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.

Day off? Nope. Day on.

With our week of volunteering over, Sunday was our first full free day since our arrival. So we slept in until noon and played video games all day until dinner.....JOKES! That would never happen in a place like this. Why sleep all day and then sit inside when you live smack dab in between the coast and a rainforest! So we made sure to make the best of the beautiful weather and a free day with friends.

All week long, Dave, Sam, and Kristina have been finding ways to let us experience the place we were living in. The fur seals. The hikes. The jade walks on the beach. All of these were there little ways of sharing a bit of their vast knowledge of NZ with a group of North American college kids. Sunday was no different. Dave had been dying the whole week to take us up the coast to Denniston to show us some great sites. So, at 9:30 in the morning on Sunday, he pulled into the lot and rallied the gang. No Kristina or Sam this time, just us and the Davester, and boy what a tour-guide.

We drove north in the CVNZ caravan as Dave rattled off fact by fact as we passed sites, towns, and strange vegetation. Honestly, the man knows so much about NZ, it's amazing. He first took us up to the old Denniston coal site. It is a place for visitors now, with info panels displaying the history of the place. The old coal site was not only the place where the coal was extracted, but also the place where the coal workers and families lived. The interesting thing about it though, is that the coal site was built atop, well, practically a mountain! The track the coal ran on was this enormous vertical drop down towards the coast. The weight of the cars full of coal going down, would pull the empty cars at the bottom back up to be filled again. However, this was the only way up and down! The road that we drove up yesterday wasn't there at that time, so there was a real sense of confinement in that tiny coal village. If you wanted to go down, you rode the coal cars. What a way to travel. "Here, go plummet to the bottom on this seatbelt-less large wagon!" Um...no thanks.

After our pit stop there and our realization that we are pretty darn lucky to ride in vehicles with brakes, we headed to our real destination for the day, a trail just north of Denniston running next to Charming Creek. It was an hour tramp but was awesome. The trail was actually an old coal track, so we were actually walking in the tracks, still intact after all these years. To our left for most of the track was Charming Creek, beautifully running, the sound of its rushing water as soothing as anything. We tramped over rocks and over bridges, through caves and into caverns. When we were an hour in and chuck full of knowledge from Dave, he led us down a tiny path in the trees to a small stream, where we sat and ate our lunch. It was fantastic.

The walk back was quicker, as with any trail, but just as great as our tramp out. The highlight of it for me was when I got to have my Indiana Jones moment at one of the bridges. It was a wobbly one, held up only by cables, but even though they weren't ropes like IJ tended to find, I chalked it up the entire time I walked to make myself feel like a professor turned artifact finder. What can I say, Indi and I...are pals. He taught me everything I know.

A Little Water Never Hurt Anyone

I like to consider myself the adventurous type. Up for anything. Always active. Always ready to jump right into, well...adventures I suppose. So, after finishing community planting day, Kristina [our awesome project leader] and seven of us embarked on a journey to find the caves along the beach just behind the house. We walked and walked some more and then some more, until we halted and realized that in order to continue on the beach to find those caves, we would need to pass a waterway. Not to far across, but definitely deeper than a few centimeters in which we could frolic across with ease. Bummer. Looks like we are turning around and going back over the bridge to find another route.

Nope. Not me. It's just a little water. I'll take my shoes off and tramp across. O Ms. Adventure. Or Ms. Stubborn? So, I take off my boots, my socks and camera inside, lift them high above my head and book it towards this "stream," most of the others watching from behind laughing. Um, ok up to my calves, not too bad. No, my knees? Hang on, thighs?! Waist?!?! Alright. I am literally stuck in the middle, feet well into the sand, boots high above my head, water up to my waist as I'm sinking deeper and deeper. Looks too deep to continue and not go swimming, so I turn around and head back, only to find that had I ventured a little farther down this stream, it was a tad more shallow, but not by much.

Perfect. I start my week off with a wet left foot from a leaky boot and I end it with a wet pair of legs from a stubborn adventurer. Ha well needless to say, I made it. We continued our search, climbed a little bit, and found a 12 armed sea-star. No caves were found today, just a few laughs and handful of memories. I'll take that any day.

Mingling with the Locals

Today, the highlight of my week, was community planting day at the Punakaiki Coastal Restoration Site. Dressed in our matching green ISV t-shirts, the CVNZ caravan rolled in a little later than normal. We hauled our trays of plants out into the fields, set up the table for smoko [which would turn into the best smoko EVER!!!!], and take our posts for the day. 9:30 am and people were already parking in the lot! Awesome! We were expecting to wait at least until 10:30 for people to even start showing up, but clearly we were mistaken.

