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Hello friends and family  sitting out the storm As I drove out the gate at 6:10am last Thursday, the first of the day’s tourists had already arrived. It was very dark and I explained to them that the lighthouse would be operating until 7:30am so they left, driving in front of me, to the conditions, at 25kph all the way to the main road! Serves me right. I did make the flight in Christchurch with 10 minutes to spare, and arrived in Tauranga to spend a day with the family.  great cloud formations at sunset. I borrowed my daughter’s car on Saturday morning and headed over to Hamilton to the WReNNZ conference in the DOC building downtown. As usual, the conference was well worth attending and I always come away with ideas to improve the way we do things. I stayed the night and went to the conference dinner – the weather in the Waikato delivered 200mm of rain overnight, so it was a wise choice.  Cooling off after braving the waves to get home. I headed back to Tauranga and enjoyed dinner with the family, and flew back to Christchurch on Monday afternoon. When I left the terminal the cold was quite shocking and I was grateful for the heater on the 4 hour drive home.  The waves scoured over a meter of sand off the beaches. Chris and Hiltrun had been here, working hard developing the habitat and caring for our one bird in care so thank you both for letting me get away for a few days.  Enjoying the sun after it returned. I spent the week preparing for our 2 days of working in the reserves. This means gathering supplies, preparing hooks and tree circles and delivering stuff here and there. With only 4mm of rain during this last storm event, it is still too dry to plant new trees. I have also stepped up the trapping regime for winter when the predators are hungry.  Giant waves from the huge low pressure off the coast. Friday brought our first frost and so I have put the Pohutukawa and the lemon trees into the hothouse. I have enjoyed some Feijoas from my tree in the garden here, I will check the Hampden trees in the weekend.
We now have 2 penguins in care. Have a great week! Hello friends and family  Just having a day at home. The rain has eluded us. The only shower we have had was when DOC and Ngai Tahu delegates had a meeting here on Tuesday. I was permitted to join them and express concerns about the welfare of the penguins and two penguins, bless them, had stayed home to be seen in Harry’s Bay.  Looking great with new feathers Chris and Hiltrun came for 2 days of hard work and the work optimising the habitat for penguins continues. Today we will work at Barracouta Bay and tomorrow we will work here.  Autumn glory On Wednesday I picked up the last lot of milk for cheese making for the season. The cow is being dried off as she will have a new calf in the spring. I have enjoyed both making and eating the cheese and look forward to doing it again next season. I also caught up with Doug who has increased the number of sheep helping to clear out Barracouta Bay over the winter.  View out of my kitchen window across Katiki Beach looking west. My time is divided between cleaning up this section and preparing for the weekend work in the reserves. With the blustery cooler conditions, I work in the garage with the door open. If the sun comes out I can watch the bees coming and going from the hive. I know that I have to move it – it is too cold here, I just haven’t figured out how I am going to do it!  Waiting for a wife to stroll by! I let a penguin go and got 2 more in, so we now have 4 in care.
Have a great week!  Taking the day off Monday was no ordinary day. Hiltrun had arrived on Sunday afternoon and we released 2 penguins. She cleared an area at Barracouta Bay for a new nest while I watered the trees – yes, we are still dry!  Seal pups waiting for mum On Monday morning the man arrived to install the heat pump. It took him most of the day and he stuck at it as we came and went with penguin stuff. I was contacted by the Council about the building permit, Assure Quality about the bees and Marian about the meat.  the big cleanup Hiltrun and I planted a new penguin nest box in the area that she had cleared, along with 5 tree circles to create a private area so the penguins will nest there in their new home. The site was selected because a pair of penguins had moulted there and there was a flat space near a penguin path. We will put the trees into the circles when we have had some rain.  beautiful Juvenile home for a preen In the afternoon some Facebook friends from Japan came to visit. Akiko was not confident to drive on New Zealand roads as this was her first visit so they had a Japanese driver from Dunedin who Hiltrun has known for many years. He commented that he had been here before and was appalled at the tourist behaviour. They expected that we would be down the hill every afternoon protecting the penguins, but of course that would be impossible as well as deeply upsetting. I explained that I clear the reserve after it has closed and that is all I can cope with.  Topdressing plane On Tuesday morning 3 of the chicks were started on their soft release and one was let go. All of this penguin movement results in a heap of dirty mats and sacks so the rest of the day was spent with the water blaster at full speed. We now have 3 penguins in care.
Thursday was glorious – just right for removing the Varroa strips from all of the bee hives. 3 of the 4 apiaries are looking very strong so that means they will be OK until I treat the Varroa again in the spring. I will feed the other site with old honey to keep them going over winter. Have a great week!  Hello friends and family Slowly the penguins are going back to the sea. We are now down to 8 in care and 3 more will start their soft release this week. Letting penguins go requires decent sea conditions as well as a healthy bird – some juggling is required. This is the first season that we have used donated fish as their main diet and they have done well. Thank you Penguin Place for your Jack Mackerel and Silverside. The penguins are reaching 6Kg OK and then are released.  When the sea is rough, the wild penguins either stay at home or stay at sea. The only way to tell the difference is to check for footprints in the morning. Twice this week the tourists have left the reserve in a timely manner – there was a howling southerly on both occasions and the track down the hill is very slippery. Twice also, tourists have come, and not seeing any penguins, have gone down onto the beach to follow/chase/look for them. They have climbed the fence and gone past Keep Out signs to do it.  North Otago wears autumn well and even after very high winds, the drive through to Oamaru is a visual feast. On Thursday I had my meeting with the building inspector and soon my shed will be built. The water tank is almost full.  The battery charger was unable to spark the ride-on lawn mower into life so I will need to get that repaired again as the grass is beginning to grow with the rain that we have had. I have retired my tomato plants and will put some spinach in the hot house over winter. In the meantime, the Native Spinach is growing well and I am enjoying eating that.  Yesterday Elaine and I repaired her garden shed that had blown over in the high winds. We have made it stronger but time will tell!
Have a great week! |
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January 2025
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