The perfect storm

The perfect storm

When we arrived in Port Waikato, we were told all about the predators of and the dangers humans pose to the shorebirds we would be protecting, however, nobody mentioned both ourselves (in our tent) and our birds would encounter and have to survive two big storms as...
A stormy start!

A stormy start!

Tangaroa left Wellington on schedule at 4.30pm on Thursday 4 January. We reached the Chatham Rise survey area early on 5 January, but we’ve headed straight into a tropical low pressure system (a big storm) with up to 50 knots (100 km/h) of wind, and swells of up to 6...
Why the Chatham Rise?

Why the Chatham Rise?

Welcome aboard the Tangaroa, ‘The God of the sea’, a fisheries research vessel purpose-built in 1991 for NIWA, also used for oceanographic surveying, seafloor mapping, and other marine research. We (Tory and Toby) will be spending the next 4 weeks aboard this vessel,...
Welcome to Port Waikato

Welcome to Port Waikato

When I was offered this ambassadorship, the first thing I did after a little happy dance at work, was look up where exactly Port Waikato is. Having grown up in Auckland and having done a fair bit of exploring in this beautiful country, I was shocked to find it was...
Māui Christmas

Māui Christmas

Shelley and I arrived in Port Waikato on a busy and exciting day for the small community: The annual Christmas Parade. Upon arriving we were handed paint brushes and blue paint and we got stuck into painting our float. For our ambassadorship we are working with Port...