Eruption

I have just been outside to check for ash but there is no sign of it here that I can see.  It has clouded over, possibly the ash cloud so it is time to check our emergency water supply.
Should the situation change I will log it.

Stormy Weather

The storm that worked it's way up the Islands once again only gave Pukawa a glance, very little wind with 64mls over several days,  the rain would do a lot of good as our porous soil  was once again beginning to dry out.

Green Bin Recycling.

The Taupo Council have increased the green bin recycling to allow plastic numbered from 1-7 to be put out for collection, previously it was only numbers 1 & 2, items such as ice cream containers can now go in the bin but not the lids. Only lids that are stamped with a number may go in the bin. Food trays such as those use by the Super Markets are still not to be recycled.
To reduce the amount of food and green waste going to the landfill the council plans to subsidise home composting efforts and provide an education programme to help residents compost successfully. This could work just as well for home owners in Pukawa.

White-faced Herons.

On State Highway 41 after you reach the top of the Waihi Hill is a paddock where cattle are being break fed a crop. I counted 16 White-faced Herons in the paddock yesterday a quite amazing sight. Usually two or perhaps three birds can be seen at one time but this number is something I have never seen before. Many years ago we used to see the heron in the Spring flying towards the big trees in our bush, with twigs in the beaks, but that has not been seen now for some years.
This picture has poor colouring, the body is light blue-grey in colour with white face.

Amazing sight

Last week we watched in amazement as a flock of tui flew in to our lancewood tree, I counted ten, there were probably more than that.  They fluttered from branch to branch the type of behaviour we see when the kowhai are flowering but this was in June. They all took off heading for another tree out of my sight but were back next with a repeat performance. The lancewood is fruiting but not usually visited by tui.

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Earth Quake

How fortunate we were that the nasty earth quake that struck last night was so deep. We did not feel it here in Pukawa, but pictures no longer hanging level often indicate there has been a shake not felt by us.
There is snow on Mt Pihunga this morning so quite chill in the air.

Winter has arrived.

Pukawa missed the storm that bought the heavy snow to the South Island, once again living up to the reputation of having it's own micro climate.  Yesterday morning however we woke to see the Kaimanawa Range covered in snow as was Mt Pihunga, a true indicator that snow had fallen on the Desert Road.  At lunch time today the Desert Road was closed but seldom are both sides of the mountain closed so travellers can always travel via National Park should the Desert Road be closed. There was such a strange sky early this morning a "shepherd's warning" sky, the morning remained quite nice but by mid-day the southerly had arrived and it is now windy which has dropped the temperature to eight degrees.

Kiwi news.

We have had a report of a kiwi being heard in our bush, a few nights ago.
This report came from a person who grew up where kiwi were fairly common and she has heard them here in Pukawa before. From time to  time we receive reports of kiwi calls, I spoke to one home owner who remembers seeing kiwi walking through his section in the very early days of development.  Pukawa has long been considered a corridor for kiwi, we just have to keep trying to make a safe environment so they will stay. There is a lot of leaf litter in the bush now which should make ideal feeding for kiwi, we can only keep hoping.
We were told that the best way to identify kiwi call is to count the number of times it repeats  the same notes, ten to fifteen times and you can be confident you heard a kiwi.

Mice.

There has been a huge increase in mice numbers so look for mice signs in  your house when next in Pukawa. Rats too will have moved into warm places for the winter and they can do so much damage to pipes, wiring etc.
Over Queen's Birthday week-end Mitre Ten ran out of poison which shows wise people are taking precautions.
Our cameras showed how easily mice can climb a vertical object and we know that they can squeeze through the smallest opening.

Successful event

The mistletoe event on Sunday was successful, it was especially pleasing to see so many  adults all wanting to increase their knowledge .

Ranger Anna McKnight did a puppet show with the mistletoe story that had the children enthralled, it was brilliant.

The TDC had donated two trees which the children enjoyed planting in the Arbor Day corner, we thank the TDC for those.

Stickers were given to the children which had a nice illustration of mistletoe drawn by Cathy Jones, we thank Cathy for allowing us to use her drawing.