The Sinclair Wetlands

After spending a nice and lazy weekend in Christchurch our team headed south towards Dunedin to work at the Sinclair Wetlands. These Wetlands--approximate three square kilometers--were donated by Horace Sinclair back in the early 1980s in hopes of turning the place into an educational tool for children and providing a home for native species that had been driven away from the area and/or were endangered.

What makes the help of Conservation Volunteers NZ stand out even more here is that Johnny, the man who runs the wetlands today, is the only full-time employee who takes care of this massive area. He is also over 70, so he can use as much help as he can get. Groups such as ourselves will help out, school groups will come and plant native flora in certain areas, and even local convicts will serve out their community service at the wetlands.

Our main job for the week consisted of extracting massive flax plants from the ground along the main road and then cutting them up into smaller sections to be replanted within the wetlands. This task turned out to be pretty fun as it entailed us tying a massive chain around the plant, hooking it up to a 1940s tractor, and revving that baby for all it's worth. We ended up, after all the cutting, having over 200 plants that we later in the week took a day to plant in several areas.

One other day we worked with the local fish and wildlife service to do some weed releasing and planting. Problem was they asked us to plant some shrubs in a location that involved walking through water waist deep (our leader for the week showed us this fact, not voluntarily however). So we decided to cancel that idea and chased sheep around for an hour instead. Quite a lot of fun if you ask me.

We also took a hike to one of the higher hills in the area. This place puts countries like Ireland to shame. Just beautiful rolling hills, as green as can be in the middle of winter, and a picturesque view with sheep grazing all around. And with the long sights of the horizons and lots of rain starting and stopping we saw several rainbows throughout the week. I hadn't seen one in about ten years, then I saw ten in about four days.

I've now got one week left of this volunteer work before a month of free time (mom is coming to visit for two weeks next weekend) before I start playing rugby. Speaking of which, the tri-nations cup is happening at the moment (rugby for Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa), and the Australia-NZ game took place last night. I got a preview of what I'm in for in about a month. Those guys are nuts! Absolutely crazy! And I can't wait. And I am definitely going to learn that crazy dance the NZ team does before every match. The moment they make that first move is awesome, the crowd goes nuts, and you get an immediate adrenaline rush. It's going to be a blast