As the semester draws to a close here in New Zealand, I am busy trying to cram in a few more trips on the weekends. Last weekend I found myself back in Queenstown (for the third time!) with the other Emily and her Kiwi friend Alex, on our way to do some tramping in the Paradise/Mt. Aspiring/Routeburn region. Once we arrived in Glenorchy we stopped to get some information on the track conditions. This was a wise move, because the guy we talked to warned us about the rain which would make many of the fords impassable for our wee little car. So, we headed up to the Greenstone/Caples track on the far side of lake Wakatipu. Even the three small fords on this road gave the car a run for its money. but Alex was able to cruise right through them without damaging her car too much (I hope!). We tramped up to Greenstone Hut, where we had the entire hut and campgrounds to ourselves!
Overnight we had quite a bit of rain, so the clear blue river we followed coming up the track was a rushing torrent of milky brown water as we hiked back down.
We hiked down the next morning, taking a side track to lake Rere.
As we reached the lake the rain began to clear up and by the time we got back to lake Wakatipu and the car park we had some sun and blue skies!
During the week I did a little cooking (of course). I made some vegetarian lasagna on Monday and we had our first ever flat dinner with full attendance! (Everyone loves lasagna!)
I have been following up my cooking hobby with diligent attention to the TV show Top Chef. In the spirit of competition, I challenged myself to poaching an egg (something I heard was not trivial). The results were fairly successful - see my egg Florentine - but I think I will stick to fried or scrambled!
Then, this weekend I went on an overnight trip to Quarantine Island. This small island in the Otago Harbor was used for holding sick immigrants until the 1890s. Now, work is being done on the island to regrow native flora as a case study for reintroducing native ecosystems. I tagged along with SEA (Students for Environmental Action), a club affiliated with the university for a free trip to see the island, learn about the ecological restoration being done there and help out. We got a full tour of the island, including the rebuilt dormitory where the sick people were housed. We also got to plant some native trees and shrubs and do some other work in the greenhouse and upkeep of the islands trails and forests.
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| The dock on Quarantine Island |
Above is a picture of Ken, the man in charge of the ecological restoration project, and the rest of the group from SEA. We sat on this slope on the west side of the island and he told us how when he started you couldn't even sit on this slope because it was so steep and windy, but since then his plantings have helped break the wind and allow new growth on the hillside. Ken, also told us many hilarious stories about the history of the island and general DOC (Department of Conservation) politics and drama.
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| Planting a flax plant on the south east side of the island. |
In the evening we had a potluck dinner with lots of delicious food in the nice cozy guest lodge on the island. Even though the lodge had several bunk rooms and many beds, we all slept in the lounge near the fireplace (not kidding, the warmest I have been, indoors, since arriving in Dunedin). We also went for an evening stroll and I took some crazy pictures of the city lights with my camera!
I really enjoyed spending time on Quarantine Island - it reminded me of the 5 weeks I spend on an island in Lake Superior last summer doing ecology research. It was also really nice to meet a group of Kiwis who were all active in environmentalism. It was interesting and valuable to compare the different types of projects that they have worked on down here to different projects I have been exposed to in the states.
