Last week, after Ima's on Friday night, C took G to see DubFX after having booked the tickets on a whim several months before. DubFX beat-boxes his backing track and using foot-pedal technology adds beat-boxed layers of instrumentals and then raps over the top. We arrived at the club at half nine and watched a DJ on stage with his Mac, gradually dancing our way to the front of the audience. By the time DubFX was being chanted for, we were at the very front and had already been introduced to a very crazy fan with a hand-shake. She and DubFX had "conversation" the whole way through his set. He was joined on stage by a sax and piano player, Andy V, who gave D some much needed support by grinning maniacally and jumping up and down with his arms in the air. Apparently it was the 42nd gig in 7 weeks and D's voice was breaking and he looked to be in pain at several high notes, so as a crowd we cheered him on to the end of his set - the poor guy!
The next day, Sunday, we took the bus to Tingting's house to discuss the possibility of a hiking weekend with one of T's friends. Upon arrival we were put to work in the kitchen making dumplings. C turned out to be a natural at this, and so went round instructing everyone else in dumpling-making. Simply take your rolled flour, add some stuffing quite compactly, fold the dough, put water around the edges, press the edges together, and seal in whichever pattern you like. We were kicked out of the kitchen after half an hour because the roommate on cooking duty was grumpy at our "school-girl attitude", but who says you can't have some fun in a kitchen when you're not working for Ramsey?
We went upstairs and waited for dinner, chatting for a while until the gong sounded (in a house of 20 people you need a dinner gong). The dumplings, accompanying vegetable curry, carrot and beetroot salad and sauce were delicious. We took our dinner upstairs and discussed the trip. A four-person tent was then brought down and we quickly put it up only to be hit with the smell of damp, so moved it onto a pile of mattresses in the gigantic living room to dry out. We attached a note indicating it must not be moved, and received some strange looks from other housemates. Following some table-tennis (C) and piano playing (G), T's friend's boyfriend came to pick her up, and they very kindly gave us a lift back into town.
On Tuesday afternoon, we went to Glen Innes to meet the psych professor and he drove us to circus class. There C had her first go on the silks. It was just like the monkey bars: muscle memory kicked in and she was hanging upside down and performing the grade 1 routine in no time- a born circus natural. Looks like Tuesday nights are now silks nights for C!
Wednesday brought Python and ballet! G went to a double ballet session, and C attended a meeting of New Zealand's Python User Group (Auckland branch) and headed to the pub afterwards and had some OK beer. If anyone is au fait with beer in the Auckland area, where can we get a good pint? Not one has yet been consumed. Wine tips also please.
This week, C made spinach and kumara ravioli (from scratch), and used the remaining dough to make mushroom and walnut ravioli. The idea came from her new-found proficiency at dumpling making. G made delicious Tom Yam full of chilli and flavour, and banana, peanut butter and chocolate cookies. Needless to say, most were finished by G... C's sweet-tooth is just not up to that level yet.
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Sunday, 13 April 2014
The Grapes of Wrath
Over the last week, we have both been busy bees indeed. Last Saturday, C was slaving away on her assignments, and G went to ballet as usual. Then in the afternoon, G went to Glen Innes to meet the psych prof and someone from her ballet class (who also happens to be a postgraduate psychology student) for a silks class, i.e. climbing and swinging and posing on long silk ribbons hanging from the ceiling, circus style. For G, this was a completely new experience, and given her lack of any considerable upper-body strength, a challenge.
The class started with some 'gentle' warm-ups, which included doing press ups. Then the class moved on to the silks themselves, and learned how to climb them. It's similar to climbing a rope, where you have to pull yourself up with your arms, but the silks have to be arranged in a specific way around your feet, which allows you to climb, but also saves you from falling off/dying if your hands slip. Climbing the silks was hard, so it wasn't done for too long. Then there was learning some different knots for your feet which allow you to do various moves, and trying some poses, which were elegant when demonstrated by the instructor. The class finished with a gentle wind-down of push-ups, chin-ups, carrying other people across the room with bent legs and handstands. G did not fully recover until Thursday.
On Sunday, we were feeling a bit worse for wear following a night out with Linda, but this could not hold us back as we were meeting Tingting to go to One Tree Hill, another extinct volcano a few miles out of the city. First we went for brunch at Olaf's cafe in Mount Eden, where poor C had some issues with vegan options (which Tingting very determinedly resolved), but once we got our food it was tasty, if a little on the pretentious/rip-off side. We then made our way in T's car to One Tree Hill, which used to be an important Maori settlement. We arrived in the midst of a dog show, so watched the adorable dogs parade around the ring to commentary from a less-than-enthused adjudicator.
