Tuesday, July 5th: Hinewai

Hello again! I had to post this blog a day late due to lack of cell service or wifi. 

Our morning started off with an early drive to Hinewi Reserve. We took the half mile hike to where we were sleeping, and were greeted with 10 comfy bunks. 

                             A cool sign in Hinewai

                          Our bathroom accommodations

        Our awesome sleeping accommodations, thanks Hugh!

After dropping off our things, we began our hike. Dr. Hostetler said this would be a three hour hike, but it ended up taking five hours to complete. Granted, since he had last been in Hinewi, there was a really bad flooding incident last December (firsthand account by Hugh D. Wilson, Botanist and Caretaker of Hinewai) that created many dangerous slips. 

Posing at Hinewai before our hike

During our hike, we were greeted by waterfalls that were perfect places to fill up our water bottles. We also saw a giant totara tree that we made sure to hug. Shaking the trees to mimic the ancient Moa, we even attracted tomtit birds. The views of the ocean were amazing when we could see through breaks between the trees. 

                   Nico filling up his water at the waterfall 

                     Ryan shaking the tree to act like a Moa 

                

                      The view of the beach from our hike. 

At the end of our hike, after munching down on snacks from the Gatorwaka, we took another little walk to see the coast. Unfortunately, to get there we had to walk through a sheep farm, and with a sheep farm came plenty of sheep poop. Yet the destination was worth it. We collected rainbow New Zealand abalone, paua, shells and sat on the rocks. On the way back, we got to visit a Hinewai caretaker helper, Tricia, and her Kākāriki (“small green parrot”), which were extirpated from the area.  

  Sheep farm!! They were afraid of us which means no petting them :(

                     The beach view, so gorgeous. 

      

              

                                The kākāriki!!

Finally back at our lodging, while our lasagna was cooking, we were told many stories about Hinewai by Hugh, the caretaker of the 900+ Hectares of land. He told us of the history of the area and of his “hands-off” management practices. Afterwards, we ate, played some games, and looked at the stars. We could see the milky way and thousands of stars, it was incredible. 

                   Hugh telling us all his stories by the fire. 

                       The milky way late at night. 

See you tomorrow,

Maya