1.
Dunedin
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Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago region. It is named for the capital of Scotland, generally Anglicised as Edinburgh, Dunedin was the largest New Zealand city by territorial land area until superseded by Auckland on the creation of the Auckland Council in November 2010. Dunedin was the largest city in New Zealand by population from the 1860s until about 1900, the city population at 5 March 2013 was 120,246. The Dunedin urban area lies on the central-eastern coast of Otago, the harbour and hills around Dunedin represent the remnants of an extinct volcano. The city suburbs extend out into the valleys and hills, onto the isthmus of the Otago Peninsula, and along the shores of the Otago Harbour. The citys most important activity in economic terms centres around tertiary education – Dunedin is home to the University of Otago, New Zealands first university, and the Otago Polytechnic. Students account for a proportion of the population,21.6 percent of the citys population was aged between 15 and 24 at the 2006 census, compared to the New Zealand average of 14.2 percent. In 2014 Dunedin was designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Literature, archaeological evidence shows the first human occupation of New Zealand occurred between AD 1250–1300, with population concentrated along the southeast coast. A camp site at Kaikai Beach, near Long Beach, has dated from about that time. There are numerous sites in what is now Dunedin, several of them large and permanently occupied. The population contracted but expanded again with the evolution of the Classic culture which saw the building of several pā, fortified settlements, notably Pukekura at, there was a settlement in what is now central Dunedin occupied as late as about 1785 but abandoned by 1826. Maori tradition tells first of a people called Kahui Tipua living in the area, then Te Rapuwai, semi-legendary, the next arrivals were Waitaha followed by Kāti Mamoe late in the 16th century and then Kai Tahu who arrived in the mid 17th century. These migration waves have often represented as invasions in European accounts. They were probably migrations like those of the European which incidentally resulted in bloodshed, the sealer John Boultbee recorded in the 1820s that the Kaika Otargo were the oldest and largest in the south. Lieutenant James Cook stood off what is now the coast of Dunedin between 25 February 1770 and 5 March 1770, naming Cape Saunders and Saddle Hill and he reported penguins and seals in the vicinity, which led sealers to visit from the beginning of the 19th century. Permanent European occupation dates from 1831, when the Weller brothers founded their whaling station at Otago, modern Otakou, epidemics badly reduced the Maori population. By the late 1830s the Harbour had become an international whaling port, johnny Jones established a farming settlement and a mission station, the South Islands first, at Waikouaiti in 1840. After inspecting several areas around the eastern coast of the south island, the name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland
2.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
3.
Otago Harbour
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Otago Harbour is the natural harbour of Dunedin, New Zealand, consisting of a long, much-indented stretch of generally navigable water separating the Otago Peninsula from the mainland. They join at its southwest end,21 km from the harbour mouth and it is home to Dunedins deep water port facilities on its western shores in the suburb of Port Chalmers. The harbour was formed from the remnants of a giant shield volcano. The remains of this violent origin can be seen in the basalt of the surrounding hills, the last eruptive phase ended some ten million years ago, leaving the prominent peak of Mount Cargill. Substantial container port facilities exist at Port Chalmers,9 km along the shore from the harbour mouth. A channel along the side of the harbour is regularly dredged, allowing vessels with a draught of 12.5 m to Port Chalmers. New Zealands frozen meat export trade was inaugurated at Port Chalmers in 1882, the dredging of this channel, the Victoria Channel, was a major undertaking for the settlement of Dunedin in the 19th century. The eastern side of the harbour is shallow, with large sandbanks exposed at low tide, two islands form a line between Port Chalmers and Portobello in the lower harbour—Goat Island and Quarantine Island/Kamau Taurua. A smaller island known as Pudding Island lies close to the Peninsula shore, Portobello is home to one of New Zealands leading marine research establishments, the Portobello Marine Laboratory, a department of the University of Otago. This lies at the edge on the tip of a small arm of the Otago Peninsula. Near the mouth of the lies the township of Aramoana, infamous for a massacre of 13 people by a gunman, David Gray. This is also the site twice projected for New Zealands second aluminium smelter, the proposals, in the mid-1970s and early 1980s, were abandoned after major public protest. The harbour is tidal, shallow and seldom rough and for that reason is popular for sports such as yachting and windsurfing. A significant area at the head of the harbour has been reclaimed since the founding of Dunedin, smaller portions have also been reclaimed at a number of places around the harbour, including Port Chalmers, Macandrew Bay, and Broad Bay. As a part of the famous Otago Peninsula, the water is known for various rare wildlife. The area is the home of many species of wading birds, other bird species which visit the harbour include two species of penguins, little penguin and famous yellow-eyed penguins. Taiaroa Head, at the tip of the Otago Peninsula, is home to a colony of northern royal albatrosses, the bay and peninsula provides a critical habitat for Hookers sea lions and New Zealand fur seal. Southern elephant and leopard seals are occasional visitors into the harbor, in total, four species of pinnipeds, and at least nine or more species of cetaceans are known to inhabit or migrate through the area
4.
