The Kakapo: World’s Horniest Bird

The Kakapo is a flightless, nocturnal parrot with whiskers that can only be found on two remote and predator-free islands off of the South Island. And if this bird doesn’t sound strange enough, the Kakapo has an even more bizarre mating ritual. After spending days cleaning and building a bowl-like stage on the forest floor, the male Kakapo calls for a female by booming, which is a low frequency sort of growl produced by inflating a thoracic sac. The boom travels for miles through the forest and males have been known to boom for 8 hours a night! He also produces a few chirps and squeals, hoping to attract a mate to his carefully crafted love-nest.

The Kakapo was hunted to near extinction for food and feathers by the Maori and white settlers and was extremely vulnerable to introduced predators. Today, the Department of Conservation is doing its best to breed these rare birds in the Kakapo Recovery Program. But there is one small problem: There are only 90 known Kakapo in existence, making reproduction a bit difficult. In fact, male Kakapo get so desperate for a mate that they have been known to “attack” humans in an attempt to mate with something, anything!

As part of the breeding program, DOC created mechanical female Kakapo in the hopes that the males would “mate” with it and deposit sperm so that real Kakapo females could be artificially inseminated. So far, male Kakapo haven’t been desperate enough to “take advantage” of the remote-control birds. But give them a few more years….those mechanical females might start looking better and better!

Just Bulldoze and Start Over!

Compared to the insanely expensive California real estate market, homes are cheap around the South Island, especially here in Dunedin. There are many factors that contribute to the housing market: the weak economy, the overall low cost of living in New Zealand, the surplus of empty homes on the market, the low-quality of construction….Of course there are some very up-market homes too, especially new houses in Queenstown, but they are generally few and far between.

What ever the reason for inexpensive real estate, its astounding to look through the property paper delivered to our home each week. $150,000 US can get you a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom home with a 2-car garage, “rumpus” room, and incredible views, often of the ocean. Imagine the cost of that in California!

Unfortunately, many of the homes are very old and need (a lot of) work. Many ads include the words: DIY, Has Potential, Renovate, Needs Work, Rebuild, and TLC. And yes, I've even seen “ready to renovate or just bulldoze and start over.” Seems like owners just let homes go here.

I especially love the tag lines that Realtors use for each house. They must put a lot of work into creating these.

Here are some gems I found last week:

Vendor Wants Action
Renovator’s Delight
Watch the World Go By
Gilt Edged Investment
Potential Plus
Oozes Character
You Can Be Happy Here
Calling All Handymen
Honey, Stop the Car
Restore, Restore, Restore
Good Bones, Great Potential
Warm As
Bachelors/Bachelorettes: Come and Get It

And my personal favorite….

As Scarce as Hen’s Teeth

Dunedin Wildlife

A Mullet in its natural habitat on the streets of Dunedin.

Where Dial-Up Goes to Die

Do you know how much Internet bandwidth you use per a month in your house? Yeah, me neither. But here in New Zealand you need to know.

For home Internet access, you must subscribe to packages according to how much bandwidth you plan to use per month and the speed you want. This applies to both uploading and downloading. If you happen to go over your monthly limit, your access is slowed to dial-up speed. Goodbye podcasts, YouTube, Skype, and streaming radio. *Sigh*

Coming from the U.S. where Internet is fast and use is unlimited, I have absolutely no idea how much bandwidth I use. We don't have Internet at home yet because all the plans in our area require a land line, which we don't have and don't want to pay for. There are so many different packages and add-ons that it gets a bit overwhelming. Here are some packages offered by the main Internet provider. Let me know if you can make some sense of it.....

Broadband Plans	Speed (Downstream/Upstream)	Usage Allowance	Monthly Charge	Additional Usage
HighSpeed 10G	Up to 4 Mbps / 2 Mbps	10G	$54.95	1G packs at $2.95 per pack
LightSpeed 20G	Up to 10 Mbps / 2 Mbps	20G	$79.95	1G packs at $2.95 per pack
LightSpeed 40G	Up to 10 Mbps / 2 Mbps	40G	$109.95	2G packs at $2.95 per pack
LightSpeed 80G	Up to 10 Mbps / 2 Mbps	80G	$149.95	2G packs at $2.95 per pack

We are looking into an unlimited wireless option but the initial set-up costs are astronomical and speed cannot be guaranteed at any one time.

I do have fast wireless Internet access on my computer through the research I do at the University, but my use has to be paid for according to how much I use. When the IT department help set up my personal network, I asked about bandwidth use but they couldn't tell me how much the average student uses.

It would be nice to have some sort of Internet usage meter on my computer to let me know how much bandwidth I'm using and the associated costs. For now, I'll just use the University network until I get a bill.

Speaking of Sunsets...

View from our dining room the other night....

Waitangi Day

February 6 is Waitangi Day, the national holiday here in New Zealand that marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In that year, representatives of the British Crown and over 500 Maori chiefs signed what is New Zealand’s founding document. The day was first officially commemorated in 1934, and it has been a public holiday since 1974.

The Treaty was signed at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands on the North Island. The Treaty itself is short, consisting of only three articles that officially made New Zealand part of the British Empire, guaranteed Maori rights to their land, and gave Maori the rights of British citizens. However, English and Maori versions of the Treaty differ significantly so there is no real consensus as to exactly what was agreed on.

Although the Treaty is generally seen as marking the beginning of the New Zealand nation, it was largely ignored for more than a century after its signing, and various legal judgements ruled it irrelevant to New Zealand law and government. Despite this, Maori frequently used it to argue that their rights were being denied.

Today, the style and mood of the celebrations on Waitangi Day have been influenced by the increasingly heated debate surrounding the place of the Treaty in modern New Zealand. The commemoration has often been the focus of protest by Maori activists and is often marked by controversy. Protest groups argue that the Treaty was a fraud with which Pakeha, or white New Zealanders, conned Maori out of their land.

Just yesterday, Prime Minister John Key was attacked by 2 Maori men at the Waitangi Day celebrations. While watching the news clips of the attacks, I had flashbacks of shoes flung at a certain former U.S. President....

While I enjoy learning about New Zealand's history and culture, I can't help but feel guilty about celebrating Waitangi Day. It would be like Americans celebrating a day to commemorate the many treaties that conned Native Americans out of their lands in the United States. On that note, the sun is out and my boyfriend has the day off so we're heading out for a hike!

Ranginui's Colors

Ranginui is the Maori sky father, and boy, he is quite the artist. The sky is amazing here, it is just so....beautiful! I think it has something to do with the dynamic weather patterns and the absence of air pollution. When the sun is out, the sky is a brilliant ultramarine blue that defies desciption. And without smog, the sky is immense and goes on forever.

If your into nephrology (the study of clouds and cloud formations), then New Zealand is your Nirvana. The high winds are constantly sculpting the clouds into amazing shapes and forms. Today, there is a checker-board of white cotton puffs streaking across the sky under an intense sun that absolutely demands sunglasses.

Sunsets are also spectacular and often last for an hour if there are clouds involved, which is most evenings. Every night we are treated to a dazzling display of colors that bathe the land in a rosy glow. Streaks of silver and gold break through the clouds and the sky slowly fades from yellow to orange, red to purple, and into deep indigo darkness. It's breathtaking! On a clear night, the stars are incredibly numerous and bright and we are slowly learning the constellations in our new Southern Hemisphere sky.

Right now the sun is setting around 9:30 so our days are long. I'll be getting back to you in the Winter when we only get about 8 hours of daylight.......But for now, we are enjoying the 15 hour-long days and their impressive displays.