fenn-o-phobia

Headed into the hills on monday to do a spot of duck watching. nice flight in the waka huri huri up over the mackinnon pass, although i did have my doubts at one point that we were actually going to make it - holy crap do those boys fly close to the edge!! Managed to lug a whole season's worth of tinned food up to the hut from the chopper pad in only 2 trips which impressed the builder's at pomp (an offer of help wouldn't have gone astray, lads).
Headed up to Mintaro on Tues morning all set to find some ducks and do a little stoat trapping. Found 4 birds but of course not until i had walked up the river to the top of the gorge instead of taking the trap (it seemed like a good idea at the time). Collected my eggs and set off for the first stoat trap where i quickly rediscovered my phobia of traps. The first one I set nearly took my thumb off and after my experience last year when I ended up with one firmly attached to my thumb, I decided against any further trapping. Headed back down the valley, cautiously peering into the boxes but couldn't get up the nerve to actually set any of the damn things. Fortunately for me after walking past about 10 boxes, I spied a duck on the river and took off after it to try and figure out who it was. By the time I got back to the track I had managed to lose the spanner in the river somewhere and couldn't open the boxes to set a trap even if I had overcome my ridiculous fear. Oh well....
Managed to catch up with most of the birds and confirm three nests, with possibly another one on the way. Hopefully there will be ducklings next time i'm in there. Hopefully my hut will be too!! At least one tree fell off the bank into the river while I was there and the toilet won't be too far away. There's now only about 5m btwn the front door and the river - hope i'm not in there during a flood (or an earthquake)!! Back to the office tomorrow to play with our 5 wee ducklings - yay :o)