August 4th, 2014 The Journey Home and Beyond

Our Iwi at the Rapaki Marae

Kia Ora.  Having been immersed in Kiwi and Maori culture for the past five weeks will now make the journey back to American culture another adventure.  Our students will take with them lasting memories of the challenges and opportunities of what not only New Zealand faces, but what the rest of the world faces as well.  Preserving biological diversity, conserving resources, and maintaining a balance between natural and human built environments are key to a sustainable future.  And, it will take all of us with our diverse backgrounds to come together in many different ways to help make lasting change for a bright future.

Dear students, we hope that what you have experienced with us in New Zealand will help shape the decisions you make for our future in exciting and positive ways.  We thank you for giving of yourselves openly with your hearts and minds so that our time together could be such a special learning opportunity for us all.  We have really enjoyed being with all of you, touring the wop-wops, and sharing a daily cuppa. Sweet As!

From the land of the long white cloud, safe and happy travels!  See you in the land of the flowers (La Florida).  With a Hongi and hug to each of you, Mark, Meryl, Jámm, and Tupelo

August 2nd, 2014 Plenty of Warm Sunshine, A Future Farm...Now, Markets, The Willowbank Experience, and a Rugby Game

Graeme shows us the battery storage system for his solar panels.

A neat little set up for using the sun to run a fan and heat up a cold metal shed!

Despite our time here winding down, we were up with the sun and rattling our dags to get as much in as we can and today was no exception.  The weather gods smiled on us with brilliant warm sun (and strong gales from the northwest) that boosted our spirits.  We started our day at Graeme and Karen's lifestyle block farm.  Graeme works at Landcare Research and in his "spare" daylight-savings time (even in winter) hours manages to keep a farm of apples, apricots and almonds.  When he is not tending to his trees, he is busy keeping up with all of the latest technology from the world so that he can be as off the grid as possible.  His house and farm sport solar panels and all sorts of gadgets he has rigged up like a tinted plexiglass panel for collecting and distributing heat from the sun to his cold metal shed and a system in his house to heat the water from the wood stove.  He collects the rainwater to filter and use in the house and even has a wind turbine that he is working on getting up and running.  All very inspiring to show how much can be with little things and little steps to lower our impact on our planet.

SHEEP!  And LAMBS!

Graeme and Karen also keep some sheep to help with strategic mowing in the orchards and it is lambing season, so, of course, we had the extra treat of getting to visit with the sheep and their babies in a field and feed them.  Tooooooo cute!

Lincoln Market

Next we were off to two Saturday Markets - Lincoln's boasted their monthly special market with the stall holders entertaining patrons with their musical talents (and a Happy Birthday to our friend Amy who turned 15 today), and Riccarton Bush was bustling with folks on such a beautiful day.

Back in Lincoln, Hillyer's pies were in order as this delicacy is not easily duplicated in the states.  By the way, here are the winners of this year's New Zealand pie contest.

Lemurs watching us watching them.

In mid afternoon we loaded up the Gatorwaka and set out for Willowbank Reserve.  Willowbank cares for New Zealand wildlife that occurs both naturally in the country as well as species that are part of the country's history (i.e., species that were introduced by colonists over time).  Some of these species are domestic such as chickens and horses, others have become pest species such as wallabies and possums.  The park seeks to educate residents and visitors as to the heritage and challenges New Zealand's animal species bring to the table.  

Ancient, wise and prized by the Maori, the Tuatara can live to 300+ years.

Our tour also included native New Zealand species where we saw our first Tuatara, Kiwi, Takahe, and Morepork.

And, we got to experience Ko Tane - a Maori cultural performance.  Connor got to be our chief and made sure to let the Maori Village know that we came in peace by accepting their offering and performing a proper Hongi. We all had a wonderful time, and our gals got to give Poi a go, and our guys got to give a Haka a go as part of the performance.

Traditional stick game song.

Following our tours we had a traditional Hangi dinner and had a chance to thank Colin, Tupelo, and Jámm for their assistance with the course, and of course, the students for their enthusiasm and sense of adventure for making the course a success! 