After best-in-show, we made our way to the top of the hill, where we admired the views of Auckland (you could see for miles around). There used to be an old tree at the summit, but this was cut down by Maori activists to protest injustices perpetrated by the NZ government. Strangely, there is a 'towering obelisk' at the top of the hill, a monument to a British aristocrat's admiration of the Maori people. That's right, not a monument to the Maori, but to some white colonialist's admiration of them. On the way back to the car, we saw a tiny metal plaque on the side of the hill. The plaque said it was the true monument to the Maori people who lived on the hill, and that that the chief used to live on the summit, probably where the obelisk stands now.
On Monday, G started her new job working for Inland Revenue. There is an initial training period of 9 weeks, and much to learn, but everyone seemed very friendly and helpful so G finished the week with good feelings about her new post. On Monday night, we had Mel and Kate over for dinner, and C made a delicious kumara risotto, finishing off with some vegan coconut ice cream (yum) from M&K. On Thursday, our landlord returned from Thailand. and informed us that he would no longer be keeping our current flat, so we would be moving to our other flat by the end of April. We'll believe it when it happens! G also got some good news on Thursday- the psych prof think he's secured some funding for G to be a research assistant on one of his projects which will be a study of parents of eating-disordered children. It sounds like an exciting project, so G said that she'd be interested.
On Friday, we went for dinner at Ima's, an Israeli restaurant that C found through one of her classmates, to celebrate the end of a good week, with G staring her new job and C finishing assignments. We had a small mezze to start (small=really not small) which consisted of olives, hummus, tahini, fried lemony cauliflower, aubergine, tomato, pita, and other assorted goodness. G then had fried halloumi and C had a vegan dish- we couldn't stop praising how good the food was! Unfortunately we ordered some red wine which was less than drinkable. It was an NZ wine from Hawke's Bay, which tasted nothing like wine- we could barely swallow it without gagging. We apologetically sent it back, and we chose a different one, this time it was almost acceptable, but G still couldn't finish hers. Although the wine was a disappointment, we'll definitely go back there, as the food was heavenly!
The class started with some 'gentle' warm-ups, which included doing press ups. Then the class moved on to the silks themselves, and learned how to climb them. It's similar to climbing a rope, where you have to pull yourself up with your arms, but the silks have to be arranged in a specific way around your feet, which allows you to climb, but also saves you from falling off/dying if your hands slip. Climbing the silks was hard, so it wasn't done for too long. Then there was learning some different knots for your feet which allow you to do various moves, and trying some poses, which were elegant when demonstrated by the instructor. The class finished with a gentle wind-down of push-ups, chin-ups, carrying other people across the room with bent legs and handstands. G did not fully recover until Thursday.
On Sunday, we were feeling a bit worse for wear following a night out with Linda, but this could not hold us back as we were meeting Tingting to go to One Tree Hill, another extinct volcano a few miles out of the city. First we went for brunch at Olaf's cafe in Mount Eden, where poor C had some issues with vegan options (which Tingting very determinedly resolved), but once we got our food it was tasty, if a little on the pretentious/rip-off side. We then made our way in T's car to One Tree Hill, which used to be an important Maori settlement. We arrived in the midst of a dog show, so watched the adorable dogs parade around the ring to commentary from a less-than-enthused adjudicator.
After best-in-show, we made our way to the top of the hill, where we admired the views of Auckland (you could see for miles around). There used to be an old tree at the summit, but this was cut down by Maori activists to protest injustices perpetrated by the NZ government. Strangely, there is a 'towering obelisk' at the top of the hill, a monument to a British aristocrat's admiration of the Maori people. That's right, not a monument to the Maori, but to some white colonialist's admiration of them. On the way back to the car, we saw a tiny metal plaque on the side of the hill. The plaque said it was the true monument to the Maori people who lived on the hill, and that that the chief used to live on the summit, probably where the obelisk stands now.
On Monday, G started her new job working for Inland Revenue. There is an initial training period of 9 weeks, and much to learn, but everyone seemed very friendly and helpful so G finished the week with good feelings about her new post. On Monday night, we had Mel and Kate over for dinner, and C made a delicious kumara risotto, finishing off with some vegan coconut ice cream (yum) from M&K. On Thursday, our landlord returned from Thailand. and informed us that he would no longer be keeping our current flat, so we would be moving to our other flat by the end of April. We'll believe it when it happens! G also got some good news on Thursday- the psych prof think he's secured some funding for G to be a research assistant on one of his projects which will be a study of parents of eating-disordered children. It sounds like an exciting project, so G said that she'd be interested.
