A Revisit to Tiritiri Matangi Island Bird Sanctuary

Bird loving Grandma’s birthday today, so after a quick shower of balloons and early morning birthday sing song to wake up everyone else on the same corridor of the hotel, we drove over to Gulf Harbour to catch the ferry over to Tiritiri. Don’t know if it was the grandparents' influence but for once we were on time… rocked up a whole 30 minutes before… very unheard of for us and quite refreshing not to arrive at a destination, hearts a thumping, adrenaline racing wondering if you indeed will make it in time. 

Down at the harbour the boys went to have a look at the fish hanging around by the boats, and low and behold there below us in the shallows of the water was a large octopus - amazing. Have to say this was a first - never seen an octopus out there in the wild… always been cooped up in a little dark tank in some aquarium. So we spent a few moments watching this curious creature as it changed colour periodically and then finally swam off to deeper waters.

Now we've been to Tiritiri before but it was fabulous once again. As our previous visit we opted for the guided tour by one of the volunteers… honestly... initially it felt slightly a teeny bit on the slow side, but then again if you marched through quickly and didn’t stop from time to time it’s amazing how much you miss out. Our guide was so knowledgable too, fascinating to think they’ve given the birds names, and for the rarer ones, know how many there are, their babies etc. Bird conservation is serious stuff here. 

So 5 minutes into the walk, what should we see but a family of Kokako birds… the really rare ones which most of New Zealanders haven’t even seen, so it was a real treat to see them up close and personal.

Kokako

We then slowly pressed on towards the light house, stopping from time to time to watch other birds that decided to grace their presence. So here we go here is our gallery...

Saddleback

Stitchbird

New Zealand Robin

Whitehead

Tui

.... and my little Tui gallery...

Takahe

Fantail

Goldfinch

Up at the light house we stopped to have our packed lunch and were then left to meander back down at our own pace to catch the ferry back to the mainland in time for a wee birthday dinner at the Sky Tower’s Orbit restaurant.