This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
By Gerald Dreaver
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Maud Island (Te Hoiere) is home to 13 of the world's 260 or so takahe. The regenerating coastal forest harbours kereru, bellbirds, tui and penguins. It has the only decent population of flax weevils, and plenty of wetas of the giant Cook Strait, tree, and cave varieties. Most unique among its residents are about 20,000 Maud Island frogs (pakeka — pictured), but it's also one of only two locations for the Stephens Island gecko and there are healthy populations of other geckos and skinks. The Kakaporium used to have a kakapo. Just before our visit, “Sirocco”, an impotent male, was transported to Ulva Island, near Stewart Island, where you can visit him (for a price). Damn. But the chorus of birdsong wherever you go on the island is an absolute delight.
We took the ferry on the Thursday night, some of us guiltily scratching recalcitrant mud off boots. After a night in a Picton backpackers' hostel we were carted by van and Mercedes station wagon to DoC's Havelock office.
The quarantine measures were extreme. We had been told not to bring muddy boots or packs, to bleach them if necessary, and preferably to use duffle bags. In Havelock we transferred our gear to plastic bins and quarantined DoC daypacks, searching for stowaways, with a special focus on seeds lurking in woollen socks or in the dreaded Velcro.
A gentle two-and-a-half hour ride on Gary Orchard's beautifully re-built historic launch, sustained by Mrs Orchard’s delicious muffins, and we were on the island's jetty. Steve, who manages the island, had us stamp our feet on a treated pad to kill a fungus that's murder to the Maud Island frog. We made our way up to the lodge, and found more seeds in a second gear search in the little quarantine room up at the lodge, although rats, mice, stoats and ferrets had been few and far between. Unworn footwear was sprayed with the fungicide. The lodge was very comfortable — much like a backpackers’ hostel, but no dishwasher and the TV was for playing videos. Hot water was from a solar panel and electricity came from a minihydro scheme with a backup generator. Some of us had brought coffee plungers, and Ally produced a couple of awesome meals for us. The chocolate fondue was full of plate-licking goodness.
Despite our luxurious accommodation, we managed to drag ourselves away to do some work. After we settled in on Friday afternoon, Steve showed us how to change the bait (eggs) in the traps, and how to re-set them if needed and if we were willing — those things could bite..... In pairs and threes, we set off to various tracks around the island armed with maps and fresh eggs.
On Saturday we ripped number-8 wire out of a fence by a regenerating paddock on the far (western) side of the island. At least some of the wire was to be re-used to control the few remaining sheep on the island (they keep down the weeds on the parts still in pasture), and left in place it would eventually become a rusty, snagged hazard for birdlife. In the meantime, a couple of people stayed at the lodge and cleaned potting containers for re-use on Stephens Island. In the late afternoon, two of us grabbed a ride in the island’s boat to That evening, between courses, we had a guided tour of some of the island's nightlife: frogs, flax weevils, beetles, various kinds of wetas, and a special “glowworm walk” with torches off and a rope to guide us. At one point we came across a little penguin trying to get up a bank on its way to the top of the island to its nest.
On Sunday, pot-cleaning continued and Simon Ward and I avoided lodge clean-up duty by helping Steve to un-stingle the wire, which Steve had dragged back to the lodge behind the ‘Gator (a big quad bike that could travel on most of the island’s tracks). We rolled each of the 20 or so strands onto a “spinning jenny’, staked into the ground horizontally with a steel peg. Despite the work, there was plenty of time to wander freely around the island, with sunrise walks being fairly popular. Gary got us back to Picton on Sunday afternoon. The journey back brought many comments on how we wished for another day, at least, in the sunshine, fresh air, peace and beauty of Maud Island. We were all grateful for the effort Ally had put into organising it.
On the trip: Ally Clarke, Simon Ward, Glynne Lloyd, Marie Henderson and Rob, Bronwyn Bell (from DoC), Pete Williamson, Gill James, Michael Lowrie, Lynn Latte, Louise Hargreaves. Bronwyn plans to give a slideshow on the trip at a clubnight later in the year. The photo of the frog was taken by Simon Ward, and the trap photos below by Pete Williamson