VictoriaMarch 26
The Okārito Boat Eco tour of the wetlands started off our day at 9 a.m.
Paula, owner and guide, along with her husband, Swade, gave us the deets about the birds and the ecosystem (not the bees 🤪) for our two hour journey up the lagoon.
We meandered out into “dead low tide.” It was still very high water though because of all the recent rain. Paula set our expectations low about seeing many birds due to the water level.
The Okārito freshwater wetlands are the largest intact wetlands (12 square miles) in NZ. Over ninety percent of the wetlands have been destroyed due to agriculture and housing and the only way to see what’s left is by boat or kayak.
We saw a lot of birds that we have seen previously, mostly sitting in the warmth of Tui Cottage at the kitchen table, looking out from the conservatory window. We easily identified Herons, Shags, Oystercatchers, Black Swans, Tuis, Wood Pigeons and Bellbirds. We’re getting pretty good at NZ bird watching and identification!
New to us were the Royal Spoonbill, Caspian Tern, Bar-Tailed Godwit from Alaska and the Black Billed Gull, which is the most threatened gull species in the world.
Since we were viewing the birds through binoculars and the water level kept us further away from them, we don’t have any close up pictures so we’ve found a few from other tours in Okārito.
I have to say I’m partial to the graceful White Heron, of which there are less than 200 left in all of NZ. How fortunate we were to have happened upon Heronius yesterday on our walk.
Swade stopped the boat for a coffee break and we all sat for a few minutes drinking tea or coffee and eating his homemade cookies. It started to rain at that point, so we headed back to the Okārito Boat Shed.
However, as we were en route, the clouds cleared and we were lucky enough to get a view of the Southern Alps mountain range, Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman peeking through along with Franz Josef Glacier.
Perhaps if we hadn’t already seen a lot of these birds already on our travels, this tour would have been more interesting. Unfortunately, for us, it was a bit underwhelming.
We disembarked and Mitch took off running, hoping to make it in time to catch his scenic helicopter ride over two glaciers, Fox and Franz Josef, and do a snow landing.
He needed to drive to the helicopter office, which was about half an hour away. I wished him luck, asked if he had any final words for our children and hugged him goodbye. Glancing at the sky, it was sunny and cloudless in Okārito, but weather over the glaciers is an entirely different beast.
He got to the Glacier Country Helicopter office and 30 minutes later he called to say that his flight had been cancelled due to poor visibility. Apparently, they emailed him three minutes after he left Okārito, but he was driving and hadn’t looked at his phone.
So here’s the free version of what it all would have looked like for him.
He turned the car around and came back to Okārito without a story to tell other than that of a cancelled helicopter flight. Instead, we had lunch sitting at the kitchen table and watched the birds fly in the sunny, clear blue skies of Okārito.
Not much to do, I called bike stores in Hokitika, our next stop, to see about renting e-bikes for Friday. Since it’s Good Friday and a busy upcoming weekend, they were almost sold out, but we managed to reserve two.
We had an early dinner because of our Kiwi spotting activity at 6:45 p.m. with Okārito Kiwi Tours.
Ian, the enthusiastic and passionate owner, is the only licensed operator in the South Island who runs an organized tour to spot the rare Rowi in the wild, Okārito’s brown kiwi.
Even before we arrived for the tour, we had strict instructions via email. Dress warmly, wear sturdy shoes, don’t wear an insulated down jacket that makes noise when you move, no phones, no backpacks and no cameras or smart watches.
We were told to bring lots of patience, a good attitude and the ability to stand still for hours at a time, not making a sound. And again, Ian reminded us to not forget patience. He advised that if we are able to comply by these rules, then our chances of seeing a kiwi in the wild will greatly increase.
We showed up at his house/office and he immediately made us swap out our jackets for quiet fleece ones. “Nope,” he said. “Those won’t work. Grab one of mine instead.”
Strike one for the Lazars.
Ian was quite militant about pretty much everything. He’s been doing this a long time, about 26 years, so he knows what works, and he is a pro at finding these incredibly shy nocturnal birds in the bush.
There were five other people on the tour, since seven passengers is the max he can fit in his van. Were these comrades able to abide by the stringent rules as well?
He ran us through some quick team building exercises to make sure.
We weren’t able to even crack a smile, let alone itch our brow or slap a mosquito biting our neck as we were standing guard like a Buckingham Palace Sentry waiting for these birds to reveal themselves.
He walked us through the military operation with some maps and a time schedule that he briefed us on.
We climbed into the Scooby-Doo van that had Kiwi bird magnets all over it, and we started our not so clandestine mission.
Our viewing spot was a 20 minute drive into the forest and up gravel roads with warning signs to slow down because cars kill kiwi.
Once we arrived, we walked through the forest for about 10 minutes. There’s no way anyone would find this spot unless they went on this tour.
Ian used a radio tracker issued by the Department of Conservation to identify where the male kiwi was.
Prior to this device, he said it could take hours just to spot their location, having to rely on listening for their calls, which he played for us during our training session before we left his office so we were prepared if we heard them.
More instructions ensued. Stay in a single file. Listen for rustling in the bushes, then tap your neighbor on their shoulder and point to where you heard the sound. Absolutely no talking. “Mitch,” he said. “You’re in the middle. Use your walkie-talkie by announcing your name first and then say where you saw the bird. Say nothing more, like 10-4 good buddy. Roger Roger. None of that b-s,” he reprimanded us before we even did it.
Then, we stood there like perfect sentries, shoulder-to-shoulder, for 30 minutes, until finally, a large kiwi quickly shot across the path to our left. I missed it, but Mitch saw it. Darn. He said it was big. Ian confirmed it was a male.
Once Ian identified where the kiwi had gone, we crept along the path and stopped, looking for another.
We saw and we heard movement in the bushes. Silence. Look. Listen.
Ian shone his red flashlight in the bush and sure enough, there it was. A kiwi!
It was so much bigger than I thought it would be. We stood like statues as we watched, no one moving, reacting or making a sound. My comrades were professional.
Kiwi spotting mission accomplished.
We waited a bit more and out came the baby, Rusty, who was about five months old.
Not wanting to disturb them or be greedy with our viewing time, we made our way back to the Scooby-Doo kiwi mobile. Time recorded: 9 p.m.
Some trips can last for hours, Ian said. We were fortunate to have seen three in just over an hour. Ian was hyperventilating with excitement. He was elated.
We returned back to Okārito Kiwi HQ and invited a German couple we met on our tour over to our cottage for a glass of wine as they were staying at the RV campgrounds just across from the cottage.
We compared our NZ traveling adventures and let me tell you, we’ve got nothing on them. They are traveling here for six months in a camper van that is about the size of the Scooby-Doo van. Plus, they’ve done some crazy backcountry hiking that puts our treks to shame. Their pictures were impressive. It’s their second time here. Last time they stayed nine months and did many of the hikes we’ve done or will be doing on the rest of our trip.
One of the things I like best about our trip so far is all the cool and interesting people we have met. Fellow travelers are so generous and kind and everyone offers up excellent advice and recommendations based upon where they’ve been. It adds another dimension to our experience that makes our journey even more memorable.
That kiwi expedition sounds intense! Glad you got to see some while you were there.