Wednesday 14 December 2016

Six Months in a Leaky Boat - Stlit Enz

While our headline bears little relationship to the day that follows,
except to say we were in a boat, it is doubtful that anyone will disagree that 
SPLIT ENZ
where the finest Rock Band ever to come out of New Zealand! 
All in the space of the last couple of days metaphorically speaking and via the ongoing memoir we arrived in Kaikoura (2008) on the South Island of New Zealand and in a roundabout way heard from our friend Mark Forster the man who strongly recommended a visit there. Searching out Captain Gary Melville was not a problem, being something of a local celebrity, who quickly got me booked on the Pelagic Bird Trip the following day. Having just 'glued' these images to the 'word document' it seemed a shame simply to commit them to the 'gash bucket' before sharing them with you - ENJOY!
Even before leaving harbour we recorded 2 Species of Gull
which were quickly added to the now 'swelling'
GULLS of the WORLD LIST

BLACK-BILLED GULL
WHITE-FRONTED TERN
RED-BILLED GULL
even though at the time some authorities were still considering
this no more than a sub-species of Silver Gull. Whatever, it was
in the bank!

 
WANDERING ALBATROSS
The very familiar, due to our recent return from Antarctica,
CAPE (Pintado or Painted) PETREL
and none the less welcome. 
 SALVIN'S (Shy) ALBATROSS
 WESTLAND PETREL
 WHITE-CAPPED ALBATROSS
NORTHERN GIANT PETREL
Along with Royal and Black-browed, c5 Albatross species in a day
was almost considered acceptable!
Do not miss this if you happen to be down that way, and just to make up
the hat-trick of coincidences New Zealand also appeared on yesterday's
Statistics Counter.
 This is what Split Enz looked like when we saw them in
Plymouth, Devon in the mid-70's.
EntryPageviews
United Kingdom
399    and at long last GB 'back where it belongs'!
United States
390
Russia
278
Germany
69
China
19
Canada
15
Estonia
13
France
9
Spain
8
New Zealand
5  bet Mike Monroe's 'relies' are among these?