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Great Barrier has an enormous , and very sheltered , harbour called Port Fitzroy , not unlike Strangford Lough in N. Ireland where Ian learned to sail as a child - - but with far more dramatic scenery . You don wetsuit , helmet and head-torch , and head underground with an inner tube , clambering down a pothole ( " tomo " = hole ) and ending up in a stream ( " wai " = water ) , jumping down small waterfalls in pitchy blackness and finally floating down a broad underground river gazing at glow-worms far overhead , like stars in a moonless night sky . Setting off along the sand to the south , we were astonished to catch a glimpse what could only be an enormous factory or power station shimmering in the distance through the heat haze . ) a red saddle on their back ; tuis , who sing the most beautiful liquid song ever heard , in an enormous variety of tones ; big flightless takahe , swamp birds that have been rescued from the brink of extinction ( you 'll recognize them because they resemble a large pukeko ) ; kokako , who sing a slow string of very loud , rich , mournful , organ-like notes ; the stitchbird , like an English wren with an upturned tail . On our last night Jake tucked into an enormous plate of spare ribs - - dinosaur ribs - - that would feed a hungry family for a full weekend , and , greatly to his credit , did it justice ( but only just ) . Before leaving Brian , Rosaleen and Michael 's visit , we must put on record an image of the five of us standing on the sandy bottom of a neck-high natural hot pool , in a shady glade surrounded by exotic native vegetation , tree-ferns and the like , cool glasses of chardonnay raised high to keep out of the water and another bottle at the ready - - in pelting ( but warm ) rain with an umbrella over our heads to avoid diluting the wine . For Christmas dinner we went to a slap-up buffet in a posh hotel , ordered a martini cocktail ( what a joke ! It 's the first time she 'd taken on any kind of music programming , and found her years of Calgary Early Byrd experience an enormous help . No , not the dinghy bumping against the side , the keel on a freak rock ( it was low water ) .