Spring on the rebound on GBI When we arrived here 17 months ago we thought it was funny that people said they were going to town, meaning Auckland! Especially compared to Takaka! Imagine our surprise more recently when someone said he's going to New Zealand when he meant the mainland! We had a week of high wind from the west that created a new phenomenon. (We’ve seen a lot of phenomena here that we never saw before!) The waves were huge, fast and furious, and the wind so strong it lifted the spray as the waves rolled over and crashed. The spray itself was so dense and high that for that whole week we could see it from our house and from much further away! One afternoon Ro braved the wind and took a whole lot of photos, which I pared down to 20 and placed in a Dropbox folder. Here are a few, and if you want to see the rest, go to www.dropbox.com/sh/pm6fzgnrlhqpqqa/AADfTjiNWrelsBc4FZnVVSHia?dl=0 Just click on the first photo and use the arrow key to see the rest. But always enter full screen first! They really look best in full screen! The strong westerlies also whipped up the bay side of the island, so much that at least one of the two ferry crossings were cancelled, so that week we swam in the haven of the river! Ro took this one from the dunes and I cropped it. It’s a very wide beach, and clouds had begun to form by the time he neared the water. This is from as close as he dared to get! Other than that windy week, we “breezed” through winter with mild days and just the right amount of rain at the right times of day. Until this week! Whoa! Daytime temperatures plummeted from around 15°C/60-62°F to more like 8°C/46°F, the coldest days in 17 months, and 130 mm of rain fell in two days. Then like magic blue sky and pleasant springlike warmth returned! We now have a facebook page for Ro’s book, Entwined Realities. Search for the title or use www.facebook.com/entwinedrealities We created it to expand and deepen the book’s message and bring in more readers. Please look at the posts (many more to come), and like, follow, share, recommend and invite others to like the Entwined Realities page so it can reach as many people as possible. Ideally download and read the book (takes about two hours), and talk to others about its message to help find solutions to humanity’s one problem. You can download it free at entwinedrealities.wordpress.com. Ro was motivated to write the book and get its message out because, based on all his research and the information he uncovered, especially new studies this year by geneticists confirming that Neanderthal DNA is in our human genome, we agree wholeheartedly with quotes like this, of which many other similar ones are online: If there’s any work deserving of full-time effort and devotion for the sake of helping humanity, it is the study of psychopathy and the distribution of the facts as far, wide and fast as possible. And of course we remain flabbergasted, disgusted and heartbroken by the sudden change in the guy we had with all our heart and soul (and many other people felt as strongly as we did) truly believed would do everything possible to defy the system so cruelly stacked against him. We and millions of others were crushed when out of the blue he and his promises went completely off the rails. I vowed to never put so much of my being into supporting and believing something too good to be true. If something so good actually happens, then I’ll believe it. I don’t even want to type his name. It makes me feel ill. And now, it’s BAU for the States and the world. Meanwhile, some good news for ecological enhancement on GBI. About two-thirds of the island is protected by DOC, but with the notable exception of Windy Hill Sanctuary at the southern end of the island, most of that conservation land is in the central and northern parts. The Sanctuary was created and has been managed by a charitable trust for 17 years. Now an additional block of mature and regenerating native bush has been donated to Windy Hill, extending it across the island from the east coast to the west. I see they haven’t updated their website since the addition: www.windyhillsanctuary.nz Select “Beauty” from the menu at the top left for some, well, beautiful, photos from the Sanctuary. Each link under Beauty, such as Birds, Forest, Landscapes or Plants, takes you to another page of mostly labelled photos. I see they haven’t updated their website since the addition: www.windyhillsanctuary.nz Select “Beauty” from the menu at the top left for some, well, beautiful, photos from the Sanctuary. Each link under Beauty, such as Birds, Forest, Landscapes or Plants, takes you to another page of mostly labelled photos. LIVE AND LEARN! When I first read saw this information I checked the date to be sure it wasn’t an April Fools joke! Did you know that clouds are teeming with life, totalling millions of tonnes in the atmosphere? Bacteria, fungal spores and algae are thought to play a big part in keeping the earth green by causing the water vapour in clouds to precipitate into rain more often than it would without them. So these microscopic life forms are rainmakers, and traditional rain dances, when stamping feet stir up dust particles and send them aloft, are based in the latest science! Back in November I wrote a bit on lizards on the Barrier, which we’d learned about in “Aotea – Ridge to Reef”, an all-day programme of eight experts presenting the findings of their recent research on wildlife living in and around Great Barrier. I still have my notes and in the next few months I’ll share fascinating tidbits we heard about dolphins, orcas, seabirds, freshwater fish, native plants, seals and sea turtles. Marine biologist Sarah Dwyer on the bottlenose dolphin Everyone on the Barrier has seen plenty of dolphins, and Sarah's nine-month study of 21,000 sq km of the Hauraki Guif confirmed that the shores of Great Barrier Island are indeed a hotspot for the nationally endangered bottlenose dolphin. These coast-based dolphins are particularly vulnerable to human impacts. The remaining main populations in Doubtful Sound in Fiordland and between the Marlborough Sounds and Westport are more protected than those in the Bay of Islands, where commercial tourism is an increasing threat. Shipping traffic in the rest of the Hauraki Gulf is probably the main reason for their decline there. Another big concern is overfishing of the prey that dolphins and whales depend on for their survival. For now the Great Barrier Island habitat is a haven for about 170 bottlenose dolphins, most of them “frequent users” who spend much of the year here. Individual dolphins can be identified by their dorsal (top) fin, which is a bit vulnerable and over time develops recognisable patterns of notches and scars, as unique as human fingerprints. Blind Bay, 10 July The bottlenose dolphins’ social system is complex! It’s known as fission-fusion, which means their group numbers vary – sometimes they come together in larger groups and sometimes they split up. Sarah’s research included following individuals and their relationships in their fluctuating subgroups, and the subgroups within the overall network, and hypothesising about the survival value – such as for feeding, reproduction and protection – of the groupings and regroupings of males, females and calves over shorter and longer periods of time. (not my photo) Medlands is in the foreground, and beyond the two hills of Sugarloaf, heading north, are misty Kaitoke and the east coast. Taken from the Medlands overlook on the way back from Tryphena. We see this variable oystercatcher couple most days when we’re at the south end of Medlands. They've done just what www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/variable-oystercatcher says they do – like staying with one mate and living around the same area year-round. They’re called “variable” because their colour varies from north to south in New Zealand. Oystercatchers can live 30 years, so we hope to see them for a good long time! This is the point where Oruawharo Creek enters the sea. As the tide comes in, a pond, also beloved by the oystercatcher pair, fills in at the side of the stream – the pond in the rainbow photo I sent last year – while the narrower stream continues to the sea. Ro took this one from the car as the oystercatchers scampered alongside the creek. We’re always on the watch for patterns in the digits on the car’s clock and odometer. These are the best ones yet, both in the last few weeks! As we saw them coming we stopped and photographed the big events! A few more photos…. GB green & blue (not my photo) Basil in the lounge in August, moved outside for the photo shoot. The original plants in their pot were a gift from Caity last summer. I secateured down about a quarter of them (bare stems hidden in the back) for pesto months ago before I was surprised to see that they were happy to keep on growing all winter! Lettuce in a banana box lined with a big plastic bag, where two windows meet in the lounge Winter sunset from our deck
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