Rails to Tales

After a chilly night, we ate breakfast and bid farewell to the historic Waipara Sleeper Cars.  We were off to explore the Waipara valley Greening Waipara wineries.  We reviewed our native plants and learned about the wine of the region.

Then it was back to Lincoln to catch the last few minutes of the Saturday Market and get some lunch.  After a break to unpack our bags, we had a friendly game of Cricket with the Huhu Grubs taking on the Hugh Wilson Warriors. Unfortunately, we will ever know the outcome of the game as an hour-and-a-half in, the game was called on account of weather.  A southerly change came up quickly and brought too much cold, rain, and wind, but the tales might be told of the mighty Huhu dominating the Warriors 42-33, or the Warriors coming back to crush the Huhu if it were not for the weather.  hmmmm...

Rest Up!  A few more adventures to come, m&m : )                                               

Kaikoura

Our first stop on our way to Kaikoura was Pegasus Town, one of the largest green developments in the Canterbury region with around 1300-1500 homes.  

The development is about six years old, but is likely 20 years from being completely finished.  The builders and homeowners are able to plant natives within individual lots at their own discretion, but all houses within the development must meet sustainable energy efficiency specifications.  Some more green features include swales for drainage and high-density housing  (small lots are placed close together with larger areas of shared open green space among houses).  

The development neighbors the Tuhaitara Coastal Park, in which the developers have made efforts to begin restoring native vegetation in some areas.

Our next stop was for teatime at Pukeko Junction.

       Several hours later, we arrived in Kaikoura!  (Kai meaning land, koura meaning crayfish- land of the crayfish!) We first stopped for lunch at a local beach and then headed to the New Zealand fur seal sanctuary and enjoyed a closer look of lounging, playing, and barking seals!  

      The fur seals were once abundant throughout the country and have been under full government protection from hunting since 1946.  The current population is roughly 100,000 seals, however, that is estimated to be only 10-20% of the original population prior to the increase in hunting in the mid 1700’s.

        After admiring the seals from the viewing platform, we took a short drive to a mystery hike.  

        We walked about 10-15 minutes before reaching the hidden jewel- the Ohau Stream Seal Pups.  

      A hidden waterfall sanctuary acts as a nursery for up to 200 seal pups every winter, giving these young, gregarious animals a chance to develop important social and motor skills.  They return down the stream every few days for their mother’s milk until they reach about a year in age and leave the safety of the waterfall for good.  Sadly, we couldn’t spend the entire day watching the little pups chase each other in their gorgeous home and made our way back down the path to the van.

     We had just enough time for a quick souvenir-shopping trip in Kaikoura before we left to attend the Powhiri, or formal greeting, at Takahanga Marae.   The house and grounds are sacred and after a brief overview of the Powhiri process outside the grounds, we entered the Marae and the welcome ceremony began.  The welcome was conducting almost entirely in Maori, and includes first a welcome to the ancestors of both the hosts and the Manuhiri (visitors), before welcoming the guests.  Each group sang a song; the Takahanga sang a traditional Maori song that was beautiful and filled the building with a rich harmony.  (we sang Stand by Me, by Ben E. King, and did our best J ).  After a few closing words, we did the Hongi, which is a Maori traditional greeting in which each person presses their nose and forehead against one another.

      Once the formal ceremony was over, we enjoyed tea and pastries before returning to the meetinghouse for a more in depth discussion and introduction to the Takahanga Marae.  This discussion including a history of the intricately carved decorative panels covering the walls and ceilings of the Marae that depict the history of the Iwi (tribe) and its connections to the region, Maori gods, and neighboring tribes.  Sadly, no photography is permitted inside the Marae and my words can’t do the ceremony or the building’s artwork justice- but it was a truly magical experience.  After the introduction and history of the Takahanga Marae, we went to dinner at Tiki Takeway, which has been voted the best fish and chips shop on the South Island, and the second best shop in all of New Zealand. We then returned to the Marae and got settled in for the night.

-Mimi

July 22-24 Free Weekend

We have all been off on adventures of our own during this free weekend.  The weather was a factor on Saturday with rain and high winds.  Despite this, we all had fun...

mmjt at Lake Tekapo (no skiing, but we did get to ice skate on Friday, and got a few photos in between raindrops on Saturday)

Can't even see the snow covered mountains in the cloud and rain

Amber, Grace, Kathryn, Kelly, Lauren, and Mimi were down in Queenstown enjoying the sites and advetnure-town-capitol activities

BEFORE they jumped ; )

Emma, Maris, and Santiago explored the Christchurch area

And Matt spent quite a bit of time on a plane to Perth, AU and back just to visit with his folks and a koala or two

Glad everyone had fun!  Meryl : )

Hinawai and Hugh Wilson – National Treasures

Today we are at Hinewai Reserve near Akaroa.  Managed by renown botanist, Hugh Wilson, this 3,000 acre reserve is a wonderful example of nature regenerating itself.  What was once gorse-infested farmland is now beach forest after just 20 or so years.  Much to the dismay of early critics, Hugh’s successful philosophy is that the gorse makes a good planting bed for natives and protects them from wind and predators with its spiny bark.  The natives grow up through the gorse and then shade it out and kill it.

