Antarctic Centre and Horseback Trek

Since we are so close (relatively!) to Antarctica, but unable to visit, we went to the Antarctic Centre to learn more about this continent and expeditions that have gone there. Many (over 70%!) of the flights to the various international bases in Antarctica occur in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Our first part of the experience was to ride in a Hagglund vehicle that is used in Antarctica for transporting people and equipment. Not having our morning coffee yet (some of us), this ride was quite a jolt as we went up 45 degree hills and even floated across water. Some screams were involved . . . .

They are smiling now . . . .

Looking out the back at a hill and a pond that we went through

The Centre had lots of information and displays about current and past expeditions. One factoid that I learned was that certain valleys in Antarctica reach 25C! Also - 3 million years ago - Antarctica was covered in beech forest. Quite warm as this was due to sides of hills reflecting light into the valley. There was also an Antarctic storm "experience" - but honestly, it was not near as cold or windy as what we experienced on Quail island!

At the entryway into the venue

Reading about past expeditions

Beech forest in Antarctica!

Experiences a little of the Antarctic weather

Even a wee igloo

Of course, there are penguins in Antarctica and we learned about penguin behavior and biology. In fact, the white-flippered penguins were on display and we were able to see the keepers feed them. "The White-flippered penguin is one of the smallest and most endangered penguins in the world. It is endemic to Canterbury, New Zealand breeding only on Banks Peninsula and Motunau Island"

White-flippered penguin - like the one we saw the other day when we hiked Godley Head

The students wanted to go horseback riding, so after lunch, we went to a place near the Waimakariri River. "Wai"means water in Maori - similar to "Kai" which means food. This is Maori language week in New Zealand so I had to throw this in here. We saddled up and trekked along the river and back.

Getting ready!

Explaining the finer details of riding a horse

On the trail!

OK -- artsy shot

Cat on Hay!

'Til tomorrow, Mark

Alp Foothills Restoration with Trevor and Heather

Today we traveled into the Alp foothills near the town of Springfield to visit with landowners Trevor and Heather Taege. Trevor and Heather own a large farm right on the beautiful Waimakariri River. Over the past 3 years, Trevor and Heather have planted over 5 acres of native plants on their farm. Planting native plants helps reduce the prevalence of diseases, increase native wildlife biodiversity, and decrease the amount of maintenance that would be required compared to exotics. Trevor and Heather have received their funding from several organizations such as the Malvern Lions Club, the Selwyn District Council, and Environment Canterbury. 

Trevor discussing our restoration project

Unfortunately, a recent snow and wind storm has damaged many of the native plants. Several of the large branches landed on the juvenile plants and are restricting their growth. Our restoration project was cutting and removing branches that had fallen from the recent storm and had landed onto young native plants. We cut and lifted several large branches and moved them to a place nearby away from the young natives. Some of the branches were so large that I was definitely getting a strenuous upper body workout today. I have slacking on workouts recently, so I am glad that the activity was 

rigorous.

                                                        Derek lifting a large tree branch

Gaby saving the native plants

During the morning activities, Trevor also pointed out some of the native plant species in the area. Some of the common species that we saw today are Kanuka, Manuka, Cabbage Tree, Totara, Kahikatea, and Lancewood. We also looked at specific characteristics of many species to differentiate them. After lunch, Trevor talked more about his farm and important planting techniques. He pointed out that it is important for each native plant to be planted greater than a meter a part. Planting too close together or overplanting is a common restoration mistake. Planting at the appropriate distance apart is important so each plant can uptake enough nutrients to survive and live a long life. In addition, Trevor felt that in New Zealand it is important to plant natives in Spring (late August/September). Plants that are planted at this time of year have the best chance of surviving. Planting distance and time of year are vital factors of the planning stage in a successful native plant restoration project. As important as the planning is, over the course of our restoration projects here in New Zealand, we have seen that the maintenance of the restoration project has been the most challenging. This is because maintenance is usually not as appealing as the initial planting stage and because it requires added time, energy, and money that can often be unexpected. It felt good to help Trevor and Helen with their restoration maintenance today.

Niko modeling shot

After finishing the restoration in the afternoon, Trevor gave us an elaborate sheep herding display and shearing demonstration. It was truly a remarkable site to see. First, the sheep dog “Pete” showed off his skills rounding up sheep. Then Trevor sheared a sheep. Then, Trevor explained a bit about how the business of sheep farming works. He explained that sheep wool grows about ½ inch a month; so sheering season is usually around twice a year. When the wool is sold, it usually goes towards making clothing and goods similar to it.

Trevor shearing the sheep

Group picture

Waimakariri River

After our sheep presentation, we had a couple of Heather’s homemade biscuits and headed to a hiking trail called Lords Bush. 

Lord's Bush Scenic Trail

While walking on the trail we saw a couple native plant species including, Bracken Fern, Black Beech, and New Zealand Jasmine. We also licked some of the honeydew drops from the Black Beech trees. After this, we headed back to Lincoln, Derek and I went on a nice run, and we all had dinner at the dining hall. Today was a truly fantastic day. I am going to try to enjoy every moment left of this incredible experience.

Have a great night.

