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.
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