Penguins, Poo and Puppy

Kia ora –  (Hello) this week is Maori Language Week in New Zealand.

We took the French Connection van to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula last weekend to go on the Pohatu Penguins tour that we had to reschedule from last year.  Pohatu Penguins is a penguin and habitat conservation project started by Shireen and Francis Helps to aid the population of little white-flippered penguins (Korora), as well as a working farm and tour business.  Thanks to the Helps’ work, the Pohatu colony is the largest Little Penguin colony on mainland New Zealand with over 1000 breeding pairs.  We met our guide in Akaroa and were driven in a 4 wheel drive van to see sights on the way to the penguin colony. 

We were dropped off to hike the 1.5 hour forest hike to Flea Bay for our penguin visit and overnight cottage stay.  We shared the tramp (the hike) with cows and sheep, and encountered lots of poo in the paths. 

 This is why we had to clean the soles of our boots later.

The track was quite slippery due to recent rains so the adventure turned into a 2.5 hour tramp. 

Notice we're not both on the bridge at the same time

We arrived at Flea Bay to meet up with another couple who were going on the evening penguin tour.  First we got to feed a bottle lamb who had been rejected by her mother. 

Our home for the night

The Helps have built box shelters for nesting penguins, and other penguins dig burrows on their own. 

Penguin burrow in the side of the hill

We peeked in on some penguins as the staff monitored their nesting sites.  

We also viewed some penguins coming in from the sea to return to their mates. 

We had scheduled kayaking for Friday morning, but the waves were too high for us to go out on the water safely, so we hiked up to the head of Flea Bay.  We returned to Christchurch Friday afternoon, just in time to gather with our friends for folk dancing with Farandol, the local folk dancing group.

Saturday we walked again to the Farmers Market and sampled some delicious Indonesian food. 

Tempeh-based food at the Indonesian stall

Christchurch has a variety of nationalities in its population and this is reflected in the food stands.  We also like it that this market has lots of buskers and we enjoyed listening to two young people playing classical music. 

Walking home, we saw a small white dog running down the busy road after a car.  Two cars stopped and a man tried to get the dog, but the dog ran down the sidewalk and straight to us.  Cindy was able to grab it and hold it by the collar.  We were going to call the number on the dog’s tag, but then another man stopped and knew where the dog’s owner was, back at a car park.  The man carried the dog down the street to its owner, and everyone lived happily ever after!

We happened upon a science fair at the University for middle school students and watched demonstrations by University staff of how to lie on a bed of nails, how to generate high-voltage electricity using a Tesla coil and the effect of magnets on different metals. 

Yes, that is electric current flowing into his thumb.

And we will leave you with a bit of Kiwi humor seen in the photo below. 

Haere ra.