I work as a volunteer in Zealandia, an urban wildlife sanctuary in the heart of Wellington, the 'coolest little capital' in the world. Here you can follow some of the things that I do, such as nest monitoring, feeding and talking about one of the rarest birds in the world or showing visitors the wonders of this amazing little valley.
When not in Zealandia I spend a large part of my time enjoying the wonderful outdoor environment Wellington has to offer. Biking, running, roller -blading, swimming and dragon-boat racing are some of the pleasures to be had amongst the tree clad hills, the winding roads and the ever changing harbour.
Living in Te Upoko O te Ika (the Maori name for Wellington meaning The Head of the Fish) is never boring with its wild climate and rugged terrain. I hope you enjoy my blog as much as I will enjoy describing this amazing place and its animals to you.

Monday 8 April 2013

Setting up for the National Dragon Boat Champs.




A trailer load of dragons' heads

The dragon boat season is nearly over. We had our last practice on Wednesday in a rough and tough sea and handed in our paddles to be boxed up for the trip to Rotorua were Nationals are to be held.
The next day a couple of us set off a day early to help prepare for race day..
We arrived at our hotel late in the evening after a pleasant drive, had a meal then settled for an early night.
The next morning we visited the room where the breast cancer survivors teams were to have their celebratory breakfast the morning after the competition was over. One of our jobs was to blow up a large quantity of pink balloons. The task was completed with only a couple of ear ringing explosions.
Blue Lake or Lake Tikitapu

We then set out to Lake Tikitapu or the Blue Lake where racing was to happen the next day to help out. The place was a hive of activity with tents being erected, boats being unloaded and fencing being put up. A caravan had been strategically placed to become race headquarters, and holding pens where competitors wait were in place.
Up go the tents


The race headquarters caravan


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Up goes the scaffolding for the race callers while the Boobops captain checks out a few things



The boats travelled down from Auckland
Slowly things are coming together

Out on the lake people in boats were laying out the race lanes which consisted of long lines of buoys. It was cold and crisp, but once the sun came out things warmed up a little.
We then went back into town and hunted down an emporium type shop to get a few more decorations for the breakfast tables. We had blown up a stack of balloons in the morning to make everything bright and cheerful and now we returned to tie them in place and decorate the tables. It was looking good, we thought.
We had a rather delicious fish and chip dinner then returned to our hotel to meet up with the rest of the team who had just arrived. One final team meeting and we were all ready to rock the next day. Hopefully some of those elusive gold medals might at last be ours!!

                                


Head, chair, and drum in place, ready for race day.

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