Te Anau and a vist to see the Takehe

Trip Start Jul 31, 2007
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Trip End Aug 30, 2007


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Friday, August 24, 2007

Caught the scheduled Islander plane back to Invercargill in the morning. Bit of a bumpy ride. Set off for Te Anau but had instructions to meet up with DOC at their secret breeding site for Takehe. This is a flightless bird that is as big as a turkey bright purple and apparently very tasty to settlers and introduced predators alike. It was thought extinct for a long time but a few were discovered in 1948 in Fiordland. Now DOC is trying with some success to get them to breed and remove their predators. We had touble finding the place. Turned down a minor track that led up a mountain. Camper really struggled with this with wheels spinning and sliding backwards. Eventually got to the top in a cloud of smoke to find er.. a field. Turned round with some difficulty and called in at a sheperds cottage we had seen. It had lots of sheepdogs in a trailer outside and lots more round the back. It had a sign saying 'take your bloody boots off' on the door. which didn't bode well. A grizzled guy opened the door while more sheepdogs looked round behind him from his front room. He seemed to have no shortage of sheepdogs! He never batted an eyelid to find me and a very large camper outside his cottage that he accessed with a quad bike. He was very chatty but I think his last visitor was in 1969. He knew where the secret site was, although he did direct us straight over the mountain, but agreed going back to the main road may be better. Fascinating site and we saw some of the adult birds. Later went to the DOC HQ in Te Anau. Fixed up for a trip to Milford and had a very nice dinner with the area manager at a restaurant in town.
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