July 13 & 14

JULY 13, 2022

The crew woke up to the familiar grey sky and rain in Greymouth today. We loaded our bags into the gatorwaka bright and early and headed to Maggie's for breakfast for the last time. After our delicious breakfast we bought some sandwiches and pies for lunch (from Maggie's) and began the drive back to Christchurch through Arthur's Pass.

The crew posing with Allen (co-owner of Maggie’s) 

The rain persisted so in an attempt to wait out the peak of it we had tea time at the local cafe and prayed to the weather gods. 

Waiting out the weather in the warmth

Luckily, our prayers were answered and together we hiked and climbed the icy steps (up 150 meters) to Devils Punchbowl Falls. The waterfall itself is 131 meters tall and well worth the cold and rainy hike! 

Look at how tall! 

Some of us are more wet than others 

After hiking back we decided to stay for an extra 30 minutes in the local town with the hopes of seeing a Kea. Unfortunately, only a few of us managed to see a brief glimpse of one but we gave it our best try! Then we piled back into the gatorwaka and continued our journey back to Christchurch. 

Our final picture in Arthur’s Pass 

As we drove the sun began to come out and rainbows appeared in the sky. We stopped briefly for lunch and admired the snow covered mountains and the rainbow. 

Can you see the rainbow? It’s in the center and in front of the mountain!

Our next stop was Castle Hill, a beautiful hill with an array of limestone boulders that sort of look reminiscent of stone castle! We even saw a pair of native New Zealand falcons in the area. 

We look so tiny in comparison to the limestone rocks

Native New Zealand falcon via Ava’s incredible camera

We were given an hour to explore the area and as you can see we had a lot of fun!

Veronica sliding in the snow

Veronica in her element 

Charisse, Veronica, and Nico atop one of the many boulders 

Ryan eating the rocks (?) but looking more like a baby bird 

Nico playing dead 

The final stop before Christchurch was Springfield. The town embraces the Simpsons reference and erected a giant donut in the heart of the city. 

Taking a bite of the donut 

A better quality photo but without me in it  

We arrived safely to Christchurch and the dorms around 5:30pm. I’m thankful to be back to Christchurch’s slightly warmer and less rainy weather. We’re all excited for what the next day brings! 

P.S.

This is Debriana’s official submission to the snowman competition 

JULY 14, 2022

We woke up to beautiful clear skies in Christchurch this morning! Our first activity of the day was to go to the Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research center and attend a lecture from Dean Anderson about the mammal pests in New Zealand. His lecture explained the troubling paradigm of having to kill animals (invasive mammals) to do conservation (for the native species). Unfortunately, 40% of New Zealand’s land bird species are extinct since human occupation began 750 years ago. But there is still hope for the remaining bird species if New Zealand is able to reduce the brush tail possum, stoat, and rat populations across the country.

Dean Anderson’s lecture 

We then learned about logic models for planning conservation projects. Logic models break down the planning of projects into inputs, outputs, and short term, medium term, and long term goals and by utilizing this model your chances of success are higher. We then split into groups to practice and outline our own initiatives we would start in Gainesville. 

My group planning to add more green spaces to campus 

The other group planning to reduce monoculture lawns 

Gregory Gator contributed by Ryan 

Felicity contributed by Veronica 

After our lectures we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed to the Port Hills for lunch. The hike was about 40 minutes each way but the view made up for the slippery mud we encountered. 

The view from the top

Group photo at the top of the mountain
 (I’m a bit muddy haha)

After lunch we hiked back down and took a short drive over to Lyttelton. We did a bit of shopping around before settling down at Coffee Culture for tea time. 

A shop kitty I saw in the town 

Tea time! 

Ryan found some toys to play with in the corner 

At around 4pm we headed back to the dorms. There was a tunnel on the way and everyone attempted to hold their breath through it but no one succeeded (it was a very long tunnel). 

Nico enjoying the tunnel while simultaneously making the gatorwaka smell like car fumes

These past two days have been quite eventful :) We’re all super excited to do restoration tomorrow morning and then (hopefully) have time to work on our journals in the afternoon. See you tomorrow! 

Kia ora!

~ Hanna 

July 10- From rain to snow on the Croesus Track

The crew woke up early to a drizzle and grey skies in Greymouth, a town on the west coast of New Zealand. Excited, nervous, and a little unsure of what was in store for the day, we all piled in the gatorwaka and headed to Maggie’s Kitchen, which the owners opened just for us. With the whole place to ourselves, we dined on some pancakes, Canadian bacon, hot chocolate, French fries (for the vegans) and omelets. 

