Our First Few Days in New Zealand

I went to class for a couple of days to learn about the basics of New Zealand agriculture from my mom and Aunt Lesa and then we went on our first farm visit.

On Thursday, we walked to the Lincoln University's Demonstration Dairy Farm.  The farm is used to teach people about how to produce as much milk as possible on just grass while minimizing the impacts on the environment. Peter Hancox, the farm manager, talked to us about pasture based dairy farming and some history and information on the farm.  The farm is 160 hectares with 560 milking cows.  They milk on a 50 cow rotating carousel platform and the farm is managed by just 3.8 labor units.

We learned that the farm is the most productive all grass farm in the South Island, and we learned that the cows on the farm only eat grass, unlike in America, where they eat almost all grain.  Then, we got to look at the milking shed and the Kiwi Cows.  We even got to go into a soil pit to look at the soil that the farms' pastures are on. We learned that the soil is much deeper than most areas in New Zealand, and some of the effects of that.  They use something called a lysimeter to measure the amount of nitrates from cow urine that leach through into the ground and can get into the water supply. They also use moisture meter to tell how much moisture is in the soil so they know which areas of the farm are in need of irrigation.

Peter Hancox talks to the students about the farm. The farm has had 40,000 visitors since it opened 17 years ago.

Cows waiting to be milked. Most are kiwi cows which are crosses between Holstein Fresians and Jerseys.

Peter talks to the students in the soil pit. You could see all the layers of the soil. My mom called it the soil amphitheatre.

Seeing the cows being milked on the rotary platform

Today, Saturday, the 6th, we went to visit Peter and Marie Kidd and see a herding dog demonstration.  There are two main types of herding dogs, the huntaway, which is unique to New Zealand, and the heading or eye dog.  The huntaway has a deep bark to chase or hunt away sheep into the hills or away from the farmer.  They are big, black and tan dogs with a very loud bark.  Heading or eye dogs, on the other hand, are small, collie like dogs that never bark and bring the sheep back to the shepherd.  They are usually black and white and are called eye dogs because they use the force of their gaze to silently move the sheep down the hill.  There are also other, less common types of dogs like handy dogs, which do both heading and huntaway work, and backing or yard dogs, which I think are the coolest type of sheepdog.  Backing or yard dogs get onto the sheep and run up their backs when they are tightly packed loading in a truck or into the woolshed and bark in the ear of the lead sheep to get them to move forward.  They repeat this action with every sheep until all of the sheep are where they need to be. 

Walking out to a sheltered area of the farm for our demonstration because it was a very windy day

Peter sending Punch out. Punch is a Huntaway.

Punch sending the sheep up the hill.

Peter uses a whistle to communicate commands to Punch.

Punch at work.

Pip is a heading or eye dog. She brings the sheep back to the shepherd.

Pip using her eye to move the sheep.

Pip using her eye to move the sheep.

Chief, the two National Champion herding dog. He is now 13 and has been retired. 13 is old for a dog that has worked the hills.

After the demonstration, Peter showed us how he trains the dogs, and Marie showed  us all of her beautiful flower gardens and massive lilies.  We also got to meet two time national champion herding dog, Chief.  After the Kidds, we were on our way to the town of Akaroa on Banks Peninsula.

On the way to Akaroa, the bus broke down, so we had to wait a while for another bus to come.  In Akaroa, I went hiking, we visited stores and ate dinner at the 5th best fish and chips shop in the world.  Once we got home, we showered and got ready for bed, and I worked a little bit on a felted rooster that I am making.  All in all, it has been a fun and exciting first few days in New Zealand.

On Our Way to New Zealand 2018

We left home on the morning of New Years' Eve and met the students that we would be travelling with at Philadelphia airport.  After Philadelphia, we landed in Houston, Texas, where we had a 3 hour layover.  We then boarded the plane that would take us on a 15 hour flight across the Pacific Ocean and to Auckland, a city on the North Island of New Zealand.

