Birds in paradise

This is great, a trip to an island bird sanctuary in the Auckland harbour and none of my hosts have been there. It's somewhere my friend Amanda has long wanted to visit, being a passionate environmentalist so I'm pleased that my visit gives them a good excuse. The island is called Tiritiri Matangi and is a 75-minute boat ride out of downtown Auckland. We have a cloudy start but it's not raining at least and it gives Rangitoto, the old volcano we pass on the way, a brooding menace. 
There are not many people on board, due to the unpromising forecast I guess but one Tiritiri volunteer approaches me and asks me not to take my open carrier bag onto the island. The worry is that people will unwittingly sneak in non-native species such as mice. They've spent many years eradicating non-native flora and fauna to reintroduce and breed native birdlife. I check my bag for rodents and put it away. 
Our boat stops at Gulf harbour to pick up more passengers and we see the most amazing catamaran, being prepped by an all-Maori crew. Amanda shouts over for the story of the boat and one of the crew tells us it's owned by the Maori university as an educational vessel, to teach people about who they are and where they came from. 

The weather is beautiful all day in the end, confounding the forecast. We're given a welcome on landing by the head ranger, a rather hesitant chap who reminds us again about smuggling mice onto the island.
One of the many volunteers on the island, Julie, gives us an illuminating tour along a boardwalk set deep in the native bush. There are feeder stations where the sound is almost deafening, bathing troughs where we watch birds taking a dip and by the end of our hour's walk we can tick off almost every bird on the information board. Amanda 'David Attenborough' Eason is Julie's best client ever and between them, I find out more about the country's flora and fauna in one day than a lot of New Zealanders pick up in a lifetime.
We see little North Island Robins, Stitchbirds, a Whitehead, a Red-crowned Parakeet, Fantails... this is a Bellbird, which has the clearest, most tuneful song.

This is a Saddleback, named for obvious reasons and we see lots of these.
And here's very portly New Zealand Pigeon, almost too heavy for its perch. So much prettier than those Trafalgar Square mongrels.
The island's few buildings are painted white with pillar-box red doors and roofs – there's a  lighthouse, cottages and a bunkhouse for volunteers or 'friends of Tiritiri' who come to stay. Amanda joins up on the spot. 

Even around the cafe where we eat our packed lunches there are exotic species on the sugar-water feeder. These might be Tui (okay, perhaps I haven't learned that much!).

We walk back along the ridge of the island and meet a family of Takahe, a plump flightless bird that was almost extinct but is now being successfully introduced on Tiritiri Matangi. They're very friendly, trotting up towards us for their close-ups. This encounter makes Amanda's day.

To keep Anouk's mind off the walk, I create an adventure with her little Siberian Tiger, Rosie, taking pictures at strategic points along the way (I later make the photos into an album and a 'Rosie' blog follows this one). The path descends into one of the ancient fern gullies of original native bush to the beach. 
The tiny cove is sheltered and very warm with a pebbly shore and occasional boxes for the Little Penguins that nest here. We paddle in the sea. It really has turned out to be that hot. 
Back on the boat, the return trip is blustery again but Rangitoto looks a lot more serene.