On Friday, we went for dinner at Ima's, an Israeli restaurant that C found through one of her classmates, to celebrate the end of a good week, with G staring her new job and C finishing assignments. We had a small mezze to start (small=really not small) which consisted of olives, hummus, tahini, fried lemony cauliflower, aubergine, tomato, pita, and other assorted goodness. G then had fried halloumi and C had a vegan dish- we couldn't stop praising how good the food was! Unfortunately we ordered some red wine which was less than drinkable. It was an NZ wine from Hawke's Bay, which tasted nothing like wine- we could barely swallow it without gagging. We apologetically sent it back, and we chose a different one, this time it was almost acceptable, but G still couldn't finish hers. Although the wine was a disappointment, we'll definitely go back there, as the food was heavenly!
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
The Perks of Being a Wallclimber
Friday night. G and C head to Juice Bar in Parnell, for an amateur burlesque night with Mel and Kate who we know from Rainbow Youth. The show was packed and the drinks a rip-off, but it turned out to be a fun night nevertheless. Most of the women on-stage clearly hadn't been doing it for long, but it was nice to see people of all shapes and sizes get up and strut their stuff. It looked like they were having a lot of fun, so in the interval when the troupe's instructor asked who wanted to have a go, of course we volunteered! Unfortunately by the time we made it to the stage, they had run out of feather boas, which seemed to be used in about 50% of the moves. We bravely carried on without boas, executing each turn and move with utmost grace and finesse.
On Saturday, G finally awoke to the message she had been waiting for. Apparently she was 1.2% below the mark required to gain entry to medschool in 2014. This was disappointing, but G resolved to work even harder and do better next year, take some different exams, and review her uni choices. Also this way she gets to spend another year out in this beautiful country with the lovely C, so it ain't half bad! G then went for Saturday morning ballet class, leaving C at home to get on with her essay on biodiversity policies in NZ.
The psych professor met us at Glen Innes train station just after lunch, and we picked up a speech and language therapy PhD student on the way to the climbing centre. C had climbed before, but G had no prior experience so wasn't sure what to expect! We had an induction from the friendly instructors, and were then left to try for ourselves! The professor seemed to be somewhat of an experienced climber, scaling the walls upside-down. The student was Muslim, so would be climbing fully covered, in loose garments, which reassured G a bit, as if the student could climb in her clothing, it couldn't be too difficult!
We both climbed three walls each, starting with the easiest. G seemed to take to it well, so we progressed onto a slightly harder wall, which we both completed. The final wall was a bit harder. C managed about half before returning, as her arms and legs were unable to bend the sufficient amount to reach the next marker! G attempted the wall, falling off three times, but eventually managing to make it to the top, which she was very pleased about. Post-climb we all had coffee, C got into a heated religious debate, and we were both invited to go along to a circus skills (trapeeze, silks etc) class the following weekend. Why not?
Sunday was a lazy day, the highlight being the purchase of a new laptop for C and Bananagrams. C met up with a friend from Imperial, and they had some compsci chats over a few pints. On Monday, G and C cracked on with work, C finalising and submitting her first essay in seven years, and G reading a paper for the psych prof about how to best promote self-caring to the parents of eating-disordered children. He is hoping to replicate the study in NZ, which would be great to get involved with.
Curry cravings set in by late afternoon, and we set out to Dosa Plaza, to see what they had to offer. C had a hot and sour soup and masala dosa, and G had a paneer tikka combo. It was rather delicious, and definitely more flavoursome than Raviz. We then went home and had a productive evening, C excitedly setting up her new laptop and G doing some more reading, whilst indulging in our new Father Ted addiction.
On Saturday, G finally awoke to the message she had been waiting for. Apparently she was 1.2% below the mark required to gain entry to medschool in 2014. This was disappointing, but G resolved to work even harder and do better next year, take some different exams, and review her uni choices. Also this way she gets to spend another year out in this beautiful country with the lovely C, so it ain't half bad! G then went for Saturday morning ballet class, leaving C at home to get on with her essay on biodiversity policies in NZ.
The psych professor met us at Glen Innes train station just after lunch, and we picked up a speech and language therapy PhD student on the way to the climbing centre. C had climbed before, but G had no prior experience so wasn't sure what to expect! We had an induction from the friendly instructors, and were then left to try for ourselves! The professor seemed to be somewhat of an experienced climber, scaling the walls upside-down. The student was Muslim, so would be climbing fully covered, in loose garments, which reassured G a bit, as if the student could climb in her clothing, it couldn't be too difficult!
We both climbed three walls each, starting with the easiest. G seemed to take to it well, so we progressed onto a slightly harder wall, which we both completed. The final wall was a bit harder. C managed about half before returning, as her arms and legs were unable to bend the sufficient amount to reach the next marker! G attempted the wall, falling off three times, but eventually managing to make it to the top, which she was very pleased about. Post-climb we all had coffee, C got into a heated religious debate, and we were both invited to go along to a circus skills (trapeeze, silks etc) class the following weekend. Why not?