One by one cars pulled in and one by one local kiwis, young and old, came up to the sign in table to introduce themselves and get started planting. The best part about this was that parents would come walking up with a spade in one hand and child's hand tightly clasped to the other. Even the kids were excited about planting. We had the little ones wear the bright vests that we had been wearing, with Dave's reason being so we wouldn't lose them in the brush. Valid point. Although it made me wonder if they made us wear them too because we had the potential to get lost. Well, if so, good call, because all eight of us North Americans tend to wander.

When it looked like all the locals were here, we all congregated in the fields to plant side-by-side with them. It was amazing to hear their stories, all unique in their own way. I have to admit that it was quite funny to hear all the older locals talk about retirement ages in other countries and how retirement doesn't mean anything. "Idol hands only get into mischief," one said. Ha ha good advice. I'll remember that one. But perhaps the most interesting person I spoke to today was a woman who had lived in the Punakaiki area her entire life. She was here when the site was being considered as a mining place for ilmenite [a mineral used in pigments and paint]. She was one of the first environmental activists to protest the mining idea. She was here through it all. Standing there with her, ankle deep in marsh, it was an eye opening experience for me and it never would have happened had I not been here volunteering.

Plant by plant, the once empty area we had seen all week planting was suddenly starting to fill. We gave planting demos and helped the little ones plant [although those seven-year-olds seemed to know more than we did]. Finally it was time for smoko, our favorite time of the day, and boy was it tasty. Scones, muffins, cookies, biscuits, tea, and coffee. Boy, smoko on Monday is going to look measly compared to this. In any case, it was a nice little break. We got back to work planting and mingling. By the time noon came around, the 1000 trees we had set out for the day were in the ground, in their new homes and we were once again floored at the work we accomplished in just one day. "We planted 30 trees!" one of the young ones said about his work for the day. "And we planted the last one, too!" They were excited. And so were we.

That sense of community ownership that we had been talking about in discussions all week was finally starting to make sense. These people, though apart of a tiny community, wanted a hand in what would happen to their environment, their habitat, their neighbors [the petrels] habitat. And even though we were strangers from another country, they were grateful that we were there too.

After cleaning up and heading home, our week of work, rain, plants, and mud was finished, but we couldn't wait for Monday to come so we could continue. But ya know, as I sat in the van on the way back, I couldn't help but remember one moment that stuck out in my head from the day. It came from Sam, the one who has been here since the beginning. We were nearing the end of planting and I just so happen to be near him as he was crouched next to a treelet, spade in hand, in awe at what he saw. He knew what this site looked like before anything was done to it. He was here when there was no visible parking lot, no visible gardens, gorse over taking the fields. But as he sat there and looked, you could tell he was happy. He mentioned how amazing it was to finally see the place covered in trees, finally see a seven-month long vision take place. Once again, it just made sense for me.

So many moment at that planting day reminded me that this is what I want to do with my life, be it in any form. Whether I am writing for a publication, or just volunteering, I'll be happy. And in the end, is that not what we all are striving for?

The answer is yes.

Rugby...the New Zealanders Sport

The "See you tonight!" bit when Dave dropped us off was an excited one. Last night would be the night that we would get to experience a part of the New Zealand culture: rugby. Coming from the states, seven out of the eight of us had no idea how the sport was played, how long the game was, what teams were good, and why everybody gave such a hoot about it. So, after cleaning up and wearing jeans for the first time in a week [not to mention wearing not one of the same three outfits for the first time this week] we headed next door to Monteiths, a tavern/restaurant that the locals congregated at on nights like these.

There was a big match going on, between the Chiefs and the Hurricanes, both north island teams. But this night wasn't just about rugby at the tavern. It was about experiencing another piece of NZ. Old friends gathered to share a bite to eat as kids played fooseball in the corner as their parents watched between them and the rugby game on the flat screen. Supposedly there are only a handful of channels here, so getting the chance to watch a countrywide televised rugby game on flat screen was a nice retreat for them.

It was a nice retreat for us too though. After a week of hard work, it was nice for the eight of us [who have all become great friends in just a week] to gather with Sam, Dave, and Kristina as kind of a celebration for a job well done this week. After two forty-minute halves, Chiefs win! And with that we were relaxed and ready for our big day tomorrow.

One Week Down. Already?!

Week one...FINISHED. It's hard to believe that one-fourth of this trip is already over. Saturday when we pulled into the volunteer house driveway, late at night, I don't think any of us knew what was in store for us for the coming weeks. We knew we were planting trees. We knew we were working with a volunteer group. We knew that we were being given the chance to make a change. "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Ghandi was a genius. But what we didn't know how big of an impact we could have, and how big of an impact this project could have on us.

