5 January 2018: Wellington to Nelson

Our day began rather early today, as our daily meeting took place at 7:15am so that we could prepare for our crossing of the Strait of Cook on the Bluebridge Ferry at 8:30am.  The weather forecast was a bit foreboding, with a cyclone sitting off the northwest coast of the North Island, but the crossing proved rather easy; I wouldn’t say the seas were glass-like, but they were certainly better than what I had expected given the forecast.  Dr. Mike Daven and I rode on the viewing deck the entire trip to watch albatross and petrels cruise above the wind-swept waters in search of food.  We watched as Wellington Harbor and the North Island faded in the distance and the Queen Charlotte Islands of Marlborough Sound and the South Island came into view.  A few students joined us on the deck to watch as we entered the water way that took us to Picton, our first location on the South Island that we’d visit.

The city of Wellington being left behind by the Bluebridge ferry. 

Ray Shepperd (Nursing ‘21), Dr. Mike Daven (Math and IT), Ryan Feeney (Nursing ‘19), and Jenna Albanese (Nursing ‘20) aboard the Bluebridge Ferry to Picton.

Once we arrived in Picton, the group visited the Picton Bakery, in my estimates the most amazing bakery on the planet.  There was a meat-pie or other delicious vittle for everyone in our group (the Ollie Bols are amazing!).

My favorite bakery in the whole world!!

We spent a quick hour in Picton before we were off to Nelson to visit with Hudson Dodd at the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary (http://www.brooksanctuary.org.nz/) to learn about the establishment of the sanctuary, the exclusion fence that was erected to keep-out mammalian and other pests, the reintroduction of native birds to the sanctuary grounds, and to hear about the recent effort to eliminate pests within the sanctuary through the use of the poison brodifacoum.  Our students enjoyed the somewhat soggy hike up the Brook Stream valley and peppered Hudson with many insightful questions.  The students demonstrated their absorption and comprehension of the ideas and conservation strategies discussed during our visits to the other sanctuaries on the trip; it was a real pleasure to see!

Our gang at the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary in Nelson.

Sam Kenney (Nursing ‘20) asks Hudson Dodd, General Manager of the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary about potential bird species to be introduced into the sanctuary.