Habitats and Sanctuaries

Tiritiri Matangi Island

On an open Saturday we were able to take a ferry and go to Tiritiri Matangi Island, 
a bird habitat and sanctuary. 

It's a peaceful and beautiful little island just north east of where we live, 

and it happened to be a nice warm spring day, so we hopped on the ferry... 

 ...with new-found-friends and fellow-travelers Tom and Bev from Taranaki, 

and lots of volunteers. 

 The wharf where we embarked was a yacht club at Shakespeare Park's Gulf Harbour. 

 The ferry was less than a 30 minutes sail among heaps of other boats who thought it was a great spring day too.

 Our boat was "the Explorer"  

Not hard to fall in love right away with the beautiful island bird sanctuary, continuously inhabited only by heaps of happy, mostly carefree birds.

Sanctuaries are “places of protection and refuge, safe havens, asylums, even sacred places. “

We took a 3 hour hike through the bush with new friends including Jenny, our tour guide, and Catharine and Cynthia, who shared our hike and lunch together.

 This safe bird refuge provided us with "Kodak" moments around every bend it seemed. 

Got to peek in the nesting boxes of these little protected blue penguins

This one even looked up and posed in her little dark "sit-on-the-egg" habitat.

Here are a few photos we took of some birds in their happy habitat 

(we're trying a new way of doubling photos up and labeling them for the blog)

The island was buzzing with the Toutouwai (north island robin), saddleback, fantail, Kereru (New Zealand pigeon - 4 times bigger than a regular pigeon), tui, korimako (this one has a little orange pollen on his head from hanging out in the flowering trees)...

...kokako, oyster catchers, (both wikipedia and web photos, not ours) kingfisher, pukeko,  and many more.

 They have a few of the rare takahe on Tiri Tiri, the New Zealand bird thought to be extinct until they discovered a small flock in the high mountains of South Island in 1948.  They sent a few to Tiritiri to breed and enjoy the safe habitat of this sanctuary.  Their numbers are still small but they are doing pretty good. We didn’t catch a photo sighting of them (hence the web photo) in the wild that day, just a few of their cousins the pukeko.  

BIRD SONGS 

We were in love with all the bird song, we are told it was the way the whole country of New Zealand used to be.  These were "happy-in-their-habitat tweeters"!  

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We noticed some bird song was wild and complicated, and some just monotone...but all together it was really amazing and beautiful.

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Made us consider worrying less about perfect answers and perfect songs, and just singing what we have.

 It was great to see and hear these birds in their natural habitat.   Birds seem to thrive best in their natural habitats…and so do boats...and hikers... and most all of us.

It was fun to clearly see sting ray in the bay thriving in their natural habitat.  

But we also saw an un-thriving, unlucky jelly fish (too late for Elder Downs to rescue this big guy… easy 2 feet across) who strayed out of his safe habitat.

Tiritiri island also hosts a lone light house, built in 1864.

  

The light house was run by a light house keeper who inhabited the little house nearby... 

..until 1984 when it was fully automated with solar power.  

Like one of the many "high towers" and "lights" throughout history that served as lookouts to insure safety, we thought it was appropriate that this safe sanctuary island should also have on it a "high tower with a light".  (2 Samuel 22:3)

 The lighthouse was and still is a beacon and a protection for both the island, and ships as they sail nearby in the darkness. 

Ray (standing next to Elder Downs) was the last resident light house keeper here (retired in 1984) on Tiritiri.  For years the light house and Tiritiri was his habitat and sanctuary.

Time to head home...

 Back on the "Explorer" to ferry home among the other boats in this Pacific “habitat”.

Our 30-minutes of ferry sanctuary.

 And back to Gulf Harbour where we noticed some of the boats were big enough to be not just a weekend sanctuary but a daily habitat, a good sized water-home for folks. 

Our Institute Folks and their Habitats and Sanctuaries

Once a month we go to Papatoetoe to teach our Institute training.  More than a few of these great teachers years ago left their homes in Samoa to make New Zealand their new habitat. 

We find Institute can be a safe haven, a sanctuary for many of our students, and these great teachers help make it that!  

 Our final Tuesday night class for this semester...chocolate cupcakes somehow make their habitat happier.

 Love going around to stake Institute's and catching our YSA's in their own “habitats”.

 Some of our Institute class "favorites" at Waterview Stake on Wednesday night... 

..and then some of the same YSA at their weekend dance.  They clean up nicely.

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 Awards devotional (in our AIB habitat) for end of semester.  Some great musical numbers to honor those who completed their courses. Above: Chenoa, Eden and Star.

Christian wrote and performed a song as part of his course work and completion.

Presenting awards with other instructors.

 The completers.

Habitats and Homes

We think Dorothy described one of the best of sanctuaries and habitats when she said ,

"There's no place like home!"  

A bird's nest like this one on Tiritir has been, for centuries, nature's best habitat for birds to hatch and grow up in.  Homes, habitats and sanctuaries come in all shapes and sizes:

If this were your home or habitat (homes in Gulf Harbour) you would get up and step outside to get in your boat and drive off for the day. 

This is the total tiny home of one of our YSA's (maybe 6 feet across).  She was concerned about it being a safe sanctuary so she asked Elder Downs to come over and say a prayer to dedicate it to be a safe haven while she dwells in it (a sweet THOTL experience).

The hallway to her "habitat".

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For us, home is a safe place, where we feel protected. 

We agree with Elder Eran A. Call who said: 

“Our homes can be, and should be, a refuge and a sanctuary from the troubled world we live in…”  

Whether you are a boat... 

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or a bird... or one of God's children asking similar questions, 

there is something more to it than just the the location of our habitat, 

our dwelling places.

We think a sanctuary

is more than just a physical refuge, or a safe protection place. 

 My safe sanctuary was much more than a physical location, 

it was a sweet "home" where mom and dad loved each other, 

and loved me and my siblings,

and loved God, 

and I knew it because they said it, and showed it, and I felt it.  

I felt safe.

One of our favorite songs is David Foster's "The Prayer" with the words:

"Lead us to a place,

Guide us with your grace,

Give us faith so we'll be safe."

All of His creations seek a place

 and need the faith that leads us to that

safe refuge and sanctuary.

We know there's an eternal sanctuary beyond this life, a home, 
a safe place where all that we love here 
and even more can be ours if we choose. 

 Just imagine the songs of the birds and the inhabitants there! 

Love,
Elder and Sister Downs
Vance and Louenda

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