New Brighton Beach and Travis Wetland

Today started with a lecture from Dr. Colin Meurk concerning ecosystem restoration theory, principles, and practice. Dr. Meurk discussed the proper steps to enhancing biodiversity by repairing the existing ecosystem and establishing connectivity between people, culture, and nature.

Dr. Meurk explaining restoration processes.

Afterwards, we drove to New Brighton beach with Dr. Meurk who took us on a tour of the sand dunes, pointing out native plants like sedge grass, daisy shrub, and cabbage trees, the oldest established vegetation being from 1990. It was showering and cold, but the landscape was totally worth braving a little rain.

New Brighton Beach

Next we took a trip over to Travis Wetland, originally intending to be a housing development. Instead, it has become a restored wetland, protected by the Christchurch City Council in 1997. It is vital to conserve lowland freshwater wetlands in New Zealand, which are scarce throughout the country. The wetland features a diversity of native birds, insects, fish, and plants. It also provides excellent opportunities for wildlife viewing and research on ecology and habitat restoration.

Rainbow over the wetland!

Taking a stroll with Dr. Meurk

Afterwards, we went back to New Brighton and frolicked - yes, frolicked - on the beach for a bit, and played on the playground across the street like children. We braved the zipline, and then stopped for a tea break at the Naked Baker.

Christina letting out her inner wild woman. 

Warm drinks at the risqué Naked Baker.

Despite rain showers on and off all day, it was another beautiful New Zealand day, providing an excellent background for the most ridiculous jumping beach picture you will ever see.

We tried.

~Bridget

Crossing the River of Hot Chocolate and Key Conservation Principles and Pavlova

Ok - so how does the river of hot chocolate relate to key conservation principles and Pavlova? Well, maybe they do (or do not!) - read on...

The class met on a wet tennis court in the morning - with fairly clear skies and relatively warm weather - ready to take on Dr.H's puzzles and team building exercises. After quickly solving "speed ball", the students got a bit tied up in knots with the "Gordian Knot." Here, they all got up close and personal in untangling the knot - and solved this fairly quickly (with no twisted arms!).

One way to keep warm - Gordian Knot style!

Next up was crossing the river of hot chocolate. This entails getting 10 people across a "river" on floating marshmallows (cardboard pieces). The class was quite adept at handling the marshmallows and ferrying everybody from one side to the other. Dr. H was quite impressed with the cooperation demonstrated during this exercise.

Crossing the River of Chocolate!

The class next were presented with a puzzle called crosstown traffic. The idea was to figure out how to move one team to the other side through a sequence of moves. After trying several methods, the class moved through this exercise after several tries and solved the puzzle. Jet lagged and all - well done!

Cross town traffic

After the morning exercises, some piled into the "gatorwaka" (the 12 seater minibus), and we went to The Warehouse, Postie Plus, and the bank to get some clothes, other supplies, and kiwi dollars. On the way, we had some good views of the alps and sheep in nearby paddocks.

The afternoon was orientation and a lecture/introduction about key conservation principles and biodiversity issues in New Zealand. As presented, in the Canterbury plains, very little native lowland vegetation remains (less than 5%). Agriculture and urban areas now dominate the plains and key practices to conserve biodiversity include: 1) conserving remnant habitat, 2) restoration, and 3) minimize impacts stemming from urban and rural areas. Even small patches of remnant vegetation is important. Partnering with landowners (big and small), there is an effort to create green dots throughout the plains and create stepping stones from the coast to the alps (see Te Ara Kakariki). These patches of habitat provide ways for both plants and animals to move across the landscape (e.g., birds eating fruits and depositing seeds in new areas).

Students diligently taking notes

In addition to very little native vegetation left, a huge effort goes into controlling introduced animals such as rats, possums, rabbits, and deer. Terrestrial mammals were not historically present in New Zealand (save a few bats) so most of the flora and fauna have no defenses against browsing mammals and predators. These critters have huge impacts on native flora and fauna. The composition of forests change dramatically when possums are present.  Some plant species can go locally extinct due to possums.

Pavlova

In the evening, students came over to Dr.H and Meryl's flat to experience "kiwiana" - Pavlova and L&P (a soft drink "World Famous in New Zealand").  We also watched an episode of Flight of the Conchords and played Heads Up before looking at the Southern Cross in the night sky and heading back to get some sleep.

Signing off Dr. H and Meryl