Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 - A Time of Celebration and Good Memories

While it was a free day, much of it was spent finishing course journals and the slide show and preparing for the last get together at night at the Famous Grouse Hotel and Restaurant.  We gathered together the students, lecturers, and friends - all essential in making our adventures successful and fun!  With thanks, we celebrated our time together and enjoyed a music video by Jamm and Tupelo along with a slide show of our New Zealand experience.  Not wanting to think about going home, we relived memorable times together over the last five weeks.  Special thanks to our students for diving into our adventures with great enthusiasm, our guest lecturers for sharing their time and expertise, and our friends and families for their support.  Thanks also to our students for the special Koha treasures - very thoughtful and special.  They, and especially our time together, will be cherished.


P.S.  Too bad it was cloudy so we missed out on the Southern Lights!

Thursday July 22nd Rainy Day Lectures and Visit to Addington LID Project

Kia ora koutou,
     Today started off with two lectures at Landcare Research. Our first lecture was from Dr. Dean Anderson on mammal pests in New Zealand.  He discussed how a lot of the pest mammals were introduced by British Acclimatization Societies to help make New Zealand feel more like the home country. Pest animals include possums, deer, rodents, etc...and non-mammals like Canadian Geese, certain fish and some reptiles. Current methods of control include 1080 bait drops and trapping. Dr. Anderson stressed the fact that biological research and technology need to advance new (and hopefully more "humane") ways to eradicate and/or control the pests for successful future preservation and restoration of New Zealand's unique biodiversity.  Robert Watts presented our second lecture on Christchurch waterways. The city was built on a swamp and waterway management originally consisted completely of drainage projects. Mr. Watts has been instrumental in convincing the city council to use a values-based approach to waterway management and shown by the example of Corsers Stream how natural treatment and day-lighting of waterways is an asset; costs less to maintain (and sometimes develop); and increases the value of the property.  
         After lunch at Lincoln, we traveled to Addington, a suburb of Christchurch.  Peter Wehrmann showed us how the city retrofitted an existing, dilapidated subdivision with different styles of experimental rain gardens to create an LID (low-impact design) development. It was interesting to see the differences between American-style rain gardens and Kiwi-style which result from different management preferences and different ecological challenges. The project also included a green corridor to help treat, reclaim, and transport stormwater in an artful way that becomes an amenity and also helps educate the community.   

Lastly, we went to see the Addington Bush and Mike Peters of the Addington Bush Society. In the early 90's, a group of neighboring landowners decided to all donate a piece of their connecting backyards to create a small bush reserve. Through great debate and hands-on learning, they created a now-protected reserve in the middle of the city. It's a wonderful example of how enthusiastic and hardworking people can recreate biodiversity out of vegetable plots and turf. No one in the group had any substantial knowledge in the subject originally! Though they are mostly in a management stage now, they hope to continuing introducing native plants and begin to monitor the wildlife that also uses the area. All in all it was a very educational day. The next three days are free time for the group, with five of us going to Queenstown and Milford Sound and the rest taking day trips from Lincoln including activities like skiing and rock climbing!
A tōnā wā e hoa.

Arohanui,
Ashley

July 21, 2010

Kia Ora!
     Our day started off early with a trip into Christchurch for a few presentations. Our first stop was at Environment Canterbury, or ECan, for a talk with Wayne McCallum, the Regional Biodiversity Coordinator. His presentation revolved around the Canterbury Biodiversity Strategy (http://www.canterburybiodiversity.org.nz/). Wayne discussed why there was a cascading order of biodiversity strategies and how they are used in their projects. What stood out the most to me was how ECan has been able to get the community involved in everything they do. Hopefully we can have the same community involvement and enthusiasm back home!

     Once we finished at ECan, we headed to the Christchurch City Council offices for a few more presentations. First up was Trevor Partridge, who spoke to us about managing biodiversity in urban areas. He talked about the regulatory framework and governance structure behind planning in the city. It was made clear that implementing biodiversity projects is not an easy process. Zoe Dewson spoke to us afterwards about managing waterway biodiversity in the city. In the past, Christchurch waterways were primarily managed for the comfort of its residents. Now they are managed for multiple values: ecology, landscape, recreation, heritage, culture, and drainage. This change in management practices results in higher biodiversity and better water quality. The overall message I got from today's lectures was that projects that aim to increase biodiversity require a lot of planning and community involvement.

      After dinner, Mark drove us into Lyttleton to watch a local band, The Eastern Family, at a place called Wunderbar. It was a really cool and funky bar that looked as if it used to be a thrift store. The entire band wasn't performing but the music was still great. We even bought their album! Altogether, it was a fun way to end the day.

The Eastern Family

-Dania

Saturday, July 17 - Graham's Farm, Christchurch Natural History and Art Museums, Botanical Garden

In the morning we visited a non-so typical NZ farm.  Graham's farm of fruit trees sports all the latest high-tech, energy-wise gadgets from the U.S.A. - solar panels that power his home, led lighting, a windmill, Stirling Engine fan on the wood stove in the kitchen, etc. He even collects rainwater for all his home water use (i.e., drinking, flushing toilet, and showering).  We enjoyed our lesson that there is much we can all be doing in our own country to be oil independent and low impact on our environment.  We also really enjoyed feeding Jr who was born just a week earlier, and having tea with Graham and his wife, Karen.  Special thanks to both for their warm hospitality and for Karen's yummy baked goods.

