kicking off conservation week

/ view from the top of the hill at the start of the hike /

a small group of te manawa staff and some keen members of the public headed out this morning with a local doc ranger to the oroua catchment to walk one of the stoat trap lines and learn more about the blue duck project. the track was an easy one to follow and not a very long hike before we made it to the memorial hut for lunch. along the way, we reset the stoat traps with fresh bait (eggs) and cleaned out one unfortunate rat.

the track was an easy one to follow and not a very long hike before we made it to the memorial hut for lunch. along the way, we reset the stoat traps with fresh bait (eggs) and cleaned out one unfortunate rat.

/ view down to the swift water that the blue ducks love /

/ bridge over the oroua river /

/ view from the hut /

 after our hike was over and we head back to palmy, we discovered that the wind that picked up during the day did a bit of damage while we were gone and completely uprooted and knocked over a tree onto the road out.

/ the tree preventing our departure from the forest park /

clearly we weren't going anywhere fast, but luckily some contractors doing work atop the hill who had chainsaws must have spotted us and were able to clear the majority of the tree out in about a half hour.

/ angela admiring the damage /

the weather wasn't horrible today, but it was certainly colder than we would have liked. we're hoping to organise another trip in the summertime where we can head up the river and spot some of the blue ducks.