Hunting and Gathering

Although my life has slowed down a bit in the last few weeks, while back in Kaiaua, it seems as though I am still experiencing just as many exciting things. Two weeks ago, while I was writing about the South Island experience, I was studying in one of the only Chenier Plains in the world. Shells are broken down and deposited in ridgelines creating shell banks. Sedimentation from terrestrial run-off fills in the mounds and creates new land. This is how Miranda, an internationally recognized shorebird sanctuary, and Kaiaua was formed. We counted 45 species of birds in just a few days; all of this, in my very own backyard.

That weekend, I was fortunate enough to meet with our chef, Rhonda, to go mussel hunting. She is such a hip lady and was so excited to take myself and my friend Amy out of Higgins’s beach to show us the natural treasures of Kaiaua. The tide didn’t agree with us to get mussels, but we were able to gather a feed of rock oysters anyhow. They were so delicious and it was very refreshing to feel directly connected to my food, earning it with my cuts and scrapes. We deep fried them and had double-battered oysters for dinner with kumara chips (something like sweet potato fries).

This week was spent mostly in the classroom learning about ecological restoration and working on a few papers due today. Yes, there are academic requirements at EcoQuest. We even had a 1.5 hr quiz and 3.5 hr exam since I posted last. However, Wednesday, was spent at the stream adjacent to campus. This area has been overrun with invasive species and has altered the ecosystem. So the lot of us began pulling weeds, chopping trees, scarfing grass, and cutting bamboo. It was very gratifying to see your accomplishments at the end of the day. And like the frost flats overwrought with the pine trees, you begin to hate the very species that have beautified your backyard.

Anyways, I am currently attempting to build a shelter with the bamboo that was collected. However, the bamboo, ground, and wasps are not cooperating. We’ll see if it ever gets done. It is worthwhile trying to use as much of the resource gathered in clearing the stream banks. Not everything you think is waste has lost all of its usefulness.

We also took a trip to the mainland island of Maungatautari. This mountain has a fence around it specially designed to exclude all mammalian predators, which were introduced by humans to New Zealand. The forest composition in this regenerating forest is magical. This is where I will be doing some of my research on invertebrates, to be explored further in another post. One of the highlights is pictures, a giant weta consumed from the inside by some sort of fungus. Cool, eh!?! Also, on the way to the mountain we passed through Matamata, or has you would better know it, Hobbiton. It is amazing to see the pop culture influence of the west on New Zealand.

Next on the docket is the directed research project. Much more about this is comming as I begin data collection in the field and lab work sorting it out. The details that I uncover may not be entirely interesting to everyone, but I may include it just to sound intelligent.

I am in the last stretch and sufficiently miss you all. Stay well, at least until I get back.