The Long and Winding Road - Saturday, July 14th, 2018

The day after the Croesus Track, most of us can barely move our legs.

We started the day off with another delicious breakfast at Maggie’s Kitchen. We then had time to explore the town of Greymouth. Some of us went to find Mount Cook, the highest point in New Zealand, and others went to Shades of Jade. The owners of the shop were very proud that all of their jade was locally sourced from the West coast.

From there, we started our journey back to Lincoln and towards Lewis Pass. On the way we stopped at an  i-SITE where we learned about local conservation as well as the mining history of the town of Reefton, the first town in the southern hemisphere to have electric lights.

Mining museum in Reefton

Back in the Gator Waka, we tried doing a road transect for Tomtits but on the way, the Piwakawaka overheated. Patiently waiting in a gas station parking lot, we anticipated the diagnosis. It was bad news, and the Piwakawaka was irreparable. The Gator Waka moved on while Meryl, Jámm, and Amy stayed behind and waited for a replacement to arrive from Christchurch.

Our view from the parking lot

Once in the Lewis Pass, we stopped at the St. James Walkway, an alpine nature walk. We saw our first Hard Beech, adding to the list of Red, Black, and Mountain Beech. The walk took us through the Goblin forest, which is characterized by moss. We spent time looking for bird’s nest fungus and Paige found our first specimen. If you look closely enough at the picture below, you can see what looks likes eggs in the cups.

Paige with our first specimen

Bird's nest fungus

A couple hours later, we stopped for tea at the Red Post where we met the sweetest cat.

Sweet Kitty from the Red Post

From there, we finished our journey back to Lincoln through the Wine district where we will be returning to learn about biodiversity in about a week.

The day ended and some of us went to the Flaming Rabbit to watch the rugby game. Go Crusaders!

-Bailey