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Caledonian Sky Visit

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Forestwalks

The cruise ship Caledonian Sky visited the Bay of Islands. This cruise ship visits Natural Wonders of New Zealand. Adventure Puketi had the pleasure of guiding the entire 94 passengers on a hike through the Puketi rainforest. The passengers were thrilled to get up close to the Ancient Kauri Trees.

Posted in News | Tagged adventure, award, Birds, clean, clean clear water, commentary, conservation, creatures, Destination, Eco friendly, Eco Tours, Environment, food, forest, Forestwalks, fruit, Guide hikes, hikes, hosted, Kauri, kauri forest, kiwi, morepork, native, natural wonders.pleasure.thrilled.close.passengers.cruise ship.visit.bay of islands, nature walkers, new zealand, night, night encounter, night sky, nightwalk, Nocturnal, Northland, predators, rain, robins, ruru, Scenery, smell, spring flowers, Tui, volunteers, walkers, Walks, welcome | Leave a comment

What we see on our Hiking Trips

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Forestwalks

Full day hiking trip Rata flowering

One of our Hiking Trips in the Puketi Forest is a full day walk. Conservation in the forest is really noticeable now. The Northern Rata (Metrosideros robusta) is flowering again. The Rata is a tall tree, up to 25 m or more tall,which begins its life as an epiphyte.The pseudotrunks, formed by the coalescing of descending roots after the supporting tree has died may be 2 m or more in diameter.

The bark is rough and flaky. The leaves are 2.5 – 5 cm long x 1.5 -2 cm wide,hairless, rounded and a little notched at the tip with the fine vein network clearly visible below. The flowers are red, with stamens 1-1.5 cm long. The capsules are about 7 mm long x 3.5-5 mm wide. The flowers appear during the summer and seeds are released during the following Autumn.

Posted in accomodation, Birds, centipede, dining, Eco Tours.Conservation, Environment, flowers, fruit, News, nightsky, Old forest.combo walk, Plants, private, Spiders, Spring, summer, Walks, weta | Tagged Hiking trips, trip newzealand, walking trips | Leave a comment

Nocturnal insects feeding.

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Forestwalks

The giant centipede and cave weta are present at night in the forest. The cave weta lives in dark spaces , in the Puketi forest we find them in the Giant Kauri trees that have been bled for gum.

The Centipede usually lives under or in rotten logs. They have large fangs that when bitten can be poisonous. On one of our recent night walks we encountered a group of cave weta, as we viewed them in the light from the spot light a huge Centipede attacked. It caught a Weta and bit it behind the head, wrapping the Weta with its body swinging from the tree by the remainder of the many legs on the long body. When the Weta stopped moving the Centipede climbed back inside the giant Kauri tree.

Posted in accomodation, Birds, centipede, dining, Eco Tours.Conservation, Environment, flowers, fruit, News, nightsky, Old forest.combo walk, Plants, private, Spiders, Spring, summer, Uncategorized, Walks, Wedding, weddings | Leave a comment

Spiders

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Forestwalks

The Vagrant spider is found throughout New Zealand. There are 20 different species. Some of the species are not scientifically recorded. On our night walks we encounter spiders waiting in their web and actually capturing their prey. Here we have a series of photoes with the Vagrant spider dispatching a Chafer bettle:

Posted in accomodation, Birds, dining, Eco Tours.Conservation, Environment, flowers, fruit, News, nightsky, Old forest.combo walk, Plants, Spiders, Spring, summer, Walks | Leave a comment

Bees in the Forest

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Forestwalks

Feral Bees are back in the hollow branches in the Kauri Trees. Between the years 2000 and 2006 Varroa mite (Varroa Destructor) was accidently introduced to NZ, the mite decimated the Bee colonies in the forest. HoneyBees (Apis Mellifera) were brought in by the Europeans 1839 to the Hokianga. Native Bees of NZ live in holes dug in the ground. There are 28 species, consisting of three main species, Leioproctus, Hylaeus and Lasioglossum. These Bees help pollinate the flowers in the forest along with birds and Bats.