Enjoying the Hangi together.

Finally, we ended our evening with the locals at the Famous Grouse Hotel/Pub to cheer on the Crusaders in the Rugby Finals.  Unfortunately it was not in the cards for the Crusaders who lost in the last second by one point to the New South Wales Waratahs.

Cheers, Meryl and Mark

August 1, 2014 DOC Nursury, Port Hills Panorama, Exploring Governor's Bay, Afternoon Tea in Lytteton and a Birthday

Checking out the Department of Conservation signage.

It was hardly the "warm blustery northwesterly" Metservice forecast, but slightly warmer temps held for a third day in a row making our day out at least dry and clear.  We began at the local Department of Conservation nursery where we practiced identifying native plants.  This nursery serves as a source for locally sourced plants, which is important for preserving genetic integrity for plants planted within this region of the country.

Lunch with a view of Lyttelton Harbor (we can almost see the tussock we moved on Quail Island)

Next up, my favorite hike in the Port Hills - the Crater Rim Walkway section near Omahu Bush Reserve which offers 360 views that include the Pacific Ocean, Birdlings Flat, Lake Ellesmere, the Canterbury Plains/Christchurch area and views to the Southern Alps and of Lyttelton Harbor.  We hiked up to a large rocky outcrop where we ate our lunch and enjoyed the views.  Then the "blustery" weather got more blustery and we decided it was time to move on.

Tory shows a little crab she found under the rocks at low tide at Governor's Bay.

After driving along the Summit Drive of the Port Hills we headed down to Governor's Bay to explore the rocks and look for sea life whilst (as they say here) the tide was out.  We found little crabs under rocks, played in the mud (intentionally and unintentionally) a little, and enjoyed the views and sheltered-from-the-shoreline walk along the rocky shore.

Happy Birthday Christina!

Then we were off for tea time in Lyttelton and a chance to celebrate Christina's Birthday!  The Squad is off for a night out in Christchurch.  Have fun and Cheers, Meryl

Landowners, honeydew and a birthday!

Sadly, this is our last week in New Zealand. But, we are starting off the week right by visiting local landowners.

First, we traveled to Malcolm and Pauline's farm in Lincoln. They greeted us with tea and delicious chocolate muffins (no lie I had 3 muffins).

Malcolm and Pauline are retired farmers who moved from Sefton to Lincoln in 2006. The couple decided to grow a hedgerow around their farm because native plants require little maintenance and less money. People thought they were mad to do this, but the hedgerow and surrounding gardens have grown remarkably well since 2007.

Malcolm, Pauline and The Squad

Pauline explained how rich and fertile the soil is here which allows the plants to grow beautifully. When they first moved to Lincoln there were not many plants and no birds, but now there are many birds and native plants. Birds such as thrashers, starlings, black birds, bellbirds, white-faced herons, pukekos and silver-eyes. They even have bees, geckos and lizards!

Bird garden

Pauline and her garden

So far, there is a mixture of deciduous trees and native plants. Even though the deciduous trees aren't native they provide shelter from the wind and nutrients for the native plants. The hedgerows include kowhai, golden totara, hebe, broad leaf, flax, kahikatea and more. The hedgerow covers 750 meters around the farm and is 4 meters wide.

Hedgerow in Fall of 2007

Hedgerow now

Pauline and Malcolm are trying to get a covenant for the area to make sure no one can tear down all the native plants. It would be awful to see all their hard work to go to waste at the hands of a bulldozer.

Group photo with Pauline and Malcolm!

Before our next destination, we made a short stop in front of the Southern Alps for pictures. Fun fact: New Zealand is due for a magnitude 8 earthquake because of the Alp fault line.

The Southern Alps

On to our next stop! We passed through Springfield to get to Toby Hill farm. Heather and Trevor are the owners of this land. They have been farming since 1969 and decided to become involved in restoration. More than 6,000 native species were planted on their farm. They've blocked off 4 different parts of their farm for restoration.