Seabird
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Seabirds are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene, in general, seabirds live longer, breed later and have fewer young than other birds do, but they invest a great deal of time in their young. Most species nest in colonies, which can vary in size from a few birds to millions. Many species are famous for undertaking long annual migrations, crossing the equator or circumnavigating the Earth in some cases and they feed both at the oceans surface and below it, and even feed on each other. Seabirds can be highly pelagic, coastal, or in some cases spend a part of the year away from the sea entirely, Seabirds and humans have a long history together, they have provided food to hunters, guided fishermen to fishing stocks and led sailors to land. Many species are threatened by human activities, and conservation efforts are under way. There exists no single definition of which groups, families and species are seabirds, and most definitions are in some way arbitrary. In the words of two scientists, The one common characteristic that all seabirds share is that they feed in saltwater. However, by all of the Sphenisciformes and Procellariiformes, all of the Pelecaniformes except the darters. The phalaropes are usually included as well, since although they are waders, loons and grebes, which nest on lakes but winter at sea, are usually categorized as water birds, not seabirds. Although there are a number of sea ducks in the family Anatidae that are truly marine in the winter, many waders and herons are also highly marine, living on the seas edge, but are also not treated as seabirds. Seabirds, by virtue of living in a depositional environment, are well represented in the fossil record. In the Paleogene the seas were dominated by early Procellariidae, giant penguins, modern genera began their wide radiation in the Miocene, although the genus Puffinus might date back to the Oligocene. The highest diversity of seabirds apparently existed during the Late Miocene, Seabirds have made numerous adaptations to living on and feeding in the sea. Wing morphology has been shaped by the niche an individual species or family has evolved, so that looking at a wings shape, longer wings and low wing loading are typical of more pelagic species, while diving species have shorter wings. Seabirds also almost always have webbed feet, to aid movement on the surface as well as assisting diving in some species. The Procellariiformes are unusual among birds in having a sense of smell, which is used to find widely distributed food in a vast ocean. Salt glands are used by seabirds to deal with the salt they ingest by drinking and feeding, the excretions from these glands are almost pure sodium chloride
5.
Pinniped
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Pinnipeds, commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae, Otariidae, and Phocidae, there are 33 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 extinct species have been described from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage. Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora and their closest living relatives are bears and musteloids, Seals range in size from the 1 m and 45 kg Baikal seal to the 5 m and 3,200 kg southern elephant seal, which is also the largest carnivoran. They have streamlined bodies and four limbs that are modified into flippers, though not as fast in the water as dolphins, seals are more flexible and agile. Otariids use their front limbs primarily to themselves through the water, while phocids. Otariids and walruses have hind limbs that can be pulled under the body, by comparison, terrestrial locomotion by phocids is more cumbersome. Otariids have visible ears, while phocids and walruses lack these. Pinnipeds have well-developed senses—their eyesight and hearing are adapted for both air and water, and they have a tactile system in their whiskers or vibrissae. Some species are adapted for diving to great depths. They have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water, although pinnipeds are widespread, most species prefer the colder waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They spend most of their lives in the water, but come ashore to mate, give birth, molt or escape predators, like sharks. They feed largely on fish and marine invertebrates, but a few, like the seal, feed on large vertebrates, such as penguins. Walruses are specialized for feeding on bottom-dwelling mollusks, male pinnipeds typically mate with more than one female, although the degree of polygyny varies with the species. The males of land-breeding species tend to mate with a number of females than those of ice- or water-breeding species. Male pinniped strategies for reproductive success vary between defending females, defending territories that attract females and performing ritual displays or lek mating, pups are typically born in the spring and summer months and females bear almost all the responsibility for raising them. Mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for a short period of time while others take foraging trips at sea between nursing bouts. Walruses are known to nurse their young while at sea, Seals produce a number of vocalizations, notably the barks of California sea lions, the gong-like calls of walruses and the complex songs of Weddell seals
6.
