Matanaka Farm Buildings - Day 4

A visit to Matanaka was a "must-do" whilst on camp at Waikouaiti. Originally this site was an old whaling station in the 1830's, and then established as a farm in 1843. A number of the buildings from this first farm in Otago still stand today, which include the stable, granary, schoolhouse, farm shed and three-seat privy (although we're not quite sure why anyone would want to share their toileting moments with two others!!!)

The buildings are in a specutacular location and are extremely well-maintained. They are believed to be the oldest farm buildings in New Zealand so did prove to be well worth a look. It certainly made some of us wonder about the difficult conditions and isolation faced by those early migrant families.

Rocky Shore - Day 4

Thursday morning saw Tahu from the Orokonui Ecosanctuary returning to camp to prepare us for our Rocky Shore study. Once organised with our rocky shore creature identification chart and other equipment we headed to Shag Point (Matakaea), just north of Palmerston, for some exploring of the rock pools. What a brilliant spot this is for finding rocky shore creatures!

We had great fun finding and identifying the variety of creatures found in the different tidal areas - low tide, mid-tide and high tide. Not surprisingly, the variety of creatures were the greatest in the low-tide area.

We were all very careful when handling creatures of the rocky shore and made certain that we put everything back in it's 'home' before moving onto the next tidal area.

We then headed further along Shag Point to watch two of our super-Dads, Glenn and Jason, searching for kai moana (seafood). Glenn had all of his gear, including top-to-toe wetsuit, snorkel, flippers and fishing spear; whilst Jason couldn't resist and took the plunge in his bodily wetsuit (ie clothes) and mask to search for paua. It was only a matter of seconds before Glenn had speared his first catch-of-the-day.

While we were watching and waiting, we observed a few sea lions on the rocks in the nearby area.

One of Glenn's exciting 'finds' of the day was a HUGE sea star. It was fabulous to get a chance to see one of these magnificent sea creatures up close, before releasing it back into the water.

Once back at camp, a few hardy souls dissected the fish, whilst others had a go at making a variety of items, including bouncy balls and bags, out of bull kelp.

Camp Challenges - Day 3

Camp Challenges

While the other groups were away on the Catamaran the other groups stayed at camp and participated in camp challenges. We had obstacles coures to complete and cooperation activities to do. It was reall great fun and we worked well in our groups to get tasks completed.

We races to put tents up and down, which was a bit of a challenge!!!