Friday 14th November 2008

A Golden Past
Thames and Coromandel, further north on the Coromandel Peninsula, were both gold mining towns in the latter half of the C19th. We had planned to go to the Gold Mine Experience, at the northern edge of Thames, but unfortunately it was closed for maintenance, although I heard later that it would be open at the weekend. Too late really, as it would be quite a trek back over the winding coastal roads.


Dave cycled round the area but I took the opportunity to visit the Thames School of Mines, where I joined a guided tour of the old school and saw the museum with all its mineralogical exhibits. The curator was a brilliant communicator who knew all about the history of the mines as his father and grandfather had both been miners and he had long been associated with the museum.
The school opened in 1886 and addressed problems such as the low recovery rate of gold from the ore. Fees were paid up front and if the student was indisciplined and thrown out, the fees would not have been returned.


The Thames Historical Museum, which we visited later, contained an interesting poster directed towards “Epicene Women", who were canvassing for the vote in New Zealand - it advised them to go home and take up their proper duties of looking after their homes, their children and in particular their husbands, for which Nature had designed them. Interestingly, NZ was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote in Parliamentary elections in 1893.
Jean

Black Thunderer

Hired a bike for a few hours in the town of Thames and got round most of the places. For some reason the bike was called the Black Thunderer which is a bit strange because it was mainly grey. Jean did mineral and mining museum on own but we linked up for some birdwatching from a special hide overlooking the huge Firth of Thames and then called in at the local History Museum which documents the town's golden (literally) past.

The drive from Thames hugged the Firth for about 20 kms before turning inland. A great spectacle all the way. Now in excellent motel in Whitianga, probably for three nights. It has wi-fi which was the main factor but also turns out it has spa bath plus Sky. Dave

13th November (2)

Urupukapuka was also the location of the White-Faced Heron, who stayed stock still for quite a while before moving gracefully forward.


The Pied Shags at Manganui were “hanging out their wings to dry” so didn’t fly away before I could catch them in the act.


Plenty of seabirds have been in evidence along all of the shores we’ve visited. At home I’d probably have loosely called them all gulls, but have managed to identify Black-browed Mollymawk which were sunning themselves on boulders.
Jean

Thursday 13th November 2008

A Selection of New Zealand Birds
We’ve seen a good variety of birds since we arrived, but not been able to photograph or recognise all of them. We do need to buy a book for identification of the more common types though. Incidentally, there are several English favourites, like the sparrow, thrush and blackbird, so we feel “at home”, especially as we eat our breakfast outside and see them hop around on the lawn.

The first is the Indian Myna, apparently introduced about a century ago and the book describes its distribution as common throughout the northern half of North Island. We’ll confirm that! They’re everywhere, including pecking at carrion in the road, where they play “First one to fly off is a coward”! I thought they were related to starlings as they have that bully-boy swagger.


We spotted several Californian Quails in the Quarry Gardens at Whangarei, where they all displayed a mincing run for cover when approached, and also the “feather in the cap”, or what the book describes as a distinct plume.


The Variable Oystercatcher has the beak to do a good job with the shellfish meal. I saw a pair at Urupukapuka Island on the Bay of Islands cruise, the female sitting on the nest while the male faffed around. The ones at Oakura were bashing a few shells on the rocks.
Jean