Our normal routine is to visit a new city’s museums to get a better understanding of the culture and history of a place. But in Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, we decided to bypass civilization and get a better look at the country’s native environment at Tiritiri Matangi Island, a unique conservation project that seeks to preserve New Zealand’s native plants and animals.
Then too, after a week of driving on the left, it was also a big relief to get onto a boat and let someone else be responsible. For some reason, no matter how many times I demonstrated the concept, other drivers didn’t quite understand that turning on my windshield wipers signaled that I was making a turn.
While the car trip was a bit more exciting than planned, we did see how much of the country’s original fauna and flora had been replaced by modern farming practices. Almost all of the land had been cleared to create green pastures for cattle, sheep and goats, as well as fields for corn, sunflowers, grapes, and other alien invaders.
Destruction of the native environment would normally be laid at the feet of hapless European immigrant farmers and colonial practices, but the responsibility also goes to the Māori as well. Of the 57 bird species that went extinct, 38 of them were the result of the Māori settlement of New Zealand in 1280 AD. Hunting, the introduction of predators (dogs and Pacific rats), and the practice of burning forests to create grasslands produced major changes in the country’s biome.
Europeans took it to a whole different level, turning the thick almost impenetrable bush into the rolling countryside in an imitation of England. They introduced hoards of predatory animals, including stoats, Norwegian black rats and domestic cats which are the main enemies of birds. As the New Zealand Herald noted, “Our avifauna is diverse, unique, special, intriguing – and, to a large extent, extinct”
Given this background, Tiritiri Matangi Island is one of New Zealand’s most important conservation projects. The island was farmed from 1850 to 1970 and stripped of 94% of its native bush. Even the native ant colonies had been replaced with European ants.
Beginning in 1984 the public and the government worked to restore the native habitat with volunteers planting over 250,000 native trees. All predators (including the ants) were eradicated and a number of threatened and endangered bird and reptile species have been successfully introduced. It is one of the few areas in New Zealand where you can see so many endangered and threatened bird species.
SO glad they have this place! The turquoise bird is astounding!
From here on, I do not believe I will ever turn on my wipers without thinking of you “signaling” a turn to those dumb New Zealanders. How could they not get it?.
I’m so glad you brought the blog back for your adventures! It’s neat to ride along with you. More pictures of the two of you please!