L2F

Friends made in Auckland, NZ

So don't take my photograph

cause I don't want to know what it looks to feel like this

as cars and people pass

Thank you to Joshua and Malcom for getting that one stuck in my head, good songs that Newton Faulkner.


So it's been a week at Tawharanui Bird Sanctuary and now I'm back in Auckland gearing up for the All Blacks vs Wallabies Tri-Nations Rugby Match Tonight!

A quick recap (shorter than the rest of the blog posts since pictures are what most people tend to look at):

Northern point of Tawharanui

We got about 3 kilometer of track cut (trail maintenance for volunteers and rangers to check on pest traps and also monitor the native birds in the sanctuary).

Lagoon outside the Volunteer House at Tawharanui
Fantail!

Also set out 50+ trap boxes and bait stations to help in the effort to protect the native birds from pests such as rats, possums, mice, stotes and many more

WETA!

We also moved a ton of soil (literally a ton, not just an expression) so that new plants in the nursery could be potted and we helped clean up the beach after a storm to help the native and endangered NZ dotterels (Shore nesting birds).

SHEEP Crossing

Did I mention we weeded an entire nursery of plants? That and the fact that the group worked really well, got along great and were excited to learn more about the conservation issues going on in the area made the week really fly by.

2 Oyster Catchers and a nice view

Oh yeah, we got to hear two live kiwis in the bush at night calling to their mates! It was a great experience for everyone as we hiked into the bush and sat in the dark w/out lights just listening. Being in that setting was so calming and it made me feel at one with the bush and really made me appreciate how special a place it is.

Javelin with a Flax Stock?

Seastar in the tidepools

Played some intense games of Ah-So-Co and Flying Ninja Star, also some good Mafia Games. The weather has thus far been pretty good and everyone is in good spirits.

Walking to our Work Site aka beautiful views

Add in some amazing sunsets and tidepool/beach walks and we had a great time, it goes by too fast that funny thing life does.

Sunset at Tawharanui

Alright then, hope that was short enough for ya'll (look Kelley, Alexis and Aurora, you got me saying ya'll, well typing it too).

To infinity and beyond,

Cheers,

Ty

P.S.

Hug a tree

Is this the real life, is this just fantasy?

Lessons Learned

Open your eyes

look up to the skies

and seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Whooooweeee this trip is flying by but I'm enjoying every minute, every second rather, of it. It's unbelievable to be in such a beautiful country full of natural wonders and amazing people. We've worked pretty good the last two weeks and got a lot done,

Team Canada and their presentation

The last two weeks have been interesting to say the least. After 2 weeks off I was ready to get back to work. Unfortunately it didn't get off to the best start as the group flight was delayed when we went to pick up the next participants. There's only so much you can do waiting around but the other PL's and I did what we could to pass the time. Once the participants started arriving, we got everyone checked in and on the bus so we took off to the accommodation. The other PL's and I did a quick orientation for the participants as they were all tired so we hit all the main points first. We also had to tell them about guidelines regarding the powhiri ceremony they would be participating in the next morning. Fiona, one of the PL's gave them a Maori song to sing, it was actually the same one I sang as a student participant about the three important things in life.

Everyone was pretty shy at first, especially the guys but it got better with practice. One of the participants in my group volunteered to be the Chief of the group. It was really good b/c his family was originally from NZ and his uncle had given him stuff to say. His role was to represent our group and also tell the people of the Marae what we were doing in the area and why we had come all this way to help out. We definitely came through with the song at the Marae and the students discussed their expectations and pleasant surprises about the whole ceremony when we got back to the Lodge the next day; they especially enjoyed the 'hongi' and its meaning. I really enjoyed the mixture of people in my group as we had Canadians, Americans and a UK resident. That night we played some intense games of elmination spoons and I also helped to narrate two games of Mafia.

What about it?

We took the group to Ianson Reserve the next day to learn about our mission to help nature correct the wrongs of our pasts. From there it was on to TECT Park to do some planting. I drove the car with a Port-a-loo attached so it took a little longer than I wanted. We got about 200 plants in, took about an hour or so b/c it started to rain so we had to head back. That night the head of the host organization we were working with came in to talk to us about the mission of the organization and how everything we do is appreciated. NZ has lost over 80% of its original forests so it has been trying to preserve as much as possible and help kick start conservation efforts across the country.
Group at TECT after a long day of work

Our day with Green Park Primary School Students was one to remember. Everyone had fun that day. From the get go I could tell it would be a great day. My group presented posters of where they were from and we all agreed that the Canadians in the group had the best presentation as they allowed the kids to come up and draw on their poster, which all the kids wanted to do. After that they mingled a little before we went to TECT Park to plant trees. The participants, only a day into their volunteer project seemed like experts when they were teaching the kids about the importance of planting trees and helping the environment; all the kids wanted to plant more and have their own special trees but we got through 220 plants very easily. We went back to have lunch at the school; the other PL's and I had lunch in the teacher's conference room. We learned they were doing a fundraiser for a bounce house they had purchased for the kids with disabilities (They were selling scones and soup); one of the kids told the teacher in charge of the fundraiser she was her hero and the teacher didn't know what to say...neither would I.

