Site Report: Queen Charlotte Sound

Visits

• 2012-01-22: We arrived in Picton as scheduled. Picton was fine, I guess, but we decided to stay closer to the Queen Charlotte trail. We did some hiking and a short kayak journey from Anakiwa. The highlight of Anakiwa was seeing the California state bird, the California Quail from near our lodging. From that bay, we were able to look into the water to see an eagle ray and also a very large eel. Our point of visiting the Picton area was to find the King Shag and also to watch the 49ers vs. Giants playoff football game. We saw the shags easily enough on a boat excursion from Picton. As part of the boat excursion, we saw some weta and other rare endemics on a predator-free island. We had the football game all lined up as well, but at the last minute, we decided that it would be more fun to watch the game from Wellington. In New Zealand, however, last minute planning will always burn you. So, we got on the ferry boat at 8:00 AM. We were to arrive in Wellington just over three hours later... plenty of time to catch the game starting at 12:45PM. The minute that we pulled out of the port in Picton, however, there was an announcement that the ferry was running on half power. It took us seven hours to make the crossing.

Species Seen

Lifelists

• Australasia
• World

Trips

• New Zealand