Sunday was a lazy day, the highlight being the purchase of a new laptop for C and Bananagrams. C met up with a friend from Imperial, and they had some compsci chats over a few pints. On Monday, G and C cracked on with work, C finalising and submitting her first essay in seven years, and G reading a paper for the psych prof about how to best promote self-caring to the parents of eating-disordered children. He is hoping to replicate the study in NZ, which would be great to get involved with.
Curry cravings set in by late afternoon, and we set out to Dosa Plaza, to see what they had to offer. C had a hot and sour soup and masala dosa, and G had a paneer tikka combo. It was rather delicious, and definitely more flavoursome than Raviz. We then went home and had a productive evening, C excitedly setting up her new laptop and G doing some more reading, whilst indulging in our new Father Ted addiction.
Monday, 7 April 2014
Great Barrier Island Part 4 (as told by C)
Today we would be measuring carbon and salt-marsh species in Whangapoua (Wh in Maori is Ph). We headed to a white sand beach: pristine and beautiful. From the beach one group laid out a 500m transect (tape measure) through the salt-marshes and into the mangroves. We took it in turns to leapfrog down the transect, laying out a plot, and recording the two dominant species along with an estimation of their cover.
The work was fairly tedious because there were only a few species present, and getting a look at ground level involved much squishing. The carbon measuring (which groups did in turns) at every plot was much more interesting! Luitgard (lecturer) stuck a device over the soil which records the influx of carbon, R stuck a thermometer in the ground, I took the GPS, and S made notes.
The mangrove forest was really fun: squelchy and muddy and smelly, a great end to the data-collection / work part of the trip. It was time to head back to the beach. We had waves to catch! We all "tog"ged up and ran into the sea and spent about an hour swimming and playing in the waves - it was lovely. After dinner (potato curry) we got dressed up and went to the pub. There we played pool, darts, spoke random languages, and had a really great evening. In the bus on the way home we serenaded Sandra and George with "Teenage Dirtbag" and unloaded to head to the jetty to see the bioluminescence of the water.
Due to Y and I being particularly keen, we got onto the jetty just as the boat owner was heading home. Not knowing he wasn't one of our group, I accosted him about not climbing in other people's property. He turned around and I apologised profusely, and he offered to take myself and Y on a boat ride to see the bioluminescence more clearly. The wake of the boat glowed silver, and the sides and into the lake were all silver: it was really stunning. Back on the jetty, a group of us hung out and star-gazed, finding the southern cross amongst other things.
The next day we started the drive back to the ferry terminal, but stopped off en-route to go to the hot springs. On the path to the water, we saw a Morepork - New Zealand's last surviving owl - and it was so sleepy and looking at us, blinking, clearly not happy to have been disturbed! At the spring we were warned not to put our heads under-water as we could contract amoebal meningitis and die. With that message ringing in our ears, we plunged into the pools and carefully had a relaxing time.
Back on the road we stopped off for ice-cream and petrol and then back to the ferry. I had a good old nap for the first couple of hours, but was awoken by a very powerful smell of chips. Heading downstairs I enquired as to whether or not they had any, to be told I must be hallucinating! Later on people started getting beer, so I headed downstairs to get one for myself, to have the following conversation with the barman:
- Are you from Newcastle?
- erm... no...
(random guy: isn't that quite insulting?)
- where are you from?
- london
- south london?
- the insults just keep coming!
We spent the last hour on the front deck chatting and watching Auckland grow bigger as the sun set. We docked, said our goodbyes, and G came to meet me at the ferry terminal.
All in all: a bloody good trip!
The work was fairly tedious because there were only a few species present, and getting a look at ground level involved much squishing. The carbon measuring (which groups did in turns) at every plot was much more interesting! Luitgard (lecturer) stuck a device over the soil which records the influx of carbon, R stuck a thermometer in the ground, I took the GPS, and S made notes.
The mangrove forest was really fun: squelchy and muddy and smelly, a great end to the data-collection / work part of the trip. It was time to head back to the beach. We had waves to catch! We all "tog"ged up and ran into the sea and spent about an hour swimming and playing in the waves - it was lovely. After dinner (potato curry) we got dressed up and went to the pub. There we played pool, darts, spoke random languages, and had a really great evening. In the bus on the way home we serenaded Sandra and George with "Teenage Dirtbag" and unloaded to head to the jetty to see the bioluminescence of the water.
Due to Y and I being particularly keen, we got onto the jetty just as the boat owner was heading home. Not knowing he wasn't one of our group, I accosted him about not climbing in other people's property. He turned around and I apologised profusely, and he offered to take myself and Y on a boat ride to see the bioluminescence more clearly. The wake of the boat glowed silver, and the sides and into the lake were all silver: it was really stunning. Back on the jetty, a group of us hung out and star-gazed, finding the southern cross amongst other things.
