This is a Traditional Letterbox geocache - which means the cache is at the posted co-ordinates. Please stick to the paths to reach this cache - which can be reached from the path (no need to step on plants) - right of the track as approaching lookout.
There is a stamp inside the container for people to stamp their own Letterbox collection book - so please make sure you or anyone in your group does not remove this. Due to the size of the container no ink pad has been provided.
This is one of the first stamps I have had a go making myself. Hopefully you get to see the Toroa (Albatrosses) flying around - best time is late afternoon when the winds get up and they are coming back from fishing.
I really love coming and watching the Albatrosses here - and to think we are the only place in the world you can do this without taking a boat to a smaller island.
One of the largest seabird in the world, the Northern Royal Albatross is a graceful giant with a wing span of over three metres. It usually mates for life and breeds only in New Zealand. Biennial breeding takes place primarily on The Sisters and The Forty-Fours Islands in the Chatham Islands. There is also a tiny colony right here at Taiaroa Head near Dunedin on the mainland of New Zealand.
The total breeding population in the Chatham Islands colonies (99% of the total) is estimated at c. 6,500-7,000 pairs, with c. 5,200-5,800 pairs breeding each year. This number roughly equates to a total population of 17,000 mature individuals. Nearly 30 pairs breed each year at Taiaroa Head which supports 1% of the population. Although the Taiaroa Head colony is increasing, the trend for the overall population remains unknown due to the lack of recent data from the Chatham Islands.
Northern royal albatross can be sighted throughout the Southern Ocean at any time of the year. Non-breeding and immature birds, including newly fledged birds, undertake a downwind circumnavigation in the Southern Ocean. The main wintering grounds are off the coasts of southern South America. They are generally solitary foragers and forage predominantly over continental shelves to shelf edges.
Whilst we have the smallest population here in Dunedin, we make a big noise each year to celebrate them; each spring (early september) enjoy the sounds of bells ringing throughout Dunedin, a unique tradition which marks the return of the albatross to the Otago Peninsula for breeding season.
New Zealand status: Endemic
Conservation status: Nationally Vulnerable
Threats: Climate and habitat changes, heat stress, fly-strike
Species information: Royal albatross on NZ Birds Online
Also if you are planning a trip and wanting to see what all of the fuss is about; the DOC camera livestreams from a nest each year
https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/albatrosses/royal-albatross-toroa/royal-cam/
There used to be another cache near here on the fenceline - I can confirm this has been removed (10/3/2024 - and available to return to CO) so people do not go standing on plants and animals to reach it and avoids another archived caches becoming environmental hazard to the wildlife.
Wish to attend New Zealand’s next MEGA event? GCA7ZHD Geo Toroa will be held on NZ’s Labour Day long weekend 26-27th October 2024 right here in Dunedin. Details in the link below (click ticket picture);