The end of our week really made us all feel like a part of this site, like we were making it our own, taking it under our wing, if you will [kind of like a petrel...sorry, I couldn't resist]. Continuing the work we did on Thursday, Friday we finished out paint job on the fence, and scraped and painted the water tower. Ah yes, another fresh coat of white. The site looked brand new. For those who had been on the site since it started about seven months ago, the change they saw in the site that day was tremendous. Even for us, who had only been there for a mere seven days could see the difference, and with that came a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment.

With our make-over done and a long smoko finished, we headed down to the beach to pick up gravel for a new path behind the water tower. Yet again, the beach was another one of those breathtaking views. We finished our gravel scoop and headed down the beach, with James at the lead, to search for some green stone, or jade, something we have all been dying to find since our arrival. "A green stone, I found one!" Nope. It was literally just a green stone, which due to its wetness, looked shiny and jade-like. Alright, so we finished scouring the beach for jade, not green rocks, with no luck, but it was still great to be strolling alongside the waves. And hey, the cartwheels and rocks angels were an added bonus.

Back to the site we went. Lay down the rocks. Sort some plants. 10 trays ought to do. Spraypaint some signs [!!!]. Smoko. After a spot of tea, Dave came in and talked to us about what we would expect for the next day, the soon to be highlight of my week [I know the anticipation is killing you]. After our chat, we headed outside and cleared away tons of poplar trees, another invasive plant on New Zealand lands. An hour earlier than the day before, we were on our way home.

"Thanks for the lift Dave! See you tonight!"

How can it be so hot here?!

Frost on the windshield?! How could that even be possible here? Sam had been telling us earlier in the week that this part of New Zealand rarely sees frost, but it looked to me this morning that we brought it with us from home. The frost was a sure sign that we should once again bundle up for the day. Even though there would be no rain again today, frost means winter, winter means cold. One layer. Two Layer. Three layer. Four. Yup, that should do it.

We headed out to the site again this morning, same time, same place. Today was filled with a number of odd jobs [more of beautification jobs] to make the once site of a mining office, the home of a conservation site, one that would be welcoming to any visitors, community members, or passer bys. Half of us painted the outer fence a bright white, while the other half went over to the gorse site again to plant trees along the banks of the stream to stabilize it for the future. After taking smoko [of course], we continued the jobs and made great progress by noon.

Lunch came quickly and not only did we get to enjoy a great meal with music today, but we got to speak to Dave, the man with all the knowledge heading up the project. Dave told us numerous interesting things about the site, including how community involvement in this project is essential to making it a success. Without a sense of community ownership for the site, people would think very little about its maintenance after CVNZ and others had done their part to fix it up. It was ironic that he spoke of that because a mere two nights ago at one of our group discussions back at the house, we spoke about community ownership as a vital piece of the project. Looks like we are all on the same track with that.

After hearing his words of wisdom, it was back to work. By 4pm the enormous wooden fence was finished, as well as the water tank outside. I dug up a great deal of weeds today around the site gardens to make room for walkways and simply to clean it up. By the end of the day, the site looked not only welcoming, but brand new. The visual aspect of the site would be one that would pull the eyes of travelers and community members as they passed and it made us feel good to be apart of pulling that community interest.



I think what made the day the best was the fact that the sun came out and shined all day long. Once again we shedded layer after layer. It was wierd though. It is late fall here and although NZ's temperature are quite higher than ours, it should still be cold. But when that sun came out, it felt like the middle of summer. What I realized today made this all make sense. Of course, we have all heard about the hole in the ozone layer, heck I could resite textbook clippings about it. But it never really occured to me that this place I am volunteering in is right below that hole!

It is no wonder we were so hot when the temperature was still normal for late autumn. The sun's ultraviolet rays are so strong here that even when you are outside for only a short period of time, if you don't put sunscreen on, you can end up with a sunburn. Besides the frustration of having sunburn on my face, it is even more frustrating to think that a country which countributes minimly, if at all, to ozone depletion is getting hit hardest, when over in America, we don't see nearly the affect of harmful UV rays as others. It seems my country is the big, rampunctious brother helping to cause issues, and NZ, is the little, keep-to-himself brother who ends up cleaning up the mess.

So, that would esplain why it got so hot all of a sudden. Now, sitting in the house with no sun present outside, my nose is like ice and it's back to being chilly. Tomorrow will bring us to the end of week 1 of volunteering and hopefully the weekend will not only give us more time to explore, but time to reflect on what we have accomplished in just a week.