Off to the South!

I am leaving in an hour to drive to the South Island! We will be there for 4 weeks so just a heads up that there won't be many blog posts; but I'm gonna try as hard as I can!!!!  We will drive for 8 hours today down to Wellington. We are taking the ferry from Wellington the next morning to drive down to Kaikoura where we will be spending the first leg of our trip. I will try and update this to let you know where I am as soon as possible. Maybe even tonight! Bye! -Emily

Motutapu - Restoration in action

We left EcoQuest at 7:15am on Sunday to drive to Auckland where we caught the ferry to Motutapu Island. The winds from the crazy storm here were whipping at our boat as we journeyed across the Hauraki Gulf to the Island. What a beautiful sight when we finally got to the island though, rolling hills of green and water as clear and blue as the Caribbean.

Motutapu Island

Motutapu is an 160 million year old island.  When Motutapu's island neighbor Rangitoto was born 600 years ago out of a volcanic eruption Motutapu was covered in rich volcanic ash which Maori took advantage of for cultivation. After a long occupation by Maori, Europeans added to the clearing of the island for dairy farming and other agriculture. During World War II the island was also used as a military base with a gun battery to prepare for attacks by the Japanese. Today, the island is a large restoration site. The plan is to restore 1/3 of the island to native forest to match up with some of the "remnant" forest that still exists from before Maori occupation! The plan is only for a third of the island because of the extensive archeological sites on that exist on the island which are both Maori and military based. Much of the land is also still used for pasture to farm for dairy and wool.

The reason for EcoQuest's visit was to help with the restoration project on the island. The restoration project is a volunteer based project that has been running for almost 15 years. Volunteers can come and plant new native trees, work in the nursery, or do some weeding. Our job on Sunday was to plant some new trees and other native plants to reestablish a native forest on the island.

The restoration site - you can see down at the bottom left some remnant forest, this is what our plants will grow up to be!

One of my baby plants

We and about 10 other volunteers planted 400 plants on Sunday! It was a great way to spend a Sunday knowing that our plants will someday grow into a beautiful native plant forest.  A future home for many native animals since last year all pests were eradicated from the island, meaning they dropped poison onto the island to kill all the stotes, hedgehogs, and rats. It doesn't sound good but it's necessary in order for the native animals to thrive on the island - which is the whole point of restoring it. We spent the rest of the day sitting on the beach waiting for the ferry, eating gelato, and traveling home. A long day but a fulfilling one.

Our fourth week at EQ has started off great. Monday we had a half day so I had a very relaxing morning. This week we are focusing on restoration ecology, not surprising since our trip to Motutapu, doing another oral presentation, preparing for our first test, and writing a paper on what we did learned last week in Opoutere. School has begun at EQ!

Opoutere aka class outside

This week at EcoQuest we spent four days at Opoutere which is a town on the east side of the Coromandel peninsula.  We stayed in a hostel right next to Wharekawa harbor which is a large estuary to learn about estuarine systems and to do some shellfish monitoring.

Wharekawa harbor

The shellfish monitoring was to collect baseline data for the regional council. The estuary supports a population of dotterels which are birds like plovers, but there are only 1500 left in the world!  This is why shellfish monitoring is necessary to ensure the estuary is staying healthy for the birds. However, the problem in the estuary is that there is plantation forestry happening all around it. Plantation forestry is one of New Zealands primary exports, mainly pine trees which they cut down in one fell swoop - clear cutting. This is only a problem when it rains because when the trees are cut down sediment is free to run down mountains with the rain. This sediment then runs into the estuary filling it with sediments which is bad for the system on a whole, the shellfish, and in turn - the birds.

Dotterel (not my picture)

Clear cutting flowing right into the estuary

To monitor the shellfish we sieved through sand to count how many shellfish we could find in a meter square on a spaced out grid from the high tide line to the low tide line. We monitored for three days, rain or shine. And when I say rain, I mean RAIN. Sideways, cold, wind-swept rain. Thank goodness the majority of the time we spent in Opoutere we had great weather. 

Shellfish monitoring in action modeled by Bella and Sam

When we weren't sifting through sand and counting cockles and wedge shells we went KAYAKING!!!! Loved it. The first day we had to get our safety lesson which included rolling our kayak over while we were in them meaning we had to willingly get into freezing cold water with all our clothes on. As cold as it was I guess it was a good lesson to learn as I now know how to safely get out of a kayak and then back in as well as help someone else get back in. 

Kayak group 1 out for our safety lesson!

We also went on a hike up to a Pa site, a place where Maori used to reside. From this site Maori watched for attacks coming from all around, they could also see the weather and sea conditions. The hike was great as in it was a gorgeous view but getting to the top was a struggle. Our field leader Lynnette basically runs up mountains it's actually kind of amazing. All in all it was a really great week the hostel we stayed in was fantastic complete with full kitchen, beautiful views and fireplaces. One of our field leaders, Wendy, actually got married there.

View of the estuary from the Pa site

After leaving Opoutere on a beautiful morning we got back to campus and found rain and gail force winds waiting for us. Supposedly we have had the rainiest semester of EcoQuest thus far - wonderful. Supposedly from this storm the west coast had 20 foot waves which would have been really great to see. The storm actually blew our power out so we obviously had a pretty interesting Friday night with a nice head lamp party. Today was a pretty relaxing and normal Saturday, a couple of us went to Thames to do some shopping for a bit. Picked up some avocados, more long underwear, and a $2.50 rugby shirt at the Salvation Army then came home watched a movie and made lots of delicious pizza for everybody. Tomorrow we leave bright and early for Motutapu - an island that is under restoration. We will be hiking and doing some restoration work. Sounds like it will be another great day in class!

Class with Wendy!

