Whale and Dolphin Watching
http://www.explorenz.co.nz/Whale-Dolphin-Safari/index.html

ImEnglish and love the ocean, I came to NZ looking for sunshine and warmseawater!  In anticipation of needing work I compiled a cover letter andCV and emailed a variety of different tourist outfits that specialised inmarine activities.  Within a month of arriving in NZ a Whale and Dolphinwatching company invited me for interview.  After a brief chat, I wasinvited to go on a trip with them that afternoon.  We spent 4 1/2 hourscruising in beautiful sunshine with dolphins jumping all around us. Apparently this was called work! 

SoI got the job, which is busiest in summer when all the tourists are here. I search using binoculars for the whales and dolphins, I make tea andserve pies to the guests on board and I take photos.  Its the most amazingjob, basking in the sunshine on the deck of a boat surrounded by stunningscenery, watching whales feeding just meters away! 

Themarine life in the Hauraki Gulf is incredible, on a good day we could find apatch of ocean with thousands of sea birds (Gannets, Petrels and Shear Waters)in the Air, all diving and feeding on small fish (Pilchards) and crill whichwere being brought up to the surface by hundreds of dolphins.  Then a whale would be seen, its spoutand a crash of water as it lunges to take food. 

Ourtrips would always be different, sometimes flat calm, you could see for milesand we would head out to Kawau or Little Barrier and almost to GreatBarrier.  Other times would beright on the edge of safe operation, windy and rough we would look for shelterunder the Corromandel, the less glamorous part of my job was handing out littlegreen buckets to people who were seasick!

Weregularly saw Bryde’s Whales (perhaps 75%) of our trips and Orcas come rightinto Auckland harbour!  I saw aSouthern Right Whale, mother and calf and even a Blue Whale, one of the rarestanimals in the world.  A far cryfrom the smoke of London!

The Waitakere Ranges

http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/ 

Afriend of mine told me she had been offered a job cutting bait trails in the Waitakere Rangers.  “What does thatinvolve?” I asked.

“I’mnot quite sure she said but you need to be good with a compass and map, and youget to go hiking every day in the Waitakeres.”

“Sounds good, can you put a goodword in for me?”

I went with my friend to meet Andyat the Ranger Station in ‘Arc in the Park’.  Andy took us for a short walk into the bush pointing outtrees and plants and identifying birdcalls.  It was idyllic but Andy informed us that the work was HARDand he expected us to get injured at some point, but if we were keen we couldstart in the morning.

Dressed in full tramping gear wearrived at 7am to meet the other workers. We were offered a variety of tools to choose from: saws (Silkys),shears, cutters (Wolfies) and machetes. Issued with GPSs and maps we were sent out in groups of two orthree. 

I was working with a guy who wasover 6ft and weighed probably 90Kg (a big dude compared to me!).  We had an hour-long hike along a nicewide trail to our start point, and then it was into the bush.  Our job was to cut a grid of trailsinto an area of bush, nailing bait stations (plastic boxes) onto tress every50m in an attempt to eradicate pests. We were literally Bush Bashing, hacking, cutting, pulling, pushing,jumping and sliding our way through unknown territory.  The trails needed to be wide enough forone person to walk easily along and put new bait in the bait stations on aregular basis. 

It was tough! On some days we movedno more than 300m from our start point on a good day we managed perhaps 600mmaximum.  We would be confronted bywalls of Supple Jack, every vine had to be individually cut and then avoided asit snapped back in your face.  Or asea of Cutty Grass, its blades like razors, it had to be hacked away andstomped on.  Flax was slightlyeasier it provided a cushion and could be jumped into!  We were in the bush from dawn till dusk,making two hour hikes out from the end of our trail in falling light, quitescary considering the rough terrain and how tiered we were. Is this what theearly settlers had to deal with when they made their way through the bushchopping down Kauri?

Although ready to quit after just asingle day, the work was fun and rewarding, a fantastic way to get rid of somefrustration and to feel like a real explorer. We saw lots of birds and somebeautiful Kauri and Rata tress and the work was valuable, we were contributingto the conservation of New Zealand’s wildlife.  By putting these bait trails in place volunteers could comeout on weekends and put fresh bait in the traps to kill off the rats andpossums and give the native bird species a chance to flourish.  I felt privileged to do this job, toget off the beaten trail and inside the native bush of New Zealand and in thename of Conservation, it was fantastic!

Cheers

Edward