Volcano
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A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. Earths volcanoes occur because its crust is broken into 17 major, therefore, on Earth, volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. This type of volcanism falls under the umbrella of plate hypothesis volcanism, Volcanism away from plate boundaries has also been explained as mantle plumes. These so-called hotspots, for example Hawaii, are postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs with magma from the boundary,3,000 km deep in the Earth. Volcanoes are usually not created where two plates slide past one another. Erupting volcanoes can pose hazards, not only in the immediate vicinity of the eruption. Historically, so-called volcanic winters have caused catastrophic famines, the word volcano is derived from the name of Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy whose name in turn comes from Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology. The study of volcanoes is called volcanology, sometimes spelled vulcanology, at the mid-oceanic ridges, two tectonic plates diverge from one another as new oceanic crust is formed by the cooling and solidifying of hot molten rock. Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans, therefore, most volcanic activity is submarine, black smokers are evidence of this kind of volcanic activity. Where the mid-oceanic ridge is above sea-level, volcanic islands are formed, for example, subduction zones are places where two plates, usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate, collide. In this case, the plate subducts, or submerges under the continental plate forming a deep ocean trench just offshore. In a process called flux melting, water released from the subducting plate lowers the temperature of the overlying mantle wedge. This magma tends to be very viscous due to its high content, so it often does not reach the surface. When it does reach the surface, a volcano is formed, typical examples of this kind of volcano are Mount Etna and the volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Because tectonic plates move across them, each volcano becomes dormant and is eventually re-formed as the plate advances over the postulated plume and this theory is currently under criticism, however. The most common perception of a volcano is of a mountain, spewing lava and poisonous gases from a crater at its summit, however. The features of volcanoes are more complicated and their structure. Some volcanoes have rugged peaks formed by lava domes rather than a summit crater while others have features such as massive plateaus
7.
Hoopers Inlet
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Hoopers Inlet is one of two large inlets in the Pacific coast of Otago Peninsula, in the South Island of New Zealand. The origin of the name is a confused, there was an early settler family called Hooper who lived nearby. The inlet was on a traditional Māori route for collecting shellfish, the Māori name for the inlet was Puke-tu-roto, meaning either hills standing around a lake or hills standing inland. Like its near neighbour, Papanui Inlet, Hoopers Inlet is known for its bird life. The inlet lies 2 km to the south of Portobello and can be reached by road from there and the city of Dunedin, the centre of which lies 15 kilometres to the west. Both inlets are shallow, becoming predominantly sand and mud flats at low tide, the mouth of Hoopers Inlet is narrowed by a large spit, the seaward coast of which forms Allans Beach. Behind this beach is a significant area of wetland and swamp, Hoopers Inlet is separated from Papanui Inlet by a strip of land which is the isthmus to a hilly peninsula containing Cape Saunders and the peninsulas highest point, the 408-metre Mount Charles
8.
Papanui Inlet
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Papanui Inlet is the northernmost of two large inlets in the Pacific coast of Otago Peninsula, in the South Island of New Zealand. The inlets name is of Māori origin, and means large plain, the name originally referred to the area of dunes and mudflats immediately to the north of the inlet, but was transferred to the inlet itself at the time of European settlement on the peninsula. The inlet was known by Māori as Makahoe. Like its near neighbour, Hoopers Inlet, Papanui Inlet is known for its bird life. The inlet lies 3 km to the east of Portobello, a short road linking the two inlets enables Papanui Inlet to be reached by road from both Portobello and the city of Dunedin, the centre of which lies 18 kilometres to the west. Both inlets are shallow, becoming predominantly sand and mud flats at low tide, the mouth of Papanui Inlet opens to the east, directly into the Pacific Ocean. While the southern shore of the inlet is flanked by steep hills, beyond this lies Wickliffe Bay, which is bordered by Victory Beach, Otago Peninsulas longest beach. This flat land effectively narrows the mouth of the inlet. The remains of the 1861 wreck of the SS Victory are still close to the inlets mouth at low tide. Both this wreck and a historic midden close to the shore of the inlets mouth are registered as Category II historic sites by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. Papanui Inlet is separated from Hoopers Inlet by a strip of land which is the isthmus to a peninsula containing Cape Saunders and the peninsulas highest point. A road, leading to Cape Saunders, skirts the shore of the inlet
9.
Cape Saunders
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Cape Saunders is a prominent headland on the Pacific Ocean coast of the Otago Peninsula in New Zealands South Island. It is home to the Cape Saunders Lighthouse, the Cape was named by Captain James Cook in 1770, in honour of Sir Charles Saunders, under whom Cook had served in Canada. & Peat, N. Dunedin, North and South Otago
10.
