Lake Tikitapau and the Buried Village of Te Wairoa

Rototura Scenery

Welcome Swallow

Today was a BIG day, so it will take two posts to spit it all out. The day started with a nice drive out of Rototura, to the out back.  We stopped to look around at Lake Tikiapau, 'Blue Lake'. There was a guard rail that the 'Welcome Swallows' that is the actual species name, not their attitude towards guests.


Little New Zealand Grebes - Dab Chicks - were doing their dance routine on the lake. Not sure if I was seeing breeding behavior or just bad tempered birdies.

Our next stop was the Buried Village of Te Wairoa. I knew nothing of the place when we arrived. The village was once the center of a Christian monastery and village in the mid 1800s. The entire settlement was buried under by the volcanic eruption Mt Tarawera.

Museum and Archeological Centre of Te Wairoa

Ila went right on in, but I heard bird song so wanted to stay and find the birds. Across the little roadway from the museum, was a massive forest with 50 and 60 ft high trees. There was bird song coming from the trees and pigeon sized birds fluttering around. After getting loads of crap photos (too far off) I went in the museum, and met the greeter, a lady in Victorian dress. We had a nice chat about the birds, which were Tui. 

I took a short tour of the museum which explained there was once a beautiful pink and white 'terrace' the photos of which look much like Yellowstone National Park's Mammoth Terraces. Here are comparisons.

Te Wairoa 'Pink & White Terraces'
New Zealand

On the left: The Pink & White terraces, which no longer exist. They were destroyed by the Mt Tarawera volcano. The terraces were buried as well as the village that was there.

Mammoth Hot Springs,
Yellowstone, Wyoming

The Mammoth Terraces of north Yellowstone are still there (knock on wood) and hopefully will remain there for a long, long, time.

Following the museum tour Ila and I settled on the back porch to rehydrate with some cool drinks and to enjoy the trees and flowering shrubs.  There were good birds there too.

Common Myna, non-native

There one other native at the buried village that I got to view. It was climbing in a little shrub on the patio, busy either eating insects, nectar and whatever it could get. So pretty!

Best photo of the BellBird - a Native Species!

Lovely curved bill on the Bellbird

The Bellbird was fun to watch. It dug around in the flowers, as if it couldn't decide what it wanted for lunch.




Leaving the Museum we headed out on the road where the scenery was lost on me because I was guilty of 'DWB' which is 'Driving While Birding'.  These are some of the photos I got of the local birds.

European Goldfinches (non-native)

This bird was one that made my day. A 'Sacred Kingfisher'. The North American Belted Kingfishers never allow approach closer than .5 to 1 mile. The birdies need their space! But this New Zealand native Kingfisher couldn't have cared less that I was right beneath it, taking dozens of photos.

Not at all grumpy but absolutely native: Sacred Kingfisher

 European Song Thrush, Non-native

In a quiet residential neighborhood with the usual drop-dead gorgeous homes, there were lots of flowering shrubbery, with lovely, iridescent Tui birds scrambling about in the branches. Got fairly decent photos of the birds. They are strange in that they have a double poofy ball of white feathers that hang down at their throats, which are ornamental. 

Tui birds look black from a distance, but iridescent green and even bronze up close.

The Tui birds are messengers to the gods to the Maori. Nice work if you can get it.

Tui spiritual meaning: Because of their personality, the Tui are associated with life fulfilment, confidence and spiritual harmony. In Māori culture the Tui has powerful significance. They act as messengers to the gods in the heavens.

Tuis are Honeyeaters and have 'brush' tongues for gathering flower nectar

By the time we headed back to Rototura, we were starvin' like Marvin. We headed downtown and after searching up and down the streets we wound up  at The Blind Finch (Ila's idea, not mine, I swear!).

Humongous Lamb-burger

The restaurant specializes in burgers, so I tried a lamb burger for lunch and it came with a truckload of fries.  Rather bad news as tonight we will be attending a Maori feast. Don't want to go to a feast with a full belly.

Post way-filling lunch, we headed back to the hotel. There I spent an hour or three catching up on my journaling and resting. Ila went for a walk, treasuring hunting at the local gift shops. When Ila got back we headed to the lobby where we were picked up by a friendly taxi driver for our ride to the Maori Te Puia Center where tonight's adventures take place.