My last week with Gregg

 Blueman at the Kapiti beach

The 1500' drop to the shore on the west face of Kapiti Island

A slightly different view down the face.

View through the hobbit house entryway.

Kapiti Hobbit House 

View to the north end of Kapiti

Paua shell

Gregg, Nils, Neal, and Cathy, at Cathy Tracy's home under construction

Cathy's house is almost ready for the windows and siding.

White faced Heron seen here along the stream in Porirua.

Hobbit House wanna-be, on a giant macracarpa trunk

Gregg and Carla's home heart

Apple picking friends and roaming the city.

Gregg has had another good year with the orchard harvesting. He has had a lot of help and now has about 15 tons of apples awaiting the press in the cider shed. He has frozen over a 100 gallons of apple juice from this past couple of weeks and given away several dozen more gallons to those who came to help pick. In a month he will begin pressing the apples for cider and then begins the fermentation process. He will go to friends homes who have other apples like granny smiths to pick and bring them back to add to the cider making process.  We have picked some cider apples from trees in public areas.                                                      

A small birds nest in the top of an apple tree in the orchard, appeared to morph from the lichen encrusted branches. 

hungi (dinner cooked in the earth) by Tony Ropata, with Nils giving a hand and a visitor from Frankfurt learning how it all is done.
One of the evenings of late we went to the Ropata home where Tony was teaching a visitor from Frankfort Germany how to cook a large meal in the ground by traditional Maori methods. The visitor plans to use this hungi technique in a festival back in Frankfort this coming summer. 

The second weekend of apple pickers breaking for a late lunch. 

Briany, Neil (mostly hidden), Roger (Briany's partner), Lee (Neil's partner), Wyatt, and Gregg

Gregg first introduced me to Briany in 1998 when we traveled to the south island and Christchurch and stayed at her home for a night before traveling on. We later met her again in Nelson near the north end of the south island before we returned to the north island. She is currently working on the America's Cup that will take place in San Francisco Bay where the entire competition will be seen from the surrounding shore areas. Briany has worked on many festivals, some with Carla, who she is long time friends with. It has been a pleasure to see her again, and reflect back on my first trip here 14 years ago. Carla's dad Maurice, now 90, and others have been joking that I can't wait until another 14 years go by before I return again.

Greville Lanigera, "Mt. Tamboritha",  seen here at the Wellington Botanical Gardens

Wonderfully organic patterns of growth

The rare Saddleback, here seen at Zeelandia Nature preserve, note the red wattle alongside the beak. These birds are very inquisitive and stayed in a group of four or five most of the time I watched them in the bush. They scamper about poking with their beaks into lots of places looking for bugs. They are nearly in constant motion, so getting a clear and sharply focused photo proved to be very difficult. 

The even more rare takahe; this is one of only 250 in the world. The takahe is flightless and mostly a grass eater. Here seen at Zeelandia nature preserve just outside of Wellington. There are two takahe at Zeelandia and they both have radio telemetry attachments so they can be tracked and accounted for. This species came into a concentrated rescue program in 1970 when there were only 100 birds left ( but had been believed to have been extinct at the turn of the 20th century, until a small group were found in Fiordland ). They had been able to raise their numbers significantly but then stouts (weasel like predators that eat the eggs and young birds) invaded the areas and the numbers again dropped to less than 100. Here at Zeelandia they spent a few million dollars and put in nearly 9 kilometers of fencing to keep the predators out. This has proven successful and these birds are back to nesting without active threats from predators. 

I hope to cross once again onto Kapiti Island and enjoy the natural reserve there and the sanctuary for the native birds of New Zealand. I had scheduled to go early today but the boat canceled the crossing due to the sea conditions, so I have rescheduled and hope to go this weekend.

harbor side sculpture of the diver

Another harbor side sculpture with an apple and eve theme, and koru style tattoo on the hip

This is an adult female taratua. She is nearly a foot long and the latest in a very long line of taratua that stretches back longer than the dinosaurs. More than 200 million years ago they surfaced to sit and await their next meal just as they do today. Taratua live to be 100 years old. They do not have a skull like most reptiles but an open frame of bone around the head including a third eye on top of their head that senses light and alerts the taratua to approaching predators. The adult males are larger and have a lot more spikes down the center of their backs. They also have no individual teeth but three sets of boney projections from the jaw bones. Two rows on the lower and one row on the upper that fits between the two lower rows. Once they bight they take a long time to let go so keep a safe distance. Some people have suffered a bite where the jaw of the taratua went through the person's thumbnail before it let go. One more intriguing detail of the taratua is that its eggs take 18 months to hatch. 