In the afternoon, we explored the Christchurch Natural History and Art Museums and then toured the NZ native plants and urban native planting demonstration gardens at the Botanical Gardens with Colin.

Sunday, July 11

FREE DAY!  We all slept in.  Most of us went in to Christchurch to explore the "Garden City" during our down time.

July 7th 2010

Once again, we were blessed enough to wake up to a beautiful scenery in NEW ZEALAND! It was significantly colder and ovecast today but it didnt matter because WE LOVE IT HERE! We assembeled around 8:15 am to listen Craig Pauling, a Maori, give a presentation on Ngai Tahu ( NZ south island Maori tribal culture) involvement with biodiversity conservation. He was amazing! He started off by speaking to us in Maori, describing himself and from where he originated. The presentation was awesome. In it he explained the histoy of the Maori culture and their beliefs. The Maori pesonify the Earth and its features and create characters ( people) that they identify and create a relationship with. These relationships ultimately form a bond with the land, as well as an essence of respect. They are currently working very hard to restore the land. Afterwards, he accompanied us to a nearby wetland where he explained the malignant effects of the dairy industry and its contribution to water pollution. Soon following, we ventured to Travis wetland to perform various bird transects ( a walk or drive across an area during which an observer records the numbers of birds found without deviating from a straight path). During our observations we saw black backed gulls, canadian geese, pukeko, spurwinged plover, and song thrushes, just to name a few. My favorite was the pukeko! Stay tuned!!!

Fun fact: Did you know that insects are cold-blooded, which means that they can't control their body temperature. This means that insects are not very good at surviving the cold. In the winter, most insects go into something called diapause, which is insects' version of hibernation.

Rina :)

July 6

Today was our first rainy day in New Zealand. We began the day by going to Landcare Research to meet up with world renowned botanist, Collin Meurk. He lectured on the natural history of the Canterbury Plains. He covered the effects of precipitation, geography, and wind on the biodiversity of New Zealand.
Next, we all headed down to Riccarton Bush to look at the restoration work that has been done there. We walked through the area, stopping to learn about the various native plants. Some included various the potocarps: Totora, Matai, Kahikatea.

We then went up to the Port Hills at Banks Peninsula. We hiked around the area reviewing some more native plants. Hiking through the Riccarton Bush and through the Port Hills to find different flora was an amazing learning experience. It was great learning about the plants in their natural habitats. When we got to the peak, the sky cleared just enough for us to view the harbor below.

To finish the day off, we stopped by Cup Café for tea time. I got my first flat white and it was great! - Kristin

July 5th, 2010

This morning we were first introduced to the course material in a morning powerpoint presentation by Dr. Hostetler. The power point laid some good groundwork as to what we can look forward to in the coming weeks here in New Zealand and some comparisons to what we see back home in Florida. After having lunch we travelled to Sumner to explore Cave Rock Beach and take a hike up to another cave. The caves were unlike anything I had ever seen.We all enjoyed climbing all over the rocks and exploring the tidal pools on the beach. We were lucky enough to have another day of awesome weather and the view from the cave at the end of our hike was worth the trek. The view looked out over a ridge into the Pacific and the tidal change was definitely something to see. - Seth

Sunny, Fun Saturday Getting To Know Each Other And The Area

A frosty morning was spent working together on the uni tennis courts (fields were "sloggy") doing low ropes activities.  Untying our Gordian Knot ONLY took 20 minutes, and crossing a "hot chocolate" river with only eight "marshmallows" went relatively smoothly.

Took in the local Lincoln community farmer's market (held only once a month in the winter) with the special theme of "Holidays in July."  The sausage sizzle was a hit with all who tried in, and there were warm drinks and roasting chestnuts to sample as well.

On to busker shows in the street and bag lunch at the Christchurch Arts Center weekend market before heading off to the hills for more exploring...

A small amount of native plant identification up near Sign of the Kiwi in the Port Hills before heading down to the dock at Governor's Bay to take in a mud bath (nice face paint)?

Capped off the afternoon with late tea at 4ish.  Yep, got there right around four as they were cleaning everything up, but there were just enough people to make it worth the Blue Duck Cafe's while to stay open, until “4ish.”

Riccarton Market and Riccarton Bush

From Top Above: Riccarton Market; Riccarton Bush predator fence; inside Riccarton Bush

There are many farmer's markets in the Christchurch area.  One of our favorites (outside of the one in Lincoln) is the one at Riccarton House in Christchurch.  It has grown even in the three years we have frequented it.  The best part is that it is located at one of the few remnant bush areas left in the Canterbury region.  Riccarton Bush occupies about 1.4 hectares just west of Hagley Park and is protected by a predator fence.  Old native trees, native plants, and native birds are found here.

Lyttlelton Light Festival

Above: Fireworks from the bridge by Lyttelton Harbor

Most of the communities outside of Christchurch in the Canterbury region are very small.  We live in Lincoln which has a population of about 3,000 people.  There is a strong sense of community in most of the small towns in the area.  Friday night we went over the Port Hills to the small harbor town of Lyttelton for their Light Festival.  After a short procession of most of the school-aged children in town and their parents and some music at a central stage set up in the middle of the town, there were fireworks at the harbor.  Mark would say the best part of the evening was the little fried doughnuts from one of the street vendors.