The next day we started the drive back to the ferry terminal, but stopped off en-route to go to the hot springs. On the path to the water, we saw a Morepork - New Zealand's last surviving owl - and it was so sleepy and looking at us, blinking, clearly not happy to have been disturbed! At the spring we were warned not to put our heads under-water as we could contract amoebal meningitis and die. With that message ringing in our ears, we plunged into the pools and carefully had a relaxing time.
Back on the road we stopped off for ice-cream and petrol and then back to the ferry. I had a good old nap for the first couple of hours, but was awoken by a very powerful smell of chips. Heading downstairs I enquired as to whether or not they had any, to be told I must be hallucinating! Later on people started getting beer, so I headed downstairs to get one for myself, to have the following conversation with the barman:
- Are you from Newcastle?
- erm... no...
(random guy: isn't that quite insulting?)
- where are you from?
- london
- south london?
- the insults just keep coming!
We spent the last hour on the front deck chatting and watching Auckland grow bigger as the sun set. We docked, said our goodbyes, and G came to meet me at the ferry terminal.
All in all: a bloody good trip!
Great Barrier Island Part 3 (as told by C)
Wednesday morning was the usual breakfast, make lunch, pile in van. This time, however, we drove to meet an esteemed ecologist: Mr Ogden. His thick Yorkshire accent made it hard for me to follow what he said, I was too busy enjoying his voice. He led us through the peaty bog and told an anecdote whilst we waited for Janet and George to find the place for us to core. We would be looking at the charcoal contents of the core to gain a history of the island.
The area we were in was originally marine, but excessive burning of the vegetation meant the topsoil had slid down and ended up filling in the area. This in turn meant that salt-marshes and wetland forests started to form. The plant species we would be recording tomorrow were introduced - three types of rushes. There was also plenty of sea-spinach which is delicious and would have made excellent sandwiches.
At the coring site we were introduced to the equipment as Janet introduced us to the coring process. After she had extracted the core, she asked if there were any willing volunteers to get their hands dirty. Of course, I was the only one who stepped forward. I held the corer and posed for the photo that George took (core-nography) as she rotated and scraped it into a piece of pipe cut to size. Other people then had their chance to push the corer into the ground and extract the boggy earth.
After coring a couple more times, we headed back to the accommodation to begin extracting information from the cores. We split into two groups and were given one core each. We then sub-divided into four groups and cut the core four-ways. Every 2cm we scraped a tea-spoon's worth of peat into a beaker. After this we added bleach to the beakers and shaked them around and left them to bleach.
During the bleach we headed upstairs for a lecture on statistics (not before managing to squeeze in another game of bananagrams!). After the lecture, the samples were ready and we began to filter the bleached solutions. This involved plenty of water, so the other S in our team took to running back and forth refilling everyone's bottles. Y and I were on one bucket, and S and R on the other. Two other people went upstairs to start counting the charcoal. We finished filtering just in time for dinner (chickpea curry and rice) and another game of bananagrams!
That evening we spent counting charcoal by pouring the solutions into channels, placing them under a microscope, and clicking a counter every time we saw some. The first solution I examined had so much charcoal in it I almost broke my thumb. This high level of charcoal means that humans had definitely arrived by this point in time. Throughout the world, the arrival of humans at any particular place is always coincidental with high levels of charcoal in samples. Wherever we go, we slash and burn.
As the charcoal was being counted, we started to make graphs of our results. At first we tried to use the computer to draw the graphs, but it was configured to the person's tastes and no-one else could use it. Also, Excel is not intuitive in producing histograms. S and R therefore hand-drew this beautiful graph replete with illustrations of rats and waka (the canoes the Maori used to get to NZ). My histogram was upside-down, back-to-front, and very badly shaded in. However, it got the message across and was almost exactly the same as the published data so that was quite exciting.
The other group presented their findings to us, and we to them, and all-in-all Janet was very pleased with the session: it was the first time this had been done and so no-one was sure it would work. Bed on a high!
The area we were in was originally marine, but excessive burning of the vegetation meant the topsoil had slid down and ended up filling in the area. This in turn meant that salt-marshes and wetland forests started to form. The plant species we would be recording tomorrow were introduced - three types of rushes. There was also plenty of sea-spinach which is delicious and would have made excellent sandwiches.
At the coring site we were introduced to the equipment as Janet introduced us to the coring process. After she had extracted the core, she asked if there were any willing volunteers to get their hands dirty. Of course, I was the only one who stepped forward. I held the corer and posed for the photo that George took (core-nography) as she rotated and scraped it into a piece of pipe cut to size. Other people then had their chance to push the corer into the ground and extract the boggy earth.