Night view of Wellington harbor from the balcony of friends Richard and Kristen's home where they invited me to stay so that I could participate in the Vincent's Art Workshop life drawing class and not have to try and travel back late into the night to Otaki. We had a very good breakfast the next morning before I headed off to hike my way through the city and up to the botanical garden and Zeelandia through the wind and rain. Due to the poor weather I had a private tour through Zeelandia and the botanical garden essentially to myself most of the morning. 

up a river without a paddle, just a camera and a fishing rod

My weekly bike trips along the coastal highway for the 10 miles to get to the train station has several memorial crosses along the road from fatalities in the last decade. Several more deaths have taken place along this stretch but are more recent and without memorials yet. So these reminders help keep me focused and alert as ride my bike to and from the train. One night I got back too late on the train, had thought I had  my headlamp in my backpack but found it had been taken out, so I finished that ride pedaling in the dark part way home, in part thanks to the recent day light savings time change that suddenly shifted the sunset an hour earlier.

I took time on a past weekend to bike the 10 miles up into the river gorge so I could hike around, take some pictures and meditate while fishing. On my way bake at the end of the afternoon I had too much speed when I approached a section of the dirt road where a small river crosses the road and you have to have a bit of speed to throw the water away to each side as the front wheel hits the stream, but when exiting I then had to immediately start biking uphill on a sharp bank but the sped hit these corrugations and bounced me into the ditch and down I went on my forearm. So for the past week I was tending to the road rash on my arm so it would not get infected. I had good leather gloves on so my right hand was spared the same kind of skin grating that my forearm sustained. The bike continues to work well.
The post below is an old boundary marker that I passed on my way into the upper Otaki river pools.

This water is very clear and very cold, too cold for me to feel like trying to swim in it, even though there was lots of sunshine and very little wind. My legs went numb with the pain from the cold after a few minutes of wading. While fishing and exploring the river bank areas I was bitten a few dozen times by the sand flies which are very much like NH blackflies. Initially I thought they were harmless enough but still squashed a few dozen in the course of the afternoon. That night was no problem but the next couple of nights sleep was a challenge as the bites would itch intensely through the night. Fortunately I discovered that if I showered just before bed with very hot water on the bite areas then the itching would be intense at the time of the hot water exposure but then would subside shortly after and I could sleep with out the intense itching through the night.

This modern swing bridge is very well designed and constructed, making it very reliable for crossings.

The beekeepers put the hives up for their wintering stage in the orchard last week. here they are preparing some smokers so they can change up the hives.

At the apple crunching station, from here the apple mash goes into the apple juice press.

The weekend came and we were able to get started right off with a couple of bins I had some help picking during the week. Gregg, maurice and I got the apple works set up and underway before we what any pickers arrive. The weather Saturday was somewhat dubious with sprinkles on and off until the sun began to make a more consistent showing by mid afternoon. So by lunch we had a sober group of 40 or so and a few more bins of apples picked. By the days end we had pressed nearly 60 gallons of juice. Some went home with the pickers. Even after the entire weekend of picking there is only 20% of this bumper crop picked, but no worries Gregg can only store 150 gallons of juice and he has over a hundred gallons already. So next weekends picking and pressing will max out what he can hold for the coming twelve months for juice. The rest of the apples will go into cider over the next couple of months as Gregg has the time to get the apples pressed and into the fermentation barrels. It was a fun and low key weekend, thanks to a slow start on Saturday. Sunday was a gorgeous and very warm April day. It was really fun to have Richard Holt and Kristen Sparks come and pitch in with the picking and then stay and share their lunch with me.

I am looking forward to next weekend and wrapping up this seasons apple picking at the Totaranui Orchard. Carla organized all the food and freshments for the weekend. We even had a nine year birthday celebration to go along with lunch to add to the festivities.

