WAIKATO SECTION’S EXCURSION TO MAYOR ISLAND

Forest and Bird, Issue 147, 1 February 1963, Page 26

WAIKATO SECTION’S EXCURSION TO MAYOR ISLAND

by

Audrey Eagle

A three-day trip was made to Mayor Island at Labour Day weekend, ninety members, including some from the Tauranga section, embarking from Tauranga on the Saturday morning. The sea was calm and the day perfect. The highlight of the trip over was seeing several schools of dolphins bursting forth from the water in graceful curves very near the boat. The party landed at Opo Bay, as perfect a spot as anyone could wish. The water was deep and clear and surrounded by bush-clad slopes, at the foot of which the Big Game Fishing Club’s buildings nestled under pohutukawa trees.

The President, Mr. Brownlee-Smith, called a meeting at which the various duties were allocated. Members then went for a walk to North-West Bay, where brown obsidian is found. Round the edge of the cliffs Senecio lautus was found, a plant with yellow flowers like ragwort, a Pimelia with masses of white flowers on its stems, and many plants of Phormium colensoi, a yellow-flowered flax of smaller and more drooping habit than the large-leaved orange-red-flowered flax which members were accustomed to seeing inland. In the evening Mr. P. Densem, an honorary ranger from Tauranga, gave members an impromptu talk on the geology and history of the island. Mr. Densem said that the island, which was an extinct volcano, had seams containing large quantities of obsidian, mostly black in colour. This substance, formed from rapidly cooling rhyolite rock, is hard and glasslike. When broken it forms conchoidal fractures resulting in pieces with very sharp edges; for this reason it was highly prized by the Maoris for cutting purposes. The island was densely populated in pre-European times and was called Tuhua, the Maori word for obsidian. As there were only two or three other places in New Zealand where obsidian was found, Tuhua was a very precious possession, but not an easy one to keep as war parties were continually setting out to capture it. Many pa sites could be found and parts were tapu, where there were burial

grounds. The vegetation was fired for agricultural purposes; and so most of the island is now covered in second growth.

Sunday morning, with the first light of dawn, the party was awakened by a tumultuous burst of song from the bellbirds. One or two started the chorus by singing several notes; then immediately the valley was filled with a bell-like sound. The chorus lasted for half an hour, then ceased as abruptly as it had begun. In the year 1790 on the first visit of Captain Cook to New Zealand he anchored in Queen Charlotte Sound, and Sir Joseph Banks who accompanied him described the bellbird chorus in the following words “I was awakened by the singing of the birds ashore, from whence we are not a quarter of a mile. Their numbers were certainly very great. They seemed to strain their throats with emulation, and made perhaps the most melodious wild music I have ever heard, almost imitating small bells but with the most tunable silver sound imaginable, to which, may be, the distance was no small addition.” The party was fortunate indeed to have heard similar music to that which those aboard the Endeavour heard on that morning in January 192 years ago.

Some of the ninety members decided to climb to the trig station, others went down into the crater, and the remainder spent the day exploring in the vicinity of the bay. The track was an easy one to follow and was through bush mainly consisting of rewarewa, mapou, rangiora, kawakawa, and pohutukawa trees, the last being the largest and most numerous trees on the outer rim of the crater. The mapou was plentiful and very dainty, growing after the style of beech trees and giving a light and airy appearance to the bush.

One of the most impressive features of the island was the large size of the leaves on many of the plants and trees. Rangiora and kawakawa in particular astounded everyone by being anything up to three times larger than the specimens seen in the Waikato.

The views from the trig station, which is 1,200 feet above the sea, were enjoyed by all, Waihi beach and Matakana Island beingvisible in the distance. In the crater two lakes, could be seen, Aroarotamahine, the larger lake, appearing green. Mr. Densem had said that the colour varies at different times of the

day because of the rise and fall of a unicellular alga, one of the lowest forms of plant life. The smaller lake, Paritu, looked black, probably due to decaying vegetation. When members were nearer, ducks could be seen on the lake. Walking along the crater rim the party was interested to find numerous plants of a rare and primitive fern named Schizaea. Two of the three varieties of this fern found in New Zealand were here seen to be growing together. A rock face had to be negotiated with the aid of a rope and after various scramblings the floor of the crater was reached. On the sun-baked rocks in the merest dirt-retaining crevices Cheilanthes sieberi was found. This small fern grows in the blazing sun in these most unfernlike situations. It was new to most of the members. The orchid Thelymitra longifolia was found from sea level to the summit, all the plants being larger than those seen in the Waikato, and bearing many white flowers. Only one plant of another orchid was found, Sarcochilus adversus, this tenacious small plant being seen growing on a burnt and dead manuka tree exposed to sun and wind. . /:■

On Tuhua numerous bellbirds were seen as well as heard; tuis, pigeons, kakas, and grey warblers were also seen, but these birds were not so obviously plentiful. Sunday evening a church service was held in the lounge. The perfect weather and the privilege of being in such an interesting place caused everyone present to have so much to be grateful for that the servicce was one of sincere thanksgiving. Monday morning members were awake early ready for the bellbird chorus, but the birds appeared to sing in a quieter and less enveloping manner, possibly because the day was overcast. The most was made of the last few hours on the island, a walk along the beach revealing twenty or so fronted terns, then a final walk in the bush, where the largest pohutukawa on the island was seen. This massive tree measured 34 feet round at a height of four feet. Several more ferns were added to the list. Pteris comans, a handsome big fem, was plentiful, but is rare and local on the mainland. The return trip was rough and no dolphins were seen but sooty shearwaters were apparently unconcernedly skimming the sea up and down the troughs of the waves. During the weekend the number of plants identified was 107, and of birds 14. 4