Learning about Canada, great presentation

Teaching proper planting technique

Now onto fun and games. The participants went and played on the sports fields (dodgeball, rugby, piggy back rides, basketball, jump rope) and jungle gyms. It was a lot of fun as the kids really enjoyed being outdoor, whether they were getting muddy/dirty playing rugby or running around their jungle gyms it was a great time had by all. I played some rugby and everytime we got the ball 5 or more kids jumped onto our backs to take us down so it was hilarious watching some of us get dog piled.

Owned that log

The next day involved planting over 750 trees at TECT Park (cabbage tree, lemon wood, manuka and a lot of others) after we cleared an entire bank of large branches and logs. It was a good work day and we could see the difference we made so when we got back I decided to hit the swimming holes about ~25 minutes from the Lodge. A lot of the students came along but didn't bring their towels so many jumped in with their thermals/under armour. No one would believe me that it was warmer in the water though so many walked back cold and wet. It was really 'refreshing' jumping into the natural streams and also running around the cascade of waterfalls. It was so peaceful there

Track work (uprooting)

I treated my group to Tim Tam Slams :) that night, we'll just leave it at that until I can get a video up to describe how awesome it is (especially after a long day). The next day we helped to 'release' or weed/clear around the plants that ISV planted the year before to help them compete against faster growing weeds. This was the groups first introduction to goarse, blackberry and Japanese Honeysuckle. My group tore through some heavily invested areas and we all got cuts/pokes/scratches to prove we were really in there. It wasn't all that fun at first for some people but it got better and soon everyone realized that conservation also involves the necessary need to remove species (nonnatives anyways). The rest of the groups planted 500 flaxes that day so all in all it was a good day.

Taking a break from the honeysuckle

The next day before the groups free weekend involved a lot of clearing; it was super fun and tiring at the same time. I spent a decent amount of time sawing through a few large logs, one in particular that finally was taken apart before lunch. It was cool to see the culmination of the work we'd done that week at TECT as we put some plants into the cleared areas too.

4th of July Weekend meant the participants going to Coromandel to let loose for 2 days and to take off some stress of a full work week. I stayed behind at the Lodge to help take a participant to the hospital, which got better as the week would go on. I ran into Dave (see previous blog) from Avalon on the street and we chatted a bit. That weekend I got a lot of reading done; two books actually! First was the Tao of Pooh (an amazing book with many good lessons to be learned by all; I really hope to read it again soon as it made me appreciate everything and reminded me that there are important things in life but simple ones are just as important). I also read Kiss the Girls, which a previous participant had left behind, it was a good thriller to read but a lot different from the Tao of Pooh (which I recommend to everyone).

Baby Skink!

The rest of the week was a blur as we helped D.O.C with Track Maintenance/building. My group really got into it as we had a very tricky section to work on, leveling an area and also uprooting some stumps. It started to rain hard so the day was called, unfortunately we never got to fully finish off our section of the track but it was nice to see the difference we did make in a few short hours. We also started a no cussing rule with my group (10 push ups every time you used profanity); twas fun. That night the other two PL's myself and a few students rocked out and sang a bunch of songs, with a great rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. The participants had to do performances/skits at their Marae stay at the end of the week so we had to help give them ideas.

Before we got to the track

Middle of our work day


Before leaving for lunch

After a good day of work

Well Hi There

The next project was a day at 'The Village,' a retirement community that we went to to help release plants and also plant. My group, after releasing past ISV plants, tackled Japanese Honeysuckle that had taken over an entire hillside, choking/killing off native plants, it was a site to see. It was so thick we rolled it up and I was able to jump on it comfortably to compact it and land in it without too much worry almost like a mattress. We planted flax the other groups cut up on the cleared area, it was a really good before and after spot. The participants then got to interact with a few residents from the community and share their appreciation and thanks for the work that was done. We had a kiwi tracker come in to talk to us about the day in the life of one and what equipment they used on the job. A free day followed that day but not much happened though the PL's had to deal with car trouble...oh the joys of that car we had to drive ;)

Kiwi Tracker and his best friend

The last work day involved going back to Avalon and working alongside the members there. It was a great experience for a lot of the participants who hadn't worked with people with disabilities before. We cleared an embankement of its blackberry vines and grasses before planting native plants in the area; it was a good day and everyone enjoyed it. Some of the Avalon members did some dances at lunch and some of the students did some in return (a River Dance and some back flips). We took off from Avalon after the members performed a haka and the participants did a song in return. From there it was on to the Marae where we did a debrief, our final discussion and had some time to reflect and evaluate all the things the group accomplished.

