​Hello friends and family
Lunch at the Tavern was awesome as always and when the breeze came up, it was good to be inside.
Robbie came out on Tuesday to continue maintaining the traps and we relocated 2 houses, replacing one that was still standing out of habit. There is one like that down the hill here so we will get on to it too! I went to town on Wednesday morning and did the banking. I resent that the penguins have to pay $5 for the bank teller to count it so I have been putting the trip off. 

​Bronwyn attacked the remaining pile of rocks in the penguin hospital.

​In the spirit of task completion, I did my tax return in the afternoon.
On Thursday, Robbie and Jan came out and worked on the traps. It was so nice on Friday that I walked the coast. On Saturday I did the first waterblast of the penguin hospital and there is only one session needed to complete the annual deep clean. It will be so much easier with the rocks gone.

​Hello friends and family
The week started with the best weather all year! Sun, no wind and a flat ocean. I spent the days outside, organising the place for winter. The team came out on Tuesday morning. Robbie is refurbishing traps and was able to get them all into action. 

​I was on the Toptip on Wednesday and had a very quiet morning. In the afternoon, I went down to Dunedin to pick up Mrs. 111 who has been in care. I released her at Tickle Bay. As I arrived, a pod of dolphin swam past. The weather forecast was dire so I wanted a place where I could check that she was Okay. She had gone to sea by Thursday morning.

​Murray came out on Thursday morning and we did the rounds, picking up Mrs.165 who has had 3 days at The nest and is down to 4.4kg. In the afternoon, the drain cleaner man came out and unblocked my kitchen drain. It seems my bargain dishwasher tablets off Temu did not move the fat very far. Lesson learnt!

​I finally got to the orchard on Friday. The new apple trees were loaded and the apples ripe. They are delicious! I stripped one tree and will go back for the others this week.

Today, Elaine and I are going to the tavern for Mother’s day lunch.
Have a great week!
Rosalie

​Hello friends and family
The wet start to the week only produced 10mm of rain, but by Tuesday, it was nice again. Robbie came out in the morning and serviced the automatic traps. Many had run out of lure after 6 months, so it was very timely.
In the afternoon, I picked up Jordan, a young Canadian who is doing a thesis on the impact of seasonality on the work we do. She is interviewing many throughout the penguin community so that is great.

​On Wednesday we went to Oamaru as I needed the stitches out of my ear, and took the opportunity to get the flu’ jab at the same time. We checked the reserves on Thursday – penguins at home here but none at Okahau. I took Jordan to the bus at lunchtime. It was lucky that she travelled then because an accident on the road just north of Hampden, closed the road for 7 hours. Both Elaine and Robbie were caught up in the delay. This is the second one in the last few weeks.

​The weather has turned very nice and I am enjoying working my way through the list of tasks at hand.
I finished the deep clean for the Hugo wing on Thursday and have filled all the buckets with rocks to go to the Bluffs.

​It was a big blow to find Mrs. 87 dead on the beach on Saturday morning. She has been an excellent mum, raising 2 chicks for the last 2 seasons and she was only 6 1/2 years old. The last autopsy showed Mr 171 died of Pasteurella, so I hope that is not the case with her.

​Hello friends and family
This week was off to a cold, wet start so we dodged showers until Wednesday when the cold won out, and I stayed inside to prepare the DOC community fund application. I spent the day cold because I think April is far too early for thermals – the weather is re-inventing itself!

​On Tuesday we released the last remaining penguin – the juvenile picked up on Moeraki beach, and of course, got in another. It is Mrs. 165 who had a sore eyelid, so she is back with us until that heals.

​On Wednesday I sat down to begin the process of applying for the DOC community fund. I would much rather clean up penguin poop, but I can’t complain about the lack of DOC financial support if I don’t apply. I have done so for no good outcome since the system started. Sigh!

​Murray and Robbie came out on Thursday morning and we did the rounds. There were a few penguins at home which was great to see. On Friday I got a call about a little penguin on Waianakarua Beach. That got me out of the place and I enjoyed the drive. The penguin was dead, so beyond my skill set.

Yesterday I walked the coast in very pleasant conditions, and the laundry was dry by lunchtime!
Have a great week!
Rosalie

​The week began with nice weather and so Dan and I, set to and made up 100 wire circles to put around small trees as rabbit protection. Most of these will go to the Bluffs to protect Pohutukawa, but the rest will replace plastic tree protectors at Okahau. Two of the penguins in care decided that they had had enough, so we released them.

