Little Lambs and Peeved Penguins

Our day started with a stop at Graeme Rodger’s sustainable home in Lincoln. He taught us about the solar panels on his property and how they interact with the national grid. Power cuts are fairly common in rural areas, so his solar panels allow for his home to fully function when the grid isn’t providing any energy. He also explained how wind turbines work, which was very interesting!

Graeme showing us his solar power setup,
wearing an awesome sweater his partner knitted for him!

Graeme explaining how wind turbines work by overcoming magnetic forces

After our ‘enlightening’ talk about electricity, he grabbed some feijoa fruits to feed to his sheep. The sheep love the fruit so much, mothers will walk away from their lambs to eat one! We saw multiple cute little lambs who were quite “sheepish”, as Dr. Hostetler put it. We witnessed the aggressive way that lambs get milk from their mothers. They headbutt their mother’s abdomen to encourage the flow of milk. Some of us agreed that we’re thankful human babies don’t do the same thing! Graeme told us about the nets surrounding the stone fruit trees he has on his property. When the trees start fruiting, birds will eat every single apricot and cherry they can get to, so the nets are placed around the orchard for protection. 

Feeding feijoas to the mama sheep

sheep family picture

cute lamb

After a stop at Coffee Culture for a tea break, we all got in the Gator Waka for the drive to Sumner Beach. When we had almost reached our destination, we saw a royal spoonbill in some shallow water next to the road! Some of us have been waiting and hoping to see a royal spoonbill before we leave New Zealand, so it was a welcome surprise! We finally reached a harbor called Taylor’s Mistake. Dr. Meurk explained to us that a sea captain in the mid 1800’s was sailing to Lyttelton Bay, but made a wrong turn along the way. His ship was damaged and he was in the wrong body of water. His name? Taylor, of course. 

We headed on out a hike on the Godley Head Trail. We had gorgeous views the whole way and saw many different hikers and dogs. After reaching our destination, we went inside a predator proof fence and down a steep bluff to the rocks below. We made our way along the rocks, peeking inside nesting boxes for white flippers penguins along the way. We saw two penguins nestled inside a box and were all able to look inside! We all made our way back down the bay and to the Gator Waka. We went to The Village Inn for a late lunch.

Maddie and her super cute flower bouquet

The view from our hike on the Godley Head trail

"Wow" -Maddie

Dr. Meurk rocking shorts and standing on a picnic table
to tell us about the exotic flowers we were seeing

standing outside the predator-proof fence

"Hi MTV. Welcome to my crib." -Bailey

White flippered penguin mad at the invasion of privacy
picture by Corinne Allen Titus

Group shot with a view!
picture by Amy and J'amm, because it definitely takes
two people to take a single picture

After a great lunch of fish and chips, we went to the cave rocks at Sumner beach to explore. When the sun was making its descent, we drove to Wunderbar in Sumner. Wunderbar was the only bar open in Lyttelton after the devastating earthquake in 2016. Dr. Meurk arranged for us to meet some other students from Lincoln Uni studying environmental issues there.

exploring the rocks at Sumner Beach

group pic in the cave rocks

Today ended with dinner at an Indian restaurant in Lincoln. We're all exhausted and ready to sleep in a little bit tomorrow!

Sweet dreams, 

Eliza

Fun in Kaikoura

Upon saying farewell to the Marae, we dropped off seven of our most avid wildlife observers for their anticipated whale-watching experience. Three miles off-shore, they were greeted by dozens of cheeky Dusky Dolphins and four Sperm Whales.

Sperm Whale saying hello!

Dusky Dolphins 

So cheeky

"Wow!" - Eliza

The group also saw a variety of marine birds on the water, including different petrels, mollyhawks, and albatrosses.

Giant Petrel snapped in-flight by Devin

Meanwhile, the remaining half of our group visited nearby tide pools, a new addition to the city, on our way to a protected Hutton’s Shearwater nesting site to learn about their conservation. New Zealand endured a devastating 7.8 earthquake in 2016 that left behind an elevated seafloor that is now home to a diverse community of sea stars, anemones, and shelled creatures and visible at low tide.

