Merry Christmas folks,
With our eldest son in Africa, the rest of the family (including 2
non-birders) went on the Dawn Princess SYD to SYD via east coasts of the
North and South Islands of NZ (5th Dec to 18th Dec). We first met landfall
at Fiordland after 2 days at sea in fog from Syney ,and then up the South
Is etc, into Cooks Strait and then up the North Is east coast finishing the
NZ leg with stops at the Bay of Plenty and Bay of Islands......To be honest,
I wasn't really expecting the pelagic birding to be much good. At 18 knots
crusing speed and 14 stories above the water line, seeing storm-petrels
appeared a forlorn hope!....Anyway, including gulls, shags etc , Jack and I
saw about 60 seabird species in just over 2 weeks. We had 7 port calls which
facilitated a few more land bird ticks, best being NZ Dotterels breeding
near Tauranga.
Pelagic and coastal cruising highlights included:
13 Kermadec Petrels on day 2 in the Tasman Sea
29 Fiordland Penguins on the morning of day 4 in the sounds of Fiordland (we
cruised Milford, Doubtful, Thomsen and Dusky)....Weather was cool (10degC
max) and showery....lots of waterfalls though
24 NZ White-capped Albatross, 1 Buller's Albatross, another 30 Fiordland
Penguins, 24 Cook's Petrels (with a flock of 15 next to the ship at one
time) ,4 Mottled Petrels, 3 Cape Petrels,580 prions including at least 5
Antarctic Prions...and heaps of other birds...on the arvo of the 4th day
46 Northern Royal Albatrosses amongst numerous other sightings on day 5
(Close up cruise past Taiaroa Head), lots of shags and shearwaters etc
2 Chatham Albatrosses as well as Westland Petrels on day 7 were the
highlights.....The T.eremita was the trip highlight with close views of
adult birds.....Birds of the trip for myself 3 westland Petrels, 2 Common
Diving-Petrels and a single White-faced Storm-Petrel (new for Jack), another
Chatham Albatross and Black Petrel were day 8 (Napier) highlights
5 shearwaters (Fluttering, Sooty, Short-tailed, Buller's, Hutton's)
highlights of day 9 (Tauranga)
A tiny little recently dead floating upside down with legs in the air of
Common Diving-Petrel most noteable sighting on day 10 (Auckland)
3 Pycroft's Petrels, 2 Black Petrels and 2 Westland Petrels highlight of day
11 (Bay of Islands) and hundreds of Buller's Shearwaters........maybe the
best looking shearwater
The 2 days on the way due west to Sydney was a petrel feast with 53
Black-winged, 21 White-necked, 3 Gould's (including one lighter one that
looked a bit different...but was Gould's in moult) ,85 Grey-faced ,13
White-headed,1 Kermadec (light phase), 1 Black Petrel,1 Providence,1 Cook's,
and other albatrosses, shearwaters etc. Even a 50 knot north-westerly wind
didn't stop good viewing on such a huge vessel (260m long and 40 m wide)
Some notes to report:
The promenade deck on this vessel was only about 15m above the waterline
offering excellent stable viewing (despite dozens of joggers pushing past at
any time....with many stopping and asking stupid questions like.....we
haven't you seen an albatross yet, have you?...(looking might help!)
Limited daylight viewing on the boat between ports. I would recommend
choosing the later dining option for the evening meal (IE 8pm cf 6pm....we
choose the early one for the kids....running in and out of the formal dining
room when a cookalaria flew past the port holes was a nuisance!). Food was
ridiculously fantastic every meal. Alcohol was expensive and most wines were
very average also. Buying wine at ports and drinking them on the boat would
have been a much better option.
2000 punters means taking a LONG time to get on and off....Jack and I missed
the ferry to Tiri Tiri Matangi Is by 5 minutes. This was despite the Dawn
Princess having been docked for over an hour before we could get off!
We didn't take any on shore tours...and made our own way around the port
areas....much better and cheaper....Couldn't work out why you pay AUD150 per
person to go on a dolphin watching cruise....we has literally hundreds of
dolphins (easily seen well) from the ship at most ports .....best cetaceans
being a large pod of performing Striped Dolphins, many Common Dolphin pods,
an Arnoux's Beaked Whale in the middle of the Tasman (Simon , might like to
talk to you about that sighting)....also pilot whales, Minkes (including 2
loafing around in Dusky Sound)
The cost to go on these cruises is really good value , especially when you
access the deals on offer.
Anyway, all in all a good relaxing 'family' holiday and excellent for my
wife , Jackie, who has been recovering from bowel cancer surgery in
August....Got home to find that Billy had a greast trip in Tanzania and
Kenya....climbed Mt Kilimanjaro and took lots of bird shots for Jack to
ID.....He also got an OP1 for his year 12 results (best you can get in
Qld)...... Robin and Peter Marsh were fantastic Sydney hosts for us for a
couple of days.....sailing under the Sydney Harbour bridge in Peter's yacht
with Jack at the helm, Jack getting Origma and Superb Lyrebird at Royal NP a
great way to finish the trip
Bill Moorhead
Bundaberg
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