Kristina, one time WOOFer at the orchard, and Maurice supervising the press. 

A couple of new friends, Saba and Doug, who came and picked during the week with me because they could not come on the weekend.

My first bin of brae burns destined for cider.

Picking with an ardent audience awaiting the drops. 

More new friends who came to help pick, partners Richard Holt and Kristen Sparks, both psychiatrists working for the Capital and Coast District Health Board: Richard for the Maori Specialty Mental Health Services and Kristen for the 30 bed in-patient program, both Americans who now live in New Zealand. 

Carla's dad Maurice van Zon, 90 years young and staying active. Here he is making sure I keep up with the apple washing and mashing to keep the press busy. 

Sorting the good from the bad apples

lunch break

Anita enjoying some fresh, just pressed juice, and finishing the sorting of another bin of braeburns.

Partners Emily and Nils and their  daughter Bonnie, making it a family affair while sorting apples.

Another beautiful Sunny Otaki sunset.

Kapiti Island crossing and then tramping through the preserve.

 Carla made the arrangements so that we could cross the 3 miless of ocean to reach Kapiti Island which is 10 milies long and 2 miles wide. It was set aside just before the end of the 19th century as a nature preserve by the Maori owners. A small group of Maori still live in one small area of the island, but it is otherwise dedicated to being restored as a nature preserve for the native birds of New Zealand. We saw only one flightless species, the weka, but there are several other species of flightless birds on the island. Most notable of the flightless birds are the species of Kiwi, all nocturnal birds who sleep during the day in burrows until dusk. I was glad we got to see the Kaka parrots; they are colorful, curious, and bold. One wanted to land on my shoulder when I had spent awhile close by trying to get a good picture of it. For fear of my ears being bitten I was able to avoid close contact. Carla's dad, Maurice, came along and he turned 90 several months ago, and is probably the healthiest and most active 90 year old I have met. He did well getting up to the island lookout where I shot the photo of the caves down below on the northwest shore. Once we got back down we had a great walk along the coastal track, back to where we could meet the boat to get us back home.

Kapiti Tours boat and tractor. We boarded and then they pulled the boat down into the surf until the boat floated off.

Gregg, Carla and Carla's dad, Maurice who is 90, on the boat and waiting to go out into the surf.

The boat strands itself onto the rocky beach and then rolls out the ramp for getting off.

This is a girl named Summer and her newest friend, a local who isn't shy.

The flightless and wild Weka, about chicken size, and scratching in the underbrush for food.

Kanuka bush along the trail

Almost up to the lookout

A native Bellbird, Maori name is Kormako, atop a flax bush.

North Point on Kapiti

Treasure cave on the northwest cliff side on Kapiti

Gregg and an island woman who is waiting for the water taxi run by her brother.

]Some of the islanders having some water fun

Carla and Eva. Eva was on the island for the week with a group of her gifted peers at school. Eva is #1 in her class.

 Eva you might remember from the mural painting rfor the apple cider party that started off this blog back in January. She is the top student in every course subject in her school, so quite academically skilled as well as artistic. She speaks 3 languages: english; maori, and german. The top students of her school all got to spend the week on the island, hosted by the Maori islanders. We were lucky to be able to meet up with her. She was generous with her hugs before we had to go.

The large Kaka parrot is very curious and vocal.

Carla in hobbit country where the weka keep watch.

Driftwood and stones, beautiful natural patterns, tones, and textures. 

The flightless Weka looking for its next morsel in a strikingly colorful beachside haven.

Beach side shells, stones, and wood.

A remnant of paua shell, worn by the tides, with the stones that helped smooth it down.

beach side bones were plentiful here; this is the upper half of a seabird beak, bleached by sun and tide

A weka looking for what the tide may have left behind

the great stone beach of the north end of Kapiti Island

These birds are known as New Zealand Pied Shags of the cormorant family, on watch for the next sign of fish schooling near the surface.

There are small pockets of bright colors along the beach.

New Zealand Robin

Maurice taking a break on the beach 

Maurice and Carla on the ride back

More beach patterns in stone

Whale bones from whaling days on Kapiti Island

A congregation of wood pigeons, or Kereru, foraging for food.