Kayaking with Penguins and Seals at Flea Bay!

The day started out at 9:20 am in a chilly 40*F as we all filed into the Gatorwaka with our lunches, rain jackets, and hiking boots. We waved goodbye to The Annex (our home here in New Zealand) and began our adventure for the day. Passing by freshly sheered sheep, little ponies, and tubby cows, we made our way to Akaroa about an hour away, where we were going to kayak with Pohatu Pengin Tours. Excitement began to rise as we stopped about half way to Akaroa at the Little River Cafe for morning tea time. After warming our bellies, we made it to Akaroa to meet Kevin, our guide for the day. We then piled into two separate vans and went up and over a nearby mountain, giving us a good view of Akaroa Harbour.

 An artsy photo of us on top of the mountain with Akaroa Harbor in the background covered in cloud as we began to make our way to the kayaks.

 Kevin stopped the van along the way to Flea Bay to check for tree wetas, and look, we found one! This is a female and was about the size of a pointer finger. Those little geckos are baby common geckos (super cute in my opinion)!

 We made it to the reserve! As soon as we got out, we began making friends with the resident sheep.

 Look at this handsome fella!

Ali in the front, Jaam (mid-right), Dr. Hostetler (mid-left) and a little bit of Kevin in the back with his green Kayak leading the way and warning us not to bark at the seals!  We also saw penguins on the rocks and swimming in the beautiful blue glacier water!

 This little guy, which some of us named Ferdinand, was there before and after our kayaking adventure!

 After changing into a set of dry clothes, we gathered around Kevin to learn some more facts about the Little Blue Penguins, being careful not to slip and fall in sheep poo!

 This is one of the estimated 1,300 mating pairs of penguins in the area. Every mating season, the pair-bonded couple returns to the same nest to raise more chicks!

From left to right: Ali, Dr. Hostetler, Tatiana, Kevin, Erika, Anna, Marta, Savannah, Sean, Allison, Isabella and Camilla!

With our arms tired, feet cold, and boots covered in mud, we thanked Kevin for the wonderful tour and made our way down the street for a warm cup of coffee/tea/hot chocolatete before heading out to go back to the Annex. Everyday is an adventure here, today was extra special fun, now what adventure will we have tomorrow?

~Savannah

A Day in Christchurch

Today we spent our day exploring Christchurch. In the morning we went to see Pecking Order- a New Zealand comedy and documentary that explores Christchurch's Poultry, Bantam, and Pigeon Club and their quests for "Best Bird" at the 2015 National Poultry Show. Everyone enjoyed the movie, finding it to be funny and unique. Afterwards, we shopped in the cute boutiques of the shopping mall next to the theater.

The advertisement for Pecking Order, the movie that we watched.

A few from our group relax at a table in the shopping mall - The Tannery is a restored Tannery from the 1800s

In the afternoon we visited the Christchurch Botanical Gardens and the Canterbury Museum. Our main focus was the New Zealand Icon Garden, which contains native plants of the country. Dr. Colin Meurk acted as our guide, identifying and describing the various plants. The Canterbury Museum had many fascinating exhibits including ones on antarctic exploration, the history of the moa, and traditional Japanese tattooing. We all found the exhibits interesting and only wished we had more time to visit. We also had a quick visit to a really cool park/playground in Christchurch, where we all had a blast.

Our class gathered to listen to Dr. Colin Meurk speak while standing in front of a giant sequoia.

The sign for the New Zealand Icon Garden which contains native plants of the country.

A group photo in the gardens

A sunset shot of the Margarey Mahy Playground that we visited

Artwork in the park that we visited.

For dinner we ate at Smash Palace, a burger joint, while attending the Tuesday Club. The Tuesday Club is an event every Tuesday night where local politicians and citizens get together to discuss environmental policy and problems in Canterbury. Dr. Hostetler gave an engaging presentation about environmental protection and restoration in the face of opposition. The audience was engrossed in the topic and had endless questions for Dr. Hostetler.

Dr. Hostetler giving his presentation to the Tuesday Club

- Ali

July 03 - Learning & weeding

Our day started at Landcare Research with a lecture on New Zealand invasive mammals and their management, by Pablo Garcia, followed by another lecture on human dimensions by Dr. Will Allen. Besides the marine species, NZ only has two species of native mammals (bats), the rest were once introduced by humans to either control other species, for fur trade or just for aesthetic reasons. Rabbits, hares, stouts, brushtail possums, rats, ferrets, and hedgehogs are the main species that were gradually brought to NZ and have adapted, expanded their range, and destabilized the ecosystems by grazing or predating on the native species. This has become a real problem when trying to preserve native ecosystems, requiring a variety of management strategies to reduce or even remove some of those species.

Dr. Will highlighted the importance of good planning when doing conservation and management strategies, as it is important to be efficient, but it also has to be effective. To better understand the process we briefly planned a group project using logic models: stating the vision, stakeholders, inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes (in the short and long term), assumptions, and other factors that are important to account for.

Dr. Will helped us to understand each part of the planning

We made a brief presentation about our projects

In general kiwis have a strong feeling about their natural heritage, understanding the importance to preserve and help to recover their native species. For this reason some landowners decide to collaborate with conservation organizations by planting native species to recover the lost biodiversity.

After lunch we met with Elizabeth Guthrey from the Te Ara Kakariki/Green Canterbury Trust to participate in restoration projects. She explained us the importance of maintenance of the plantations to achieve successful restoration, as invasive plant species usually grow faster than the natives and prevent them from establishing.

We visited two greendot projects and helped to weed and plant new individuals. In the first site, Elizabeth introduced us to the Te Ara Kakariki Trust, and taught us how to appropriately take care of the plants.

