We had read that the best place to see a
wild Kiwi (bird) was Aroha Island, up from the Bay of Islands, a private nature preserve with a campground. It's a small island you can walk around in 30 minutes, joined to the mainland by a causeway through some mangroves. We dutifully checked in, scouted the area, and prepared ourselves for the night vigil in the bush with our red cellophane-covered flashlights (kiwis are poor-sighted and can't see red at all; so the story goes). We went out after nightfall, after the winged birds had stopped singing, found a bench in the appointed area and waited. And waited. And waited. After an hour or so--it seemed much longer--we walked back to the campground defeated, but possibly wiser. As we learned, kiwis are extremely territorial. Aroha Island, maybe 10 acres at most, sports just a pair...a 44 year old female and a 22 year old male. We did the kiwi safari thing one more time the next week, during which I developed my fake kiwi conspiracy theory, to be stated in a later post. All the pix below are from my scouting of the island the afternoon of our arrival.
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| Kiwi zone...you see this and other such all over the Northland |
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| Big beautiful trees on the island |
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| Best, for me, were the botanical exhibits |
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| Way more about Kauri in later posts |
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| A baby Kauri |
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| Helpful map |
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| Birth of a silver fern frond |
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| Alas, no kiwis |