Taiaroa Head
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Taiaroa Head is a headland at the end of the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand, overlooking the mouth of the Otago Harbour. It lies within the city limits of Dunedin, the nearest settlement, Otakou, lies three kilometres to the south. The cape is home to a lighthouse, built in 1864, and a colony of over 100 northern royal albatrosses, there is also the Royal Albatross Centre. The headland is named for Te Matenga Taiaroa, a 19th-century Māori chief of the Ngai Tahu iwi, pukekura, a significant Māori pā was located on the headland, having been established about 1650 and still occupied by Māori in the 1840s. It is associated with a warrior called Tarewai who was active in the 18th century. Pilots Beach was formerly known as Hobart Town Beach from the whaling tryworks established there in 1836 by the Weller brothers employing men from Hobart, previously it was called Measly Beach from its being a place where Māori went to bathe when afflicted by a measles epidemic in 1835. Historically, several commercial whaling stations established on the peninsula and the number of whales in this area were heavily exploited. Ruins of former coastal defences are located nearby, notably a restored Armstrong disappearing gun emplacement built in 1886 following a scare that New Zealand might be invaded by the Russians, at Pilots beach is the largest colony of little or blue penguins remaining on the Otago Peninsula. Nearby are important breeding habitats of the threatened yellow-eyed penguin, there may also be seen a number of dusky dolphins, orcas and migratory large whales such as southern rights and humpbacks. Their sightings in these areas are on the increase and Taiaroa Head may be one of the best vintage points along Otago coasts, the part of Taiaroa Head where northern royal albatrosses breed is managed by the NZ Department of Conservation as a nature reserve with restricted entry. On adjacent land the Otago Peninsula Trust manage a visitor centre, Pilots Beach is managed as a recreation reserve by the Dunedin City. The first albatross egg at the head was discovered in 1919, since they first successfully raised a chick at Taiaroa Head, royal albatross numbers have increased due to intensive management by reserve rangers. As time has progressed intensive wildlife husbandry methods such as are found in any threatened species programme have been developed and refined, intensive methods include predator control for cats, ferrets, stoats and weasels. Also in the early 1990s a new blowfly arrived and caused the death of a number of chicks by laying eggs in them while the chick was still attempting to hatch, removing eggs from young or inexperienced parents has also occurred with these eggs being hatched in brooders. & Peat, N. Dunedin, North and South Otago, behold the Moon the European Occupation of the Dunedin District 1770-1848. Herd, J. & Griffiths, G. J. Discovering Dunedin
11.
Seabird colony
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A bird colony is a large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size, colonial nesting birds include seabirds such as auks and albatrosses, wetland species such as herons, and a few passerines such as weaverbirds, certain blackbirds, and some swallows. A group of birds congregating for rest is called a communal roost, evidence of colonial nesting has been found in non-neornithine birds, in sediments from the Late Cretaceous of Romania. Approximately 13% of all bird species nest colonially, nesting colonies are very common among seabirds on cliffs and islands. Nearly 95% of seabirds are colonial, leading to the usage, seabird colony, many species of terns nest in colonies on the ground. Herons, egrets, storks, and other large waterfowl also nest communally in what are called heronries, colony nesting may be an evolutionary response to a shortage of safe nesting sites and abundance or unpredictable food sources which are far away from the nest sites. What exactly constitutes a colony is a matter of definition, tufted puffins, for example, are pelagic birds that nest on the steep slopes and rocky crevices on coastal cliffs, often on islands. Each pair excavates its own burrow, a congregation of puffin burrows on a marine island is considered a colony. Sand martins are seldom, if ever, observed to nest in solitude, a more extreme example of colonial nesting is found in the weaverbird family. These structures resemble haystacks hanging from trees, and have likened to apartment buildings or beehives. Some seabird colonies host thousands of nesting pairs of various species, triangle Island, for example, the largest seabird colony in British Columbia, Canada, is home to auks, gulls, cormorants, shorebirds, and other birds, as well as some marine mammals. Many seabirds show remarkable site fidelity, returning to the burrow, nest or site for many years. This increases breeding success, provides a place for returning mates to reunite, young adults breeding for the first time usually return to their natal colony, and often nest very close to where they hatched. Individual nesting sites at seabird colonies can be widely spaced, as in an albatross colony, in most seabird colonies several different species will nest on the same colony, often exhibiting some niche separation. Seabirds can nest in trees, on the ground, on cliffs, in burrows under the ground, colony size is a major aspect of the social environment of colonial birds. Some birds are known to nest in colonies when conditions are suitable, the white-winged dove of southwestern North America was known to nest in large colonies when foraging areas could support such numbers. In 1978, in Tamaulipas, Mexico, researchers counted 22 breeding colonies of white-winged doves with a population size of more than eight million birds. But as habitat was transformed through urbanization or agriculture, the doves apparently spread out into smaller, today, these doves are observed to nest singly and colonially in both urban and rural areas
12.