There was a lot of work to do! We removed the weeds that compete with the native species, especially the ones that grow inside the CombiGuards

The technique for planting is crucial, using weed mats and CombiGuards to reduce competition and grazing

Then we moved to the second greendot project, to continue with more weeding.

Preserving the natural heritage can sometimes have a spiritual meaning. 

Mulch can be used to prevent weeds from growing close to the native plants and reduce competition

We worked hard until the sunset

More restoration coming tomorrow!

~ Marta.

July 2nd- Farms, Developments, and Tree Planting

Today we started out by visiting a local farm where we met Malcolme and Pauline, two farmers who have lived in Lincoln for about 12 years. We spent the morning walking around a portion of their farm and learning about the various plants that were part of the hedgerows. Their farm was unique in that they chose to remove most of the gorse and other exotic plants from their property and planted hedgerows that consist of native plant species. Among these plants were kowhai, lemonwood, kahikatea, rimu, ribbon wood, akeake, and totara. We also learned that the farm used to be home to about 180 cows, but now houses only three. After completing our walk, the couple invited us inside for a short tea time and told us about themselves and shared some of their stories with us. After tea time, we said our goodbyes to Malcome and Pauline and drove down the street to our next stop where we looked at low impact developments (LIDs).

Group photo with Malcome and Pauline

Malcome shows us Kowhai seeds

A cow brush on the farm

 At the first development, we learned about the storm water drainage system  and how it utilized features such as semi-permeable pavement and retention ponds to clean water before it entered the local streams. We also visited a Maori owned development where we saw native species being utilized for the local retention pond and learned how recessed swales can be used to contain storm water.

We walked by Liffey Stream in the first development we visited

 We then had a nice lunch of assorted pies at Hillyers, a local cafe/bakery.

One of the many delicious pies at Hillyers

Chicken and Gravy Pie

After a fantastic (and filling) lunch, we drove to the Mahoe reserve and met with Sue Jarvis to help with restoration efforts and she told us about how the Mahoe reserve was once a landfill and showed us how far the restoration of the area had progressed. After a demonstration by Colin Meurk on how to properly plant the native species, we got to work and planted over 200 native plants. These included species such as New Zealand flax, tree nettle, kowhai, toitoi, bush lawyer, kahikatea, and several others. We then ended the day feeling a sense of accomplishment as we drove back to Lincoln University.

The truck containing some of what we are planting

A preview of the types of native plants we are planting

Colin demonstrates proper planting technique

Isabella and Allison working together on planting

Marta and Tatiana excitedly working

Everyone doing their part at the restoration

A newly planted New Zealand flax

The finished product

We did a lot of planting today!

-Sean

July 1st-Local Goods and Little Blue Penguins

Before starting our ventures for the day, Meryl stopped to show us an illustrious flower on the grounds of Lincoln University. The Kakabeak, an endangered endemic New Zealand plant, is known for its bright red flowers that resemble the beak of the Kaka, a New Zealand parrot. Uncommon in the wild, it prefers highly disturbed areas and doesn't bloom in the winter except for in urban areas which we were lucky enough to see!

A single flower on the Kakabeak plant

After our stop, we headed to Riccarton Bush for the second time to check out Christchurch's largest farmer's market with over 50 stalls ranging from the best produce Canterbury has to offer, hummingbird coffee, spices, and chai tea (a class favorite). We had about 45 minutes to sample, buy, and listen to the live music happening on the steps of the Riccarton House. 

Locals check out a produce stall at the Riccarton Bush Farmer's Market 

Allison checking out Manuka honey, which is produced from the nectar of the native manuka tree.

Camila found egg-free edible cookie dough! One salted caramel scoop with m&ms on top.

After stocking up on local goods, we traveled to the coastal suburb of Sumner to hike the Godley Head Track. We were in search of Little Blue Penguins (Korora in Maori), also known as White-Flippered Penguins. They are the smallest and rarest penguins in the world, measuring at about 1 kg and as tall as 25 cm and breed primarily on rocky coasts and islands throughout New Zealand. Once we hiked 30 minutes around Godley Head, we passed through a predator-proof fence, constructed in 2010, that keeps out top predators, like the stoat, in order to stabilize their populations. Past the fence, we climbed down a steep ladder and maneuvered our way through the rocky sea edge to inspect nesting boxes.

The beginning of our hike! (Before the majority of us stripped down our layers as the weather warmed up)

 Allison attracted an unlikely hitchhiker

 (Photo Courtesy of Isabella Plummer) 

The tip of Godley Head. The predator proof fence can be seen far out along the edge. 

Our steep descent.

One of the nesting boxes; sadly it was empty. 

 Tatiana checking in one nesting box for penguins; empty again.

 Lucky number box 87! A shy Little Blue Penguin peers out at us. Others saw another one squeezed in there along with it. 

(Photo Courtesy of Isabella Plummer)

Through all our excitement in our penguin hunt and 30 min hike back to the car park at Taylor's Mistake (after a quick stop at the beach to play with dogs), we worked up an appetite and had our first lunch out at an Indian restaurant called Indian Sumner. 

Everyone cleared their plates; Camila determined to finish 

After lunch, the weather was still clear enough for us to explore Sumner Beach and Cave Rock, which had been closed for a number of years beforehand due to earthquake hazards. We walked around the rocks and tidal pools determined to find starfish but instead found an abundance of sea anemone and ocean millipedes. 

Anna and Marta checking for starfish in the tidal pools at Cave Rock

For the night, we planned to watch the Rugby match at a local Pub in Lincoln called the Famous Grouse. Clearly our visitation was bad luck as they lost to the Lions and got their first red card penalty since 1967!!

~Erika