“Don’t count the days. Make the days count.” - Muhammad Ali

-Lawson

Botanic Garden, Museum, and Hike

Nearing the end of the course (sigh!), the class explored the Christchurch Botanic  Gardens and Canterbury Museum. The Gardens contain quite an assortment of exotic and native plants. Many of these plants came from around the world, but in addition to the exotics, there was a section of New Zealand native plants. Here the class could review plants that they have seen  on the trip.

The class in the gardens

Giant Sequoia

The Canterbury museum has quite an assortment of natural and cultural history. One highlight was displays of Moa skeletons and a display of the Haast eagle that hunted them.  There was also a display of the Pau House, that a couple in Bluff decorated with Paua shells and was a famous house in New Zealand.

Students looking at display at Garden visitor center

Maori display

Pau house

To my delight – there was an exhibit on spiders in New Zealand.  I enjoyed this display = so please forgive the number of spider pictures below. The only native, venomous spider in New Zealand is called the Katipō, These spiders are rare and only found on beaches.

Jumping spider

Katipo spider

After lunch, we headed up into the Port Hills for one last hike.  This look out point allowed us to view Lyttleton harbor and the Canterbury plains at the same time. A southerly blew in and it was a bit cold and windy at the top. We did see an awesome 360 view. 

Gatorwaka and peewakawaka

Lyttleton Harbour

On the edge (but safe!)

Another view

Of course, we had tea time on the way home. Cheers Dr. H

White Flippers and Victorious Tititipounamu

Amazing how just a few degrees more and no wind can make one feel warm, even if it is only 53F degrees.  So we had that kind of morning and the sky was clear and the sea was calm when we arrived at our first destination for the day - Cave Rock (it was so clear, we could see all the way up the coast to the Kaikoura mountain range).

Cave Rock

Exploring tide pools

A tide pool

After checking out some of the anemones in the tide pools on the rocks, we headed over to Taylor's Mistake to hike the Godley Head track and look for endangered White-Flippered Penguins (and http://www.penguin.org.nz/resources/WFPT-Document-1.pdf).  The morning stayed perfect for our exploration of the small 200 meter-stretch of nesting boxes that are protected by a predator-proof fence (built in 2010), lay down a very steep ladder, and are at the base of the cliff and edge of the sea.  These boxes were put in place to both help protect these penguins that only nest in this one spot and off a nearby island, and to help with scientific study of this species.  To our delight and amazement we found two of these beautiful little penguins each in their own little box.

At the start of the hike in search of penguins (we will go almost all the way out to the land mass behind us before we go straight down to the rocks at the water's edge)

Predator proof fence from above

Heading down the ladder to the sea

Exploring the nesting boxes along the shore

A nest box

Amazing!

Hanging out by the nest boxes

Back up at the predator proof fence

After lunch, we explored The Tannery (a historic building from the 1800s that has been rehabilitated into shops) for a short time.

The Tannery

Then, the weather turned colder and cloudy and a little rainy, but we still showed up for our Cricket lesson/match.  Team Tititipounamu was victorious over Team Morepork, 43, 31, and we were all thankful when it was all over.  We did have a fun time learning the game, but think that 5 day matches might be agonizing.

Team Tititipounamu up at bat defending the wicket with Team Morepork out in the field

Victorious or not, happy to not be going on for four more days : )

Thanks for another fun day all! -Meryl

July 27th-Restoration at Coalgate Reserve

When the crew loaded into the Gator Waka on this rainy Monday, we headed to another reserve managed by the Te Ara Kakariki trust. This reserve is called the Coalgate Reserve, which is located in the very small town of Coalgate (population ~276 people) in the Selwyn District of Canterbury. We met with John Stroh of the Te Ara Kakariki trust, who explained to us the struggles the trust faces in terms of funding their restoration efforts. The funding for these sorts of projects is sparse but necessary for supplies and employees that coordinate volunteering and purchasing plants.

One of the ways they've found around this is to encourage local businesses to become involved in conservation by sponsoring the planting of native species. The trust initiated a team-building opportunity for businesses that expressed an interest in environmental issues, in which the business would purchase plants and pay their employees to volunteer for a half-day planting plants in a reserve. This way the business strengthened the teamwork among their employees in a constructive and recreational way that benefits the area's biodiversity. A beneficial side-effect of these kind of activities is that these employees gain a better understanding of the local environment, which hopefully sparks their interest in conservation efforts (and hopefully they'll start to contribute to restoration in other settings as well). By charging a considerable amount per native for the company to plant, the trust is encouraging the business to actually take care of these plants, rather than then letting them die because of neglect.

Afterwards, we got some dirt under our nails by weeding the Coalgate Reserve and freeing some of the plants that had grown too big to have combi guards. When everything was sorted out, we stopped at a nearby cafe for tea time and came to home sweet home! Here are some very official pictures and videos of us hard at work!

Interviewing the esteemed Christina Barnes about freeing plants from combi guards

Bridget Chalifour weighs in on the weeding process

We still get excited about sheep, no shame

Weeding around the native plants 

Paint Lawson like one of your french girls

:)

Paulita looking stunning next to an unfortunate plant that has already died because of the combi guard

Bridget looking out for combi guards/Lorde

Derek pulling up grass

Dr. Hostetler telling a really bad joke at teatime probably

Sincerely,

His Royal Highness Niko