Nocturnal Critters and Conservation Efforts

I bet you thought I was going to launch into a discussion of Kiwi birds, didn't you? Nope, today we're talking 'possum. 

The common bushtail opossum was introduced from Australia in the late 1840's to create a fur trade and to provide wild game. New Zealand continued to release animals up until the 1930's. 

They are marsupials, both sets of paws have opposable thumbs and yes, they really can play dead. They also have other neat tricks like this:

 Image taken by Frank Lukasseck/Corbis.

Opossums are omnivores and naturally would eat everything from fallen fruit to carrion. However, in New Zealand they eat birds eggs and tree foliage. NZ naturally only has two native mammals (bats and a tiny rat) so none of the birds or trees here developed any defenses to predation. And without any coyotes, big cats or foxes, the opossums don't have any predators either. So in order to keep numbers in check, the opossum is culled in vast numbers.

Wikipedia

I'm not opposed to reducing numbers, obviously this hungry critter isn't native and can do a lot of damage (they are also a disease vector for cattle in this area of the world). I do have a bit of an issue with the gruesomeness of it all. 

In Napier, there is this store advertised to the tourists. 

and when you walk through the front door you are greeted with these:

In NZ opossum fur is marketed as eco-fur or ethical fur. The store above does have an informative walk through including a history, current culling methods and a discussion on the actual impact of the animal. Currently anyone is free to kill opossum, you can trap, poison or hunt them. The Department of Conservation also does aerial drops of the poison 1080.

Here are some of the items I've seen recently:

Postcard.

T-shirt. The animals are all over the road, and not in a good way.

Food items. Etc.

Opossums are commonly referred to as noxious and as pests. It's said that reducing opossum numbers is "New Zealand's second most popular sport, after rugby".  

The lonely planet even makes light of the problem recommending people visit the store above for something "warm and woolly" not even mentioning the conservation side of things.

I don't know if NZ realizes how ugly all of this comes off. Opossums are still wild animals. As a tourist, seeing the animals demonized and dealt with comically is a little unsettling. At the end of the day, it's a problem created by humans and maybe should get a little more respect.

Tomorrows post will be a lot more fun, I promise. We're off to Waitomo to visit the shiny shit cave maggots. 

-E

Napier - for beach bums and architecture buffs

Napier. Art deco capital of the world. 

I have to say, Napier has grown on me. At first I felt that it was a rundown tourist trap on it's last financial legs. But after having spent 2 afternoons there, I've realized the town has more to offer than pastel buildings and opportunity shops. 

First, a crash course on art deco. Think 1930's, geometric, symmetrical patterns, stucco, starbursts and columns.

 It's not just an architectural style, it's also a visual art and "expressed all the vigor and optimism of the roaring twenties plus the idealism and escapism of the grim thirties." (Details)

In 1931, the original town of Napier was leveled by an earthquake and then what little remained was burnt to the ground. Many died. 

Some obviously charismatic and optimistic chap convinced the city to rebuild almost entirely in the popular style of the time. And now, some 80 years later, the town tries to milk it for all it's worth. 

I hear the walking tour is very good, but I didn't take it, so you'll get my own version instead. 

Though the entire city has the art deco feel, they can't seem to fend off the incessant requirements of modern capitalism. 

Below - nothing says 1930's like stationary.

Or better yet, how about a strip mall?

Though time has taken it's toll, the town does have a nice pedestrianized main street with a few statues that will make you think "well now, isn't that nice."

Sadly, the town doesn't seem to have a lot of economic opportunities, so shops really get into the 1930's thing. Even the down town backpackers used an appropriate font.

But there was also a lot of empty retail space, and not a lot of real estate was selling. Generally, you wonder how they are getting by. The correct answer to that question is cruise ships. But my answer is Opportunity Shops. 

An opportunity shop is a thrift shop, second hand store, or the sally ann. And Napier has more than it's fair share. I quite like them, so I thought it was quite cool. And even the thrift stores get in on the 1930's thing.

And where else can you sell tourists on an appropriate hat with which to beat the heat and look a little like a 1930's movie star?

Yep. Napier. 

Cycling D'Vine

Today we hit the roads to visit some of the wineries of the hawkes bay region.

Of course, being consciences citizens, we didn't want to consume alcohol and drive so instead we decided to bike. Cycling the wine routes of this region is very common. There are hundreds of kms of limestone bike pathways that are safe from cars and appropriate even if perhaps you have over indulged a bit.

We rented a bike for SM from a bike shop in North Havelock. And from there we set out! Unfortunately we didn't plan our route very well.

Below is an ad for an upcoming wine cycle on Nov 4th. I can tell you that after our expedition we looked nothing like the two folks below. (Though perhaps "wheely glassy" would be an appropriate description.)

In one area we found three wineries, but to get to more It was about 18 km. Normally 18 kms isn't much, but after a few samplings it seemed like a long way. We did peddle on and visited three more wineries. At least the long cycle gave us time to digest.

Below are photos of a few of the wineries we visited. 

Black Barn. Kinda self explanatory.

Abbey Cellars. This isn't an old abbey of course, it's a purpose built winery made to look like an abbey, but quite nice though. 

Sileni. This is a very large facility, offering tours, a cafe, cheese tastings and olive oils in addition to a large selection of wine. SP found a bottle in just his size.

Sileni was also the official supplier of wine for the Auckland Triathlon. They have three different varietals each with a custom label celebrating NZ triathletes. Here we are getting a "triathletes in the store" pic with the wineries retail manager. Overall Sileni was a very nice visit.

Unfortunately I didn't get many photos of our favorite winery, Alpha Domus. It was probably the smallest one we visited. The wine was wonderful but just as importantly, they have a very cute dog. 

We managed ~ 50 km over 6 hours and 6 stops. It was a long day even for the triathletes on the light bikes, but SuperMom gets serious kudos cycling on a heavy rental bike. (And this is why we call her super.)

Gannets at Cape Kidnappers

It was a very cold grey windy day today, so taking bird pictures was a bit of a challenge. (Also, the tablet I'm posting these from is kinda small, so a few of these photos are fuzzy, but I didn't really notice until I'd uploaded them!)

For reference, Cape Kidnappers is home to nearly 10,000 some odd birds and every single one of them looks exactly the same. Gannets have about a 2 meter wing span, they are quite large - about the size of a small dog (or Milo the cat). The birds mate for life and are amazing fliers. They land directly beside there mates in this enormous colony. They are plunge divers, living on the shoreline and fishing for squid or schooling fish. I think some of these ones are fishing for compliments though.

Cape kidnappers is very pretty too. 

The peninsula is being turned into a sanctuary for native plants and birds. We took the tour with Cape Kidnapper Safaris and though it was a little pricey, having a warm bus and a good guide to explain the conservation efforts was worth it. (Thanks Adrian!)