Heather and Trevor began their native restoration project in Kowai Bush about 20 years ago. They are a part of the Green Dot Program and are working to bring more native plants to the Selwyn District. Trevor explained that after an ecological survey done by Kristena, an environmental officer, they were able to apply for funding by the council. Kristena identified over 52 native plants in the area. Heather and Trevor were given money for fences and more native plants.

Trevor explaining their conservation efforts

Volunteers from the Malvern Lions Club and Te Ara Kakariki have helped plant native species in the fenced off areas. There has been an overall 90% plant survival rate! Unfortunately, some plants are damaged by strong winds and snow.

Trevor and Heather are working for a QEII trust. This is a national conservation trust that provides landowners protection for the native feature on their land with covenants.

Trevor spoke about the many advantages of this restoration project. For example, in 50 years there will not be as many scattered trees. Additionally, there will be more natural regeneration. Trevor and Heather have noticed the increase in birds like wood pigeons, fantails, bellbirds and a few tui. We even saw a fantail (my favorite New Zealand bird)!

Fantail or piwakawaka showing off

Trevor and Heather gave us a tour of their awesome restoration blocks. Manuka, kanuka, marble leaf, pokaka, kowhai and more native plants are growing successfully.

Trevor telling us more about Toby Hill

Finding out that Honeydew is called weevil piss by beekeepers

One of the four restoration blocks

The fence surrounding the blocks keeps away the stock, but not all the small mammals. Therefore, Trevor and Heather installed some predator traps. The traps are meant for possums, but there isn't much evidence of possums. They believe rats are eating the bait rather than possums.

Trevor pointing out a trap

'Lake Kristena' in another restoration block

By the way, please visit their website here!

Group photo with Trevor and Heather!

We then made a quick stop at Lords Bush Scenic Reserve, which was recommended by our friend Colin Meurk.

Entrance to the reserve

We licked honeydew off trees and maneuvered around horse feces. I found out that the honeydew is actually insect poop. The insect, which secretes the sweet liquid, is inside the tree and feeds off the sap. Yum.

Braden licking off some honeydew

Katherine and Christina trying honeydew

Plant surrounded by cages to keep away rabbits

We had tea-time at Springfield Store & Cafe. We also celebrated Connor's birthday! Happy 21st Birthday Connor! Hope you feel better. 

Connor blowing out his candle

Until later,

Alicia

July 28, 2008 A walk in the garden, through history, in Christchurch, and at a quarry

Colin teaches us about the Avon River and Christchurch Botanical Gardens.

We began our day of walks in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens with Colin as our tour guide.  We enjoyed all the food for thought about past-laid plans and ongoing formulating future plans  for Christchurch and surrounds as we learned about the Avon river that runs through much of Christchurch and the Botanical Garden.  With the Earthquakes having changed the landscape, the Garden City need not continue with the traditional English lawns, but opt for its native identity or a combination of the two.  In the past, plans concerning the Avon only considered it landscaped with lawn.  Additional trees and plantings along its shores change the flood plain zones and will thus influence city planning.  We also learned that the gardens have, over the past few years, served as a place to visit as a safe haven of sorts for Christchurch residents who have survived through the earthquakes.

We got to explore the newly opened Visitor's Center at the gardens as well.

Walking through the Rose Garden.

Kakabeak in bloom in the native New Zealand Garden.

We further took to heart that, in general, botanical gardens highlight the native plants and offer plants from other parts of the world as a secondary enhancement.  At the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, the more traditional English garden brought by early settlers 150 years ago is featured first, with the native New Zealand plant garden off to the side. We toured both and we taken by the beauty of the formality of the English rose garden laying in wait to blossom in Spring and equally with the beauty of the texture of the native New Zealand plants and the early spring blooms of the kakabeak.  It was interesting to compare 100-years growth for non-native plants like the incredibly tall California Sequoia with the slower-growing, native plants and trees like the Kauri which can grow more than 160 feet tall. 

The Peacock Fountain with the Arts Center in the back ground on the right.

Dr. Hos and students checking out a Moa at the Canterbury Museum.