After coring a couple more times, we headed back to the accommodation to begin extracting information from the cores. We split into two groups and were given one core each. We then sub-divided into four groups and cut the core four-ways. Every 2cm we scraped a tea-spoon's worth of peat into a beaker. After this we added bleach to the beakers and shaked them around and left them to bleach.
During the bleach we headed upstairs for a lecture on statistics (not before managing to squeeze in another game of bananagrams!). After the lecture, the samples were ready and we began to filter the bleached solutions. This involved plenty of water, so the other S in our team took to running back and forth refilling everyone's bottles. Y and I were on one bucket, and S and R on the other. Two other people went upstairs to start counting the charcoal. We finished filtering just in time for dinner (chickpea curry and rice) and another game of bananagrams!
That evening we spent counting charcoal by pouring the solutions into channels, placing them under a microscope, and clicking a counter every time we saw some. The first solution I examined had so much charcoal in it I almost broke my thumb. This high level of charcoal means that humans had definitely arrived by this point in time. Throughout the world, the arrival of humans at any particular place is always coincidental with high levels of charcoal in samples. Wherever we go, we slash and burn.
As the charcoal was being counted, we started to make graphs of our results. At first we tried to use the computer to draw the graphs, but it was configured to the person's tastes and no-one else could use it. Also, Excel is not intuitive in producing histograms. S and R therefore hand-drew this beautiful graph replete with illustrations of rats and waka (the canoes the Maori used to get to NZ). My histogram was upside-down, back-to-front, and very badly shaded in. However, it got the message across and was almost exactly the same as the published data so that was quite exciting.
The other group presented their findings to us, and we to them, and all-in-all Janet was very pleased with the session: it was the first time this had been done and so no-one was sure it would work. Bed on a high!
Great Barrier Island Part 2 (as told by C)
Tuesday morning was greeted with a lovely breakfast, during which I managed to shock several people in the dining room by having marmite and peanut butter on toast. Apparently marmite is an acceptable level of weird, but peanut butter takes the biscuit. We met on the lawn after breakfast and had a quick induction as to the plan for the day and bundled in the van kitted up and ready to go. S was eager to show me hebe (a type of flower) and we were looking out the left side of the van when suddenly we met the cliff. Someone else had been driving on our side of the road so George was forced to swerve. The worst part of it? The offender didn't even wave.
S, R, B, T, George and I said our goodbyes to the other groups and headed into the bush along the Perimeter fence. The fence was specifically set up to prevent rats from entering the sanctuary, but unfortunately rats have managed to re-enter (probably by swimming across the sea from ratted islands). For those of you who don't know, rats are a biodiversity nightmare in New Zealand and (next to humans) are almost single-handedly responsible for the major decline and slow recovery of (now) extremely rare birds. George has also proposed a theory that they are responsible for spreading fires which have a bad effect on plant life.
Great Barrier Island's vegetation is split roughly into four zones. After a fire, very scrubby fire-loving plants such as manuka (tea-tree) start to grow. Then a succession starts with kanuka (also tea-tree). Then fast-growing woody plants such as kauri start to take over, which then succumbs to shade-tolerant plants such as tawa and kohekohe. This is visible across the landscape where in the gullies lie the forest and on the ridges (the less fertile land) the manuka and kanuka. We were taking measurements to understand this landscape. We were also collecting data to see how effective the predator-proof fence actually was.
Over the course of the day, we took every other data point (so roughly every 100m) with B and T and collected data from about ten places. The first part of the day was spent climbing up the steep hill using the fence to hoist ourselves up. At one point we fought our way through cutting grass only to find on the other side the forest floor was so steep we wouldn't be able to collect anything! The second half of the day was easier, although we encountered some mean manuka and ended up covered in scratches. Due to the path we took, we ended up walking back to the campsite, took a swim off the jetty, had some tea, and hung about waiting for the others to return.
This gave me time to review the vast number of plants in my repertoire (at least fifteen) with the patient S. After dinner (plate of salad with a mound of tofu and berry smoothie for dessert), we played bananagrams before having the next lecture. We were also introduced to the work to be performed tomorrow: coring a peaty bog to count the charcoal to determine the arrival date of humans.
S, R, B, T, George and I said our goodbyes to the other groups and headed into the bush along the Perimeter fence. The fence was specifically set up to prevent rats from entering the sanctuary, but unfortunately rats have managed to re-enter (probably by swimming across the sea from ratted islands). For those of you who don't know, rats are a biodiversity nightmare in New Zealand and (next to humans) are almost single-handedly responsible for the major decline and slow recovery of (now) extremely rare birds. George has also proposed a theory that they are responsible for spreading fires which have a bad effect on plant life.
