Knight Inlet Bears

This May and June we sailed north to the Broughtons over a period of 5 weeks. One of our main purposes in this trip was to view bears at Glendale Cove in Knight Inlet. My brother kindly lent us a full frame digital SLR and 24-105 lens, which we used to capture the following pictures. We took these from our rowing dinghy while floating in 6 inches of water. Because of Covid-19 we had the place to ourselves with one shrimp boat anchored nearby getting ready for the season and a couple of wardens who were looking after the closed up bear watching lodge.

Because we did not bring a telephoto lens these images have all been cropped using RawTherapee (an open source raw photo editor). Apologies for the graininess of some, which, despite the full frame SLR, was not helped by low light (it was raining) and cropping. 

The bears photographed were a mother and 2 yearling cubs. At one point, one of the youngsters decided to chase off a nearby adult and the whole family eventually gave chase. The wardens told us that this female adult was the dominant bear out of the seven bears we saw in the estuary. 

Baby giving chase to adult who is out of frame to right

The bears mostly ignored us. Of the hundreds of photos I took, this is one of the few where the mother is looking at us.

Detail from above

Rani takes a movie of the family

The next day we saw the same family feeding on high protein grass in the meadows near the shore. The weather was better but we could not get as close in our dinghy.

 

New Zealand 2020 - part 2

We left Whangarei mid February and drove north, up the west side of the island to the north tip, returning via the east coast. We tented using our camping gear from our 2012 trip, which Roz and Holger had graciously allowed us to store at their farm.

A lovely walk at Ocean Beach north of Whangarei Heads

Sea weed cast on Ocean Beach

We came across these round boulders at Opononi. They are similar to the Moeraki Boulders we saw on the South Island

Boulders at Opononi

Cool patterns in the sand at Te Paki

Chris climbs the giant dunes at Te Paki

The dunes run back for kilometers and are great fun to run down. Some people use little surf boards to ski down the dunes.

We found several abalone shells and fragments on 90 mile beach

Rani checks to see if we packed a horse treat

No treats so a pat will have to do. Note the tire tacks - the entire beach is open to vehicle travel, which can be a bit unnerving.

Pohutukawa tree near Cape Reinga

Hiking to Cape Reinga - we swam at the beach below

Light at Cape Reinga

Another hiker snapped our picture near Cape Reinga

Beautiful light on this hill sacred to the Maori and off limits to hikers

Sea and shore make an abstract image at dusk at Spirits Bay - we were camped nearby.

Sand 'plants'

Jo Woollacott with friend Coral near Jo's B&B/retreat near Tokerau Beach.

A generous Maori woman lent us this paddleboard to try out at Rangiputa beach. Rani had no problem in the calm water

Coral, Chris, and Jo enjoy a peaceful afternoon at Rangiputa beach on the Kari Kari peninsula.

 

New Zealand 2020 - part 1

We finally returned to New Zealand at the end of January this year - a trip we had intended to make a couple of years ago. We had promised our friends Roz and Holger to visit them and take home items we had left with them when we sold our sailboat in New Zealand in 2014. We also planned to do some camping and to visit other friends on the North Island.

The Covid-19 pandemic was just beginning  and was mostly confined to China but we brought masks with us and wore them in the airport when a plane from Shanghai joined us in the customs line.  We rented a cheap car (15 Canadian dollars a day!) near the Auckland airport and drove to our friend's farm near Whangarei. Over six weeks we were to spend about two weeks at their farm, two on their sailing boat 'Melody', and the remainder visiting with another NZ  sailing friend, Jo Woollacott and hiking and camping in the Northland.

We came across this bird en route to Whangarei from Auckland

One of our first activities was to extract honey from Roz and Holger's bee hives. Rani is suited up to help with the smoker and to brush bees from the frames.

Rani pumps smoke to calm the bees while Holger removes the frames from the first hive.

Inside their newly built 'shed' Rani removes comb from the frame.

Holger squeezes honey through (unused) pantyhose. For small amounts this apparently works better than using a spinner. It is hard work as we found out when we both tried our hands at this.

A somewhat disturbing birthday party for Holger

Our sailing friends from Picara (now sailing and living on Fairsky) - Mike and Marni - dropped by for a visit and a game of pickup sticks using offcuts from the garden

Tension builds and advice flows freely

Roz proved to be a talented 'pick up sticker'

Rani enjoys a lively sail on Melody

Holger at the helm with Roz navigating

Historical plaque/sculpture in Bay of Islands

We saw this kiwi on an island in the Bay of Islands

The kiwi was quite unperturbed by our presence.

We sailed north to Whangaroa Harbour and climbed the 'Duke's Nose'. I had been here a few times but this was Rani's first vist.

Panorama from the Duke's Nose

Holger hikes everywhere in bare feet

On the trail to the light house at Cape Brett

Rani and Holger enjoy the view near the lighthouse

Such grace...

Back on board melody for a well deserved home-made beer

This crazy rock 'head' with it's own hairdo is on a coastal ridge trail that runs from near Urquharts Bay to Ocean Beach.

   I will save the pictures from our car trip up to the north tip of New Zealand for Part 2