Life in New Zealand with a Stroke

by David G. Ray

Although it is wintertime here we are enjoying warm sunny weather in the Wellington district. As a result our Stroke Club had full attendance at both meetings we held during the month of May. Our first speaker of the month was a very entertaining talk from a local identity on living between the 1st and second world wars. Most of our members, including myself who was born in 1933, lived during these years and lived in the district, and were able to associate themselves with the events etc that our speaker described.

Our second session of May was a musical afternoon given by a well known collector and piano player. He has played for us a couple of times in past years and was very popular as his repertoire consisted mainly of the songs of the first half of the 20th century. He also produced copies of old music, mainly New Zealand songs. He played and sang many of these and he encouraged our members to join in singing the songs. Everyone received great joy from the afternoon.

The introduction my monthly contribution to this newsletter shows a photograph of the Kiwi, New Zealand's national bird. It is sometimes called "Kay one, W one" by the locals. It occurs nowhere else in the world and is unique because of a number of characteristics. One of these unique factors is the fact that they have their nostrils at the tip of their bills. They are also flightless and therefore do not have a tail. They are a protected bird as the introduction of stoats and ferrets by the early settlers in the nineteth century caused havoc among their population. Kiwis lay the largest eggs, in proportion to their body weight, of all birds. These eggs are laid in the nest in a burrow in the ground which makes them very accessible to predators. The male bird is wholly responsible for their incubation which takes about eleven weeks. The male Kiwi is also responsible for the burrow.

Kiwis are not easily seen in the wild because they live a nocturnal life. I have seen them in the Wellington Zoo where they are domiciled in a well designed building which is kept mostly dark during the day so that visitors can see them. I have heard them at night in the bush in the days when my wife and I were able to go tramping - those days are now over since I had my stroke. The male's call is a rather mournful two-syllabus whistle whereas the female is lower and rather hoarse whistle - not really very tuneful. They mainly feed on insects, grubs and worms which they forage in the ground with their long bill. There are three species of Kiwi, the North Island Kiwi, the South Island Kiwi and the great spotted Kiwi. The North Island species are small than those of the South Island but their name "kiwi" is based on the call of the North Island type.

New Zealanders are called "Kiwis" when travelling overseas. New Zealand has many other birds unique to the country such as the Tui and Morepork. Both these birds are spread throughout the country. We hear the call of the Morepork every night as it is of the Owl species. The Tui we see every day as there are many in our trees growing on and around our property. On many mornings, such as this morning, my wife and I enjoyed a cup of coffee listening to its call as well of many other native birds. As I finish this contribution to the Stroke Newsletter I can hear the sound of the Tui foraging for berried among the trees.

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