The Last Backpackers meet a Fool and a Dreamer

When we reached Hinewai Reserve in the morning after leaving the town of Akaroa in the morning from Bon Accord (the place we stayed the night before which we were the last backpackers to ever stay there as the building is changing over to an information center), we were met with a frigid southerly wind coming up from the Antarctic. Only a few minutes later, we received a strong contrast to the wind with the warm and friendly greeting of Hugh Wilson, the esteemed botanist who, with the financial support of Christchurch businessman Maurice White, created Hinewai, so named after the water maiden from Maori lore, Hinewai. 

Group photo with Hugh Wilson (left of pole)

After meeting Hugh Wilson to discuss our plans for the day, he went off to guide a group of high school children around Hinewai while we went on a several hour hike down the West Track from the summit almost to the sea of Hinewai. Although we were all quite tired by the end, we had certainly learned more about the flora and fauna of the region and saw incredible sights in the landscape.

Invasive spiky european gorse

Native vegetation growing through the gorse (yellow)

600 year old Totara tree, a rare remnant of primary forest

After taking in the sights, we then took in some lunch, and then headed to see Tricia and Paul, who help Hugh's work to preserve Hinewai’s treasured biodiversity. Tricia explained to us about the Kākāriki, a New Zealand parakeet who she and her partner, Paul keeps for educational and recreational purposes in the hopes of one day being able to release them into the wild (the habitat isn’t suitable yet in Hinewai or most of new Zealand for parakeets because of predatory mammals). We also got to see an Akaroa tree weta, an insect that fills the ecological role of a mouse in New Zealand. Paul then told us about his job of trapping and killing invasive mammalian predators (stoats, ferrets, hares, etc.) as humanely as possible so they can no longer graze down much of the native vegetation within Hinewai. 

1. A hungry kākāriki (New Zealand Parakeet) awaits food (it was fed)

Tree weta

Lexie (left) holds a tree weta that Jàmm (right) gave her

Paul (orange) explains his job to the group as Tricia (right of Paul) and others listen in

We finished off the day with Hugh Wilson joining us for the evening, which was fantastic. His charismatic storytelling about everything from Captain Cook to Maori lore to the creation of Hinewai Preserve was inspirational to us all. He told us the story of how it didn’t seem so inspirational to farmers at the time of the creation of Hinewai preserve (1987) when farmers called him “a fool and a dreamer” for wanting to leave the highly invasive, pesky gorse alone so that it could act as a nursery by which native vegetation could grow through it. Over time, even the most skeptical of farmers couldn’t deny the evidence that Hugh was right, as we saw in an earlier photo in this blog of natives growing through gorse: gorse acted as a shade cover for natives, which would then shade out the gorse, killing it. Having Hugh Wilson with us was a treat, one which will surely be remembered long after our time spent with him.

Hugh Wilson tells stories to the group

I apologize for the late posting, as the blog system has had technical difficulties and didn't display my post. At any rate, next up after Hinewai was the Tourist Drive yesterday, and Riccarton Farmer's Market, botanical gardens, and a rugby match, which Mary will blog about. 
-Chris