Windy Tops

Tag: kapiti island

  • Daywalk: Kapiti Island, from Rangatira Point to Tuteremoana Trig

    We finally got there. The third attempt wasn’t cancelled. Kapiti Island was sunny and with appropriate charm. Last Sunday morning we drove out early at the Kapiti Boating Club, from where both ferry companies leave, and caught our ferry over to the island.

    3001370121_6b91f15e06_m-5922008
    Looking South-ish from
    Tuteremoana Trig.

    Date: 2nd November, 2008
    Location: Kapiti Island, Rangatira Point to Tuteremoana Trig and back.
    People: Stacey and Me.
    [Photos]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    Kapiti Island has a varied and sometimes violent history. It was the base from which Te Rauparaha ruled much of the lower North Island and upper South Island of New Zealand. With the island being relatively central and accessible to the Cook Straight, he used its strategic location to secure trading opportunities with visiting sailing ships, and this gave him a huge advantage over other Maori tribes, as well as giving him a higher status. Most of the island has been farmed in the past, and the bush that covers most of it is still re-generating.
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  • Yet another attempt at Kapiti Island

    We’re having yet another attempt at Kapiti Island on this coming weekend, after the previous two efforts to get there failed due to forecasts of undesirable wind. I guess it’s the time of year, but with DOC having taken our $22 for visiting permits, we should definitely get there sooner or later. Maybe third time lucky, perhaps? I’m sick at home today which has been a minor let-down, but if I’m still sick then and the weather’s nice enough to go, I’ll be very disappointed.

    Meanwhile, we’ve been down to Otari-Wilton’s Bush a few times recently, which is within an easy walking distance and has helped to pass the time. It’s a very nice place to wander around. I suppose it’s one of the reasons I enjoy Wellington so much, given that between all the population it’s still easy to find places where it feels as if you’re much further away.

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  • Bird watching, bread baking and new routes

    The Kapiti Island thing didn’t go ahead yesterday, due to excessive wind or something. The boat skipper wasn’t keen to go out, and that seems fair enough. They didn’t take any of our money and DOC is happy to defer the visiting permit to a later date. Consequently we’ve put it off until next Saturday.

    I spent some of this morning baking bread, for which I’m still trying to get my recipe exact. I’ve increased the amount of yeast I put in over earlier occasions, because wholemeal flour doesn’t seem to like to rise as much as regular flour. I’m also trying to make some bread rolls just by rolling up some well-kneaded bread slop that I mixed together and putting it directly on a baking tray, rather than a nicely shaped bread baking pan. At this point it’s not clear how they’ll come out, but I guess we’ll find out later today. Right now the yeasted slop is enjoying the sunshine. Some time I hope to get a good enough technique to make some nice bread to take tramping. The problem so far is that it usually doesn’t last long enough for it to still be around when I’m packing.
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  • Onward to Kapiti Island

    I’m taking a break from tramping next weekend. To help fill it in, Stacey and I are hoping to go and visit Kapiti Island. I’d been put off in the past because my speedy anecdotal investigations had implied that it must be quite complicated to arrange a DOC permit to visit the island and separately arrange the transport. I browsed the online booking system (for DOC permits) last Friday, however, and discovered that rather than having to book weeks or months in advance, there were actually quite a lot of permits available… even for the following day.

    Earlier this afternoon I ordered a couple of permits for next Saturday. I only hope that DOC’s online booking has improved since I last used it about 3 years ago, when we booked some huts on the Abel Tasman Coast Track (aka the Hiker’s Superhighway). That time we booked the huts about 3 months in advance, as soon as the online booking system was opened for that period. This seriously confused the DOC ranger at Anchorage Hut on the first night, who tried to tell us we didn’t have tickets. It turned out that because we’d booked as soon as we were able, the records of our tickets were off the end of her print-out.
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  • Reflecting on tramping and the transformation of New Zealand

    For a while now, the third floor at Te Papa has hosted an exhibition titled “Blood Earth Fire — The Transformation of Aotearoa New Zealand“. The exhibition looks at the effects that human settlement has had on New Zealand over time, and I think it’s one of the most insightful exhibitions I’ve seen. The whole thing is fascinating, but the small part I find most telling every time I visit is a display which shows three maps of New Zealand, side by side.

    The first map shows native forest cover throughout New Zealand before humans arrived, which is effectively everywhere except for certain alpine locations where trees won’t grow. The second map displays native forest after Maori settlement, but before Europeans arrived, at which point several large areas of native forest had been cleared. The third map shows the cover of native forest as it is today, by which time the vast majority of the country had been cleared, leaving behind a few delicate islands of native forest. Most of what’s left surrounds mountain ranges, and wasn’t cleared due to the difficulty of farming there anyway. The display very effectively expresses just how much of New Zealand’s original environment has been destroyed to make way for human settlement. It wasn’t only when Europeans arrived in the 19th century, although the European settlement had a major impact.

    The rest of this post documents a collection of thoughts that I’ve had over the last few years about the state of conservation in New Zealand. It’s a fairly wide topic and I’m not really sure where it’s going, but I’ll see how things go in writing it down.

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