Northern royal albatross
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The northern royal albatross or toroa, Diomedea sanfordi, is a large seabird from the albatross family. Albatrosses belong to Diomedeidae family and come from the Procellariiformes order, along with shearwaters, fulmars, storm petrels, first, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns. Although the nostrils on the albatross are on the sides of the bill, the bills of Procellariiformes are also unique in that they are split into between seven and nine horny plates. Finally, they produce an oil made up of wax esters. This is used against predators as well as a rich food source for chicks. The northern royal albatross was first described as Diomedea sanfordi by Robert Cushman Murphy, in 1917, the northern royal albatross is typically about 115 cm, weighs 6.2 to 8.2 kg and has a wingspan from 270 to 305 cm. The juvenile has a head, neck, upper mantle, rump. There is dark speckling on the crown and rump and its lower mantle and back are white with more black speckling than the crown, and it has dark black-brown upper wings with white flecks on its covert. Its tail is white with a tip, as are its underwings. There is a band behind the leading edge of its wings between the carpal joint and the tip. As they age, its head, back, rump, tail, all ages have a pink bill with a black cutting edge on the upper mandible, along with pale pink legs. The northern royal albatross can be distinguished from the southern at sea by its upper wings, the two species also differ in behavior. The northern royal albatross feeds on fish, cephalopods, crustaceans, salps, squid is an important part of their diet and can make up 85% of it. They will perform a very extensive mutual or group display, sometimes in the air or on the water, once they form a bond, the displays lose extravagance. They nest biennially, and will build their nests on flat summits of the islands that they frequent and they prefer to be in grass or herbs, and their nest is a low mound of vegetation, mud, and feathers. A single egg is laid, in October or November, which both parents around 80 days to incubate. The chick is brooded for a month, and is ready to fledge after around 240 days and their colonies are denser than those of any other great albatross. Northern royal albatrosses nest on the Chatham Islands, Enderby Island in the Auckland Islands, the Taiaroa Head colony is the only albatross colony found on a human-inhabited mainland in the Southern hemisphere
13.
Ecotourism
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It means responsible travel to natural areas conserving the environment and improving the well being of the local people. Since the 1980s, ecotourism has been considered a critical endeavor by environmentalists, several university programs use this description as the working definition of ecotourism. Generally, ecotourism deals with interaction with components of the natural environments. Ecotourism focuses on responsible travel, personal growth, and environmental sustainability. Ecotourism typically involves travel to destinations where flora, fauna, Ecotourism is intended to offer tourists insight into the impact of human beings on the environment, and to foster a greater appreciation of our natural habitats. Responsible ecotourism programs include those that minimize the negative aspects of tourism on the environment. For these reasons, ecotourism often appeals to advocates of environmental and social responsibility, the term ecotourism, like sustainable tourism, is considered by many to be an oxymoron. Like most forms of tourism, ecotourism generally depends on air transportation, additionally, the overall effect of sustainable tourism is negative, where, like ecotourism, philanthropic aspirations mask hard-nosed immediate self-interest. An ecotourist is different from a tourist in the sense that, he or she is mindful of his environment, Ecotourism is a responsible tourism which conserves the environment and sustains the well being of local people. For many countries, ecotourism is not simply a marginal activity to finance protection of the environment, for example, in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nepal, Kenya, Madagascar and territories such as Antarctica, ecotourism represents a significant portion of the gross domestic product and economic activity. Ecotourism is often misinterpreted as any form of tourism that involves nature, self-proclaimed practitioners and hosts of ecotourism experiences assume it is achieved by simply creating destinations in natural areas. According to critics of this commonplace and assumptive practice, true ecotourism must, above all, sensitize people to the beauty and these critics condemn some operators as greenwashing their operations, using the labels of green and eco-friendly”, while behaving in environmentally irresponsible ways. Currently, there are moves to create national and international ecotourism accreditation programs. National ecotourism certification programs have been put in place in such as Costa Rica, Australia, Kenya, Estonia. Ecotourism is a late 20th-century neologism compounded from eco- and tourism, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, ecotour was first recorded in 1973 and ecotourism, probably after ecotour, in 1982. One source claims the terms were used earlier, claus-Dieter Hetzer, an academic and adventurer from Forum International in Berkeley, CA, supposedly coined ecotourism in 1965 and ran the first ecotours in the Yucatán during the early 1970s. The failure to acknowledge responsible, low-impact ecotourism puts legitimate ecotourism companies at a competitive disadvantage, many environmentalists have argued for a global standard of accreditation, differentiating ecotourism companies based on their level of environmental commitment, creating a standard to follow. The decisions of the board would be sanctioned by governments, so that non-compliant companies would be required to disassociate themselves from the use of the ecotourism brand
14.
