Mountain Scene - We’ll sight them on the beaches

Out of a selfless concern for the future of Queenstown’s tourism industry and inspired by David Attenborough’s Frozen Planet series I’ve spent the last two weeks tracking one of the great tourist migrations. 

Scandinavian tourist season from January to April each year involves the migration of juveniles making their first trip out of the nest halfway around the world to escape the harsh northern winter. 

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Out of a selfless concern for the future of Queenstown’s tourism industry and inspired by David Attenborough’s Frozen Planet series I’ve spent the last two weeks tracking one of the great tourist migrations. 

Scandinavian tourist season from January to April each year involves the migration of juveniles making their first trip out of the nest halfway around the world to escape the harsh northern winter. 

Flying south thousands of miles in small groups consisting of individuals of either gender they can be easily spotted – the males of the species tend to be awkwardly attired in skinny jeans or overly tight ‘jorts’ (jean shorts). The females are renowned for their blonde plumage and blue eyes.   

These migratory groups first head to mating grounds on Australia’s east coast adding a coat of summer tan to their Viking skin, better equipping themselves to cope with the brutal New Zealand sun they’ll encounter on the journey’s next leg. 

Then it’s eastwards to NZ where we in Queenstown are lucky enough to be able to observe these impressive creatures frolicking on the local habitat’s beaches. 

Being the young of the species they are very social and congregate in large groups at popular night spots where  interesting social behaviours can be observed. At one particular night spot they can be found dancing scantily attired on the bar on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

From here the now more confident and well-tanned creatures travel thousands of miles to Thailand to finish building colour in preparation for a return home. 

I had previously attended the Thailand leg of the migration documenting visual evidence of behaviours and preferred meeting spots and thought it prudent to conduct a second research trip to evaluate possible changes in migration patterns, numbers or behaviour. The data will be valuable for males of the Kiwi species for whom Swedes are a seasonal delicacy. 

Things got off to an interesting start when the first subjects I encountered in Auckland were heading to Fiji, a wayward migratory pattern. Things didn’t get much better after arriving in Koh Samui and encountering several hordes of English females whose loudness tends to frighten off the more timid Scandics. 

Finally after arriving on the diving haven of Koh Tao, a place I had encountered large docile groups in the past, I managed to observe many individuals and small groups basking on the beaches and engaging in entertaining courtship dances at night. 

I pursued this flock to Koh Phangan where their journey culminates in one big courtship dance on Haad Rin beach under the full moon. Attired in fluorescent paint and bikinis, they gorge on energy-drink-laced buckets and expend the last of their resources before a quiet return home. 


Mark writes a regular column for the Mountain Scene - View original  HERE