DAY 27 - 28: CAPE KIDNAPPERS

Sunday, Feb 16  - Monday, Feb 17 Day 27 & 28

CAPE KIDNAPPERS

Cape Kidnappers - Last leg of journey begins

I (Larry) have been assigned to write this edition of the blog as this stop was on my must-do list for the trip. Our trip to Cape Kidnappers began with a 25 minute flight from the South Island to the North Island landing in the capitol of Wellington. After a couple brief pics of the giant, flying Lord of the Ring characters in the airport (and me grabbing another meal without anyone else apparently hungry) we were off on another short airplane to Napier. 

While Napier is supposed to be the Art Deco Capitol of the North Island, we were very underwhelmed other than a nice ice cream stop and a beautiful beach along the town.

Our short drive to Cape Kidnappers concluded with a very non-descript entrance followed by a 6.5 km windy, narrow driveway where we were constantly cautioned of crossing stock. Cape Kidnappers is a 6500-acre preserve that was bought by Julian Robertson (a very famous hedge fund manager) where he built the world famous golf course, exclusive resort, and nature preserve which is home to thousands of gannetts (more about them later), sheep, cows, and 90 of the very few remaining kiwi bird left in the world. Julian also built Kauri Cliffs, another very exclusive resort on the tip of north New Zealand where we will be finishing up our long journey before heading home next Monday.

The Sisselberg villa

Our next day on Cape Kidnappers was in my opinion the best day of our trip. We were fully booked with a round of golf, an expedition to track kiwis, and an unbelievable atv tour that steve and I took to see the whole property and the many colonies of gannetts. 

The golf course was absolutely beautiful, very playable, but perhaps not quite as spectacular as we were expecting. We learned later on our atv tour after seeing much more spectacular views that Julian was not permitted to layout the course exactly where he wanted. Everyone was very happy with their games including Karen who played very well despite it being only her 3rd 18-hole round of her life.

Our round of golf was followed by a quick lunch and then off to our kiwi tour with our new friend John.

Julian is responsible for creating an environment to nurture the reemergence of kiwis in New Zealand. 90 eggs of kiwis were brought to the preserve and then wired with trackers once they were hatched so the experts could track them. Kiwis are nocturnal, hide in holes in the ground, and can only be found with the trackers. Our job from john was to hold up basically a tv antennae and start walking in the forest following the beeps of the receiver. 

After about 15 minutes we came to the spot we declared our little friend was hiding and then John stuck his arm all the way into a whole and brought out our first look at a kiwi. Given that many New Zealandars have actually not even seen a kiwi, it was quite exciting. We each took turns holding the little flightless bird.

Steven's job was to keep the kiwi from escaping out the back hole

 Our tour ended with john telling us to find our way back out of the forest and then a quick stop to see some beautiful parrots.

After our kiwi tour, the girls were free for a little relaxation while steve and I were ready to take it up a notch with our real kiwi bloke Aiden on our very fast and 6 gear manual shift atvs. Our tour was filled with some very fun, fast, windy turns where at every turn we had sheep, cows, birds, and horses jumping out of our way. I could not help but stop and video myself chasing some sheep after all the sheep we have passed during our New Zealand travels. 

The highlight of the tour was going to the edge of the property to see the thousands of gannett birds that live in this tiny locale of the world (2nd most eastern spot on the planet) half the year and then fly to Australia for the rest of the year (but only over water). These birds mate for life and we have videos of pairs necking each other fondly.

Views on our atv tour were amazing. Being already late for dinner, Aiden took his now very experienced riders on an extremely fun and wild return ride back to the lodge.

Our departing day included an aerobic 2-1/2 hour round of golf for Beth and me while Steve and Karen hiked part of the property where they were able to take some amazing sheep photos. We were then off to Rotorua for one night where we have been warned by all that the sulphur in the town makes for an interesting aroma. 

A-ba-dee-ah-ba-dee, That's all, folks!
The Sisselbergs (via Larry)