Stay w Todd and Ros

 Tuesday Jan 14 was my first morning waking up at the farm. Ros was heading  off to work and Todd was dropping the girls off at rowing so I had the morning to catch up on computer work.  In the afternoon we took Macey to swim practise and then met up w Elle and Ros at the rowing club, as the girls had to load the boats for a rowing meet which they were leaving for early the next day.  Ros, Tod and I then went for a walk along the beach.  It was windy and cool, and a number of people were gathered casting their lines into the waves.  It was a very different beach to Abel Tasman.

On Wed morning, Elle and Macey left early, heading to Twizel, for their rowing competition.  Todd then moved into guiding mode and we headed 2 hours east to the Hinewai Nature Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary.  

The real gem here is we were able to meet the co-founding manager, Hugh Wilson, who is now a month shy of 80 years old and is very informative, and engaging w a gentle humble way about him.  He said he rides his bike to the nearest village for supplies every 2-3 weeks and may venture to Christchurch 1.5 hours away, once a year.  The Maurice White Native Forest Trust includes 1250 hectares of native forest land, as well as an information centre and hostel.  It also includes his residence as well as 2 other residences at other locations for the 3 full time staff.  Initially consisting of 2 farms, the first portion of land was purchased in 1987.  At first Hugh, a botanist by profession, said that the surrounding ag community were not fond of the idea of the reserve.  Today, the local farmers have become friends of Hugh’s and are advocates for the reserve .  It has provided insight into natural succession and how this process actually reduces and often eliminates invasive species such as Gorse over time, as the native trees return.

https://www.hinewai.org.nz/about/

Our visit w Hugh Wilson.

Hugh showing us a small rat that he had recently caught.

Hugh then gave us a map of the many trail systems and helped us choose a reasonable route.  We hiked for 11 km and 180 floors.  Todd was super informative on all the native species of trees, plants, birds which made it an amazing day walking through such a haven of biodiversity.  AND We only veered off our chosen route twice.

Todd showing me the characteristic silver color on the back side of the “Silver Back Fern”. The famous logo of NZ Rugby.  Pretty basic but pretty cool.

Excuse my huffing and puffing in this video lol.