Monday 17th June was when a couple of my friends and I went on our trip. Beforehand we had taken a survey to see which habitat we wanted to explore, my first option was Sumner Beach, following with Travis Wetlands, and lastly the Groynes dog park. Although I didn’t get my ideal pick I didn’t mind at all as long as I was with some friends I was happy.
Monday Morning- We boarded the bus with a smile on our faces I sat beside Shakarna and we happily chatted about what we thought we’d be doing. On arrival we had a short walk to a clearing where a kind faced lady was waiting for us. It turns out the lady we had seen was called Tracy and she was a City Councillor. After going over the safety rules {Don’t Touch or feed the Pukekos, Ask a parent before going toilet, and always stick together} we walked around a rustic water tap down a short path and across a little wooden bridge. We ended up in this pretty triangle hut where Tracy laid out two big tarps she taught us about the history of the Wetlands and about how different it was 200 yrs ago.
After a bit of learning Tracy pulled out a flax bag she told us there were 6 items inside and they all had a special meaning. First we pulled out a nest that resembled a nursery for birds, then we pulled out a sift it showed that Travis Wetlands is like a filter, a sink representing a carbon sink, a bed in breakfast showing that the birds can find a lot of food around the habitat, an areoplane showing that birds fly in for different seasons, and a sponge that resembles the Wetlands soaking up the sedimentation.
First Activity
We were introduced to a new person for this activity named Chris, he instructed that we grabbed a pair of binoculars and follow him out the hut and along a gravel lined pathway. We approached a lake with a large mass of bird life surrounding the edges of the water. Chris wanted us to find out what color eyes the little black ducks had, even with the binoculars we all struggled to see what color they were. So Chris took us to a platform it was much easier to see with this view! Me and Emily were the first people to find the answer which is Orange-Yellow. Their eyes were stunning! Moving on we continued down the path to a big gate Chris pushed it opened surprisingly easily. He told us to study the black and white ducks then he showed us two pictures of different breed ducks he got us to guess which ones the black and white ducks we’d seen were. But it was a trick question they were both!
In between both activities we stopped for lunch right outside the toilets and embarked on some Delicious treats, I envied Shakarna’s scroll it, and thought Miriam’s gummy’s looked scrumptious. We all started at the Pukekos who had come over looking for snacks when one came right up and pooped on our tarp YUCK!
Second Activity
The final Activity seemed to come quick, we brunched of to a smaller river where Tracy showed us how to catch small bugs. Here’s what we had to do- Step 1: Grab a net and dip it under some vegetation moving it side to side gently Step 2: Dip the net in a tray of water Step 3: search for moving creatures in the tray Step 4: Once you find one put it in the separated containers and identify what species they were. Me and Shakarna found millions of black tiny sea snails, as well as an insect called a back swimmer and some more. This was my favorite activity because it meant we could work together and discover new insects. I thought it was really cool that a kid caught a baby eel it was so slimy and cute.
On the bus ride back we were exhausted, since there weren’t many people on the bus we decided to sit on nearby seats but not together. We talked about how much we had enjoyed the trip and what our favorite things were, mine was activity 2 and Shakarna’s was lunch. We had so much fun on this trip and it was not at all what we had expected.
Would you like to go to Travis Wetlands?
Thanks for reading!