The spade brigade, as they were dubbed, platened 280,000 seedlings—a city of trees—into which a host of rare birds and reptiles were released. Within sight of New Zealand's largest city. Tiritiri Matangi is now a template for island restoration and endangered species management.
The inclement weather that beset the country this month seemed to bring with it a season of misfortune for New Zealanders. When a routine callout in Tamahere ended in a fatal gas explosion, fire-fighting was thrown into the full glare of the media spotlight. Derek Lovell’s death on the eve of 25 years in the service was brutally ironic; a devastating loss, both for his family and the close-knit fire-fighting community. Lovell was a professional fire-fighter, but what of those who do it all for nothing? Two years ago photographer Giora Dan began to document the work of these ordinary heroes, to understand what makes the call to fight fires so strong, and what makes the communities that develop around the hazardous commission so resilient. A cover image had been decided, and Derek Grzelewski delivered the copy on this feature just a fortnight before that deadly gas explosion. Their feature reveals a community of men and women who do not seek accolades for the role they play. Rather, they carry out their duty cognisant of the associated risks involved. And they do it with the full support of their families, though it could be no other way. Beyond the headlines, this story examines the fire service at its front line and in its less formal moments. Also in this issue we have an intimate portrait of Maori tattooing from photographer Aaron Smale who takes us inside Mark Kopua’s studio with the Hei family. We peer inside the small world of our dynamic fishing spiders, and we travel 200 years back in time to profile John Guard, one of New Zealand’s most notorious pioneers, who almost single-handedly set the course for the early pakeha history of the South Island. Anne Rimmer and Arno Gasteiger take us across the Hauraki Gulf to Tiritiri Matangi, one of DOC’s greatest conservation achievements —a model for island ecology recovery. Brimming with diversity, and surprises at the turn of every page, it’s everything you have come to expect from Geographic. But some things change. The cover has had a makeover, as I’m sure you’ve realised, and there have been more subtle design changes in the departments, including some new features. Geographic has had a new coat of paint in places, but we still expect the same attention to detail from our contributors—many of whom have been writing and shooting for us for decades. Names like Warren Judd, Derek Grzelewski, Steve Sole and Arno Gasteiger—the usual suspects who have all contributed to this issue—will be familiar to Geo stalwarts. But there is still room for keen newcomers, such as 18-year-old Bryce McQuillan who submitted some stunning images of fishing spiders and found himself immediately employed. We would like to hear more from you. Write to our letters department with your thoughts (letters@nzgeographic.co.nz), enter our new reader competition on page 111, and think through nominations for our new patron—details opposite. Enjoy this issue, and please don’t be afraid to tell us what you think.
News that 59 of a rare bird species, hihi (or stitchbirds), were being released into the wild last year raised a few eyebrows. These birds were once common in the North Island, but the last official sighting in the wild was in 1883, and these days the only existing self-sustaining population is on Little Barrier Island. There are also populations on Tiritiri Matangi, Kapiti Island and at Karori, but they are dependent on the support of artificial feeders and man-made nest boxes.
Kakapo are New Zealand icon—early explorers such as Charlie Douglas went to sleep to the sounds of dozens screeching around campsites in the Landsborough. His accounts include the now unthinkable thoughts of using kakapo oil to make the finest cakes and shortbread.
Memories are odd. What events we remember, why, and how we remember them all offer fascinating insights into the complexity of the human mind. Some people, such as criminal prosecutors, have a very serious interest in them, as ascertaining the real truth from a witness can be extremely difficult.
Gaza, Beetle, Lily and Jaq, Inky, Tootle, Shrek and Skippy—every town and community has them. They style themselves as ordinary people but their lives and service are anything but ordinary. Unpaid and unheralded, they are our first line of rescue in 65,000 emergency calls a year, routinely saving the lives and assets of people they don’t know.
I awoke on Sunday morning to find my van surrounded by vehicles. Since the sun wasn't yet up, I was more than a little surprised. When I'd pulled in on nightfall the previous evening, there had only been a couple of those imported Japanese buses converted into motorhomes in the small field at the end of the road. Now I was in the middle of an extremely busy parking lot. Someone had even moved my chilly bin closer to the van to allow space for a 4WD.
In upper Moutere, inland from Nelson, Anna Barnett lives in love with the earth. Earth at large and in close-up. Particularly in close-up.
This track links two of the most scenic valleys in Mount Aspiring National Park, with the option of a side trip to Cascade Saddle—arguably one of the most spectacular locations in the Southern Alps. Essentially the tramp circumnavigates Mt Earnslaw/Pikirakatahi, a prominent glacier-covered mountain, which at 2830 m is the second highest in Mount Aspiring National Park. Despite being surrounded by such mountainous terrain, in fine weather averagely fit trampers should not experience any difficulties on the track itself. However, after heavy rain some of the streams could become uncrossable, and during winter and spring there can be significant avalanche danger. The four- to five-day trip can be walked either way, but is described here in the anti-clockwise direction.
As New Zealanders plunge into autumn and the Northern hemisphere welcomes spring, auroras—those spectral colour displays that occur around the poles and light the night sky at extreme southern and northern latitudes—increase in frequency.
Cack-handed, cow-pawed, dolly-pawed, ker-handed, left-plug, southpaw, squiffy, these are just some of the names that have been applied to left-handers. They have an air of insult, implying that lefties are somehow inferior, or at least odd. On the other hand, as it were, we right-handers are, well, just right. Our language betrays the distinction in other ways too; gauche and sinister originally meant “left”, while adroit and dexterous have an agreeable air of rightness, if not righteousness.
Deep in the earth's mantle, powerful convection currents are slowly driving the Australian Plate into collision with the Pacific Plate, lifting the Southern Alps four kilometres up into the mid-latitude westerly winds, creating one of the world’s great rain factories.
The secret life of fishing spiders
On April 25, 1978, the New Zealand government sent in hundreds of police and army officers to evict protestors at Bastion Point, in what was the largest internal mobilisation in New Zealand’s history.
An English convict exiled to Australia who went on to pioneer New Zealand’s shore-whaling industry, John Guard was friend to Te Rauparaha and the instigator of an armed sortie against Taranaki Maori to facilitate the rescue of his family members: a saga of kidnapping, cannibalism and slaughter.
In 1986, after years of social upheaval, martial law, and with four agonising years to go before the communist regime’s final collapse, 22 year-old Derek Grzelewski—a keen mountaineer—went climbing in the Carpathians. He did not return to his native Poland. Descending instead into Slovakia then crossing into Austria, Derek slipped quietly into Western Europe through the back door.
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