YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

Checking out some Rapids and Falls in the Kai Mais

Apologies for the lack of updates, you'll just have to get use to that ;)

So from the last update, I think I left off on the Kiwi experience, something my group and I will never forget.

Keeping Track of the Waterfalls?

After our first part of the first project we had 2 days off in Auckland

That weekend I got to enjoy a little of the city of Auckland by exploring their botanical gardens, parks and also visiting the Auckland Museum with two of the participants. There was an art class out at the gardens and we got to see many beautiful plants within the green houses. Some included the carniverous plants species such as the pitcher plant (check them out, there must be videos on you tube or somewhere else online. So long as it's David Atenbrough then you know you got a quality nature video). We got to see many exhibits on the Pacific/Polynesian Islands, their different cultures and also we got see something I did not expect to see...the ice axe that Sir Edmund Hillary used to climb a top the peak of Mt. Everest. Just a quick recap, he was the first man to scale Mt. Everest and is known for the Hillary Step at the top of the mountain. He is also famously known for climbing most of the highest peaks in the World and also becoming the first man to drive across the South Pole! There was a 9 minute video about Sir Edmund Hillary and it was truly inspiring. The late Sir Edmund Hillary (left); his legendary Ice Axe! (Center)

The musuem is top notch and we were lucky enough to get through all of it. It was very emotional going through the World War I-II, Maori Land Wars and Holocaust exhibits. A memorial is set up in the museum for those who gave their lives in WWI-II and the other wars NZ sent soldiers to. We were so caught up with everything we did not realize the time and we ended up being one of the last 3 people in the museum so we ran down the stairs and got our stuff rom the locker room.

MOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Big Bird, where you at?

On the next day of our weekend I decided to take a trip to Rangitoto Island with the group. This is a volcanic island that was created around 500 years ago after a large eruption off the coast of Auckland Harbor. We took a ferry over and got to see just how big the island was, quite fascinating to think one eruption created the island; even more fascinating was the plant life that had grown on it. All around was lava rock, hard, sharp and seemingly inpenetratable from plant roots, but surprisingly it is rich with nutrients so plants have adapated to it quite well. We decided to hike to the summit, quite a nice hike given the scenery got better and better as we ascended. The lava rocks were all beautiful in their own way as well, it was unreal to me, thinking we were standing on a volcano that created such a unique environment.

Rangitoto Crater from look out

When we got to the top we saw a large crater that had formed after the eruption. It was beautiful in a very unique way; vegetation had covered it entirely so it was an unusual site. I half expected a dinosaur to run out of it. After a few pictures there we went to the top and got an amazing view of Auckland, the surrounding Islands and also the Pacific. Pictures do not do it justice. We had lunch up top and got to walk around some old WWII look outs and bunkers; we then headed around the crater walk and back down to the junction to the lava caves.

View of Davenport and surrounding area of Auckland

LAVA CAVES, who would have thought?! This was the most fun we had the entire day. At first it was only Peter (a participant) and I who went exploring in one because I was the only one with a head lamp. We had no idea at first we were standing on top of a cave but there was a small crevice we saw that we could squeeze through that headed underground so of course we both said let's go! When we got down the crevice we noticed that the cave kept going so we started crawling and walking through it. It was really an amazing experience because we were walking through old lava flows, that's what made the caves. We got through the first one after squeezing out of a tiny gap and then went back to tell the others to do the same, though I had to give them my head lamp.

Soon after the first one we entered 3 more, one was wide enough for us to all walk through while the last one we went through had two routes, one too dangerous to go through while the other I explored myself first (which you shouldn't do when you go caving, but I couldn't help it). About 4-5 participants decided to go through with me on my second time through after I made sure it was safe. Everyone had fun, even though it got tight at points, I definitely got some bumps from the jagged rocks, big props to the ladies on the trip who did it in sandals!

After a long day I called it a night after arriving home, we had a project the very next day!


Monday Morning we headed off to Tawharnui Bird Sanctuary. This is a closed off peninsula that is dedicated to revitalizing the native and endemic bird life in the region. There are kiwi's there, kokako's, brown teal ducks, and many more birds. They have a predator proof fence (I'll try to get a pic up next time I have access to internet), which prevents possums, ferrets and stotes from getting in. But there is a small stretch on the beach that isn't protected so it's not fully enclosed.

