Well, today is July 4th in New Zealand but it is
actually July 3rd in the U.S., but never mind that, we consider it
July 4th anyway. This morning, the class started the morning with a
hearty helping of beans and toast, cereal, and perhaps Vegemite on toast!? They
had orientation and several lectures in the morning and early afternoon – and they stayed awake! – a very resilient
class as jet lag can take several days to recover.
Lectures covered principles and techniques to conserve and
restore biodiversity in New Zealand. New Zealand has many endemic plants and
animals (found nowhere else in the world) and with the introduction of humans
(Maori about 800-900 years ago) and then Europeans, many species went extinct
and currently many are in danger of going extinct. Due to habitat loss and the
introduction of many invasive exotics, such as brushtail possums and rats, both New Zealand plants and
animals (including humans!) are under pressure. Some of the large birds, called Moas (see
dramatization of Moa being hunted by Maori),
use to roam the forests and took over the browsing role of mammals. Terrestrial
mammals were not historically present in New Zealand. Hence the introduction of
possums, rats, deer, etc, have caused havoc with New Zealand flora and fauna.
Native plants and animals do not have defenses against them and plants are
eaten at will and mammal predators eat native birds and lizards.
Two quests for the class (over there stay here) are to find
a velvet worm, (do see this video of velvet worm hunting a beetle) and a huhu bug (do see this hunt for the elusive huhu bug
). The Maori have been eating these huhu grubs for centuries and it is
supposedly quite tasty, and I (anybody else?) will try one (if we find it!).
After lunch, we had several more lectures covering design,
construction and postconstruction issues surrounding green developments. Green
developments are not easy to do but do minimize impacts on our natural
resources if designed and managed well.
The classs decided to go on a hike and we stopped for “tea time” at coffee culture
to sample flat whites, hot chocolate, and muffins.
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| At Coffee Culture |
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| Hmm Mochaccino |
We continued on to Halswell Quarry for hike that led us to
some adorable black-faced sheep (probably Suffolk breed – see many New Zealandvarieties here ). heard a new term for these sheep “Shangles.” (angelic sheep).
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| Up the path - towards sheep |
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| SHEEP! |
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| Uhhh - more sheep? |
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| How the light changes in New Zealand |
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| In front of a Korean Sculpture in the gardens near Halswell |
We hiked around the quarry where early pioneers used the
stone to build homes and roads in Christchurch (see history ). We encountered several native plants including, cabbage tree, Ngaio, hebe,
manuka, and kanuka. Manuka honey is valued throughout the world as having
healing qualities.
We ended the day with a beautiful sunset and a trip to New
World supermarket before dinner. Nighty night! Dr. H
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| Sunset over Christchurch |
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