The Southern Rata Forest on Enderby Island occupies the south eastern corner which is most sheltered from the prevailing winds. Despite this the seaward side has a fringe dead trees from weather damage which now provide some protection to the living trees. Entering the forest is a little like wandering onto a movie set and it would not seem surprising if a fairy fluttered down next to you. The scene of wind-twisted and intertwined trunks with an understory of ferns and megaherbs dusted with crimson rata blossoms is almost as alien-looking as a scene from Avatar. Adding in dozing Sea Lions and the occasional forest-nesting Yellow-eyed Penguin compounded the surreal feeling. Fortunately fluttering Auckland Island Tomtits and Red-fronted Parakeets kept us feeling at least a little orientated to planet Earth.

The Southern Rata (Metrosideros umbellata) is related to the Pohutukawa, New Zealand’s much loved “Christmas tree” which offers it’s crimson blossoms as a celebration of summer. The Rata flowers at the same time and extends from Northland and the Coromandel down to the Auckland Islands where it forms New Zealand’s southernmost forest.

Shortly after entering the forest we stopped for a brief break and I found a Red-crowned Parakeet nest hole when the male flew down and then had the female follow him up into the canopy were he proceeded to feed her as part of their courtship ritual. I would have happily spent a few hours staking out the nest hole for more photos but we had still a fair distance to cover including the most challenging final tussock fields. Having recently visited, Edin was confident guiding a small group of us through the forest and managed to locate Parakeet, Yellow-eyed Penguin and Giant Petrel nests for us.

Our companions on the hike through the forest were Paul Charman and Debra-Rose Christensen who we had first met walking up to the Southland Museum on the first day of our adventure. Paul is a writer for the New Zealand Herald and this was his third trip to the Subantarctics. Reading his subsequent articles has been a nice reminder of the adventure we shared. Here is one of his articles.

Photos with Nikon D810 and Nikon 200-400 f4 lens, Nikon D3s and Nikon 24-120mm f4 lens or Fuji XT1 with Samyang 8mm f2.8 fisheye lens