During the flight, I watched Storks, Ice Age, and Boss Baby, all at my sister's recommendation, as well as Star Wars on a screen in the back of the seat in front of me.  I also read books, ate two meals (dinner and breakfast), and slept for about 6 hours.  After changing terminals from international to domestic, and spending two hours in Auckland, we departed on the last leg of our journey; the flight to Christchurch, and, after 30 hours of travel, we had made it to our home in Lincoln, on the Canterbury Plains of New Zealand.

Arriving in the Auckland airport before entering Immigration and Customs

After getting settled and taking well-deserved showers in our rooms at Lincoln University, we had a quick lunch and boarded a coach bus that would take us into and around Christchurch.  After exploring the city, we got home, ate a quick dinner, and hurried to bed because we were all extremely tired.

Arriving on the South Island

The view of the city of Christchurch to the Pacific Ocean from the lookout at the Sign of the Takahe

It was a pretty clear day

The cricket field out our back door where the U19 Cricket World Cup is being held while we are here. There are teams here from all over the world like South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Canada

Going Native: People, Plants, and Animals

Did you know that NZ has no native mammals?  Well, all this and more was to be learned at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve.

In Willowbank, we saw a lot of NZ's native species, and some introduced species.  Some native species are the pukeko, the kiwi, the kea, and the tuatara, which can live to be almost 200 years old and are NZ's living fossils.  The only thing that has changed about the tuatara is that the spines on their backs are now softer.  Even though kea(the only alpine parrot in the world) are rarer, kiwis get all the glory.  Perhaps it is because kiwis are NZ's most ancient living bird, or because kea will chew the seats off of bikes, motorbikes, and convertibles in Arthur's Pass.  Maybe it is for both of these reasons.  We also saw eels.  They were New Zealand longfin eels.  These eels can hold their breath for up to 8 hours so that they can wriggle over land.  We also saw other things such as wallabies, NZ wood pigeons, monkeys, pigs, and many others.

Pukeko- my mom's favorite NZ bird

New Zealand  has lots of problems with invasive and introduced species; both plant and animal because they have no natural predators.

 Finally, after hiking through the reserve, having a kea land on my shoulder, looking at... you guessed it, kiwis, and attending a Maori performance, we attended a 4 course hangi meal.  Hangi means a pit where food is cooked on stones. This is the traditional way that the Maori cook their food.  You can find out even more about Willowbank in my post from 2014.



You can see why pukeko are called swamp hens



Eels were a food source for the Maori and are culturally significant

Two kea landed on my shoulders and their claws were sharp!

Enticing kea with honey

The native NZ wood pigeon- they were a food source for the Maori

 

Tuatara are so cool.  The guide said they are living fossils.

Antarctic Adventures

Aotearoa is very close to Antarctica.

The U.S. Base across the street from the Centre

The International Antarctic Center is based in Christchurch, New Zealand and is exactly what it sounds like.  Among other things, it is the cause of Christchurch being called the gateway to the Antarctic as it is where anyone headed to "the ice" receives all their gear and things.  It is also the home of the US Air Forces' Antarctic program "Operation Deep Freeze".  The US Air Force flies all of the American, Kiwi, and Italian explorers to Antarctica.

The United States operates three permanent research bases in Antarctica; Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (located at the geographic south pole), Palmer Station (Anvers Island), and McMurdo Station(Ross Island).  At McMurdo, the United States researchers closest neighbors are the Kiwis at Scott Base who are only 3 kilometers away.  Apparently they get together and socialize quite often!

