We see a rainbow everyday

Oh, paradise. Not really, but since it rains here so often, we are actually averaging over one rainbow per day. Kinda crazy when you think about it, but the weather here is so strange, we can't even rely on the weather forecast from the day beforehand. Chances are it's either (a) rainy, (b) windy, or (c) a combination of (a) and (b).

Also, Mack just was able to put a ton of his edited photos up on shutterfly (he has a computer, unlike myself, hence the larger number of edited/nice photos). Go see them here!

So ... the following pictures are probably not in order, and many of them are unedited, so my apologies in advance. But hopefully once I'm done writing this, at least the order will be improved.

Here's a shot of what a good path through the woods looks like. On really rainy days, we generally get completely soaked because we're walking through wet underbrush. Can you find the way through the forest?

Me. Apparently happy to find a very shmushed rat. You can kind of see it on the right side of the trap. I didn't feel a need to show a close up. You're welcome.

Here, we're at the final stages of making sure one of traps is good to go. This trap is the DOC200 (DOC = Department of Conservation), which usually has two traps that are more easily set but also incredibly powerful, so you have to be extra careful. Mack is placing the final rabbit chunk in the trap, and afterwards, we screw on the top and we're good to go.


Oh, never mind, I take that whole close up thing back. But really, can you even tell that it's a rat anymore? Maybe the tail gives it away ...

The reserve itself is surrounded by farms, so there are a bunch of access trails to the park that are larger, well marked trails. The one in this shot (Macks' photo) is of Charlie Access. The trails are conveniently done alphabetically (Alpha, Billy Goat, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel).

Mack was able to follow Diane around one day when she was kiwi tracking. Essentially, it amounts to using radio telemetry to triangulate a signal from a kiwi. It is made quite difficult, however, because the radio signal bounces off of small hills and other obstacles. Also, the kiwi sleep in dark, dry holes in the day, so actually finding them is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Coming down from Charlie Access, one of the many farms surrounding Mount Bruce.

The farm again (sorry, unedited).

Moo.

On our way back one day, we decided that we should grab a few traps that we hadn't found a few days before. Ever so luckily, we got a nice big ferret that had been decaying for a good while, with a bunch of rotten egg as icing on the cake. An ever so happy Mack ...

So on to something much more cute and cuddly! Last week, Mack and I were able to get in on doing a kiwi release. Here's a shot of a relatively small kiwi being checked out by the bird staff before being placed into a new aviary. Note the strange marks on it's head are not the eyes (they're smaller and more towards the beak).

A picture of the kaka, one of the parrots at Mount Bruce.

The red-crowned kakariki.

So last weekend, Mack and I were able to borrow Diane's car (thanks!) and drive down to Martinborough and Wellington. Martinborough is a huge wine region in the southeastern portion of the North Island. While we didn't spend to much time here, we did get two free wine tastings (we're pretty good at talking up whoever is giving us wine) and we had some of the nicest weather we've had since being here.

At the first winery we visited, the owner invited us to go into the fields and take a look at their last crop of the year, which was a last harvest affected by Botrytis, a fungus that causes the grapes to shrivel but also an increase in the concentration of sugar in the grape (hence late harvest dessert wines with more sugar).

Un-fungus'd grapes.

The drive to Wellington was perilous and fraught with dangers! Not kidding. There's a 13 km section just before Upper hut that is rated at highway speed, but has these ridiculous 90 degree or more turns. Also, New Zealanders are crazy drivers. The government has pretty awesome signs like this one all over. Oh yeah, and we drive on the left.

We visited the Te Papa museum, which had a huge Monet exhibit that we didn't have time to attend, but we did go see the free exhibits on Maori and Pacific history, which were really interesting. Sorry, no photos allowed.

Next, we hit up the national Food Show, which was a chance for food makers to show off their latest Kiwi and Australian products. One of the prepared foods from pitango. Mmmm, free samples.

Kikkoman, one of maybe two international food vendors at the entire place (over 150 separate booths).

There were also a few cooking contests, but only for those that had entered before. We did get to see some really cool food plates that had already been made like this one.

More booths.

Happy Mack! Behind is Belinda Jackson, who is giving a talk on wine tastings, specifically for white wines.

Sunset at Mount Bruce after a rainy day.

That's all for this time. We leave next week Tuesday for the South Island, planning on doing Abel Tasman, Milford, and Kepler Great Walks (if the weather agrees) and then heading back up the east coast of the island. More detailed itinerary to come.