Aotearoa - The land of the long white cloud

Aotearoa - is another name for New Zealand or the Maori name for NZ. It's what the first explorers wife said when they first saw NZ, "A long white cloud!"

A quick edit to my last post the native people here are the Maori not the Mauri and the house of food is the wharekai not the whatakai.

We just learned that our program will be changed due to the earthquake in Christchurch. Instead of spending a couple of nights in Craigeburn, which is in the damaged area, we will be going to the Nelson lakes region.  We asked if we could do anything to help in the affected area but they don't want any more people coming in where there is no room to house them, no toilets for them to use, etc. When the earthquake happened we found out around 9 in the morning 5 hours after the quake hit Christchurch. We did not feel the earthquake but unfortunately Christchurch still is. They are having something like 20 aftershocks a day ranging from 3 to 5 magnitude and "experts" are saying that there is another big quake still to come. It is an absolute miracle no one has lost their life however, the people there are living in utter devastation.  It's pretty hard to start rebuilding when every couple of hours more things get knocked down.

In happier news, yesterday we went to the local Marae (Ma-rye) which is a Maori meeting house or a sacred place.  We needed to be welcomed onto the Marae by the local iwi (tribes) the Ngati Paoa and the Ngati Whanarnga because we are pakeha (non-maori) or foreign.  Basically we reenacted what would have happened if another tribe had come to visit the Marae to discuss an issue or declare peace.  When we first entered we had to wait to be called onto the Marae in a gate. When the woman of the highest status at the Marae calls the visitors on the women walk onto the Marae first because we are “the most precious people” to show we are not threatening. Then we sit on opposite sides and the speeches begin. When we first sit the space is occupied by tumatauenga which means tension and is also the name of the god of war. First the Maori rangatira (chief) speaks and then he is supported with a waiata (song). Then our eldest man spoke (Jono one of our professors) and then we supported him with a waiata called E tu Kahikatea.  The song is about the tallest tree in New Zealand which has shallow roots but stands next to other Kahikatea trees for support. So basically we talked about how we should stand strong together and support each other.

After the speeches and all that the tension is broken with hongi. Hongi is a Maori greeting where you shake hands while pressing your forehead and nose together. After that we were invited into the wharekai for tea and then we went back out to the wharenui, which is the main building on the Marae, to learn about the history of the local tribe.  It was a really interesting experience and now we are welcome there anytime and when we visit a different Marae later in the program we go representing this iwi. We didn’t take any pictures but hopefully I will get some soon.

So far this week we have had classes on Maori, ecology, biodiversity, and habitat restoration.  A lot of it is review from previous classes but some of it is specific to New Zealand which I am finding really interesting. Some fun facts about the history of NZ:

New Zealand was the last large landmass to be populated, about 1000 years ago.

It was created by uplift caused by the Australian tectonic plate and pacific tectonic plate twisting over and under each other aka why there was an earthquake.

Some characteristics of species here: flightless, gigantism, nocturnal, lack of bright colors, and naïve.

First week in New Zealand!

First sights of NZ

I am loving this place. I feel like I have been here forever and it’s only the 5^th day. So far we have been really busy getting to know our new home and introducing ourselves to each other. It seems like we have a really great group and we are all getting along really well.  
 

Yesterday we went on our first hike!  We drove to the Hunua falls in the Hunua ranges which was about 45 min away from campus.  It was a 4 hour hike and we took it slow stopping and learning about the very different plants and animals in New Zealand. The biodiversity here is simply incredible and completely different from home. New Zealand forests have a lot of ferns and levels; I started making a species list and by the end of the hike I could identify about 10 plants. 

Silver Ferns

Campus is also really great.  There are about 12 rooms with 2 – 4 people in them. There is also Granny’s which is like our lounge/study area/hangout room, the Whatakai which means “house of food” in Mauri so it’s our kitchen/dining room but it also acts as classroom, the office, and the bathrooms.  We also have a huge garden where we grow most of our vegetables and citrus fruit the rest of the food here is grown locally which is awesome. We have the Hunua mountain range as a front yard and the Firth of Thames (a bay beach) for a backyard.  Simply breathtaking.

View from my room

We started to learn some Mauri language and I forgot how much I love learning a different language. I haven’t taken a Spanish class in over a year but learning some Mauri made me really miss it. I feel like learning Mauri is going to become a great hobby of mine in the coming weeks. We started to learn greetings and simple words as we are going to a Marae (Mauri meeting house) on Tuesday to meet the local Mauri which we are all really excited about.

Today we went to Tapapakanga beach and did some self reflection and sustainability activities. Tomorrow we are starting real classes. Should be another amazing week in New Zealand.

Tapapakanga Beach

 -Emily

Kia Ora!

Kia Ora is how you greet people in New Zealand. I am finally here! It is the end of my second day and I love it more than I thought I would! This is just a quick note saying hi as I have not really had a lot of time to take any pictures of "campus" yet. Not that my pictures will do this scenery justice at all. My front yard is mountains and my backyard is the beach. Amazing.

So far we have just been going over how campus works, rules, chores, greetings, orientation, etc.  Tomorrow we have an intro into how our classes will work and then I think we are going for a hike in the national park down the road.  We also have a plan to get up for sunrise and then go for a run! Hopefully I make it back to campus.

A quick note on the rest of my stay in LA. Brunch in California is incredible. There are two complete buffets - one breakfast, one lunch - which have every food imaginable and endless mimosas. My mom and I had 5 plates each.

Back to New Zealand, they have this candy here called Hokey Pokey. It goes in candy bars and ice cream.  It is delicious.  I can't even put my finger on what it takes like, kind of toffee honey tasting but really good. Especially when we had homemade chocolate sauce on the ice cream tonight.

A more detailed post to come with pictures! 

-Emily