Guide Duty

I was on guiding duty today at Zealandia. Sixty two people arrived on buses from the visiting cruise ship and were divided into groups of ten or so.  As quite a few  people on cruise ships have some mobility issues we divide them by how far and how fast they wish to walk. I got the moderate walking group. We set off straight up the valley with the intention of seeing the exhibition in the Visitors Centre at the end of the tour.

The clay puddle dam and the valve tower on the lower dam

First stop was on the clay puddle dam at the south end of the lower lake. I explained the general history of the area. The Maori used the area as a hunting ground and when early settlers arrived they removed the trees for housing and firewood, burnt off what remained then tried to farm the steep hills.
In the late 1800s it was decided to flood the valley and use it as the city's water supply.

An early photo showing the steep hills with regrowth of vegetation starting to happen

The clay puddle dam was built and then in the early 1900s a concrete dam was built further up. Farming was stopped and the bush was encouraged to grow back to create a water catchment area.
Then in the 1980s it was realised that the valley was in fact part of the large Wellington fault line and  a serious earthquake risk. If an earthquake happened the dams could be breached and the resultant flood of water could tear down into the city causing a significant amount of damage.
'Not good,' thought the city fathers and mothers so the valley was decommissioned as a water supply and the lake levels were lowered.
An enterprising man by the name of Jim Lynch put forward the idea of turning the area into a bird sanctuary. Wellington and its citizens agreed and with a huge amount of energy, innovation and fundraising Jim's dream came to fruition in 1995 when a trust was set up.
Zealandia was on its way!
Having set the scene we continued on in and managed to get up to below the top dam where we saw kaka feeding. The group was then delighted to see a little kakariki hanging off the remains of millet that had been placed in the trees the previous day. Its a beautiful little bird - a soft, lush green colour with a splash of red on its forehead.They were released in Zealandia three years ago and are doing very well.

a kakariki

After that we had to get ourselves rapidly back to the Visitors Centre for morning tea and to see the film.
Mission accomplished and I waved my group goodbye as they climbed on the bus and departed.