It was the first full day with all the new crew members on board Tara and everyone was fresh and excited for the trip ahead to New York. It was a relaxing start to the trip with a 12 hour delay before passing through the Panama Canal. Many swims were had in the sun,...
The final week’s goal was to do predator monitoring at Lake Rotoroa and replace more traps on the St Arnaud Range. We assembled at work with our overnight gear and sand-fly repellent, then drove over to the top of the lake with the larger boat Kehu on the back. The...
Tuesday 12th I spent my two flights up excitedly chatting away to everyone seated around me. Just before the plane landed in sunny Nelson there was a shout out to the New Zealand Volunteer Firefighters on board from an emotional flight attendant, whose house had come...
As Aidan and I head towards Nelson Lakes National Park, Jen (a DOC worker) points out the scorched hills where massive fires have raged for weeks. Although I am lapping up the beautiful sunny weather here, the land is in desperate need of some rain. We arrive in St...
NIWA Northland Marine Research Centre conducts trials to look at the retention rates, feeding rates and habitat structure preference of New Zealand’s economically important aquaculture species green lipped mussels. The mussel spat (baby mussels) are collected from the...
The mind wanders with the feet through the infinite haze of green; it’s hard to believe there can be so many shades of a colour. You are surrounded by lush New Zealand podocarp-broadleaved forest, which changes subtly as you walk around the coast or over the tops of...
