Once we arrived and unpacked, we went out to start conducting the shellfish survey. We went down to the estuary during low tide and followed along transacts to little pink flags. Then we dug a square in the sand and sifted through the sand. We measured cockles and wedge shells which are easily effected by the sedimentation of the estuary. Chris, my partner, and I must have counted over 500 shells in the 3 days.
Later our group was split into two groups. My group hiked to the top of the Pa site first. It was a nice hike, though it was really steep and our field leader practically runs up the mountain. At the top the view was incredible. We looked down on the Wharekawa Harbor estuary. Here is a picture.
Don't let the pictures fool you, as I said in my last post, it did rain. The second day. After the hike, my group went out kayaking. We had to practice wet exits and t-rescuing. The water was freezing!!!! But we had layers on and it was still really fun.The next day my group broke up again into two, and we worked on our oral presentations for a few hours. My group talked about sedimentation rates in the Wharekawa Harbor estuary. Mostly coming from the plantation forestry within the catchment (watershed). In the afternoon we went down to the estuary to go vegetation transacts. The rush plants were so sharp! And of course I was only wearing fleece pants, and was stuck all over. I was also bitten like crazy by these black fly things. Still fun though, and wicked muddy.The next day started again with the shellfish survey. Unfortunately it was raining, blowing like crazy, and really cold. We couldn't feel our feet or our hands but persevered through all in the name of conservation.
We were supposed to switch groups from the day before, and my group was going to go kayaking, but the weather wasn't cooperating. The winds were too strong for us to kayak. Instead we continued work on our presentation. We sat in the fireplace room and eventually all laid on the floor like sardines and fell asleep as Holliday read us children's books. It was so nice to just chill for an afternoon.
The final day we got up early again for the shellfish survey. Beck, Denny, and I volunteered to go down earlier to help the field leaders set up the transacts. It was really neat to get the additional hands on experience. I really enjoy field work.
After counting hundreds more shellfish, we returned to the hostel to pack up. Then took the drive home before the gale force winds started.
Last night we had a huge storm, and lost power. This didn't stop a bunch of adventurers though. Equipped with head lamps we had a party in granny's (our hang out spot). The only thing missing was music. Eventually the power came on, but we were only able to hear/dance to half a song before we lost power again. One of the fruit trees was blown over when we woke up this morning. It's still raining, and is supposed to for the next few days. Of course.
Today a few of us went into Thames to do a bit of shopping. I bought flannel, a striped sweater, New Zealand wine, pencils, and the most important, CHOCOLATE! Sam, Sara, and I also stopped in at a coffee shop called Coco Espresso. I had iced coffee, that came with cream on top. Delicious!
Now I'm just chilling in the Wharekai because it's our day off, but it's raining off and on. Just chased a bird out. Been happening a lot lately. Tomorrow we leave for Motutapu. Check out this site for information: www.motutapu.org.nz
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