North & South – June 2019

22 | NORTH & SOUTH| JUNE 2019

GRABAKAI

“Withyourbasketandmy

basket,wewillsustainthe

people,”isthemottoof

thePātakaKaimovement,

which has seen open

“streetpantries”springup

aroundthecountry.Now

morethana dozenpantries

aresettobedistributedin

Northland,identifiedasa

regionofsignificantneed.

PātakaKai,whichmeans

foodstorehouse,wases-

tablishedlastyearbySouth

AucklanderSwanieNelson

andherhusbandTerryto

encouragesharingbe-

tweenneighbours:people

candonateexcessfoodor

simplytakewhattheyneed

(patakai.co.nz).Freshfruit

andvegetables havea

particularlyhighturnover.

Fifteenpantriesalready

constructedaredestined

forŌpononi,Kawakawa,

Kaikohe,Dargavilleand

Kaeo,withanother 45

plannedforsurrounding

towns.Northlandliaison

KeriMilne-Ihimaerasays

theareahasbeenhardhit

byhighunemployment,low

incomesandchildpoverty.

“ThechallengesinNorth-

landaremany,butthe

strengthoverandabove

othercommunitiesis that

theinterconnectedness is

alreadystrong.”

Milne-Ihimaera was

theprincipalofMoerewa

Schoolformanyyears.

NowlivinginSouthAuck-

land,shehasa PātakaKai

outsideherhomeinMa-

nurewaandsaysit’sused

“multipletimesa day”.

JENNY LING

C

loakedinthepersis-

tentmistandlush

greenofFiordland,

thetawakiisan

oddity.Itdoesn’t

liveindense,squawkingcol-

onies,insteadoptingforse-

cludedhideawaysnestledin

thedensebush.

Whileotherpenguinspe-

ciescaptivatescientificand

publicattentionalike,tawa-

kihaveflown– or,rather,

swum and waddled – under

breedontheNewZealand

mainland,theothertwobe-

ingthekororā(littlebluepen-

guin)andhoiho(yellow-eyed

penguin).

Chiefamongtheunknowns

iswheretawakigowhileat

sea.Toinvestigate,Mattern

andtheteamtrackedthe

birdsbetweenthebreeding

andmoultingseasons,an

all-importanttimeforthem

tofattenup.Whattheydis-

covered shocked them: the

THE SECRET LIFE OFPENGUINS

Thanks tothe TawakiProject, we’refinallygetting

a glimpseinto theworldofNewZealand’s intrepid

and mysterious rainforest-dwelling penguin.

theradar.“Weknewliterally

nothingaboutthem,beyond

whattheylooklikeandper-

hapshowtheybehavewhen

they’reatthenest,”saysDr

ThomasMattern,principal

investigatoroftheTawaki

Project.

Theprojectwaslaunched

fiveyearsagoasthefirstlong-

termscientificstudyofthe

tawaki.Alsoknownasthe

Fiordlandpenguin,it’sone

of three penguin species that

NORTHLAND FIORDLAND