| This
is the wharf at Tiritiri Matangi. The two people on the left
are Ray and Barbara Walter who used to be lighthouse keepers here, and
have since become rangers. The other person is one of the many
"Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi", volunteers who work on the island to
maintain the tracks and vegetation, and also act as guides for day visitors. |
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| Here's one of the
island's inhabitants, a pukeko, which is pretty much the same species as
the purple swamp hens or purple gallinules found outside New Zealand.
The angular mountain on the horizon is Rangitoto, a volcano sitting in
Auckland's Waitemata harbour - on the right of Rangitoto is Auckland itself. |
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| Downtown Auckland
is only 30 kilometers away, so it's easy to take a ferry across for a day
trip.
The tall structure
in this photo is the Skytower, the highest structure in the southern hemisphere. |
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| Whangaparoa
peninsula is even closer, so I connected with the ferry there.
Tiritiri Matangi is unusual because it's one of New Zealand's few open
sanctuaries, which means that people are allowed to visit without official
permission. It's a continual concern to the department of conservation
that one day a mouse, rat or other vermin will land on the island from
a visiting boat, and cause havoc amongst the native birds, many of which
are flightless and unable to defend themselves. |
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| Here's
the lighthouse, and to the right is the old keepers' house.
Just out of the shot on the right is a second identical house which is
where researchers and overnight visitors like myself stay. |
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| The 21 meter high
lighthouse is one of New Zealand's oldest, built in 1864 from cast iron
sections manufactured in England. British rule in New Zealand
was only established in 1840, so for such a young country this is ancient
history! |
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The wharf and lighthouse
can be seen at the south end of this map of the island.
As you can see from
the times in the top right-hand corner, it takes a fair while to walk right
around the island, especially if you're stopping to watch birds!
The remainder of
the photos on this page are views of the coast, and are arranged as if
you were walking around the coast of the island counter-clockwise, starting
at the lighthouse. |
| This
picturesque spot is at the south end of Fisherman's Bay. There
are supposed to be some rock arches on the coast just north of the bay,
but I couldn't figure out a way to get to them. |
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| There are quite
a few other nice places on the east and north of the island, but there
isn't enough space to show them, so we'll jump straight to this spot at
the bottom of the cable road on the west coast. |
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| This
is Hobb's beach, which is the sandiest on the island. This
is near the place where I saw New Zealand's national bird, the nocturnal
kiwi, one of several
rare
bird species on Tiritiri Matangi. |
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| Here's the wharf
and ferry again! |
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|
