Monday, July 13th, 2015 – In Search Of Prehistoric Pancakes, Gentil Bois, And Things That Glow At Night

Looking for rocks at Barrytown beach (Mt. Cook way off in distance).

Closeup of some West Coast beach rocks.

Once again, the weather gods were with us as we set out on another great adventure under clear skies.  The clear skies translate to cold mornings, but the upside is that for a second day, we could see all the way down the coastline to Mt. Cook!  Amazing visibility.  Also wonderful for our ambling tourist drive with beautiful views of the Tasman Sea along the West Coast proper up to Punakaiki to see the pancake rocks at Paparoa National Park.  Along the way we stopped at the beach at Barrytown (where we would have come all of the way across on our Croesus Track hike had there not been trees down) and braved the biting flies to look for Pounamu(Jade) and other pretty  rocks.  Once at Paparoa, we were awed by the flax, rocks, surge pools and overall just beautiful day.

At Paparoa National Park

The girls checking out the shapes of animals in the rocks.

Can you see the dinosaurs?

Next we set off for a quick walk along the Pororari River.  To me the scenery here looks just like a prehistoric scene out of a Jurassic Park movie.  We hated that we were in a bit of a time crunch to squeeze things in today; however, we had an amazing afternoon opportunity that we did not wish to miss. 

Jo shows us the predator proof fence of the kiwi creche.

So we leaded up in the vans at 1:30pm and drove all the way back the way we came almost to Greymouth, and then headed northeast back past Blackball where we had started our Croesus Hike trek to Gentil Bois (Friendly Forest) Crèche.  We were met there by the incredibly kind, Jo Halley who works with Paparoa Wildlife Trust.  Jo met us directly after her long weekend away all the way up at Golden Bay so that she could show us one of her “babies” in the wild – Piki, a year old Great Spotted Kiwi.  First Jo spoke with us about how Kiwis have many mammal like trails like heavy bones, and long (80 day) gestation periods. 

Traditionally, only 20 percent of Kiwi chicks make it through their first year in the wild because of invasive mammal predation.  The program that Jo works with raises Great Spotted Kiwi within a predator free area until they get big and strong enough to be released into the wild.  The eggs of these chicks come from birds in the wild.  They are hatched at Willowbank Preserve and then raised in the crèche.  The Great Spotted Kiwi is listed as a vulnerable species.

Explaining about how the transmitter and telemetry work to keep track of the kiwi.

Hot on the trail of Piki.

Piki gets weighed.

Jo showed us how they use transmitters and telemetry to keep track of their kiwi in Gentil Bois.
We found Piki sleeping (they are nocturnal) deep in a fallen tree log burrow.  Jo bravely (with gloves) reached far up the burrow to pull Piki out to meet us.  She had explained that they have very sharp claws (their only means of defense) and very strong back legs.  Everything else about this flightless bird is quite fragile including their ability to get very scared.  So we were as quiet and as still as we could be as Jo went about weighing Piki to make sure he was maintaining weight.  Unfortunately, he had not over the weekend (he had already been back to Willowbank a few months before for the same reason).  She will have to supplement this bird with additional food and we all hope for the best.  Despite good results, some of the birds still do not make it.  We sure hope that Piki will pick up weight and thrive so that we can hear him someday when we are back out on the West Coast.  Thank you Jo for this very special afternoon.

The Blackball Hilton.

Dinner with Kay at Eating and Drinking.

Andrea's starry sky picture.

As we made our way back to Greymouth for dinner, we stopped for some tea at the famous Hilton Hotel in Blackball.  Mark assures us that at one point in the 1970s this was the place to hang out.  Then we enjoyed a great dinner (thank you Kay) in Greymouth before heading out again to Punakaiki in search of glow worms in a cave and starry skies along the coast (fun to think New Horizons is out there and very close to Pluto!).  We were successful in finding both and awed by both.  Then, back down to Greymouth once more for a good nights rest.   Wow!  What a day. – m&m : )