Sunday 22nd August 2021

Mr 26 was not pleased to see me

​Hello friends and family
Spring seems to have arrived in North Otago. While the rest of the country is having storms, we are enjoying gentle breezes and sunshine. On Sunday and Monday, my prime job was to prepare the laundry for the new penguin prep bench. I scraped, sanded, bogged and masked the area and painted it.

spring

​After the team had gone on Tuesday, it got its second coat of paint so is now ready for new shelves and bench.  The plan is to have all penguin paraphernalia in one place – that will be awesome! We saw one penguin on Tuesday morning with nesting material in his beak and the gulls are beginning to flock and check out nesting sites – they will not nest for another couple of months.

gathering gulls

​And then we had lockdown! My planned holiday to the north island was cancelled.
During the last lockdown, it was the busy season and so the whole team, socially distancing and staying outside, continued with the penguin work. We were monitoring the health of the colonies during moulting time, which is when they are most vulnerable.
This time it is the downtime for the year and so on Thursday, only Robbie came out and we rebaited all the traps with eggs. This will keep them operational for 2 weeks while things settle down and we know what is going to happen. Then he cut the outshoots at the top of the hedge which were likely to take the power out at any time.
On Friday, I got word that my daughter’s family are in isolation as Bryan had attended an event with a person who has now tested positive for COVID. He has been tested and the family are waiting for the results. Just as well the adventure was cancelled. 

The first plum blossom

​On Saturday I heard that Stewart’s wife, Helen has died. Helen had been ill for quite some time. We will all miss her gracious, kind style. Whenever I visited them at Shag Point, Helen would always give me the best seat in the house and make a cuppa. She had lived in places around the world and was full of stories. May she rest in peace.

The penguins are looking great

Have a great week!
Rosalie