Wednesday 9 March 2016

Kiwis, wekas, moreporks.

Heard female Kiwi scraaking in the night, the male whistles in return but we didn't hear him. Several wekas squawking around the hut, we saw two families with black fluffy chicks later, mother makes a totally different gentle burbling sound to them. Shortly after leaving the hut, I was almost scalped by a morepork (small indigenous not-totally-nocturnal owl), who then sat for ten minutes watching us. The light in the canopy was lousy, but one photo was OK.
Two hours through rather cloudy grey weather, which made the forest less vibrant, but still lovely. Gentle climb to Mackay Hut, 600 m up over 12Km, changed from fern and palm, through different ferns and mosses and beech trees, then podocarps, then manuka and other alpine scrub. Drizzle and low cloud more troublesome, so sat in almost new luxury hut watching the clouds swirl around while soggy people appear.

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