So the past month or so has been hellish. If I kept a journal, at the moment 90% of it would be me stressing about due dates. But I’m not going to talk about that. A few weeks ago, after I gave my (nerve-wracking) thesis proposal seminar, Mum and Dad came up to Auckland. We planned on packing as much fun stuff as possible into a day – so in the morning we caught the ferry to Tiritiri Matangi.

I’d had trouble de-stressing after the seminar, but as soon as I was on the boat, everything else dropped away. Cold salty air, gannets skimming low to the water, the rush of water beneath the catamaran – I could just breathe and fill up my senses enough to block out everything else. On the island, we wandered through the old forest in search of Hihi/Stitchbirds. I love Tiri. Tīeke/Saddlebacks are as common as Blackbirds, fossicking away in the leaf-litter. Flocks of little Pōpokatea/Whiteheads (relatives!) trill through the trees, and Toutoutwai/North Island Robins are constant companions – hopping along the paths and popping up too close to focus.

I didn’t actually take too many photos on Tiri. It has been almost exactly a year since I was last there – I spent a weekend there on a university field trip. Spring has come again and all the Kowhai and Karo are blooming, and the tracks are scattered with the bright pink of Puriri petals. It’s a feast for the honey-eaters, Tui and Korimako tussling over the bounties of blossom-laden trees. If the weather holds, spring is an amazing time to be on Tiri. I spent most of the day breathing in the birdsong and enjoying the sun.

A day trip to Tiri is always too short for me. I’ve been spoilt by the overnight trip I had last year, and all I can think of is the island at dawn – devoid of people and alive with birdsong. It’s always a joy to visit though – and our fun for the day wasn’t over. The ferry trip back to Gulf Harbour blasted us with wind, a taste of what the evening would bring.