Thursday, July 30, 2009

The Final Countdown


Some where over the rainbow

Woo wee


1 week ago I departed for my last project. 1 week later its finally hitting me that I will be done for this season.

Quick Recap:

As with other groups we went through a Powhiri ceremony at the local Marae and it again was very special for all the participants. They also learned about the importance of the conservation work they'd be doing the next two weeks; from learning about first and second generation plants to estuaries and catchments to protecting native species, they really got a big overview of how much a group of people accomplish do if they put their minds to something.


Passing the plants


Our last week of work has consisted of planting at a Bird Sanctuary near Joyce Road with our new group, the last project for all of the PL's on this trip, in the Bay of Plenty. This property has been purchased by a Church and has been envisioned to be a bird sanctuary that consists of a native replanted forest, education center, recreation fields and a habitat for the native birds to return to.

Before we started planting Flax

Day 1 consisted of planting flax, karo, lemon wood and a few other plants along a hill side that had previously been grazing land for cows. Throughout the day we worked hard and with 45 people we got ~1400-1500 plants in. This was a great way to show the impact people can make in such a short time. Before we got there only a few plants were on that hill, after our first day the top part was covered. We did name most of our plants we planted, I had a few with my digging partner that were named: Winnie the Pooh, Eye-Ore, Piglet, Christopher Robin, Solomon, Queen, etc etc.


The start of the planting



During the day



Jim speaking to us about the vision of the bird sanctuary



Day 2 was all about planting again except this time myself and a few of the other participants were in the "swamp" planting flax. Lets just say you needed gum boots to get into this area b/c of how deep the mud was. Oh and the pleasant smell was from the cows that left presents for us; it was quite fun actually b/c of the challenge of the mud and trying to get the plants securely into the ground so their roots would not be exposed. The rest of the group helped plant manuka, kanuka, flax, lemon wood and totara along the top banks. Our work really transformed the hillside.


Working the banks

Check out these horns

Day 3 we got rained out so we stayed at the lodge and the participants worked on their presentations they'd be doing for the primary school children they will be working with next week. Some of their posters were really nicely done. A lot of them went on hikes/tramps throughout the day but a decent number of us stayed and played some good old fashioned Rugby on the field by the lodge. It was quite fun actually sliding everywhere in the mud with the rain pouring down. We have a lot of UK participants so they really enjoyed it and a lot of the North Americans got into it too. I definitely took a few good tackles but reciprocated ;).



The beginnings of the Free Draw

middle of it




After the first night this is what we had

Day 4 we returned to Joyce Road and finished all the plants. We even got to do some "releasing" or liberating of plants from the weeds that had grown around them. Last year's participants had planted there so we went and helped their plants out by removing the weeds. A game of Ultimate Frisbee followed after that before we cooked up a mean barbeque dinner for everyone.


amazing what you can do with a few spade, gloves and boots


Final Product

Tui singing his song

Today is a free day for myself and I can actually catch up with some stuff. Well that's a quick recap, I hope you are all well. Again just to remind you there IS VIDEO now on this blog so check the last one and the ones from here on out. (this one will be updated with one next week). Take it easy,

Cheers,
Ty


P.S.


One step at a time with the building blocks of life

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