Reading

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Just after the last big aftershock I went looking for katipo with my supervisors, so that I could learn to find them. They really are striking beasties - the first we saw was a juvenile female, the prettiest of all in dazzling white, red and black stripes and diamonds. She sat still while I took pictures of her. They slowly lose the white as they moult, with the subadult instar having only a thin white line or a few specks left. The adult females are solid black and red. There are no adult males at this time of year: although the females may live for two years, the males die shortly after losing their virginity. This is so that they don't boast about it to their friends.

At the moment I am doing reading. I have been doing it for a while, but yesterday I found out that this is called "literature review". I was talking to a friend who has done a Masters and he said this is the first part of your study - an integral, but boring, part. There is endless reading for me to do and I will just keep on ploughing through it until it's time to write up my study. Then I will finish my write up, decide what to do with it, and move onto the next project - which starts with literature review!

My first project is actually 2 projects. They involve laying out roofing material on beaches. First I have to wait, because somebody else is using the roofing material in their project, so I am filling this waiting time with reading. Soon I will get the stuff though, and then I will have a day or two packed full of laying stuff out on beaches and looking for katipo. Then I will come back and do more reading! I will also have to start planning other experiments and maybe even writing the introduction to my report!

I spent a few days in Dunedin to get away from the quakes...it worked - there's only been one feelable one since I got back. It was lovely being on solid ground. I also saw a lecture by Jane Goodall, who was very inspiring and didn't just talk about chimps, which I like because I'm not all that keen on chimps. Don't get me wrong, I love all animals, but it gives me a bad taste in my mouth when people start talking about chimps as similar to humans. It seems that chimp stuff is usually about comparing chimps to humans and proving that they're like us.

I also went to the winter festival, which was a slightly macabre parade of night creatures. It was brilliant! There were paper lanterns made at community workshops that were shaped like weta, moreporks and also bees for some reason. The people were in costumes, dancing around and playing instruments or singing. There were lots of children there too, dressed in white or wearing shells, and they were very good at dancing. Three children were wearing a beetle shell together and the way they walked under it was just like the way a beetle walks.

To get to Dunedin I had to take the bus, which is a bus ride and a wee walk from my house. The wee walk was through areas that had been affected by the earthquake. There is evidence everywhere that the ground is a little...groovy. Chimneys are wonky, missing slates, that sort of thing. But on the way to the bus, there were "keep out" fences around most of the buildings. I couldn't really see what was wrong with them. One fence had a lot of coloured paper ducks attached to it with messages: I read a few and it seemed that this was a rather popular little cafe. I started tripping over creme brulee style cracks in the pavement, and places where the tarmac had given way and become a sinkhole. I watched my feet for a while, then looked up and saw a lovely looking old church, black and white Victorian style - except that the entire front wall had come down and the street was closed. All that separated the inside from the outside was chip board. I kept on walking past more fences and more rubble and more sinkholes, past which people were walking their dogs and driving their cars. At the bus stop, one of the buses appeared to have been partially swallowed by the road - they had turned it into a shop. Nearby, another old church had lost all of its walls and I could see right into it. Outside there was a sign saying something like"Christchurch's heart is broken but still beating". It's true: people are getting on with things regardless! They know the true meaning of a stiff upper lip!

On a brighter note, birds have begun coming to my feeder. I hung it up to attract bellbirds and tuis, but the only ones I have seen there are waxeyes. I'm not complaining - they're lovely wee birds and at least they're native. I'll be happy if all I get here are waxeyes. How did I manage to convince waxeyes to come to my feeder, when before there were no birds coming at all? I hear you ask. The answer is strawberry jam! Is there anything it can't do?

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