Week 2 on The Punakaiki Restoration Project

After a very successful first week at the site, we started week two off with just the same enthusiasm as we had our first day. With the memory of Dave bringing us to Charming Creek the day before fresh in our minds, we couldn't wait to continue our work at the site, letting Mother Nature know that we appreciate her...a lot.

Kristina started this week picking two people, each day, to run a team building exercise in the morning, to get our blood pumping and energy flowing [although we never forget our enthusiasm, so it just aided that]. With heaps of laughs and running around, we were finally ready to get to work, creating my favorite work day thus far [not counting community planting day].We broke up into two teams. One team would go with Sam to do some bamboo cutting to make stakes for the tiny plants and to plant some trees around the bank of stream, and the other half of us went with James to partake in an adventure. We would switch tasks later, as we always do, but lucky me, I got to be the first group to go on the adventure. [Man this work gets more and more Indiana Jones-like as we go.]

So, off four of us go - Zane, Will, Erica, and myself - following James wherever he was leading us. Over the fence. through some slush. Over a wooden plank. Through the field. Stop. Look up. There is no more path, only a barbed wire fence and the dense bush of the rainforest.

"See that nikau palm up there?" James asked.
"Umm...yes...," we answered.
"Let's go get some seedlings!"

Now, what you can't tell just yet is where James was pointing. Notice he said "up there." That is exactly where we were heading. Over a barbed wire fence [don't worry it's all part of the project site] and we were off. We were to meet at the nikau palm, but to stay together. So we tramped up this steep hill toward it, ducking under tree branches and through tiny tunnels of bush, up mushy terrain. Whoops, slipped. It only set me back a little bit, keep going. Made it. With spades in hand, we dug about 15 or so seedlings from a few different nikau palms up there. And then it was time to venture down. Whoops! Slipped again. Sliding. Sliding. Sliding. Tree! Stop. Phew! Just in time. Over a barbed wire fence, through the field, over a wooden plank, through some slush, over another fence, and back to home base. Well, that was fun.

I honestly am pretty positive that Indiana Jones should be worried because the things we have been doing are sure to make him quake [if he were real ha]. So after our little adventure uphill, it was time for lunch. The groups switched roles. I am sure the second group had just as much fun as I did, but I am positive no one had a "tree coming towards me really fast" experience. My group went down to the stream, planted a few flax plants then headed back to the beach for some more gravel. Gravel, gravel, gravel, how fun you are. We loaded the buckets and wheel barrel, then hung around for a few minutes to make rock angels and look for jade, then headed back to the work site. With the path behind the water tower finally filled with gravel, the day was done. You would be surprised how much work you can accomplish in just a day, and how many new adventures you can have.

Tuesday brought about even more success. We were told Monday night that this day we would employ the GORSE FORCE. Yes, my friends, another day of gorse fighting [which for some reason many of us North Americans have been pronouncing "gross"]. After team building, yet again we were split up into two groups, maybe we are too much to handle as one group? Haha Just kidding, we do great as one whole team or in smaller ones. One team would go directly to GORSE fighting [notice it's spelt right?] and the other team was on demolition duty. There was this small patch of land surrounded in fence that was useless on its own and Dave really wanted it to be apart of the field we had been planting on all week. So demolition duty consisted of wire cutting, sledge hammering, digging posts out of the ground, and hauling them away. Fun stuff if you ask me.

After morning smoko, the other group came to help finish up so by lunch the task was done. Nothing is too big for this volunteer group. It amazes me how much we get done so quickly. After lunch, the whole team ventured out as the GORSE FORCE to rid the edge of the field of the evil villain. Now, I know you have heard the name Indiana Jones quite a lot, but I swear this is the last. I was cutting gorse around a swamp area, noting to myself and others how again I felt like Indi. I start humming the theme song. Feeling gutsy, I take the most difficult path to a section of gorse that could have been easily accessed by land: I tramp through marsh and sludgy mud. One step. Two step. Theme song. Three step. Boot stuck. Fou....hang on. Guys. Ummm...guys? Indi is stuck! Stuck in the mud, for perhaps the sixth time since I have been here. My boot comes right off my foot. Thank the Lord someone else was present or else I may still be sitting there stuck.

Alright, alright, so Ms. Stubborn showed her face again, but once again a good adventure came of it. Gorse was done and we were ready for a nap. Home we go, ready to start some surprises.