Quails, Geckos and Wētās, Oh My!

 Today was our trip to Quail Island in the middle of Lyttelton harbour. We took a short ferry to the island with our tour guides of the island, Mike Bowie (Lincoln University), Pat (Volunteer), and Ian McLennan (Quail Island Ecological Restoration Trust). 

Haiden and Veronica enjoying the views from the ferry

After the Capitan of the boat expertly maneuvered us onto the dock we hopped off the boat and had a quick photo op with the island namesake sign

Colin posed in his signature spot, on the ground 

We weren't able to do a planting today because Quail Island currently has a deer problem, so any planting we would have done would likely be eaten up by the deer; so we got to do a tour around the island instead. We first saw Pou Whenua, which was beautifully decorated. We also met some new friends along the way, including a Canterbury gecko, a striped skink, and a tree wētā. Mike also showed us one of the methods they used to track predators in which they put bait and ink on a piece of paper in a tunnel and look at any footprints left on the paper.

We posed in front of the Pou Whenua to show the scale of it

The Canterbury gecko I loving named Curtis

Mike demonstrated to us how the bait tunnels work

Veronica beaming while holding the wētā

Debriana holding her gecko friend 

After we met all our new insect and reptilian friends we did the trail around the perimeter of the island and saw some incredible views. Around the end of the trail, we even saw some quail, which felt more than fitting considering the island's name. At the end of the trail, we had some extra time before our ferry came back to pick us up and we got to explore the shores a bit and saw some crabs and starfish

The beautiful harbour

Nico found this starfish on a rock 

A cute chubby quail butt! (people say I scared the quail away with my squeal of excitement, but I think otherwise)

We ended our day back at Coffee Culture for another tea time, then went to New World grocery store to replenish our snack supply 

We all enjoyed our day trip to Quail Island.

See ya again tomorrow for another restoration day.

- Ashley 

The Most Exciting Drive

We are on our first away trip- off to the Banks Peninsula/Akaroa/Hinewai! This morning started out with a beautiful hour-long drive to Birdling Flat, full of vista views we made sure to stop at. 

Class at Hilltop view overlooking Akaroa Harbour

The vista views from the drive between Birdlings Flat and Akaroa!

 I was extremely cold from all the wind!! 

 

 Upon arriving at Birdling Flat, we were met by a beautiful rocky beach and rough crashing waves. Dr. Hostetler told us that we could possibly find agate on the beach, and the class took that as a challenge. We were all entertained for a long time searching for agate and collecting other beautiful rocks, until the wind picked up and we had to head out. 

Searching for agate!

Our rock collections!

The next leg of the drive took us to a tea time at Little River cafe, a quaint coffee shop-art gallery combination. We warmed up a bit with our hot drinks and explored the nearby local shops. Our next stop was a cute cheese store at Barry's Bay where we picked up a few varieties to try. I thought the smoked cheese tasted like BBQ!

Cheese shop!

Cheese factory

Tea time at Little River

Our next big stop was at Ōnawe Pā, a coastal reserve that served as a great spot for lunch and tide pool hunting. We quickly ate our sandwiches and ran around looking for creatures, finding crabs, starfish, chiton, and sea anemones. Everyone was super excited with these stops! 

Ōnawe Pā

Our last piece of our journey was searching for tūī in an Akaroa neighborhood. Tūī are native birds that were once extirpated from the area, until thankfully, recent restoration brought them back. We examined the feeders and spotted many tūī!

Tūī

Finally, after a most exciting drive, we arrived at our lodge, Holiday Park. We feasted on a gourmet meal from the university and headed to sleep early to prepare for our long day tomorrow. We even donated our leftovers to families in need! 

See you tomorrow!!

Maya