Antarctica is the 5th largest and highest continent in the world and contains 95% of the worlds' ice.  The reason that Antarctica is so high is because of the 5 km ice layer on top of everything except for the highest mountain ranges.  Quite a bit of Antarctica is below sea level so if the ice was scraped off, the size of the continent would be would be decreased noticeably.  Antarctica gets a lot of snow right?  Well, I have must say that all of you who thought that are...wrong!  Antarctica only averages about 5 cm (2 in) of snowfall a year.  The misconception is because of the buildup of that snow over time.  The packing of the snow is also what causes the amount of ice that the continent has

The Antarctic Center has many things to see and do.  We saw a 4-D movie about riding a ship through Drakes Passage, the roughest sea in the world, and exploring the Antarctic coastline.  We also visited the snow and ice storm room, which when we went in was 0 Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) but was drastically decreased when the temperature dropped and the wind came up, bringing the temperature below 0 Fahrenheit.  And I was wearing shorts!

Getting ready for our Hagglund ride

One of my favorite things to do at the Center is the Hagglund rides.  Hagglunds are the main means of transportation in Antarctica.  They can cross 3 foot gaps and "swim" with the treads that they have instead of wheels.  Hagglunds can can comfortably climb and go around very steep inclines.

What a Hagglund looks like from the outside

The crevasse we cross

 

One of the Little Blue penguins

At the Center, we saw adopted Little Blue Penguins.  The Center takes them in only if they are injured and cannot survive in the wild but they are not allowed to breed them.  Some of the Little Blues were missing limbs such as legs.  One of them had a wing that was paralyzed.  It had to learn how to swim moving only one wing.  The Center could only house 30 penguins at a time.  If 2 mated, an employee would take the egg, switch it with a plastic one, and dispose of the real one.  If a penguin was only temporarily injured, once it was well, the Center would release it back into the wild.

After the Antarctic Center, we went back to Lincoln and checked in for the night.

Stock, Stock, Everywhere

Since NZ has so many animals, it is inevitable there will auctions.  Before we went to the Antarctic Center, we visited the Canterbury Livestock Auction, which is held every Tuesday.

Sheep waiting to be sold

When we visited the auction, we saw and heard sheep and cattle being sold.  The sheep were sold by stock agents walking around on top of the pens but the cattle were sold by an auctioneer in a stock arena.  Stock agents represent their clients who are buying and selling animals at the auction so they don't have to come themselves.  Each stock agent represents about 100 farmers.  Farmers tell their stock agents what types of animals to buy for them and what they are willing to spend.  Stock agents also help to weigh and group the animals their clients are selling. 

We saw our friend Fred Fowler who spoke to the group about the auction and a stock agents job.  Fred is the longest working stock agent on the South Island and has worked as a stock agent

or over 50 years.

Fred Fowler has worked as a stock agent for over 50 years and always speaks to our group

 Thousands of sheep are sold here each week. Overall, it very loud but with few people.You can learn more about the auction in last years post.

Cattle in the sale ring

Auctioneers selling cattle

 

 

Visit to a Volcanic Harbour

Fun fact; New Zealand is on top of the Pacific Ring of Fire, and is mainly formed as a result of volcanic activity.  Akaroa is a perfect example of a volcanic harbor.

Making my mom nervous

Miranda and I

Claire and Miranda

Great views

The drive to Akaroa (Aka: roa) (pun intended) from Peters' farm was about an hour on a bus through cliffs, hills, and mountains, so it was intimidating even for people like me, who aren't afraid of heights. One student even asked if there was such a thing as too scenic!



Our bus climbed all the way to the top

You can see where the sea broke through the wall of the volcano many years ago

Akaroa Harbor was formed as a result of a caldera, or collapsed volcanic crater.  The sea broke through and filled the crater.  It is about 1 and 1/2 km long.  Akaroa is a relatively small town and the only French settlement in New Zealand.


The harbor

Cruise ships sometimes come into Akaroa now.  Luckily none were here our day!

Some of the cute old cottage in town

Once we got to Akaroa, we had lunch, and set off to explore town.  We went shopping and my sister and I played on a playground.  By this time we were starting to get hungry and so we set off for...
The NZ famous Akaroa Fish and Chips Shop.  This shop made the New Zealand Top Ten fish and chips shops. After we ate our fish and chips, it was time to go back to Lincoln and check in for the night.


We love fish and chips!