Our Little Conservationist

After leaving Auckland we travelled to Rotorua which is in the interior and the region is known for it’s thermal activity. We found a campsite and set up our tent. For this trip we are using a Sierra Designs 3 person tent which is light to carry but is quite roomy. I had thought it was a fairly large tent but compared to the other tents at the campsite it was microscopic! The other tents are the size of a small apartment. They have cooking areas, different rooms and even a tall person can walk around in them without ducking. The down side is they must weigh a ton and most people had small trailers in order to put all their gear in. I didn’t see anyone set-up or take down one of these monsters but I imagine it would be a half day operation (and may result in divorce).

Since we arrived in New Zealand Bree has been captivated by the kiwi bird. Since she is doing kool school (online/home schooling) while travelling I decided that studying the kiwi bird would be a good science project for her. Rainbow Springs in Rotorua is a Nature and Conservation Park and they raise young kiwis there and then release them back to the wild. Bree really wanted to go there and see a real kiwi. It was a great centre and we learned about native flora and fauna as well as the plight of the kiwi.

As a conservation program they are trying to raise funds to help with their work. One option they have is for people to sponsor a baby kiwi that has just hatched for $50 or $150 NZ. For the $50 package you receive a certificate, a pin that says you have helped a kiwi, a picture of your kiwi and an information sheet on your particular bird. You can also go online and follow the progress of your bird up until its release.

Bree heard about this package and decided that is what she wanted to do. I told her that she would have to use the $100 of money she was given at Christmas for NZ to do this and told her that she had to wait until the next day. Now, I support conservation programs and was proud of her decision, but I just wanted her to think about it as 6 year olds are prone to impulse buying! The next day the first thing she said was “today I can go and sponsor a kiwi”. So we went back to the centre and Bree brought a picture for her new kiwi and bought her package. The people at the park were impressed that a 6 year old was willing to give up her toy money to sponsor a kiwi and asked if they could take her picture and post her on their facebook site. Bree was pretty excited about this and I must say both Russ and I were proud of her.  Since then we have played endless games that involve kiwis and in particular her kiwi which is named Speedwagon. Next week we will go and visit the Coromandel region which is the area that Speedwagon ‘s egg came from and where he will be released once he is a year old.