On this day in 1988 the first customer paid to bungy jump off of the historic Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge near Queenstown.
Continue Reading...Archives For 30/11/1999
Archaeologist, Sharleen (Shar) Briden writes about the recent discovery and recovery of a waka on the foreshore of the Papanui Inlet, Otago Peninsula.
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Spring has arrived this past week in Dunedin with the return of Taiaroa Head’s northern royal albatross/toroa. Today’s photo of the week is of an albatross coming in to land for the upcoming breeding season.
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By Paul Pope, Deputy Chair of the Otago Peninsula Community Board
Paul Pope
One of the great things about living on the Otago Peninsula, and having children at a local school, is you get to do some of the cool things that they do as well.
I was one of two parents who took a group of children from Portobello School to Okia Reserve for World Ranger Day with the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust.
Getting children out of the classroom, and providing a genuine ranger experience, was a great concept. Having pupils from the three Peninsula schools was pure genius.
Like it or not there is a need for conservation groups to be prepared to pass on the mantle of stewardship onto a younger generation, and the earlier we do this the better.
Out at Okia Reserve—located next to Victory Beach
Peninsula kids are fortunate that they grow up in a landscape inhabited by iconic wildlife species. We can only hope that this experience, and their own inquiry, will develop either empathetic citizens or active conservationists.
“Pyramids” at Okia Reserve
What I really enjoyed about the ranger day was the hands on activities that provided a genuine wildlife management experience.
From exercises in measuring and identifying birds, to pest control and habitat creation, each activity was designed to show what really needs to be done in wildlife conservation.
Hands on. Take aim!
So much of what actually goes on in the field is unknown to the public, and to be able to provide that experience for our school children was great.
I’m sure many of the pupils will share their experience with their parents and family.
Planting at Okia
After events like this it’s good to pause and reflect. One of the things that stood out for me was how much the Peninsula relies on voluntary organisations and citizen conservationists to protect and advocate for our wildlife and landscape.
The voluntary hours, fundraising and hard work put into places like Okia is quite staggering. It also highlights my view that we all have a stake in nature and a role to play in protecting it.
After my experience at Okia it’s not difficult to understand just how important that role is and how rewarding it can be for our children today and in the future.
This abridged post is from the story ‘Home on the Range’ on Paul Pope’s blog.
Thanks Paul for letting us share it here on the Conservation Blog.
They measure only 2 centimetres in length, so how does a 2 metre long peripatus (velvet worm) come to be found in one of Dunedin’s oldest buildings? DOC biodiversity ranger Amanda Salt explains…
In the dark bowels of the old Athenaeum building, in Dunedin’s Octagon, an exciting event took place to launch a new work on New Zealand peripatus/ngaokeoke, an obscure, nocturnal invertebrate which links back to a common ancestor present on Gondwana.
Purple peripatus from north west Nelson
It was appropriate this event was held in a cold, damp basement, as peripatus enjoy this type of habitat.
Under Dunedin’s Athenaeum building
The perfect setting
The new publications:
Peripatus: A guide to New Zealand’s velvet worms/ngaokeoke (PDF, 673K) and
aim to summarise knowledge, manage peripatus through continued research, raise awareness and secure legal protection for this at risk species.
Peripatus booklet
Peripatus pamphlet
Tahu the peripatus and Sir Alan Mark
The project to create these publications was a collaboration that began after it was agreed that the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) move a population of peripatus in Caversham Valley to an area nearby, to avoid the impact of state highway improvements in the Dunedin suburb.
It was guided by former DOC staff member, entomologist Michael Wakelin, with representatives from DOC, Ngāi Tahu, Dunedin City Council, Forest and Bird, Dunedin City Council, the New Zealand Transport Agency, and landowners.
Prof Sir Alan Mark, who wrote the foreword, told guests the booklet was an important milestone for DOC and Dunedin.
Dunedin photographer Rod Morris provided the photographs and gave an informative talk and slideshow at the event.
Velvet Worm ale
Local micro-brewer Velvet Worm brought along some of their latest brews and the sounds of The Velvet Underground pumped through the basement.
One highlight was Orokonui Ecosanctuary conservation educator Tahu Mackenzie, resplendent in her own wearable art creation of a giant purple velvet peripatus, complete with green slime secretion glands.
Tahu also sang a song she wrote for the occasion, accompanied by some of the recently-formed Dunedin Roots & Shoots group members, who helped out on the night.
To close, the mysterious world of the peripatus was portrayed poetically by DOC’s Coastal Otago Services Manager, David Agnew, who wrote P/Ng is for Peripatus/Ngaokoeoke.
P is for peripatus, velvet worm, the missing link
An animal (at least that’s what we think)
Not widely known, but world renown
For habits and features it stands alone
It roams at night
It kills its prey
Jets of toxic saliva it does spray.
Peripatoides aurorbis, walking over a leaf fossil
Ng is for Ngaokeoke, that’s how Ngāi Tahu say
This taonga from down this way
And we’re all so glad
It still shares Te Wai Pounamu with you.
M is for motorway, and we all use them
Asphalt and tarmac, and limits for speed
However it’s something that we all need
And Caversham Valley presented a way
For us to help peripatus along the way.
So here we all are to celebrate the result
Of hours of research and painstaking input
Into a process that produced this book
A collaborative process that involved quite a few
Ngāi Tahu and Transit, DOC and DCC
Forest & Bird, Rod Morris, Dave Randle
OPUS, Sir Alan, and scientists too.
P is for pamphlet, panui, pukapuka
P is for peripatus, velvet worm, ngaokeoke
P is for product, a present for you
I thank you for coming and please take one with you
Kia ora tatou
In New Zealand, nine species of peripatus belonging to two genera have been described so far and they are distributed throughout the country.
