Auckland

Parking in Auckland isn't so bad as Brunnen-G made it out to be in the RinkChat Archive, "Self-Parking." All those tales of woe about how all the parking garages are both closed AND full all the time, and we had no trouble at all. Which is a good thing, because we were late leaving for the ferry that would take us to Tiritiri Matangi Island, a predator-free wildlife preserve.

We made it into the first parking garage we tried and had no trouble getting a convenient parking space inside. Brunnen-G expressed things like "amazement" and "disbelief" that it was so easy finding a spot. Har har har.

From the parking garage, we walked a couple of blocks to the pier, navigating through the most cityish part of Auckland, where there are traditional cityish things such as skyscrapers and crosswalks. Crossing the street in Auckland goes like this: you push the button, then cross when there are no cars coming. Then the walk light comes on five minutes later, and all the cars have to stop for nobody. That's pretty much how it is in America, too.

The Ferry

We bought tickets on the ferry and made it to the pier 30 seconds before the boat departed. (Blast. We could have used that extra time to sleep in a little longer.) Above the entrance to the pier was a sign advertising, "15 Big Fast Ferries Daily." Hmmm. Big...fast...sounds like they hired Americans to take care of their advertising campaign.

The ferry ride was brisk. On the way, we saw the entire New Zealand navy. All three ships.

Darleen and Brunnen-G saw a bunch of little blue penguins, lounging about in the water. Dave and I missed them, but the birdwatcher extraordinaire saw them, and that's what counts.

Tiritiri Matangi

A big sign at the drop off point on the island had a list of rules. The first was, "Take great care not to bring rodents or pets," which made me wonder how one would bring a rodent onto the island by accident.

The island was great. It was a treasure trove of nature, scenery, vegetation, and birds. Some of the trails around the island were through dense forested areas; some were on top of grassy hills with views in every direction. It certainly seemed exotic to us. Walking through the forest, it was LOUD with birds making unfamiliar bird calls from every direction. There were no chickadees, mourning doves, crows, or any of the other birds whose sounds I may not be consciously familiar with but which I am nevertheless accustomed to hearing. Every bird we heard -- and the woods were THICK with them even though they were sometimes difficult to spot -- make all these weird, unfamiliar, but very beautiful calls.

The island is home to many endangered species of birds, and we got the privilege of seeing several right up close. Some of the species we saw are down to a couple hundred left in the world. Two stitchbirds, for example, were hopping around in the trees maybe five feet from where we were standing. Saddlebacks -- black birds that have saddle-shaped patches of brown on their backs -- kept perching on branches even closer than that. Although the fan tails are common in New Zealand, we got our closest and longest look at one on Tiritiri Matangi. It was hopping around on branches that got as near as *one* foot from our heads, chirping loudly. We think it thought we were invading its territory. The bellbirds were great, too. They aren't endangered either, but they were the most consistently brave, continually perching right by our heads and singing merrily.

But the best were the takahe birds. We saw a couple near the lighthouse on the island, one of the only manmade structures on this otherwise preserved island. The lighthouse is (or was at one time?) the brightest in the southern hemisphere. Takahes look like fat pukekos except with a greenish back. Think of a big chicken, dark blue in front and a dull but pretty greenish blue everywhere else. Humongous feet. Humongous beak. There are only 150-200 left in the world. The ones near the lighthouse let us get pretty close before they walked away, but on the beach we met Greg.

Greg the Takahe is one that the people in charge of the island are quite familiar with. We were told about Greg before we were set free to roam the island, but we still weren't prepared. Greg had no qualms about walking so close to us, that we could bend down and pet it before it quickly walked out of reach. It was very soft -- beneath its feathers, I bet he's only half the size.

While Leen continued on, retracing trails we had already traveled in pursuit of more birds, Dave and Brunnen-G went for a swim, and I sat on the beach, taking in the scenery. As I was sitting, I discovered Greg was walking around just behind me -- specifically walking on top of the towels and packs we brought with us and snooping for food. Then he started walking around right in front of me, poking at the shells on the ground. (This beach seemed to consist of equal parts shells and sand.) I picked up a shell and held it up. Greg picked it from my fingers, discovered it wasn't food, and dropped it. He kept wandering around. I pet him again, but this time he didn't walk away.

He meandered on, but eventually came back and put his head down near the ground in front of me. I couldn't figure out what he was doing at first. I picked up a shell, but he didn't move. Finally I started scratching his neck. Ah yes, that's what he wanted. He twisted his neck around, inviting me to scratch underneath, so I did, and it was pretty clear he was in seventh heaven. I kept rubbing, then ran my fingers over his humongous beak (which started on the top of his head). In London I had pigeons fly up and perch on my arm, but those were dirty old pigeons. THIS was a CHICKEN. Wait, no. A TAKAHE.

Dave and I figured that was why the takahe were almost extinct. They probably kept going up to wolves and things and asking them to scratch their throats.

Parking, Part Two

When we got back, the parking garage charged NZ $26. Ok, so parking in Auckland is evil after all.

Dinner

We had fish and chips takeaways for dinner. I bought a hot dog, to see what it was like, because "hot dog" does not mean the same thing in New Zealand as it does in America. If you want what we consider a hot dog, you have to order an "American hot dog." Basically, it was a deep fried sausage (something like a giant breakfast sausage, only less cohesive and without the tough skin) in a later of that brown fried stuff exterior. It wasn't bad. But it came with -- get this -- a BAG of ketchup. They took one of those white paper food bags, squirted some ketchup in it, and packed that up with the rest of the food. Apparently the traditional way to eat a New Zealand hot dog is to swirl it around in a bag of ketchup.

I should have done what the New Zealanders do, but since it was takeaway, and we were home, I chucked the ketchup and poured some good old Heinz into my plate instead.

First Aid

New Zealanders have better first aid equipment than we do. They have these waterproof blister band-aids -- Band-Aid brand, no less, which makes me wonder why I haven't noticed them here -- that are made for blisters. They are so perfectly skin toned and fit so snugly that they're hardly noticeable, and they press the skin together. When the blister heals, they crinkle up and fall off. I don't know how it works -- magic, maybe -- but Leen still has one of those on her heal, and, even after many showers, it's not even close to coming off prematurely.

Tim Tams

Tim Tams are chocolate cookies (biscuits!) that are delectably delectable. The caramel flavored ones are the best; the double chocolate ones are good, too. But the mocha coffee ones are not. The coffee flavoring is REAL coffee flavoring. Blech. I'll take our artificial coffee flavoring, which apparently doesn't exist in New Zealand, thank you.

TV

Surf Nazis Must Die! turned out to be TOO bad to be a good bad movie. So we threw on an episode of the Thunderbirds: "Vault of Death." In it, International Rescue busts into a bank safe that someone's trapped in. They drill in from the subway system, explode inside, and after the pieces of wall finish falling and the dust finishes settling, one of the characters utters the best delayed reaction observation ever. "We're through!"

Birds

9 new, 22 total: Little Blue Penguin (*), Australasian Gannet (*), Bellbird, Black Swan, Fan Tail, Takahe (*)(!!), Pukeko, House Sparrow, Spur-Winged Plover, Welcome Swallow, Pied Oystercatcher, Red-Billed Gull, Black-Billed Gull, Black-Backed Gull, New Zealand (Wood) Pigeon (*), Red-Crowned Parakeet (*), Whitehead (*), New Zealand Robin (*)(!), Stitchbird (*)(!!), Saddleback (*)(!!), Myna, Tui.