Great Barrier Island's vegetation is split roughly into four zones. After a fire, very scrubby fire-loving plants such as manuka (tea-tree) start to grow. Then a succession starts with kanuka (also tea-tree). Then fast-growing woody plants such as kauri start to take over, which then succumbs to shade-tolerant plants such as tawa and kohekohe. This is visible across the landscape where in the gullies lie the forest and on the ridges (the less fertile land) the manuka and kanuka. We were taking measurements to understand this landscape. We were also collecting data to see how effective the predator-proof fence actually was.
Over the course of the day, we took every other data point (so roughly every 100m) with B and T and collected data from about ten places. The first part of the day was spent climbing up the steep hill using the fence to hoist ourselves up. At one point we fought our way through cutting grass only to find on the other side the forest floor was so steep we wouldn't be able to collect anything! The second half of the day was easier, although we encountered some mean manuka and ended up covered in scratches. Due to the path we took, we ended up walking back to the campsite, took a swim off the jetty, had some tea, and hung about waiting for the others to return.
This gave me time to review the vast number of plants in my repertoire (at least fifteen) with the patient S. After dinner (plate of salad with a mound of tofu and berry smoothie for dessert), we played bananagrams before having the next lecture. We were also introduced to the work to be performed tomorrow: coring a peaty bog to count the charcoal to determine the arrival date of humans.
Saturday, 5 April 2014
Great Barrier Island Part 1 (as told by C)
It's been a week now since I came back from Great Barrier Island, and I've had much uni work and computer-y things to be doing. In addition, I didn't want to post about such a beautiful island without accompanying photos. Alas, I have none, but if my "official photographer" comes through, then post I shall.
G was kindly enough to walk me to the ferry terminal at half six in the morning, helping me to carry one of the bags. The class boarded the ferry, and I secured myself a comfortable seat on the deck and fell asleep for a good few hours. Almost suitably refreshed, the heavens decided to open and we were forced to the shelter just behind the engine room. That did not go so well. My soon-to-be-roommate, S, spent the next hour and a half puking. I sat out front groaning and moaning for a bit until I spotted GBI and instantly became excited for the week ahead.
We piled off the ferry and into the vans where we slowly made our way to the accommodation, stopping half a dozen times for George, the lecturer, to point out various things about the landscape through which we were driving. When he talked about plant species, I was at a complete loss as to what on earth he was saying. Back in the van, I reassured myself that I wasn't alone as other people had no idea either! We learned that during the last glacial period, the sea was around 180m lower than current levels, which meant 18,000 years ago, GBI was attached to the Coromandel peninsula.
We were staying at a Christian camp in Orama, where we sorted ourselves into rooms, convened to be inducted, and then waited for the dinner gong to sound. Upon the first peal, we assembled en masse in the dining room (our group and several others also staying there) and waited for grace to be said. The food was delicious - vegetable nut roast and chips. When I asked for the vegan option, I was greeted with "so you're the vegan" to which I smiled broadly and said "yes, thank you for cooking for me". It seems politeness and enthusiasm go a long way in the world of catering: my meals and puddings became progressively better over the course of the week!
That night, we met upstairs in the ad-hoc lecture room to hear George give an overview of the week and a brief history of the island. He introduced a few of the graphs we would be expected to produce and at the dendrogram he asked if anyone had seen one before. My hand slowly goes up. "Only the computer scientist has, then". That was encouraging. I don't know my plants, but I do know my graphs!
The next day we had breakfast, made lunch, and headed to Glenfern Sanctuary just south of Orama. There we had a 15 minute lecture on the sanctuary and what it's for and then hiked up the hill to overlook the landscape. At this point, I declared Y my official photographer! We had previously been separated into groups and given equipment, including a plant identification book, and so as a group (mine with George) we headed towards the big kauri tree learning plants as we went along. Turns out my group - S my roommate and R - were pretty well-versed on their plant ID already. George's other group was B (probably knows every species in NZ ever) and T (also not bad). So, guess who got picked on? After two hours of "alright, sweeeeeet Caroline doo doo doo, what's this one?" I had a pretty good idea of how to identify ten plants. Now, that doesn't sound a lot, but I had to not only learn how to ID then, but I had to remember the names - names which my ears had never once been privy to!
Everyone reconvened at the giant kauri with a treehouse so we went 4 at a time across the rope bridge to look out over the forest canopy. S pointed out a giant Knightia Excelsa from the kauri - the leaves of which, fairly obviously, look like green swords. We ate lunch and then watched George unsuccessfully try to core a tree. He eventually succeeded, a neat demonstration of how unpredictable field work can be!