The start of the honeysuckle

1/2 way into it
Clearing Honeysuckle
Tree with Honeysuckle killing it

After getting rid of the honey suckle

Beautiful Aftermath

I treated my group to a final Tim Tam Slam, Cheers to the Drop Bears! Then we got into a pretty intense game of Ultimate Frisbee, it was good to run around and everyone had fun even though it got really competitive at points. That night the performances were excellent after an excellent dinner; the participants really pulled through. The guys really stepped up too and came up with their own original song about the purpose of their trip and why they wanted to help the environment (someone please send that video this way please). We stayed up playing mind games the rest of the night (I learned some good ones and had a lot of fun playing some I learned from being a camp counselor).

The next day was a little bitter sweet as we dropped the participants off at the airport and said our farewells and see you agains. Go Drop Bears!

Cool 'Hobbit' Tree in Albert Park, Auckland

After a day in Auckland I could finally get a little rest before picking up the next group, which happened yesterday. I showed them around central Auckland for a bit and they are all really cool and seem to have gelled a bit the last day or so. I look forward to our next week of work at Tawharanui Open Sanctuary and hope to update you all soon, thanks for reading, keep in touch (email, blog comments, skype, tokbox, fb, whatever way you want to), Take care of yourselves,

Cheers,
Tyler

Learn to Fly

Lost World

Recycle

2 weeks traveling En Zed, my how time flies.

It's an interesting part of life when someone decides to pack a few essentials in a bag and go away for an extended period of time to travel the world. Well, falling into that category I am guilty. It defnitely did not start off the best way (my break that is) as I booked a bus ticket to Taupo via Auckland with a company called naked bus (har har yeah funny name). I was at the airport pick up site but never saw any sign of the bus, unfortunately their lack of customer service did not help my mood as the driver claimed he was there at the site waiting for 10 minutes. Maybe I was at the wrong airport? Oh wait there's only one Auckland Airport, oh well, needless to say I won't be booking with them again anytime soon, or ever again.

Fuel Burger and Fries and BurgerFuel in Taupo

After catching an Intercity bus to Taupo and arriving at 2am I figure the trip would get better from there. 3 days later I hadn't accomplished much. I wanted to do the Tongariro Crossing but it never worked out; it's rated one of the best (if not the best) day hikes in NZ but unfortunately the weather did not permit people from doing the crossing. I also tried to go Snowboarding but that did not work out b/c of harsh winds so the mountain was closed to all skiiers/snowboarders. After doing an ok hike and catching up on emails I booked a ticket to Wanganui. The night before leaving I had 3 new roommates. One a Belgian guy named Yannick was 3 months into his 8 month around the world tour. He'd already been to Thailand, Cambodia and Oz; his next stops are the US and Mexico. We chatted about life and how we were young so we had to take advantage of this time to travel and see the world, things are never guaranteed. It was great talking to a like-minded person who was into traveling, the outdoors and meeting new people.
Mini Geothermal Vent I found on the side of the road in Taupo on a hike

Remember these?

The other two people in the room were from Hong Kong; they'd both done a stint in Oz on a working-holiday visa and were visiting NZ before heading back to HK to go back to work. It was nice to test my Cantonese out as I hadn't really had the chance on the last project to talk to the one student who did speak fluently. The next morning they were nice enough to offer me some Chinese porridge (which I hadn't had in a long time and I was craving some Chinese food). After getting everyone's emails and wishing them safe journey's I took off to Wanganui.

Why Wanganui? Well I signed up for Wwoofing (www.wwoof.org) and had gotten in contact with someone there who had some work to do and it especially interested me b/c he mentioned a bike program. I walked to the Environment/Sustainability Center in the city and ended up talking to a bike mechanic working on a Green Bikes Program (sound familiar?) His name was Jonah and the program took donated bikes and fixed them up so the public can purchase them for $25! This was similar to the bike-sharing program I'd been working on at UC San Diego (Triton Bikes) . Small world? Everything happens for a reason so I'm sure this was why I was supposed to stop in that city while I made my way to Wellington.

Green Bikes at the Sustainability Center in Wanganui

Working on the second bike (Shimano)

First Bike I ever Fixed completely, BMX!

