Dude, where's my kayak / wind?

This weekend was supposed to be one of adventure; kayaking to Browns Island on Saturday and blo-karting today. Unfortunately the much talked about, but little realised "weather bomb" - up here at least - led to our kayaking trip being cancelled. Meanwhile, today, the wind died pretty much as soon as we arrived at the beach reading to kart.

Our last minute, plan B, today, thanks to a tip from a colleague, was to head to a nearby orchard and pick some mandarins; $2 for a kilo, sweet!

Yesterday's plan B was to stay inside in watch movies, since we were expecting the conditions outside to be rather inclement.

Yet, while a little cold, and certainly windy, the sun was shining so we headed south for plan C - a walk around Duder's Regional Park.

Fairly large at 162ha with unparalleled views of the Hauraki Gulf, it is located approx 50 minutes drive south of Auckland on the pohutukawa-fringed Whakakaiwhara Peninsula.

Lot's of walking to be had here and the views were indeed, awesome. There's at least 5 hours of tracks to explore; but since Amanda's back is still on the mend we restricted ourselves somewhat.

Here is Amanda, suited and booted - just in case the weather bomb returns. As it happened, it did rain once - and you can see a rainbow where the rain cloud was before it hit us and the same cloud after it had passed us.

One thing we have bemoaned since arriving here is the apparent lack of birdlife. They are there, apparently, and you occasionally hear them, but rarely see them- nothing for my inner birder to get excited about.

Yup, once upon a time, before I found computers, beer and girls (and sometime before they found me) I was a keen birder or bird watcher.

Just today we managed to spot no less than 10 different types of bird.

And roughly in the order we spied them, here they are:

• Pukeko
• Some kind of hawk
• Kereru
• Fantail
• Kotare (Sacred Kingfisher)
• Black Oystercatcher
• Heron
• European Goldfinch
• Toutouwai (Robin)
• Sparrow

The Kereru, or wood pigeon is a rather plump bird - we interrupted it tucking in to whatever it was sitting on. The Fantail is an acrobatic little fellow and fond of dancing around you. The Pukeko's are strange birds, much like moorhens back home; with a strange bumpy flight when startled.

The goldfinch, was obviously a long way from home, while to me, the Oystercatchers often look like they are laughing. Spot of the day however, had to be the Kotare or Sacred Kingfisher. We disturbed a few of them when we sought shelter underneath a leage pohutukawa tree during the rain. Brilliant turquoise on top and an orange tinted white underneath.