Keas 45, Kiwis 20

Tena koe e te hoa (greetings my friends): It is week two and we have had some blustery weather that has changed our schedule a bit. The west coast has been wet and windy and the mountain passes have been covered in snow. Thus, we stayed on the east coast through the weekend. In Canterbury the weather has been fine and actually a bit warmer - sweet as! Today, we headed back to Travis Swamp to participate in a community restoration effort. After a morning spent planting natives and weeding, a first-ever cricket match was held (and we are not talking about insects!).

Each month, volunteers come out to Travis Swamp to help with ongoing efforts to restore Travis swamp. Travis is the largest urban wetland in the Christchurch area and it truly takes a community effort to keep things going. We headed out with our intrepid leader (Dr. Colin Meurk) and met up with some local volunteers. We grabbed some grubbers (kiwi for hoes) and some shovels - cleared some grass, and dug many holes. It as a bit soggy out in the swamp as Kinsley and Ally found out (check out Ally's foot!). Colin demonstrated proper planting techniques and we planted approximately 55 plants.

Whoops - a bit muddy!

Alexis and Scott in action!

Peter and Jane

Colin demonstrating proper planting technique

Working up an appetite, we met with the other volunteers for tea at the visitor center and then headed to the "Naked Baker" - a local pie shop (these are meat pies). Filled with yummy pies, we visited New Brighton beach where Colin described restoration efforts along the dunes. The sun came out and a few of us frolicked on the beach.

Beach!

We even crossed the road and tried out the flying fox!

No fun had here!

Back at Lincoln, we headed to the domain (aka sports field). We split into two teams, (Kiwis vs. the Keas) and commenced the cricket match (albeit, a somewhat modified version). In this game, we have bats, bowlers, wickets, overs, wicket keeper, bails, leg-before-wickett, a googlies, and various other terms related to cricket. Essentially, you bowl (pitch) the ball towards the wicket and try to knock the bails off while the batsman defends the wicket. After several overs, the final score was Keas 45 and Kiwis 20.  Ahhh - now we nurse our shoulders and ankles. Haere ra! Dr. H

Cricket at the domain!