First susnet in Wanganui from Drurie Hill

I ended up helping Jonah fix some bikes, he taught me a lot about bicycles and what to do when inspecting/repairing them. I fixed my first bike that day, a orange bmx bike haha. It was great though to be able to work on bikes and learn from an experience bike mechanic. Also got to have a really good veggie stew (both days I was there) that Jonah cooked up (he's a vegetarian). Later in the day I met with Hadi, the guy who I was staying with and we eventually agreed that I would just work in the bike shop as my form of wwoofing (so it's not a real wwoof but it was still awesome). Hadi was from the UK and he was really into growing organically (he even has two bee hives that he gets honey from, which btw is really good fresh). We chatted about environmental issues and different ways we can improve sustainability in cities over dinner; I stayed at his house b/c his kids were away for the week so I was lucky enough to get a bed.

Second Sunset of Wanganui from Drurie Hill

Jonah and his trailer he let me borrow to carry my stuff to a hitchhike point

Getting ready for a fun journey down to Wellington

After two days there I was off to make my way to Wellington. Instead of going on a bus though I got some really helpful tips from Jonah and friends. He even let me borrow a bike to ride out to the best spot to catch rides, he rode alongside me and then took the bike back in the trailer he built for his bike. At first I didn't think I'd get a ride after having cars passby for about 20-30 minutes. But all of a sudden I heard honking and a guy stopped, backing up to where I was standing. He asked where I was going and I said Wellington, he was going there too so he said to hop on in. I know what you're thinking, yeah it might have sketchy, and yes I had some doubts at first but after checking the situation I said I'd go along with it and see how it went for a bit.

Hitchhikers Guide

Turns out we just kept talking all the way to Wellington. His name was Ismael and he was originally from Turkey and now had a few restaurants in NZ. He was on his way to a meeting luckily. We chatted about life, politics, and a lot of other things. He said he's refused to pick people up before after stopping to talk to them b/c of the way they handled themselves or looked up close. He also did say he likes to help people and if giving them a ride helps them then that's all good. It was interesting how similar our mindsets were at times; he and I agreed on the way we live our lives and that having a good heart is key. It's a small world he said so I'm sure I'll be going to one of his restaurants one day. After dropping me off near Parliament in Wellington (he said Thank you in Mandarin after I told him thank you, not bad) I wished him the best of luck in everything and walked to Parliament to meet a friend.

The Beehive aka Parliament

Who would have thought I would be hanging out with the Green Party that day, I got to meet one fo their MPs and a lot of the staff that worked in the party. I also took a tour of Parliament and got to learn about the history of the place. After eating at Burger Wisconsin (an ode to the supposed founder of the first burger), which was pretty good, I bumped into some of the participants in my last group and caught up on things. They took over some bars that night but I called it in pretty early as there was a long day ahead of preparing for my first All Blacks Rugby match.

Supporting the All Blacks with Ferns in Welly

Had to make sure the ticket was real

Fast foward through a day of walking around Wellington, seeing a lot of French Supports to counter the All Blacks fans and bam we were at Westpac Stadium for the match. It was a great atmosphere, even though the temperature had dropped very low people showed up in force. It's interesting to compare stadiums in the US to ones here, Westpac Stadium, one of their largest holds 45,000 people. College Stadiums in the US can hold 100,000+, crazy huh? After hearing the national anthems and seeing the pride and spirit in both the teams fans we got to see the HAKA!!!! That was intensE! with a capital E! Some fans through some roosters painted in French Colors onto the field, not sure how they snuck that in but pretty funny. Security chased them down; also one fan who ran onto the field got tackled by a security officer (full on tackle, probably the best hit of the game haha).

The All Blacks Warming Up

French Supporter?

National Anthems

the HAKA!

All Blacks won that night 14-10 but they lost the series cup to France who won the previous game by 6 points so the All Blacks needed more points to fully win. Either way though people were in good moods and a win got everyone hitting the bars that night.

Fighting for Position
Scrumming it up

All Blacks 14, France 10

Chilling in Welly the next day I visited the national Museum Te Papa and saw the colossal squid they had caught in Antartica and studied. It was decaying slowly but still pretty insane to think that was a relatively small one (though they've never caught a bigger one alive before). I also enjoyed their Blood, Earth, Fire exhibit that demonstrated the impact of humans on the land of NZ; one video documented 7 people and the special places they love and cherish in NZ, illustrating their connection with the Environment and passion to preserve it.

Colossal Squid in Te Papa Museam

After Welly I was off to New Plymouth, unfortunately I couldn't hike Mt. Taranaki or any of the coastal walks as I was only staying a night.
Mt. Taranaki

Road Side Stop

From there I went to Waitomo and signed up for an intense Caving Adventure called the Lost World. The Rambo Rating was 10/10. The first thing I did was abseil (repel) 100 meters into a giant cave entrance.

Now I'm back to work and need to update you again but finding time to get to an internet cafe is kind of hard. Hope to chat with you all soon,

Cheers

P.S.