​Jan and Robbie arrived on Tuesday and the main task was to do some maintenance on the traps. We got halfway round Katiki. There are a lot of traps!

On Wednesday I went to a doctor’s appointment in Dunedin for some maintenance and then Dan and I went to the pizza place at St. Clairs for lunch. I dropped Dan off in town and he headed home while I came back to the lighthouse.

Murray and Robbie came out on Thursday and Robbie did more trap maintenance while Murray and I did the rounds. Sadly, we found Mr. 171 dead in front of his nestbox. There was no sign of a cause and when I contacted Megan, 2 other penguins had died that day. Mr. 171 was in his 20th year. We did not have him in care through the moult.

​Hello friends and family
Last Sunday, after feeding the penguins, I headed south and picked up Dan from the 4:15pm flight in Invercargill.
We stayed the night at the Ascot lodge, and in the morning headed to Bluff. After exploring the local area, we got on the ferry to Rakiura, Stewart Island.
The ferry landed in Oban and our hotel – the “South Seas Hotel” was just across the road. We dropped our bags and spent the rest of the day exploring the local area.

​On Tuesday, we set off for Ulva Island, a predator free nature reserve. The tracks can be covered in 2 hours, but we took 5. Every time we stopped walking and sat quietly, we saw another species of native bird. It was magic.

​Then it was back to the hotel for dinner and an early night. Wednesday was our day to leave the island, so we had until 3:30pm to explore in a different direction. It was glorious. We checked out a nature reserve with a predator proof fence to keep the deer and feral cats out and walked coastal trails. In the end, Dan walked 22km and I walked 20. 

​We got on the ferry in a timely fashion and then drove home to the lighthouse, arriving shortly after 9pm.
Jan, Robbie and Murray came out to do the rounds on Thursday morning. Mrs 111 had still not gone to sea. Jason was driving by, so he took her down to the Dunedin Wildlife hospital. Let’s hope they can find out what is wrong and help her recover.

​On Friday, the family arrived. We welcomed Paul, Jen, Olivia, Connor, Ken and Pamela. I served up wild pork on Friday night, and we went to the tavern for tea last night. They are all heading into Central Otago today. 

​Hello friends and family
Happy Easter
It was windy for the start of the week, which usually keeps me close to home.
I have been releasing penguins and cleaning – rinse and repeat!
The exception was on Monday morning when I collected a pre-moult juvenile Hoiho from the Moeraki Boulders beach.

​Jenny from the Kaik had found it and called me – a very lucky penguin!
It has an old injury on the shoulder, which may be why it is so late to moult. I could not find a micro-chip, but it does behave as if it is used to people.
The team came out on Tuesday, and we did the rounds in the gale. Wednesday was my day at the Toptip for April, and the sun shone, the wind dropped and it was very pleasant.

​More monitoring on Thursday, Robbie brought his chainsaws and cleared the path at Okahau. Dave came out for dinner on Friday night, bringing some delicious Blue Cod that was a real treat.
It was back to cleaning penguin pens yesterday, with around 70 moulting penguins, the number of feathers would be over a million!

​Hello friends and family
The week started with glorious weather – fine warm days with a light breeze and clear nights. I got motivated and released 7 penguins on Sunday which meant I could clean out one of our enclosures. I chose ‘Robbie’s rehab’ because we had had 3 incidents when penguins escaped from there. The other enclosures have heavy duty wire around them.

​The team came out on Tuesday and there were no needy penguins here or at Okahau – just one from the Bluffs that needs fish for a while. We were all feeling that we were over the main moulting time. Any more penguins we see that have not completed the moult will be coming into care because the days, when they can fish, are getting shorter. They need time when the moult is complete to get up to fishing speed again.

​Wednesday was my turn at the Toptip and after a slow start, things got busy, and Elaine came over so I could go and get Mark and I a coffee. All good.

​On Thursday, the team came out and did the rounds while I hosted a visiting group of overseas students. We got a call from Henry at Oamaru Blue Penguins that there was a dead Hoiho on the beach south of the Moeraki Boulders, so I went and retrieved it. It was a failed fledgling with no micro-chip so I don’t know where it was from. 

The wind and rain arrived at 11am on Thursday and stayed until Saturday morning. I released 5 more penguins on Saturday morning as they were ready. Murray came and took the Bluffs penguin home, so I am down to 15 penguins in care. The rain has returned!
Have a great week!
Rosalie