We lunched in the sun by the Peacock Fountain before walking in the Canterbury Museum. There we explored the Moa, Maori, Paua House, Old Christchurch street, Earthquake Photos, Antarctica, Bird and many more exhibits.

 

The Christchurch Trams are running again in Christchurch after being inactive since the Earthquakes. Restoration work continues on the Arts Center on the right.

Next we were off for a brief walk to view a little of the city were restoration efforts are taking place on the Arts Center and Art Gallery.

 

The Squad in the Sister City Korean Garden at Halswell Quarry.

After afternoon tea back at the Botanical Garden Visitor’s Center, we went for a short hike at Halswell Quarry where we saw where the stones for some of the beautiful building we saw during the day (Canterbury Museum and Arts Center) came from.

Another beautiful day! Hope everyone gets good rest after the action-packed weekend! – Meryl and Mark

Saturday, July 26, 2014 Colin once again helping the Garden City green up... Green Roof!

Colin helps residents understand how a green roof could help further enhance Christchurch, also known as The Garden City.

July 24, 2014 Nature Watch, Maori Language Week, and Off on Adventures

Kia Ora!  We spent the morning learning how to enter our New Zealand observed birds, cave weta, geko, seals, etc into Nature Watch New Zealand, a web site that hopes to "build a living record of life in New Zealand that scientists and environmental managers can use to monitor changesbiodiversity, and that anyo use to learn more about New Zealand's amazing natural history."
This afternoon, many of our students are headed down to Queenstown and Milford Sound for their free weekend while some will stay in Christchurch and explore their surrounds.  We will all report back in a few days about our time off.

Cherish the language; it's Maori Language Week!

We will also know the best pies in New Zealand by Tuesday as they are being judged.
Safe adventuring everyone! -Meryl : )

Wednesday July 23, 2014 Kaikoura Adventures

Kia Ora!

The Squad hiking the Kaikoura Coast

The squad hopped out of bed this morning, ate breakfast at the Dusky Lodge, and headed out for a day of adventures. We started off by checking Whale Watch Kaikoura to see if the weather was clear enough for some of us to experience the sperm whales right off the coast. Unfortunately the waves were too rough and the tours were canceled.

However, we did still learn about whales in the reception area! One of our favorite things we discovered was about the giant sperm whale's buoyancy. Due to the large quantities of oil in their bodies, they can regulate it. By regulating the temperature of spermaceti in their heads, the sperm whale can alter it's buoyancy. When exposed to cold air on the surface, the oil cools and hardens forming a solid wax denser than the water that helps them descend. To melt the waxy film, the whale's capillaries pump blood which allows them to be less dense and ascend more easily.

We jumped back in the Gator Waka and drove to tea time at the Why Not Cafe. With some warm drinks in our bellies, we were ready for our hike around the Peninsula Seal Colony on the Kaikoura Coast. We started at Point Kean where we ran into many resting Kekeno (the Maori name for New Zealand Fur Seals meaning "looks around").

Fur seal "looking around"

Fun Fact: During the winter months there is a large increase of males at Point Kean. In the Spring/Summer (breeding season) the males travel to larger breeding colonies so there are less likely to be as many here. They are also less aggressive in the winter since they are not competing for mates.

Colony of fur seal at Kaikoura

Reading the information signs was really interesting. We learned that the only fur seal killers on land are humans and stray dogs. At sea they may be killed by sharks and orcas. Major threats to the sea puppies include synthetic packaging, looped lines, and pieces of discarded nets. They will occasionally swallow plastic bags, mistaking them for jellyfish. This can cause a slow painful death.

The squad then hiked up the trail around the coast to learn about the Titi (Hutton's Shearwater). These pelagic birds are endemic to the Kaikoura area. The Te Rae O Atiu area that sits in the bird's flight path to the mountains. There are strong sea breezes here which help the birds take flight. Most of the time these birds are at sea, however they come ashore to nest. The first thing we saw when walking up was a predator proof fence. It is part of a conservation effort by Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust. The fence was put up in 2008 due to the rats and stoats significantly reducing the number of nesting colonies found in the area. In order to establish colonies within the fence 2-month old chicks were taken from their mountain burrows before they would normally leave and placed in artificial burrows at this site. They were hand fed and biologists hoped the babies would imprint on the area and return to lay their own eggs. The project has been successful! The number of shearwaters has increased since then and they are continuing to breed at that site! Not only is this area important to the birds, but the birds are important to the land as well because they bring in a lot of nutrition from the sea to the mountains.

