Motuara Island

A collage of birds for a change. We took a boat trip to the Motuara Island bird sanctuary to view blue penguins not realising that they leave their nesting boxes in February and disappear out to sea. We were very lucky that two chicks were slow learners and were still huddled in a box.  Extra for proof of blue penguins. After the nature reserve the boat  took us over to Ship Cove famous for where Captain Cook laid up on his trips to NZ,  met the locals and hoisted a flag claiming NZ for Great Britain , apparently with the permission of the local Maori chief. Maybe the enormity of what Cook was up to was lost in translation