Aotearoa New Zealand – that’s unique bird life and a very fragile flora and fauna. Living in Auckland also means being only a ferry ride away from a few islands in the Hauraki Gulf. Motutapu is my favorite; I have been there plenty of times. But there’s one island I have yet to go to: Tiritiri Matangi. This small (2.2 km2) island, about 30 km north of Auckland CBD, is an open nature reserve and is noted for its bird life. Takahē, kōkako, tīeke, and even kiwi can be found here. The island’s name is Māori, meaning „tossed by the wind“. Even though the island was inhabited way earlier, farming was only started by white settlers in the middle of the 19th century after having deforested the island. After 1984, however, Tiritiri Matangi became part of a wide-scale native forest regeneration project and a protected place to offer the broader public access to experience the unique NZ bird life. So, nowadays, up to 32,000 visitors a year make a trip out to the motu.
John and I went on a wonderfully sunny day in late summer. The ferry trip from the CBD via Gulf Harbour is already lovely: you cruise between Auckland’s North Shore and Rangitoto Island towards the island. The ocean is glittering in the sun; in the distance, Little Barrier and Great Barrier Islands are rising from the Pacific. The island is covered with nature trails to enjoy the island and some good views towards all directions. After disembarking the ferry, we started walking along a trail to small bays with white sandy beaches and turquoise water. On our way, we came across little boxes right and left off the boardwalk stating they were boxes for kororā/little penguin. We were laughing: what are the odds that there’s a really a little blue penguin in it?! It’s a bright sunny day on an island in the vicinity of the country’s biggest city. Penguins only hang out in the cold waters further south, right? We opened the lid on top to glance through the acrylic glass into the box. Something moved in it! Indeed, there it was, a little blue penguin! We were in awe! Exhilarated, we continued our walk and dived into the forest. Under the canopy of the native bush, suddenly, an abundance of bird song surrounded us. It was magical. The metallic-croaking sound of the tui, the chirping of fantails, and many more. The sound of the rare tīeke (saddleback) suddenly rose. We very much enjoyed walking around the island and discovering spectacular views over Hauraki Gulf. Suddenly, the eery, haunting song of the kōkako was audible. Even though I closely looked towards the sound, I could not spot that grayish bird with its distinctive blue wattles on their cheeks. Oh well!
After some time, we arrived at the island’s highest spot and checked out the lighthouse from where you had even better views of the island and the surrounding ocean. On our way to check out the little souvenir shop (where I hoped to get some coffee), we eventually also spotted some takahē. These archaic-looking birds, the size of smallish chickens, have wonderful feathers in every shade of blue and green and a characteristically orange solid beak. Next to the souvenir store, a water source attracted many tui, and it was fun to not just watch the takahē but also the tui that are somewhat symbolic of NZ to me.
The trip to Tiritiri Matangi might have included less hiking than we had hoped, but getting so close to the country’s extraordinary bird life was fantastic.
