Life at the Valley

sorry ahead for any typos...i have no time to edit.

It's been a while since i had the change to write anything, as I've been consumed with acclamating to valley life (which includes a minimal amount of electricity and no internet connection).

I'll back-track, though. In my last post I noted that I was planning on going to Tiritiri Matangi -- a bird sanctuary 20km NE of Auckland via ferry in the Haruki Gulf. I did in fact go ont hat trip and spent a glorious day upon the island, learning about engargered birds and the bush rehabilitation they are doing there. On one of the beaches I found a magnificent tree that grew practically perpendicular to the ground and meandered its way with dozens of branches to the shore. There were little nooks that made perfects seats for quiet meditation. (I was told the names of these trees but totally forgot . They usually grow out of cliffs and dramatically descend to the shoreline...does anyone know their name?)

I headed back to my hostel around 5pm to meet my ride that would be taking me to Tararu Valley. When I saw their van it was loaded with kayaks, luggage and 7 other people. Where were we going with all this stuff, go may ask...Tiritiri Matangi! For a four-day getaway via kayak.

After some pit stops we set up camp in some random grassy area in the cold rain to a full moon. Morning came soon afterwards and it was my job, along with Sarah to get all the luggage (rucksacks, gear0 onto the ferry and across to the island. Sadly, that may've been a bad idea considering the jetlag that was consuming me.

With an additional 4 days on the island I got to know it intimately. We walked all the paths at least once and made a day trip around the entire thing, exploring caves hidden by the tides. At night the island changed considerably with the penguins coming in and the very intense starlit skies. I had a very rare sighting of two little spotted kiwis running acorss the path in a hurry--kind of took me by suprise. How magnificent!

The kiwi is said to be a rely big evoluntionary fluke because it has the highest egg size to body size ratio of any bird. It think the eggs are over 40% of their entire body mass.

So, return to the Valley for most and an introduction for me. this is the first free day after 4 days of work and it's rauning so hard. Visability is about 10 feet in front of my face. Luckily we get a ride into town to run errands (laundry, internet, phone calls and shopping for supplies).

The work week was a combination of fun and exhaustion. Right now I'm on the "Green Team" and we've spend the majority of our time planting 150 Eucalyptus trees on very steep cliffs throughout the property. This means I've spent most of my time knee deep in fern and bush overgrowth, digging through the soil. Those of you that know me weel know that I like this sort of thing--experiencing life beneath the earth and having the opportunity to give life to a tree that in 2-3 years will be taller than me and provide shelter for many insects, birds and mammals. Plus, they Eucalyptus smell incredible.

Another project we're working on is trying to erradicate an evil plant called gorse that is entirely covered in thousands of long thorns and has the most intricate, thick root system. It kills lal the plants around it by sucking up all the sunlight, water and nutrients in the soil. We;ve discovered it acts as really good protection against rabbit how eat all our plants so we have hauled hundreds of bucketloads around the ridges. This stuff is awful! I have so many scratches from it. The one fun thing is using the az to cut down the roots...really good for releasing aggressive energy.

Life at the valley otherwise is pretty simple. We have food teams that rotate each day. They take care of lunch and dinner which is usually really nutritious veggies, rices, beans and lentils in some combinatyion. I think I'm the only other vegetarian besides the manager.

Lots of reading and card games take up our time. Plus taking care of the chickens and ducks. We're raising three baby geese that were rejected by their parents :(

There is talk of a climbing trip in the mix but what comes each day is usually a mystery...kind of nice, though. Forces me to life entirely in the present. Feel like I've been here FOREVER.

Okay, sorry folk. No photos until I get to a better internet cafe probably in 5 weeks. Then there will be LOADS up here.

With love,
a