Yellow-eyed penguin
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The yellow-eyed penguin or hoiho is a penguin native to New Zealand. Previously thought closely related to the penguin, molecular research has shown it more closely related to penguins of the genus Eudyptes. Like most other penguins, it is mainly piscivorous, the species breeds around the South Island of New Zealand, as well as Stewart Island, Auckland Islands, and Campbell Islands. Colonies on the Otago Peninsula are a popular tourist venue, where visitors may closely observe penguins from hides, trenches, the yellow-eyed penguin is the sole extant species in the genus Megadyptes. Previously thought closely related to the penguin, new molecular research has shown it more closely related to penguins of the genus Eudyptes. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA evidence suggests it split from the ancestors of Eudyptes around 15 million years ago, the yellow-eyed penguin was described by Jacques Bernard Hombron and Honoré Jacquinot in 1841. This is a penguin, measuring 62–79 cm long. Weights vary through the year being greatest,5.5 to 8 kg, just before moulting and least,3 to 6 kg, the males are larger than the females. It has a yellow head and paler yellow iris with black feather shafts. The chin and throat are brownish-black, there is a band of bright yellow running from its eyes around the back of the head. The juvenile has a head with no band and their eyes have a grey iris. The yellow-eyed penguin may be lived, with some individuals reaching 20 years of age. Males are generally longer lived than females, leading to a sex ratio of 2,1 around the age of 10–12 years. This penguin usually nests in forest or scrub, among native flax and lupin, on slopes or gullies, or the shore itself and these areas are generally sited in small bays or on headland areas of larger bays. It is found in New Zealand, on the south-east coast of the South Island most notably on Otago Peninsula, Foveaux Strait, Stewart Island, and sub-Antarctic islands of Auckland and Campbell Islands. It expanded its range from the islands to the main islands of New Zealand after the extinction of the Waitaha penguin several hundred years ago. This species of penguin is endangered, with a population of 4000. It is considered one of the worlds rarest penguin species, the main threats include habitat degradation and introduced predators
15.
Spoonbill
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Spoonbills are a group of large, long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, which also includes the ibises. The genus name derives from Latin and means broad, referring to the distinctive shape of the bill. Six species are recognised, all placed in a single genus or three genera. They are most closely related to the Old World ibises, all spoonbills have large, flat, spatulate bills and feed by wading through shallow water, sweeping the partly opened bill from side to side. The moment any small aquatic creature touches the inside of the insect, crustacean. Spoonbills generally prefer fresh water to salt but are found in both environments and they need to feed many hours each day. Spoonbills are monogamous, but, so far as is known, most species nest in trees or reed beds, often with ibises or herons. The female lays a clutch of three smooth, oval, white eggs and both parents incubate, chicks hatch one at a time rather than all together. The newly hatched young are blind and cannot care for themselves immediately, chicks bills are short and straight, and only gain the characteristic spoonbill shape as they mature. Their feeding continues for a few weeks longer after the leaves the nest. The primary cause of brood failure appears not to be predation but starvation, the six species of spoonbill are distributed over much of the world. However, as the six species were so similar morphologically, keeping them within the one made more sense. Spoonbill videos on the Internet Bird Collection
16.
Plover
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Plovers are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. There are about 66 species in the subfamily, most of them called plover or dotterel, the closely related lapwing subfamily, Vanellinae, comprises another 20-odd species. Plovers are found throughout the world, with the exception of the Sahara and the polar regions and they hunt by sight, rather than by feel as longer-billed waders like snipes do. They feed mainly on insects, worms or other invertebrates, depending on habitat, the plover group of birds has a distraction display subcategorized as false brooding. Examples include, pretending to change position or to sit on an imaginary nest site, a group of plovers may be referred to as a stand, wing, or congregation. A group of dotterels may be referred to as a trip, the Icelandic media always covers the first plover sighting, which in 2017, took place on March 27,2017. Plover videos, photographs & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
17.
Heron
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The herons are the long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 64 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Egrets are not a distinct group from the herons. Although egrets have the build as herons, they tend to be smaller. Herons, by evolutionary adaptation, have long beaks, similarly, the relationship of the genera in the family is not completely resolved. However, one species formerly considered to constitute a monotypic family Cochlearidae. Although herons resemble birds in other families, such as the storks, ibises, spoonbills and cranes, they differ from these in flying with their necks retracted. They are also one of the groups that have powder down. Some members of this group nest colonially in trees, while others, notably the bitterns, the herons are medium to large sized birds with long legs and necks. They exhibit very little sexual dimorphism in size, the smallest species is usually considered the little bittern, which can measure under 30 cm in length, although all the species in the Ixobrychus genus are small and many broadly overlap in size. The largest species of heron is the Goliath heron, which stand up to 152 cm tall, the necks are able to kink in an S-shape, due to the modified shape of the sixth vertebrae of which they have 20-21. The neck is able to retract and extend, and is retracted during flight, the neck is longer in the day herons than the night herons and bitterns. The legs are long and strong and in almost every species are unfeathered from the part of the tibia. In flight the legs and feet are held backward, the feet of herons have long thin toes, with three forward pointing ones and one going backward. The bill is long and harpoon like. It can vary from fine, as in the agami heron. The most atypical bill is owned by the boat-billed heron, which has a thick bill. The bill, as well as other parts of the body, is usually yellow, black or brown coloured. The wings are broad and long, exhibiting 10–11 primaries feathers, the feathers of the herons are soft and the plumage is usually blue, black, brown, grey or white, and can often be strikingly complex
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Pacific Ocean
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The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
19.
