Travis Wetland Restoration

We woke up to a very gloomy and rainy day. It was chilly waking to breakfast and walking to the Gator Waka. We managed to get through cold. once in the Gator Waka we went to the Riccarton Farmer's Market. It was on of the biggest Farmer's Market we have been to  in Christchurch. Plenty of great food for everyone. We all got to munch on some delicious hard candy that Tupelo bought with Dr. Hostetler. Kacie and Paula even got to try a very creamy pasteurized milk. Niko was able to finally buy the bread he was waiting so long for.

Tasted Delicious

After the Farmer's Market we were on our way to Travis Wetland, at least we thought we were. No one realized we were head in the wrong direction, until Dr. Hostetler admitted he was somewhat lost. Thanks to Kacie's GPS we were able to find our way to Travis Wetland.

Are we going the right way?

Finally made it :-)

 Once at the wetland, Dr. Colin Meurk gave us a little history of how the restoration project started and he gave us a brief explanation of what we were going to be doing there. According to Dr. Meurk. the restoration project started 18 years ago, when the council was able to fund raise enough money to buy off the land in 1997 (see http://traviswetland.org.nz/). The project as been able to stay a float by the amount of volunteers that come in every week. The piece of land being restored is about 56 hectares big and it is a very harsh climate, due to the extreme water level changes.

Learning is always fun!

Let the Hard work begin. As soon as Dr. Meurk finished talking we began by removing the plastic coverings from the plants that had out grown the plastic covering. The plastic covering is used to protect the plants from predators and invading weeds.

Making New Zealand a better place

Lots of work to be done

Since it is a wetland, most of our feet were drenched in water after we finished. Like always a hard working Kiwi always gets its well-deserved Tea Time. After tea time came the most exciting part of the day, Bird Counting. We conducted transects that have been done by previous classes. We got to see the many different birds that live in the Travis Wetland. We observed Pukeko, Grey Warbler, Fantail and many more native species of birds.

Yass Tea!

Serious about bird counting

Beautiful Black Swans with babies

The day was concluded with this beautiful view of Momma swan and her adorable babies. We saw them wobble away into their nest. From here we went back to Lincoln University to have dinner.

-Paula