Tokaanu Trip
Our student leaders started the holidays with a trip to Tokaanu. This trip was very popular and we had to limit it to 40 students and their families. It looks like we might need to offer two trips next year! The weather looked terrible, with fresh snow on the mountains and a howling cold wind, but we were very lucky that it only seemed to rain hard when we were in the cars or inside the building. We had blue sky and rainbows while we were fishing!
We started the trip by stopping in at the Oruatua restoration area on Tuki St at Tauranga-Taupō. Local legend, Shirley Potter, showed us around her incredible site and we helped her do some weeding. We also cleared patches of nut grass and dug holes ready for kahikatea to be planted. We learnt about how they love growing in wetlands like that area and we even planted a few kahikatea trees ourselves.
Didymo Dave talked to our student leaders about introduced predators and about how to protect our waterways. His huge trout made from nylon collected from the streams and rivers around our lake is incredible, but is also a sad reminder about how much rubbish people drop.
Our student leaders got to learn all about our special native mistletoe from Shirley Potter. It is a favourite of possums, so is fast disappearing from NZ forests. The students had a chance to 'plant' some seeds in the crook of branches of trees. In nature birds do this job. After eating the berry, the seed will stick to a birds' bottom, and it will have to back up to a branch to rub its behind in the crook to remove it! The mistletoe will then grow on the host plant (it is parasitic) and will provide important food for our native animals through its flowers and berries. Read more about this special plant here: https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-plants/mistletoe/
Next, we headed to the Tokaanu wharf to go catfish fishing. Gordon from Check Clean Dry Taupo dissected one of the catfish that we caught and found thousands of eggs, so we were happy that we saved them from ending up in the lake. But, when we looked inside its stomach we were sad to find a very pregnant koura. It was a great example of why we don't want these pests in our lake. They eat our native fish and invertebrates, lay thousands of eggs, have no predators to keep them in check, and can hitch a ride in a boat trailer or boat to infest another area (they can survive out of water for a long time). It is super important to clean, check, dry to avoid spreading these fish to other lakes.
Benoir talked to us about the catfish project at Waitahanui and ecologist, Alana Delich, spoke to us about her research into native fish in the lake. Then we all headed to the hot pools to warm up and relax after a big day of helping our local environment by weeding, planting, and fishing. What an awesome trip!
Thank you so much to all of the people who made this trip possible, our parents who drove their vehicles and supervised the students, guest speakers and helpers - Didymo Dave, Shirley, Gordon, Hugh, Wai, and Alana.
A really big thank you to Blue Light for the use of the van and to Trev Terry Marine for five new fishing rods.
