couple of saddlebacks, or tieke, feeding on pate berries, or insects that were also feeding on the fruit.



I was reminded of the time a friend and I were visiting Zealandia and a tieke decided to to sit on a display nest box and show off its brilliant colouring at close range.

                                                                                                                                 Tieke photos by Carol Smith.

They are from the family of wattlebirds which also include the huia (extinct), the kokako and the stitch bird.
The tieke has bright orange wattles on each side of its bill and a lovely russet coloured band across its back. They were busily running about on the branches on their long legs. They are not great flyers and prefer to run and bound about in the trees rather than fly. They are very personable birds who can amuse with their antics and their very distinctive calls.
The pate they were frolicking around in were looking a rich dark  green and not affected by the dry weather and had plenty of fruit. The leaves are spread out like a hand with seven fingers. It is not a big tree and is very common in the Sanctuary.
                           

                              

                             

Pate fruit

I worked my way around the perimeter checking tracking tunnels as I went. Lots of mouse prints, some invertebrates, a tuatara tummy smear and a few claw prints from a nosey robin or two was all that turned up.
I was pleased to be finished before rain started in earnest.

 

Little Wellington

I thought this little video of Wellington City by Michael Joost pretty cool.
It was taken during late winter in 2012
Follow this link:

http://vimeo.com/63500144