A hot breakfast at Maggie’s

Maya’s joining the Saturday Brunch Bunch

We then began our journey to the Croesus Track trailhead. Once we arrived, we put on all our rain gear, covered our packs and prepared to see the rainforest and subalpine environments. Colin taught us about the Rimu, Rata, Kamahi forest, and mentioned how the top soil is dark and organic. This track was previously used as a historic mining route for coal! 

The beginning of the hike

We passed by 3 suspension bridges, several different types of ferns and other plants, waterfalls, and a very cute little Weka, that we named Colin!

Colin the Weka!

We also made plenty of stops to look at fungus, tree ferns, and birds. Something we learned about tree ferns is that the soft fronds belong to the genus Cyathea, and the hard fronds belong to the genus Dicksonia (can you tell I like tree ferns?)

Looking for robins

Hiking past tree ferns, lichens, and mosses. 

Finally, we made it to the hut, where there was a little bit of snow cover. We tried to start the fire, but realized there was no wood. Thankfully, Dr. H, Nico, and Ryan found an axe and chopped some construction wood which lasted us most of the night. 

Weka prints on the deck of the hut 

Wood chopping crew

After a long day, we settled in for a night of hot coco, freeze-dried food, and games. 

Playing games using candlelight

That’s all for today!

-Haiden 

Tuesday, July 5th: Hinewai

Hello again! I had to post this blog a day late due to lack of cell service or wifi. 

Our morning started off with an early drive to Hinewi Reserve. We took the half mile hike to where we were sleeping, and were greeted with 10 comfy bunks. 

                             A cool sign in Hinewai

                          Our bathroom accommodations

        Our awesome sleeping accommodations, thanks Hugh!

After dropping off our things, we began our hike. Dr. Hostetler said this would be a three hour hike, but it ended up taking five hours to complete. Granted, since he had last been in Hinewi, there was a really bad flooding incident last December (firsthand account by Hugh D. Wilson, Botanist and Caretaker of Hinewai) that created many dangerous slips. 

Posing at Hinewai before our hike

During our hike, we were greeted by waterfalls that were perfect places to fill up our water bottles. We also saw a giant totara tree that we made sure to hug. Shaking the trees to mimic the ancient Moa, we even attracted tomtit birds. The views of the ocean were amazing when we could see through breaks between the trees. 

                   Nico filling up his water at the waterfall 

                     Ryan shaking the tree to act like a Moa 

                

                      The view of the beach from our hike. 

At the end of our hike, after munching down on snacks from the Gatorwaka, we took another little walk to see the coast. Unfortunately, to get there we had to walk through a sheep farm, and with a sheep farm came plenty of sheep poop. Yet the destination was worth it. We collected rainbow New Zealand abalone, paua, shells and sat on the rocks. On the way back, we got to visit a Hinewai caretaker helper, Tricia, and her Kākāriki (“small green parrot”), which were extirpated from the area.  

  Sheep farm!! They were afraid of us which means no petting them :(

                     The beach view, so gorgeous. 

      

              

                                The kākāriki!!

Finally back at our lodging, while our lasagna was cooking, we were told many stories about Hinewai by Hugh, the caretaker of the 900+ Hectares of land. He told us of the history of the area and of his “hands-off” management practices. Afterwards, we ate, played some games, and looked at the stars. We could see the milky way and thousands of stars, it was incredible. 

                   Hugh telling us all his stories by the fire. 

                       The milky way late at night. 

See you tomorrow,

Maya 

They have arrived! June 29

Well hello class of 2022! Welcome to Aotearoa.....it was pretty good trip from what I understand. People could see the southern Alps (covered with snow) on the way into Christchurch. Unfortunately, weather delayed Nico's flight and he arrives tomorrow. See you soon Nico!

They have arrived safe and somewhat sound

First group shows off kiwi fruit

Ryan, Charisse, and Ava figured out the airport "airplane" puzzle

We bundled up in the Gatorwaka and headed to University of Canterbury. After a discussion with unilodge representatives, the group moved into their dorm, had lunch, and we mustered (gathered) in the gatorwaka to take our first hike on the port hills. It was a warm hike with lots of views (and a very bright sun!)

Unilodge percentage about the dorms

First lunch in cafeteria

Let me tell you - beetroot and pumpkin soup!

Sign of the Kiwi

First tea time at Sign of Kiwi

Hiking up Sugarloaf on beautiful sunny day

At the top

Lyttleton Harbor (you are looking at the crater of a volcano that erupted millions of years ago. We are walking on the crater rim)

Colin talking about plants and "health and safety" Ryan looks very contemplative ...

Sun through the NZ Flax - it is getting dark fast!

It is such a pleasure to teach this class again. I can see by the excitement in everyone's eyes that this is going to be a great class. I wish everyone a good night rest and will see you in the morning. Frosty night - it will be below 0 Celsius tonight! If you get a chance - look at the stars this evening.  Dr. H