Hugh draws and writes everything by hand.  Here is an overview of the reserve neatly drawn out by him.

What was an old wood shed on the property is now a Visitor's Center/Lodge where we will stay the night.

A ground weta welcomed Mimi to the Lodge : )

The view from the top of our hike down to Long Bay beach.  Note the yellow-flowering gorse in the photo, and the green beech forest on the hillside on the right (where the hike went through down to the beach).  Contrast with the patch of mowed-by-sheep farmland down by the beach.

With the big 600 year old Totara

Some of Hugh's illustrations of birds in Hinewai

Hugh, getting ready to go to work at the top of the hill where he is helping to manage additional property adding to the Hinewai Reserve area through another trust.  Hugh HATES cars and says the secret to staying young and healthy is to have nothing to do with them.  After I took this picture, he added five large wood stakes to the back of his bike before heading off up the hill.

We hiked from the top of Hinewai where we will stay tonight at the Visitor’s Center/Lodge (very rustic old wood shed, but comfy) down to Long Bay beach. Along the way we saw many native plants and birds.  At the bottom we got to see rare, native kakariki parrots that Hugh’s helper, Paul, has a special license to keep as pets, and hunted for Paua shell at Long Bay beach.  We also got to see a lot of sheep up close and personal as the farmer that lives at the edge of the beach just outside of the reserve was running sheep into another paddock where we were hiking - very exciting. 

Hard to imagine this hillside of natives bare farmland just 20 years ago

Native Kakariki

LOTS of sheep

Grace outstanding in a field with the sheep

Long Bay beach on a cool grey winter day

Amber found not only paua but also a sponge

Hanging out at Long Bay beach

In the late afternoon and back up at the Lodge, we played games, Hugh told us the history of Hinewai, and we enjoyed a yummy meal together.

Hugh tells us the story of Hinewai

Thank you Hugh!  We love Hinewai and you!

The gang and Mark will spend the night at the Visitor Center/Lodge at Hinewai.  They have 11 bunks there and a log burner to keep them (mostly) warm.  Stay Warm And Sweet Dreams Everyone, Meryl : )

Journey to Akaroa

We left this morning for Akaroa. Before we made it too far, we stopped for tea at the Little River Café and Gallery to defrost from the cold, wet weather. From there, we made a quick pit stop at Akaroa Harbour in an attempt to see where we would have been eating lunch, had it not been so dreary out. Along the way, we saw a couple rainbows and stopped for some locally made cheese.

(say "cheese")

We pulled off at Onawe Pa Historic Reserve to see the hardened lava. 

 On the drive out, we saw a king fisher, black necked stilts and some black/red bill gulls. Once in Akoroa, we ate lunch and had the opportunity to do some shopping. Then we drove up to Kit and Rob’s house to hear more about the Tuis. All of the tuis were extirpated in the 1980’s, but in a recent attempt to bring them back, they have been introduced in Hinewai which isn’t far from Akaroa. Due to the warm weather and gum trees that the birds like, some of the tuis have moved to Akaroa and today we saw many. To help benefit the Banks Peninsula Trust, bird feeders with sugar water have been made out of wine and beer bottles. The bottle is mounted on a piece of wood with a branch sticking out underneath. As long as there is water in the feeder, it keeps the drinking dish replenished. 

(only birds with longer beaks/tongues can drink from it)

(tui drinking the sugar water)

 Part of the tui restoration is tagging the birds and giving them names. People can pay to name the birds and proceeds benefit the trust. After thanking Kit and Rob for allowing us to view the tuis around their home, we drove to the Garden of Tane to meet up with John McElroy. He showed us one of the morepork boxes that the MENZSHED group build. The boxes are meant to give the moreporks a safe place to nest. Hoisted up on a monkey puzzle tree, we saw one of the bird houses. 

 Both moreporks and Dr. H enjoy grubbing on the huhu beetle! 

We settled in to our backpackers, warmed up some dinner, and played a couple rousing games of cards. Can't wait to see what Hinewai has in store for us tomorrow. 

~Amber