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Published: January 10th 2009
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cooking in ACB team for the next 2 weeks: sam (leader), me, karl, kate, lukas, sophie 18 belgium, jack korea
the purpose of the punakaiki project is to extend the habitat of the Westland Black Petrel, punakaiki is it's only nesting site in the world. the bush extending down to the shore helps them and also prevents confusion from lights that would have been there if the land had been developed into housing. lights distract them and they then get lost, which can be pretty disasterous as it is their only nesting area ever!
MON - sam picked us up from chch base at 8 and drove us via arthurs pass to punakaiki. scenery was spectacular! we drove towards the alps, i took so many (too many) photos of the mountains, i love mountains! its weird how they just suddenly rise out of the flat plains, no foot hills, just mountains. beautiful day, clear sky and hot sun. one thing i hated, the complete lack of native bush/plants/trees/anything on the east side of the mountains, grrr, all gum, pine, poplars etc. terrible! however, once through the mountains and to the west coast the bush came back witha vengence!! splashes of red from
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waiting in the airport (Hokey Pokey on my knee - Kate knitted him for my birthday :D he is a character that we made from the popular NZ flavour, hokey pokey which is honey comb pieces, much like cinder toffee) rata amongst the many greens, grey from sheer cliff faces rising out of the trees. the coast on the way to punakaiki was rugged and wild, stunning. stopped in greymouth (nearest town to punakaiki 40mins away) to do a shop for the week, went to robert harris - a cafe kate and karl spent alot of greymouth time in - and had a smoothie mmmmm. then onto the houses in punakaiki - two old holiday homes, smell a bit funky and are boiling but not too bad.
TUES - terrible work today, cleared gorse, grass, brambles and other stuff from a farmers electric fence only good thing was we were allowed our music whilst we worked and read new moon during smoko and lunch. after work and food me kate and karl went to the beach up the road from us to watch the sunset, was beautiful but we had to leave too soon for my liking due t the sandlfies 😞 they showed me te nikau which was hte hostel they stayed in for their first week down here, awesome place, loads of different huts in amongst the bush!
WEDS (new years eve) - did the same
as yesterday in the morning then after lunch we carried round poles to mark the spots for a photo log of the site. its all prep for conservation work that will happen in about 2 years time. rained through the afternoon, nice having the rain on my face after a hot monring. after work, sam dropped us (minus k & k) at the pancake rocks as the tide was high and the sea rough (perfect time to see the blow holes) they were pretty awesome, the sea was foaming and crashing into the rocks, spray rising really high out of the blow holes, could have watche dit al day. rained a lot in the evening, we were going to go down to the beach for a fire for new year but the weather decided against it. so we stayed in, on the computer, doing nothing and forcing ourselves to stay awake for new year. great.
THURS (new years day) - bring on 2009. slept until 12.30 thenr ead in the garden in the sun until a spider went crazy on my leg. went up to west coast cafe with kate for pancakes, not the best value for money compared
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sunset as we made our way onto the plane to cimas pancakes 😞 walked bakc to the house along the beach, stood in the waves unitl it splashed up to our knees! then to the tavern for a cold pint in the sun 😊 yet again, the sandflies came out and spoiled it, so we went back tot the house. watched the notebook (again) and bed.
FRI - took out the remaining photo point poles in the morning then after morning smokok we cut and poisoned poplars in the office carpark (that should have been finished after kate and karl left last time, 8 weeks ago). after lunch we did some plant release work, was better as we were really saving the natives by cutting the gorse back which had grown over them, blocking out their sun. finished very early to go to greymouth for the weekend shop, went to robert harris again, another smoothie mmm. back to punakaiki in the rain, me and kate watched her iconic neighbours dvd :D toadie and dees wedding all over again! moved onto youtube to watch dylan episodes :D then sepnt the rest of the evening doing nothing on the computer. id forgotten how much time you can waste on free
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view from the plane internet!
SAT - a normal saturday in auckland i would do nothing, meaning i would do some stuff, nothing major, here nothing takes on a very different meaning, it means nothing! did nothing until about 3 when me kate and karl went up west coast cafe for nachos. back to the house, nothing, then i went for a walk along the pororari river track (across the road) beautiful there, took about 100 photos! oops! had to come back earlier than i wanted - sandflies, a pattern emerges. watched dave chapelle and flight of the conchords with kate and karl, bed.
SUN - i dont know where it is!! i must have forgotten to write about it...oops, the dates still work though...hmmmm remembered, i went to the beach and got burnt, but i was freezing!
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