Waiheke Island: Jungles, Beaches and Cathedrals

Onitangi Beach view

Already I'm getting fuzzy about the order in which we saw things on Waiheke. When you stay for 2 nights, you only get one full day. On that second day, we drove to Onetangi Beach, one of several small towns on the island. There is a road called The Strand, which is graced by some lovely homes, as well as a couple of restaurants that Cliff recommended. The beaches are so predictably stunning and uncrowded that it's hard not to get jaded. We walked along this one for our morning tramp, then stopped at one of the restaurants for lunch.

houses along the beach

After that, we decided on a jungle walk at Onetangi  bird reserve. We got a bit lost on the roads (they are quite disconnected, going in and out but rarely connecting), but eventually found an entrance to the place. It was jungle, of course. I haven't been to Kauai, but I wonder if these volcanic Pacific islands aren't similar in climate and appearance to the Hawaiian archipelago.

Kauri Label

Kauri Tree looking up

One of the big concerns on Waiheke is the loss of their native Kauri trees. These are hardwoods that were huge when Europeans arrived, and they harvested and exported them as though they hadn't taken hundreds of years to grow.

Now they're being devasted by Kauri dieback, a Phytophthera root rot (we have phytophtheras that infect brambles and strawberries in the US) that is being spread on, among other things, the shoes of hikers. [This was quite a couple of days for shoes!] Every entrance to the jungle has a gated shoe washing area with spray disinfectant on hand. While I cleaned my shoes vigorously, as requested, both going in and out, I have to wonder how effective this is. All of our shoes have all sorts of crevices for the oomycetes sequestration (wow. That sounded so smart.  . . ), and the soil was constantly damp, often puddling, the whole time we were there. 

Eastern Rosella

Pukeko

We ended up getting slightly lost, hiking for longer than expected, but we got out before dark. Absolutely beautiful, and the birds.  Right. I haven't mentioned the birds in Waiheke, have I? I know you likely tired of hearing me go on about Australian Avian life, but Waiheke's (and New Zealand's) is also extraordinary. For one thing, many are large, and they are unafraid. You can see Ring-necked Pheasants wandering around openly, but they are easily twice the size of any pheasant I've every seen. They were imported, so it's even stranger for that. It must be the environment that accounts for their size, not their genetics. There are also large turkey-like birds that are blue and black with white wattles. Also completely undeterred by human presence. And because there are no predators, the possums that came in from Australia, and the hedgehogs and rabbits that were intentionally introduced are now viewed as vermin. Possum fur is used in making a luxury yarn (with merino wool, silk, or bamboo), but the poor little hedgehogs are just trapped and killed. Poisoned. There are signs everywhere warning you to keep your dog controlled because traps and poison are on the trails.

Tui

Unknown but appreciated

I'll close on a happier note, with some images of birds that we saw. There are a ton of forest dwellers (see http://www.nzbirds.com/birding/waihekebirds.html) that we didn't see as well, and more seabirds yet. One last thing: A section of the trail was covered with these pink honeysuckle-ish flowers, but we couldn't for the life of us figure out what tree they had come from.