Boulder Beach
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Boulder Beach is a rocky beach which is located on the Pacific side of the Otago Peninsula, New Zealand. Boulder Beach can be accessed by a number of walking tracks and these tracks begin at Braidwood Road, Paradise Road, Buskin Road, Seal Point Road, and Karetai Road. All these tracks are linked and create the Bolder Beach walking track system, the beach is located west of Sandfly Bay which is easier to access. Unlike Sandfly Bay Boulder Beach is very rocky with only one section which is composed of sand, video of Boulder Beach Dunedin walks
20.
Victory Beach
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Victory Beach is located on the Pacific Ocean coast of the Otago Peninsula, in the South Island of New Zealand,24 kilometres by road from Dunedin city centre. The longest beach on the peninsula, Victory Beach is located northeast of the entrance to Papanui Inlet and it is backed by a series of high sand dunes. The beachs name derives from the wreck of the SS Victory on the beach in 1861, the beach and headlands to the north and south form Wickliffe Bay. Administered partly by the Otago Peninsula Trust, the beach is a habitat for rare species. Other notable birds found in the area include spoonbills, and the beach is located close to the Royal Albatross breeding colony at Taiaroa Head, both Hookers sealions and New Zealand fur seals are also found in the area. At the end of the road, a 2 kilometre walking track leads to the beach past two large outcrops of columnar basalt known as The Pyramids, the southern, smaller outcrop is called Little Pyramid, or Te Matai O Kia. The beach was used as a location for the television movie Out of Ashes, the steamship SS Victory departed Port Chalmers bound for Melbourne at 4,30 pm on 3 July 1861, carrying passengers, mail and cargo. It ran aground at the end of the beach at about 6 pm. Captain James Toogood ran the full astern for around 90 minutes. Hand was found guilty of being intoxicated and in neglect of duty, on 24 July and the following day the ships cargo, equipment and hull were auctioned off on the beach, recovering around £1,900 from an estimated value of £25,000
21.
Sandfly Bay
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Sandfly Bay is a sandy bay with large dunes, located on the eastern side of the Otago Peninsula, New Zealand,15 km east of central Dunedin. The bay is accessed from Seal Point Road or a track from Sandymount. The beach is a site for the Hookers sea lion, Phocarctos hookeri. It is also an excellent site for washed up Durvillea antarctica to be found, the bay is often thought by locals to have been named for a small biting insect known as the sandfly, but this is incorrect. It was named for the sand which, given the nature of this coast. A small island lies at the northeastern end of the bay is known as Lion Rock or Lions Head Rock. A distinctive landmark, it can be seen in good weather from Second Beach. Walking track information Dunedin Walks — Otago Peninsula Dann, C. and Peat, N. Dunedin, North and South Otago
22.
Dune
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In physical geography, a dune is a hill of loose sand built by wind or the flow of water. Dunes occur in different shapes and sizes, formed by interaction with the flow of air or water, most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter slip face in the lee of the wind. The valley or trough between dunes is called a slack, a dune field is an area covered by extensive sand dunes. Dunes occur, for example, in deserts and along some coasts. Some coastal areas have one or more sets of dunes running parallel to the shoreline directly inland from the beach, in most cases, the dunes are important in protecting the land against potential ravages by storm waves from the sea. Although the most widely distributed dunes are those associated with coastal regions, Dunes can form under the action of water flow, and on sand or gravel beds of rivers, estuaries and the sea-bed. The modern word dune came into English from French c,1790, which in turn came from Middle Dutch dūne. Crescent-shaped mounds are generally wider than they are long, the slipfaces are on the concave sides of the dunes. These dunes form under winds that blow consistently from one direction, some types of crescentic dunes move more quickly over desert surfaces than any other type of dune. A group of dunes moved more than 100 metres per year between 1954 and 1959 in Chinas Ningxia Province, and similar speeds have been recorded in the Western Desert of Egypt. The largest crescentic dunes on Earth, with mean crest-to-crest widths of more than three kilometres, are in Chinas Taklamakan Desert. They may be composed of clay, silt, sand, or gypsum, eroded from the floor or shore, transported up the concave side of the dune. Examples in Australia are up to 6.5 km long,1 km wide and they also occur in southern and West Africa, and in parts of the western United States, especially Texas. Straight or slightly sinuous sand ridges typically much longer than they are wide are known as linear dunes and they may be more than 160 kilometres long. Some linear dunes merge to form Y-shaped compound dunes, many form in bidirectional wind regimes. The long axes of these dunes extend in the resultant direction of sand movement, linear loess hills known as pahas are superficially similar. These hills appear to have formed during the last ice age under permafrost conditions dominated by sparse tundra vegetation. Radially symmetrical, star dunes are pyramidal sand mounds with slipfaces on three or more arms that radiate from the center of the mound
23.
