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

Queenstown: The Adventure Captial of New Zealand

Kia Ora!
Queenstown was originally valued for its pounamu -- greenstone -- and moa and then its prosperity under the gold rush in the 1800s, but today it's one of the world's greatest destinations for ADVENTURE!

With so much to do and so little time the squad didn't waste a second. As soon as we arrived we went to Fergburger. Fergburger is basically the iconic burger joint of Queenstown and according to Erin and Alicia the burgers are "big, juicy, beautiful and a bit messy".

 

Alicia chowing down on her Fergburger.

Josh and Braden enjoying Milford Sound.

Erin's best day ever face.

The following day Josh, Braden, Alicia and Erin were all fortunate enough to visit the incredible Milford Sound. Erin explains their day perfectly. We took a bus ride through Fiordland National Park to Milford Sound, where we toured the area by boat. Fiordland National Park is New Zealand's largest national park, and is a magnificent 13,000 square kilometers of pure beauty. On the bus tour, we stopped alongside massive glaciers, drank from the crystal clear glacial rivers, and saw avalanche trails, snow-covered mountaintops, and reflective lakes. The bus trip to Milford Sound was absolutely spectacular, but nothing compared to the Sound itself. Dubbed the eighth wonder of the world by Rudyard Kipling, Milford Sound lives up to its reputation. We learned a lot while on the ship: that Milford Sound is falsely named because it is actually a glacially-created fjord, that it is the wettest inhabited area in New Zealand, that it is bordered by the Tasman Sea, and that it was often missed by early explorers because the opening is hard to spot from the ocean. But mostly, we learned that it is easily the most beautiful place we will ever see. It was a wonderful adventure!


Our next adventure was skiing and snowboarding. Katherine, Tory and Le'a took the evening to night ski at Cornet peak. While Josh and Braden skied The Remarkables the following day. Tory compared the runs to what you would expect out west in the USA, but much shorter. We enjoyed several runs down the mountain with a few sit-downs due to the ice patches. We couldn't help but notice that the lights on the mountain were all extremely bright and uncovered, shielding any view of the stars above us.

Katherine, Le'a and Tory taking on the slopes.

Now for the adrenaline junkies. The squad started our Saturday morning at AJ Hackett Bungy, where some of the squad took on the challenge of throwing ourselves off the Kawarau Bridge, 43 meters above the Kawarau River. The Kawarau Bridge is home to the world's first and most famous jumps. Overcome with nerves and excitement we each successfully completed the jump! You could say we are a little insane, but the feeling of falling, although frightening at first, was absolutely incredible. It literally takes your breath away! 

Braden, Tory, Christina, Katherine and Le'a happy to have completed the jump.

Our next adrenaline rush was skydiving that same afternoon. We embraced the fear of jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft at 12,000ft at 200kph and did tandem skydiving through NZONE Skydive. In 1990, NZONE Skydive was NZ's first tandem skydive operation and they are now celebrating 23 years of skydiving. So we were in good hands! Once we took the leap out of the aircraft door we experience 45 seconds of free fall. In those seconds we went through the clouds and essentially felt like we were flying. It was an unreal experience to say the least. Then once the canopy opened and we slowed down, we were able to see the dramatic scenery of NZ. Like a bird soaring high in the sky we got to experience the true beauty of the NZ landscape. The only way to describe that feeling is pure bliss. That moment we landed, overcome with happiness, was unimaginable. It was the best experience of my life!

Christina, Le'a, Tory and Katherine all ready to Skydive.

Then the squad packed up our stuff and boarded a bus back to Christchurch to end the best weekend EVER. The bus ride back was even beautiful as the day was clear and we were able to get a glimpse of Mt. Cook, an amazing site to see in NZ.

Beautiful view of Mt. Cook

We made it back to Lincoln and the Squad was finally reunited again. Over dinner we exchanged stories and got to hear about the relaxing weekend Connor and Sam had in Christchurch. Sam said the damage from the earthquakes is still readily apparent and, although the city has a great spirit of resilience, it's obvious that Christchurch isn't what it used to be. Despite that, Christchurch does have a certain charm and innovative ideas they've had to make the most of the post-earthquake devastation and rebuilding.They explored the Restart Mall, which is a shopping center built entirely from freight shipping containers for most of the morning. They had lunch at Dimitri's Greek Food for some delicious falafel pitas. Then spent the rest of the day with more exploring before heading back to Lincoln. 

Restart Mall in Christchurch

We can all say it was a weekend full of adventures and magical memories for a lifetime!
Cheers! Christina

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 22, 2014 Licking Trees, and Seals (not licking these!)

Waking up to a cold morning, we got back into the gatorwaka and rambled on up to Kaikoura (on the coast).  Kaikoura means in Maori “meal of crayfish.” Along the way, we stopped at some black beech to “lick some trees.”  Well, not literally lick the trees, but we did lick the honeydew off the sides of the tree. The honeydew is produced by  a scale insect that feeds on the sap of the tree and extrudes a drop of “honeydew” out the back end. Yes, we were licking the back end of an insect and it was good! Bees collect the honeydew and make yummy honeydew honey that is a lot like our Tupelo honey in Florida. It does not crystalize and has a unique flavor.  An introduced wasp is a “pest” issue because it competes for the honeydew and not as many bellbirds and bees can consume this honeydew with the wasp around.  

Getting back into the gatorwaka, we traveled over the dusted snow top Kaikoura range into the town of Kaikoura.  As we got over the mountain range and entered the Kaikora District, we were in awe at the beautiful turquoise colour of the ocean. Once in Kaikora proper, we checked into the Dusky hotel. had lunch, and then headed up the coast to see NZ fur seals (called Kekeno in Maori). We stopped at Ohau point where we observed a colony of seals at high tide (crashing waves). Plenty of pictures later, we ventured up a trail to see a waterfall. At the base of the waterfall where seal pups frolicking in the pool beneath the waterfall. Sort of a “fairy-like” wonderland – and we communed with the seal pups.

A seal peeks out and says hello to us from along the side of the trail.

Chillin' with the seals at the falls

Snarfing down some yummy fish and chips back at the backpackers

Back to Kaikours we went for some shopping and sightseeing. We checked out a local fish n chips shop and  took our hot food back to the Dusky backpackers hotel. After a frenzied eating of chips, ketchup, and such, we topped off the evening with some tip top ice cream and cookies as well as some hot tubbing and movies. Time for good night’s rest! – m&m : )

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