TRIP of a LIFETIME

Forest and Bird, Volume 17, Issue 3, 1 August 1986, Page 20

TRIP of a LIFETIME

by

Form II

pupil at Owenga School, Chatham Islands

Kathleen Clements,

anuary 25, 1986, and Dad, Joe and | were on our way to South-East (Rangatira)Island. It was Open Day and they were taking me there to see the black robins. We were only allowed to stay there for the day; it was too good to miss! We set off in the boat called the Moonwalker. We were to go to Pitt Island first and I was going to stay with Jo Wyld and Mr Moffat. The trip over was good but | did not like it much because I was sick all the way over. On the way we stopped to look at Sail Rock which is a big rock that just sticks out of the sea. At about 4 o'clock we finally reached Pitt Island and Dad rowed me ashore to Glory Bay. After saying our goodbyes to Dad and Joe we spent the rest of the day riding the horses. We had to ride around the property to see if all the calves had been marked. I really enjoyed riding the horses. When we had finished that job we decided to try to catch some goslings. We only caught one but it was good fun trying. After that I went riding by myself and took some photos of Glory Bay and of the reserve. It was such a beautiful sight but I had to return for tea. We had duck for tea and then we had to get the cow in and kill a mutton. In the morning I got up early, excited about my trip to South-East Island. I had breakfast and waited for Dad and Joe to come and get me. I saw the Moonwalker come into Glory Bay and saw Dad put the dinghy in the water and row ashore to get me. We set off for South-East Island and the black robins. When we arrived we were met by Mr Chappell, the Ranger in charge over there. He told me I was the first person to come that day and he took me up to introduce me to the other people on the island. (More than 60 Islanders visited in 5 days.) Afterwards Mr Chappell and | started off. First he took me to where the black robins were and introduced me to Mr Merton, who was watching ‘Atlas’ the female and ‘Crunch’ the male. Atlas was a very lazy bird who never fed her chicks much, so poor old Crunch was flying rather busily backwards and forwards with food for them. It looked quite funny watching poor old Crunch doing all the work.

We moved on up the trail and I saw a beautiful kakariki. I tried to take a photo of it but it was too fast. Just by the track was a baby mutton bird which I had a hold of, then we saw a Sick diving petrel so I took a photo of it. We went on climbing, hoping to reach the top. Finally | reached the top of South-East Island from where we could see for miles around. We could see Pitt Island and all the other smaller islands surrounding Pitt. We walked down to the other part of the island and saw lots of birds. In the bush we Saw a snipe which looks like a miniature kiwi. When we came out into the open the skuas dive-bombed us to make uS gO away. We went over to the cliffs where we saw lots of seals and their pups. There were hundreds of them all over the place. On our way back to the woolshed we saw some skinks on the bush floor. You have to look carefully as they are very fast. Mr Chappell took me to the woolshed where we saw some very big spiders. The others had caught a big one and put it in a jam jar. It was as big as the bottom of the jar. After lunch | set off with Alison who was going to show me the shore plovers she was studying. We sat on the beach for hours watching the birds. I also helped her by looking at the oystercatchers’ colour bands on their legs. We realised that Dad would be looking for us so we set off towards the hut, then to the shore where Dad came to pick us up. We were steaming along and Mr Chappell came in the Zodiac to pick Alison up. I will always remember my trip, a chance of a lifetime! #