Erin enjoying the magnificent views

The site is actually on Maori land and the people are excited about being involved. This is because they traditionally eat them but cannot until the population is stronger in it's numbers.

We continued along the coast, seeing MANY more fur seals and even spotting a few dusky dolphins! After the hike, we stopped for lunch before hitting the road to Lincoln University. A long 3 hour drive put us back at campus just in time for dinner and a night of catching up on our class journals!

Squad Love

Cheers!
Sam and Katherine

July 21, 2014 The Greening of Waipara

Swale to help with storm water management and quality at Pegasus 

We started our COLD and breezy day up the East Coast headed for Waipara and the wine country.  Along the way we stopped to see the green development of Pegasus before we stopped for our morning tea break.  Here, we saw some of the roadside plantings were natives mixed in with exotics. As with any green development, people tend to take small steps before taking a leap. Once in Waipara we toured two of the many wineries that are participating in the Greening Waipara project – Pegasus and Waipara Hills.  At Pegasus we not only saw how much the native plants have grown in the last several years since being planted, but also got to see the native New Zealand eel.  At Waipara Hills we walked their native gardens and had a great wine tasting session learning about how the grapes are grown and wines are made.

Heading down the path through the Greening Waipara native plant garden at Pegasus winery.

Learning about wine in Waipara.

Next we were off to our accommodation for the night, the Waipara Sleeper Cars, for lunch before our afternoon activities.  After lunch we met up with our ecologist buddy Dr. Colin  Meurk so he could give us some additional information about the Greening Waipara Project and the native plants in the Torlesse and Waipara Springs wineries.  Here, we observed wineries that incorporated natives into biodiversity trails and plantings of “green dots” to bring back native wildlife and spread seeds throughout the Waipara distruct. Many of the biodiversity trails also serve to educate visitors as they sip their glasses of wine. In the late afternoon we met up with Darryl Harris, a fourth generation New Zealand farmer that has been the community leader in the Greening Waipara Project. He continues to lead the effort of planting natives, even when the funding has dwindled.  He explained that his original interest was using native plants to bring predatory insects into and around his grape vines so he did not have to use as much pesticides (saving him money). Now, he feels it is a “win-win” for farmer to restore habitat, but he would really love to see the New Zealand wood pigeon come back to the area.

In the warmth of summer, they are a delightful idea says Meryl  ; )

Exploring the Greening Waipara garden with Colin at the Torlesse winery.

Daryl and Sis watch Bear bring home the sheep to us.

Now, Daryl, among other things, is a sheep farmer and we wanted to see how his new New Zealand sheep herding dog, Bear, did his thing. It was fascinating to watch Bear herd the sheep right back to us. After the demonstration, we went to Darryl’s home for gourmet dinner  - consisting of a lamb and beef roast, Tuscan chicken, and an assortment of vegetables that were to die for!  Marie is an excellent cook and it was topped off with a tasty bit of “pavlova.” Then came the main event– the lip synch contest – which was judged by Colin, Marie, Daryl, and Kate (their daughter).  Erin and Connor won the bragging rights for the year (here is a group performance for your enjoyment), but Daryl’s impromptu Meatloaf song, replete with “motorcycle”, capped off the evening (oh yeah, and so did Coco Chenelle’s six adorable puppies and Bob, Kate’s pet sheep!).

Enjoying an amazing meal all together at the Harris home. 

Marie's Pavlova

Puppies!

Puppies!

Connor and Erin say in New Zealand, "Ain't no mountain high enough!"

Our esteemed judges, Marie, Colin, Daryl, and Kate - Thank you!

Daryl with Tupelo on Bob The Sheep