I forgot to close with a section on Leen's bird findings for the day. Darleen is an avid birdwatcher, and one of the things she was most looking forward to was seeing all the exotic birds in New Zealand that she wouldn't be able to see here. She spent the bulk of the trip armed and dangerous -- bird book in one hand, binoculars around her neck -- and hunting for birds wherever we went.

The list for Day 1:

16 new birds, 18 total: Pukeko (*), White-Faced Heron (*), Spur-Winged Plover (*), White-Fronted Tern (*), Variable Oystercatcher (*), Pied Oystercatcher (*), Red-Billed Gull (*), Black-Billed Gull (*), Pied Shag (*), Blackbird (*), Eastern Rosella (*), Mallard, European Starling, Welcome Swallow (*), New Zealand Scaup (*)(!), Australian Magpie (*), Australasian Harrier (*), and Myna (*).

(*) - New bird.
(!) - Uncommon bird.
(!!) - Rare bird.

I'll be using the same notation for the bird lists for the other days.