We worked on making possum and rat traps the first day because the rain was really pouring down. This was actually an interesting job as it taught us another side of conservation, the pest management side. It's not a fun job to do but when you take a big picture approach it is one of the necessary ones. New Zealand is a world leader in pest management and conservation; although many people may disagree with the way they do control their pests they are goal oriented and have a passion to preserve what is left of their amazing flora and fauna.

Unfortunately that is all we did that first day due to inclement weather. We got to stay at the Vol-Hut or Volunteer House, it was actually pretty comfortable and had a nice little fire place. The weather cleared up a bit the next day and we helped the volunteers at the reserve shuttle plants from their nursery to the side of a hill for a planting day that was expected to have up to 100 volunteers! We moved about 3000 plants that day with the help of a tractor and also a quad bike with a trailer.

Relaxing on a hill side after some Plant Moving

After that we got to go explore a little and I, the CVNZ guide and one of the participants went to the Ecology Trail. On the way we walked across the beautiful North Shore of the Peninsula and got to explore some sea caves and walk across tide pools. Most of the participant stayed at the beach while the rest of us went to the Ecology Trail. Unfortunately along the way we saw a blue penguin that had washed up on the shore, it seems many of them do that but researchers are still trying to figure out why that is. When we got to the trail, the "bush" looked something similar to Lost World and other movies, I was thinking to myself the whole time that a dinosaur was going to rush past us through the vegetation.

On the hike we learned about a disease that the Kauri Trees were contracting via foreign soil left on people's boots who tramp through the area, it was quite a picture seeing such a large tree that had fallen over and was deteriorating before our eyes. On a lighter note it was good to learn more about the other native and endemic plants along the way and to see that Charlie, the participant who came with us, had learned a lot through the last week and could name many of the plants we saw. When we got toward the coast we saw a few fan tails (tiny birds with large tails that look like a traditional hand fan). Our guide told us the Maori Legend of the Fan Tail (it was quite interesting, and will be told some other time ;). These little birds are very friendly and will get really close to you as you walk through the bush because you rustle up the leaves and ground, which disturbs the insects and equates to food for the fan tails.

Once we got back the beach we discovered the other participants had left. On our drive back to the Vol-House we learned they had gone swimming in the ocean with most of their water proofs on, quite interesting. The rest of the night involved a discussion on Biodiversity of New Zealand and also of North America. It was a great discussion and I posed the question, "can you think of native species in your area in North America, what about endemic and what about invasives?" It really got everyone thinking and I hope they all return to their home countries and try to find out what is native, endemic and invasive in their area.

The next day we got to do some various activities. I took two participants and went into a gulley with pest traps. We had to carry them into very thick bush with some very slippery tracks. The volunteer with us was setting the traps with a hen egg to attract rats (which love bird eggs and are a large reason the bird population has been devestated in NZ) and then recording where he put them. It was quite fun actually learning about the birds and also how many pests they do catch. We also got to see the sheep dog "Bull" in action, "Patches" however was a little too old for it so he was at the back of the trailer.

Bungy (left), Bull (Center), Patches (Right)

As for the rest of the day we regrouped and as a group helped plant over 300 trees in 2 hours. The next day involved moving more plants and then we were off back to Auckland for the weekend. It was a great experience working with the bird sanctuary because we were on the front lines of the fight to preserve native species.

Checking out the Northern part of Tawharanui

I started getting a cold the last day so I took it really easy; After dropping the participants off (a sad experience in itself but also a proud one because they had learned and experienced so much) I headed off to my hotel for the night. Orange Juice, Tea, Water and Soup, take that cold. I met one of my fellow Project Leaders for the Next Project, he's a local Kiwi. We had a chat the night before we had to go to the airport and I got some of my paperwork done before falling asleep. The next morning we picked up the ISV Participants from the flight from LA, it was fun picking them out from the arrivals, they all fit the description of student traveler. From there we were off to the YHA in Tauranga for the first two nights because it was the Queens Birthday Weekend so it was the last holiday for a while. The lodge we were supposed to stay at in the bush had been booked out so we had to go to the YHA. Unfortunately I had to take a majority of my group to another backpackers in the heart of the city because we completely took over the YHA so there was no more room for some of the student participants. I'm going to stop here because I have 2 weeks of stuff to update you all on and this seems like a decent entry since it's been a while since my last one.

Hope you are all well, thanks for reading and following along,

Cheers,
Tyler

P.S. no one's ever on skype when I'm on haha, need more sn's.

T'da