Larnach Castle
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Larnach Castle, is a mock castle on the ridge of the Otago Peninsula within the limits of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand, close to the small settlement of Pukehiki. It is one of a few houses of this scale in New Zealand, the house was built by prominent entrepreneur and politician, William Larnach. The Castle is now owned by the Barker Family. The Castle and Grounds are open daily to members of the public, the Larnach Castle gardens are one of only five gardens nationwide to have been given the rating of Garden of International Significance by the New Zealand Gardens Trust. These were the first gardens in the South Island to receive the title, Larnach Castle was built as the private residence of William James Mudie Larnach. Land for the construction of Larnach Castle was purchased in 1870, the site was clear-felled and levelled, allowing construction to begin in 1871. Approximately 200 workmen were used to complete the structure, using imported materials from around the world. Much of the used for the Castle came from a basalt quarry nearby. The Godfrey family carved many of the buildings ceilings, a single ceiling in the main foyer took six. In 1875, twenty tonne of glass was imported from Venice, the addition of the 3000 square foot ballroom was made in 1887, a 21st birthday present for Larnachs eldest daughter Kate. The resulting complex eventually contained 43 rooms and required a staff of 46 servants. The complex included 35 acres reserved for grounds, including a vinery, and a farm of 300 acres with its own farmstead including a cow byre for 300 cows, stables. The building, which Larnach himself simply called The Camp, was coined a Castle by local press on 8 December 1874, after a series of personal and financial setbacks he died by suicide in New Zealands Parliament Buildings in October 1898. Following bitter legal battles over Larnachs will, the Larnach Family sold the house in 1906, throughout the 20th Century, Larnach Castle went through constant changes of ownership and usage. The building fell into disrepair, and in 1967 was bought by Barry, norcombe Barker became Larnach Castle Executive Director in 1990. Significant restoration work has since carried out by the Barker Family. The gardens were not a feature of William Larnachs home. Funded by its operation, upkeep of the building is a continuous operation—in 2015 the music room underwent a $100,000 refurbishment
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Cairn
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A cairn is a human-made pile of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic, càrn, cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes, from prehistoric times to the present. In modern times, cairns are often erected as landmarks, a use they have had since ancient times. Cairns are used as markers in many parts of the world, in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, as well as in barren deserts. They vary in size from small stone markers to entire artificial hills, cairns may be painted or otherwise decorated, whether for increased visibility or for religious reasons. An ancient example is the inuksuk, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, inuksuit are found from Alaska to Greenland. This region, above the Arctic Circle, is dominated by the tundra biome and has areas with few natural landmarks, different types of cairns exist from rough piles of stones to interlocking dry stone round cylinders. The most important cairns commonly used around the world are interlocking stone survey cairns constructed around a central survey mark about every 30 km on the tallest peaks across a nation. These physical survey mark cairn systems by surveyors as the basis for national survey grids to interconnect individual land survey measurements for entire nations, on occasion these permanent interlocking stone cairns were taken down then reconstructed for survey mark for measurements to increase the accuracy of the national survey grid. They can also be used in unpopulated country as emergency location points, for example, the extensive trail network maintained by the DNT, the Norwegian Trekking Association, extensively uses cairns in conjunction with T-painted rock faces to mark trails. Other examples of these can be seen in the fields of Volcanoes National Park to mark several hikes. Placed at regular intervals, a series of cairns can be used to indicate a path across stony or barren terrain, such cairns are often placed at junctions or in places where the trail direction is not obvious. They may also be used to indicate an obscured danger such as a sudden drop, most trail cairns are small, usually being a foot or less in height. However, they may be built taller so as to protrude through a layer of snow, hikers passing by often add a stone, as a small bit of maintenance to counteract the erosive effects of severe weather. North American trail marks are sometimes called ducks or duckies, because they sometimes have a beak pointing in the direction of the route. The expression two rocks do not make a duck reminds hikers that just one rock resting upon another could be the result of accident or nature rather than intentional trail marking. The building of cairns for recreational purposes along trails, to ones personal passage through the area. This distracts from cairns used as navigational guides, and also conflicts with the Leave No Trace ethic