New Zealand Fur Seal enjoying the view

Mottled Brittle Star doing what Mottled Brittle Stars do

After many slips, photo ops, and close-up seal encounters, we made our way up the hill towards the Shearwater reserve and learned about the project along the way. The seafaring birds are native to New Zealand and nest in only two colonies in the mountains near Kaikoura. In 2005, the Department of Conservation established a third site on the Kaikoura Peninsula where their nesting burrows wouldn’t be trampled by deer or their young eaten by stoats and rats. The new site of artificial burrows is surrounded by a predator-proof fence and the birds raised in the colony are already returning and having chicks of their own.

Learn more about Shearwater Conservation

From the hilltop, we saw our own share of Dusky Dolphins playing in the water and hundreds of New Zealand Fur Seals lining the coast.

After our two groups reconvened, Dr. Hostetler treated us to a tasty whitebait fritter – a local delicacy of small fish fried in egg batter – before hitting the road back to Lincoln.

It's almost as tasty as it looks

g2g

Cole

Haere Mai! Welcome to Quail Island!

Our very first day here in New Zealand we hiked up to the top of a hill just outside of the city of Christchurch and looked out upon Quail Island. We were told that towards the middle of the course we'd be going there, and oh how time flies! Today we finally got to visit the island for a restoration project with The Quail Island Conservation Trust, under the guidance of Ian McLennan.

Our ferry from Lyttelton to Quail Island

Some quick facts about Quail Island:
1. Quail Island is uninhabited. In 1875, it was used as a leper camp/hospital and then after that, as a base for Antarctic exploration.
2. The island was declared a recreation reserve in 1975.
3. The Quail Island Conservation Trust is a charitable trust, so they receive no government funding and everything is planted by volunteers.
4. They've been planting trees for 20 years!

Our role today was to help Ian and some frequent volunteers plant native silver tussocks into pots where they would grow and then in about a years time, be planted in the ground on the island (probably by families on a "Family Planting Day")!

Getting a planting lesson

We received a general introduction/health and safety talk from Ian when we first arrived. He told us about the trappings they do on the island to remove the non-native mammal predators and excitedly told us about the three bird species they have nesting on the island: bellbirds, shining cuckoo and the wood pigeon. We learned that just to be extra safe, we would be wearing masks due to the very slim possibility of contracting legionnaires from potting soil (as you can see in the picture). We set up an assembly line of filling up pots, planting tussocks, trimming and placing together in the sun and in no time we had planted 311 tussocks!

Our group

Once finished with our lunch, we set out with Colin (our now friend from the Landcare Research) to walk the 4.5k loop of the island. We reviewed some of our native flora knowledge, finding flax, manuka and kanuka, lemon wood, daisies etc. We saw the first patch the Trust ever planted, which was right down the hill from a patch that was being prepped for a planting in the spring! We also got to use Colin's hand lens (a small magnifying glass) to look at different colored lichens.

Corinne using the hand lens to look at an orange colored lichen (that to me looked like a venus fly trap)

We also searched for geckos and skinks under rocks, where Cole and Corinne were successful at finding one of each!

After a trip to the wind-protected beach and the ferry ride back, we ended the day with one of Dr. Hostetler's favorites -- Coffee Culture.

-Caroline

Croesus Track Day 2 - Friday, July 13th, 2018

Everyone looks so happy (however briefly)

"Let's walk over this ridge and then we'll make an assessment." (#1)

"We'll make an assessment at the next switchback." (#2) 

"Let's make an assessment!" (#3)

Assessment (#4): might as well keep going

That hat's a bit long if you want to catch a snowflake.

Hmmmm...

And off to your left you can see the glorious Mt. Cook

 Drip... drip... drip...

 

Delicious

 Right before the slip...

...and right after

So close and yet so far...

Fun stats from the hike:

• Number of falls (Jámm – Emily – The Borcyks): 2.25 – 7.5 – 20+ (and a nice roll)
• Games of ERS won (Jámm – Emily): 10 – 0
• Wekas accidentally hit with sticks: 1
• Snow eaten: way too much
• Five of spades: too many
• Assessments: ditto
• Purple mushrooms: at least 5

You're welcome,

-Jam