We were split off into groups again and S, R and I broke through the bush to the first data collection point. This was in practice for the full day tomorrow. We were using a heavily altered PCQ method, a plotless data collection method (the proof for which is heavily mathematical and the paper was written by computer scientists. too many integration signs for my liking). This entails sticking a stick in the ground which has two bits of plastic you set perpendicular to each other. They demarcate your quarters. First thing:
George gave the evening lecture and talked about where the various groups would be the next day - ours was completely different to what everyone else was doing and he warned us that our path would be arduous. We socialised for a bit and then headed off to bed!
G was kindly enough to walk me to the ferry terminal at half six in the morning, helping me to carry one of the bags. The class boarded the ferry, and I secured myself a comfortable seat on the deck and fell asleep for a good few hours. Almost suitably refreshed, the heavens decided to open and we were forced to the shelter just behind the engine room. That did not go so well. My soon-to-be-roommate, S, spent the next hour and a half puking. I sat out front groaning and moaning for a bit until I spotted GBI and instantly became excited for the week ahead.
We piled off the ferry and into the vans where we slowly made our way to the accommodation, stopping half a dozen times for George, the lecturer, to point out various things about the landscape through which we were driving. When he talked about plant species, I was at a complete loss as to what on earth he was saying. Back in the van, I reassured myself that I wasn't alone as other people had no idea either! We learned that during the last glacial period, the sea was around 180m lower than current levels, which meant 18,000 years ago, GBI was attached to the Coromandel peninsula.
We were staying at a Christian camp in Orama, where we sorted ourselves into rooms, convened to be inducted, and then waited for the dinner gong to sound. Upon the first peal, we assembled en masse in the dining room (our group and several others also staying there) and waited for grace to be said. The food was delicious - vegetable nut roast and chips. When I asked for the vegan option, I was greeted with "so you're the vegan" to which I smiled broadly and said "yes, thank you for cooking for me". It seems politeness and enthusiasm go a long way in the world of catering: my meals and puddings became progressively better over the course of the week!
That night, we met upstairs in the ad-hoc lecture room to hear George give an overview of the week and a brief history of the island. He introduced a few of the graphs we would be expected to produce and at the dendrogram he asked if anyone had seen one before. My hand slowly goes up. "Only the computer scientist has, then". That was encouraging. I don't know my plants, but I do know my graphs!
The next day we had breakfast, made lunch, and headed to Glenfern Sanctuary just south of Orama. There we had a 15 minute lecture on the sanctuary and what it's for and then hiked up the hill to overlook the landscape. At this point, I declared Y my official photographer! We had previously been separated into groups and given equipment, including a plant identification book, and so as a group (mine with George) we headed towards the big kauri tree learning plants as we went along. Turns out my group - S my roommate and R - were pretty well-versed on their plant ID already. George's other group was B (probably knows every species in NZ ever) and T (also not bad). So, guess who got picked on? After two hours of "alright, sweeeeeet Caroline doo doo doo, what's this one?" I had a pretty good idea of how to identify ten plants. Now, that doesn't sound a lot, but I had to not only learn how to ID then, but I had to remember the names - names which my ears had never once been privy to!
Everyone reconvened at the giant kauri with a treehouse so we went 4 at a time across the rope bridge to look out over the forest canopy. S pointed out a giant Knightia Excelsa from the kauri - the leaves of which, fairly obviously, look like green swords. We ate lunch and then watched George unsuccessfully try to core a tree. He eventually succeeded, a neat demonstration of how unpredictable field work can be!
We were split off into groups again and S, R and I broke through the bush to the first data collection point. This was in practice for the full day tomorrow. We were using a heavily altered PCQ method, a plotless data collection method (the proof for which is heavily mathematical and the paper was written by computer scientists. too many integration signs for my liking). This entails sticking a stick in the ground which has two bits of plastic you set perpendicular to each other. They demarcate your quarters. First thing:
- Record the aspect by orienting yourself in the direction you think water would head and take a bearing.
- Record the slope by sending R down the hill and looking just above her head (she's shorter) through the inclinometer and trying to read the results whilst keeping it steady and both eyes open (quite tricky to get used to!)
- Record all saplings around the stick by yelling "OI! S, what's this?"
- Record the height by looking up and guessing. Democratically decide based on the average of all three guesses.
- Find the nearest tree with a trunk over 5cm diameter at breast height (DBH).
- Measure and record the distance to the tree and the DBH.
- Record its species and the species of the next nearest >5cm DBH.
- If a tree fern was actually the nearest >5cm at 1m tall, record its species (and measure it if >3m tall).
- Guess which species looks like it will take over when the tallest tree dies.
George gave the evening lecture and talked about where the various groups would be the next day - ours was completely different to what everyone else was doing and he warned us that our path would be arduous. We socialised for a bit and then headed off to bed!
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