Kapiti Island.....

After 37 years of looking out at Kapiti Island, we finally went out there for a day trip. It has to be said that I was, up until yesterday, expecting to be cruising round the Island, sipping a Malibu, looking skyward at a few birds and enjoying a close-up and new perspective of an Island that is so familiar to me. Darren shattered that dream for me when he told me on the drive back from the airport yesterday that we were, in fact, doing what would be akin to mountain climbing for someone of my fitness level!):


The launch tractors were a crack-up to look at but worked a treat:


Uncle Darren in the cabin:


One of the information panels where we were debriefed by DoC when we arrived:


The birds we encountered close up were just awesome. There were loads of Kakariki I had never seen before, and this was the first time I had seen seagull chicks, gorgeous little balls of grey fluff that they are:



And juveniles:


Oyster catchers are fairly common:


The crack-up weka, who scrambled on top of bushes no worries at all:





But the Kaka were pretty much our favourite, although they were always a surprise as they appeared out of nowhere whenever you started eating anything!:












The Lad got the classic Tui on a Harakeke Flower shot:


The absolute highlight of my day was seeing the Takahe up close, and their beautiful chicks:




One of the many fat Kereru we saw:


The Hihi (stitchbird) feeder. DoC supplements their diet as the other birds bully them out of a lot of food:


They were tiny wee things:




A Saddleback, another first for me:


Looking back to the Kapiti Coast from Tuteremoana (the summit - 521m asl if you please!):


Looking out to the South Island:


Looking down to the lunch table:


Looking back up:


A12 after 'leaving the track' in a most spectacular way, lol:


Nana and A12, probably waiting for me to catch up - I was breathing so hard Darren had to go ahead a bit as he was afraid I was sucking up too much of the oxygen around me ;o) L6 waiting as well:



A12 and L6 waiting for the boat home: