Morepork and other friends

Last week, we went for a mini-hike walk northwards along Terrace Road (see the green route on the map above). This week, it was the south’s turn to put up with us along Ngatiawa Road (red route on the map), tracking the Waikanae River.

Our first port of all was Mike’s place on the opposite side of Kents Road, bordering the river. Brynn is friends with Mike’s daughters Poppy and Katherine, with all their farmyard chickens and ducks and other livestock.

 
Free-range organic are we, says Mr Rooster. Poppy (dark blue shirt) and Katherine (the younger) show Brynn around the chicken range.

Part of Mike’s approximately two dozen flock of sheep grazing near their house. The pines in the background border the river.

Hello Mor-Pork. Quite at home in his large pig-pen.

In the paddock adjoining Morepork’s quarters…

And a small flock of Alpacas rest in the shade.

After seeing all Mike’s gardens and animals, it was off down Kents Road towards the one-way bridge over the Waikanae River.

At this time of the year, the volume of water coming past is not all that great. I’ll check again in the middle of winter for comparison.

This upper reach of the Waikanae River is along Ngatiawa Road East in the direction behind Jeanette.

Uphill along Ngatiawa Road we go…

Growing in the wild along the roadside…

Time-out for a bit of joking, too…

Off the road and onto the Kapakapanui hiking trail. It goes across private property, with clear markers as to where you may go, with easy access across fences where needed.

We finally reach the river. Time-out on a suitable rock in the shade. The day was pleasantly warm, until late afternoon. Brynn eyed the water for a while…

 
Come Dad, let’s take a look across the other side – the hiking track continues up there…

Hunter-gatherer

Benny the hunter-gatherer rushed out into the darkness late last night to…, well, to do what all good male dogs do under over of darkness at night. Without any street lights, or yard lights from any neighbours, or any moonlight to illuminate your surroundings, Chartwell sure has some dark darkness.

After a while, Sophie appeared in the pool of light outside the door, with that urgent come-look-see eyes and wildly wagging tail. The cause of her apparent excitement was soon obvious, as Bennie entered the picture with a grey-brown “tennis ball” in his open jaws.

Yes, Bennie the hunter-gatherer had hunted and gathered a medium-size hedgehog from the Chartwell darkness, and was now presenting us with his trophy. Clayton’s task was to convince Bennie to release the little ball of prickles without crushing it first. He gingerly extricated the little critter and proceeded to administer a magic water treatment to Bennie’s jaw, followed by the kitchen paper towel test, to check for excessive bleeding. Luckily, Bennie came off none the worse for wear, with a clean bill of health.

These cute little guys are considered to be a pest, since they prey on native fauna. Hedgehogs were introduced to control garden pests such as slugs, snails and grass grubs, while wild pigs are one of the few predators of the hedgehog, and the flightless, endemic Weka will prey on nestlings.

As well as preying on invertebrates hedgehogs may have contributed to the decline and extinction of up to fifteen bird species. The New Zealand hedgehogs, as with their European counterparts, carry various parasites and diseases. They are a potential carrier of foot-and-mouth disease if it were to reach New Zealand

Bennie, you Bunnyhugger!

Rabbits were brought to New Zealand and released for both food and sport at various sites as early as the 1830s. Once rabbits became established, their population increased to plague proportions several times. The first rabbit plague began in the early 1870s and petered out about 1895. Another increase occurred in the early 1920s. There was a major irruption in the 1940s, and the most recent began in the late 1980s.

This evening, there was a terrific commotion with dogs scattering across the floor in the direction of the front gate. There stood Mike, our neighbour from across the way, with two little gifts – one for Sophie and one for bigger brother Bennie.

 

Sophie, looking all chuffed with her delicacy for the evening.

