Muttonbird Scrub

Muttonbird Scrub is the name of my favorite New Zealand tree/plant. I called it Matisse's Leaf before I learned its actual name because its leaf looks like one that Matisse would paint - round and thick, flat green with white around the edges.

We're gradually learning the names of many of the local trees - Lancewood, Crown Fern, Miro, Rata, Rimu, Kanuka - as well as the birds - Bellbird, Fantail, Kaka, Weka, Kiwi, Tomtit. I've been trying to learn some of the names of Tennessee trees for several years now, and they just do not stick for some reason. But here, they're sticking, probably because each species is so distinctive - the leaves and bark are just so different from each other (and so different from anything I've seen).

We have had many chances to educate ourselves on New Zealand wildlife in the last week, spending the last four days over on Stewart Island. This particular island is a special place because it is 85% native New Zealand rainforest. The fact that the island is covered with native rainforest wouldn't necessarily mean much, though, if you didn't know that ALL of New Zealand used to be covered in rainforest, before humans arrived, that is. The first New Zealanders, the Maoris, burned down a good bit of the forest, and then the colonists finished the job, clearing mass amounts of forest for farms and timber. Driving around New Zealand today, you would NEVER guess that its original landscape was rainforest because it seems to be entirely farmland.

Kiwis are incredibly sensitive about this fact now (at least those in the environmental community are), and are actively trying to get New Zealand - parts of it - back to its original state. And so Stewart Island was saved! Parts of the island were used as milling centers in the 1800s, but in the last century, the majority of the island has been made into National Reserve land.

The forest is truly remarkable. Walking through it feels somehow like walking through the set for Jurassic Park or something. The leaves just look un-real somehow, impossible, part of something lost long ago. Ferns of various colors, shapes, and sizes cover the forest floor, filling in the spaces left between the towering totaras and rimus. Larger ferms fan you from above, elegant and imposing and tropical. The air is cool and moist and there are birds everywhere, singing down at you.

We finished a three day trek through some of this original rainforest yesterday. Upon returning, we took a short ferry ride over to Ulva Island, another reserve area which has been slowly and methodically rid of ALL predators - rats, possums, deer, etc. - that put the birdlife at risk. The island, therefore, has become a bird sanctuary,and we spent about four hours yesterday, standing in the forest with our heads cocked backwards and our mouths open, trying to spot those darned birds as they twittered away above. The birds were totally unafraid (and uninterested) in us, and many of them came quite close. One little New Zealand robin, in particular, kept hopping right up to our feet or swooping down to a branch right in front of our faces and blasting us with his song. (Apparently these robins do this in hope that you'll uncover some hiding worm or yummy morsel in dirt under your shoes!)

Anyway, it's been a really nice few days, relaxing, walking, taking it in. We are in Invercargill for the night now and will be generally making our way up to Te Anau this week. We're starting the four day Kepler Track from Te Anau on Friday. Woooohoooo!

Hope everyone's well...if anybody is out there, that is...

Much love.