Bennie is quite an expert

Sophie has less finesse, but ends up finishing her meal quite sometime before big brother. Now for the veg…

Before anyone starts the ‘Oh shame, cute-little-bunny thing’, please bear in mind that folk all round the world have hare on the menu. Besides, practically, rabbits have cost New Zealand many millions of dollars, through the direct cost of controlling them, and the loss of production from farms. Their impact on the drier areas of the South Island has been little short of an ecological disaster, as the vegetation grazed off by rabbits has never recovered. The worst affected areas – once well covered with tussock, grasses and small shrubs – now have very little vegetation cover, which has led to soil erosion by wind and rain. The loss of soil has left areas where only the hardiest colonising plants will now grow. Burrowing by rabbits in some soil types and on steep slopes has also led to soil erosion.

Full tummies, and sound asleep. Snoring describes Sophie…

How to differentiate between HARES and RABBITS:

Hares are generally larger and faster than rabbits, and consequently have larger feet and longer ears than rabbits. Hares have black markings on their fur.

Rabbits are altrical (their young are born blind and hairless. In contrast, hares are generally born with hair and are able to see (precocial). Young hares are therefore able to fend for themselves very quickly after birth.

Hunters say that hare has a much stronger “gamier” flavour than rabbit (which actually does taste like a milder version of chicken.) I checked this out with Bennie, who is considering the matter.

Back to Otaki town

After leaving Otaki Forks, we head down the Gorge Road back to SH1, stopping off at the local “Hadrian’s wall”, the stone walls of Shield’s Flat.

Shields Flat gets its name from Irishman Patrick ‘Paddy’ Shields, who, along with his wife Jean and their 10 children, moved to the gorge in 1933 after his pig farm in Johnsonville failed due to an outbreak of swine fever. He kept sheep on the farm and grew potatoes.

Some dry stone walls were built during the Great Depression of the 1930s as a result of a government scheme to provide relief work for the unemployed. Farmers and landowners would pay a worker a few shillings a week for ‘development work’, with the Unemployment Board making up the rest of the wage to 9 shillings a week (equivalent to about $83 per week in 2010). Although much of the relief work was seen as trivial, non-productive and demoralising for the workers, it did provide a means of income when there was little else available.

It is likely the walls on Shields Flat were built by a party of relief workers to rid the plains of greywacke boulders, washed down from the Tararua Ranges by the Otaki River. These cumbersome ‘Hautere turnips’, as they were called, were first sorted and placed in huge heaps before being used to make walls.

Turning right onto SH1, we are soon in the town of Otaki, where a welcome lunch is enjoyed at a streetside restaurant. Then, across the way to visit the olde time style Otaki railway station, which we’d seen almost three years ago when we passed through on the Overlander Express en route to Auckland.

Looking southwards to Wellington on the main (and only) platform of the old time station, which was restored in 1999.

Hi, handsome. We have a hotel in Otaki.

Anyone with luggage for the 4:50 from Wellington?

From here, on the way home, we strolled along the Waikanae/Peka Peka beach, examining some of the huge quantities of driftwood washed out of the sea.

Otaki Forks

2 January 2014: We drive up North along SH1 from Waikanae past Te Horo until we reached the Otaki Gorge Road, which winds up in an easterly direction through the hillsides and lush vegetation of the Tararua Forest Park to the Otaki Forks. Two tributaries, the Waiotauru River and Waitatapia Stream, meet the Otaki River here, where the start of a few tramping trails, a camp site as well as a picnic site can be found.

Boielle Flat, next to the Waiotauru River is the popular picnic area (even with flush toilets). We parked here and then strolled along the river, enjoying the natural sights, a few canoeists and the activities of various trampers (hikers), both local and foreign.

Suspension bridge over the Otaki River  encountered on the way to Otaki Forks.

The view of the Otaki River from atop the suspension bridge is quite breath-taking.

Several water enthusiasts on the Waiotauru River at the swingbridge near the picnic site at the Boielle Flat, struggling a bit at some small rapids.

One of the hikers carrying his black Labrador across the metal swingbridge. Brave doggy and strong sweaty man!

After a short walk uphill through some scenic forestry, we came across the Parawai Lodge:

The spacious interior of the Parawai hut can sleep up to 18 adults on two levels. Warm and dry on a cold wet night.

Back down to the picnic site car park and the return leg to Otaki proper.