Showdown down under

The first time I ever had Vegemite was in 2008 and it was a bit of a shock.  Visiting Kiri's Grandad in Nelson, I woke up early and decided to sample this gastronomic curiosity.  Unfortunately, nobody was up to advise me on proper protocol.  I slathered my toast with the smooth, viscous substance the color of used motor oil (maybe 15,000 mile used), as if it were peanut butter or icing on a cake.

The first bite felt like somebody punched me in the taste-buds.  As it turns out, you're not supposed to use tablespoons of the goo, but rather, get about as much as you could scrape with one fingernail, and spread that thinly across a whole slice of bread.  That initial overdose put me off the stuff for a few years, but after some time, it turns out that I quite like a bit of Vegemite in the morning.

Many New Zealanders, however, seem to prefer the home grown 'Marmite' to the Aussie import.  I think that both originated as waste products left over after beer brewing.  I had never really tried Marmite, and the 2011 Christchurch earthquake damaged the production facility, leaving a shortage of this spreadable national commodity.  I've been told that people were literally hoarding the stuff, and selling it to diehard devotees at a premium price.

Thankfully (for all but the slime-scalpers), it seems that the sludge factory is back up and running!  My latest grocery trip found the shelves fully stocked, and I couldn't resist a little competition:  A good old fashioned showdown down under:

 

Breakfast tar, available in yellow or red.

I must admit, it was with some trepidation that I bit into my open-faced face-off. Was there some danger involved with mixing the two substances that the Kiwis all know, but forgot to tell me?  Does the black slime combust when the two varieties are combined in a stomach environment?  What exactly does an overdose in folate look like anyway?  Is this even legal?

Surprisingly, I survived and have not been deported as of yet.  To me, the two non-Newtonian condiments are remarkably similar, save for a slightly more potent mouth feel for the Australian variety.  Presumably this is because it has slightly higher salt content, which is to say 'heaps' of sodium (350% of your DV if you were to eat the whole jar, as I nearly did in 2008).  I think I slightly prefer Vegemite, although if I were really hungry I could probably eat TWO pieces of toast with the gentler Marmite, which would otherwise be completely out of the question.

The only cultural reference I am aware of relating to Vegemite is the familiar Men at Work song 'Land Down Under'.  Ironically, clicking the youtube link here brings up a message that says "not available in your country."  I guess they don't "speak-a my language."  Maybe you can enjoy the song wherever you are:

Wild Waitakeres

This past week wrapped up my second at the University of Waikato. It's been a good two weeks, although very overwhelming. I think I'm finally beginning to feel somewhat settled and can remember everyone's name, where the bathroom is, and when "tea time" is each day (yes there is an actual morning tea and afternoon tea that most everyone in the department attends).

On Thursday we got to be part of a field team visiting a beautiful natural preserve in the north called "The Waitakere Ranges" just west of Auckland. It's a beautiful area almost 28,000 hectares in size.  

A view from on top of the dam that lies within the park.

 A shot of us heading into the bush and the big ridge line above us (man, there is some steep country around here). Added bonus of this trip is Brian was invited too, and I captured some quality moments of him...um, hiking?

Looking down south, over the ranges toward the ocean. Brian's elbow is making an appearance on the right.

The drought has made things a touch vulnerable to "burninating"

A Kokako (Callaeas cinereus). This is an NZ bird that CAN actually fly.

Although it is not a "mainland island" in the way of having a fence and complete predator exclusion, they are actively trapping and removing introduced mammal predators and have had great success in bringing back some of the native flora and fauna (both active re-introduction and release through regeneration of what was already there). One of the latest success stories is of the endangered Kokako, which is a cool native bird they've gotten re-established there. This isn't our picture, I stole it from the internet.

Our purpose in visiting was to do plant ecology research and was threefold. My lab currently has two undergraduates doing research and they both needed to visit the Waitakeres for their projects. The third reason was to teach the ignorant new lab member (i.e. yours truly) some of the native flora. One of the undergrads is working on setting up cameras by epiphytes to see what lives in and around them. There are a lot of epiphytes in NZ, especially up north here where it is warm and pretty humid.

A target research tree....no big deal undergrad, just climb it to put the cameras up.....

My labmates talking tree-climbing strategy (using proper equipment).

Scoping out epiphyte species in another tree....

   

A little un-official tree clmbing to eat our lunches. This is my lab manager and someone who recently got their MS in my lab. Did I ever mention that I think New Zealand is the most beautiful place in the world?

We did a lot of tramping around the bush to locate trees/plants and saw some massive giants like this gorgeous Kauri (Agathis australis...remember our kitchen bench from the earlier post?)

Checking out some vegetation around the bridge. I learned there are definitely some things here you shouldn't eat (or lick....touch.....look at for too long!?)

I slipped and dunked my foot on this crossing...mmm, refreshing.....until later on when I had warm wet nasty fungus foot.

I call this "Pensive Brian by Stream"....

...and this "Maniacally Laughing Brian"

The other undergraduate was there to collect plant tissue from an endangered shrub epiphyte to do some genetic systematics work. We couldn't get to this plant (even though we had trained climbers in the group), it was at least 20 meters up and out on a limb. So what do you do when you need a piece of plant from the canopy? You get out "The Big Shot":

We slingshotted rocks at the endangered plant for at least half an hour (permits in hand).

Several people got to be the lucky ones who stood under the tree with hard hats on, waiting to eagerly grasp at any falling plant material (and also eagerly hope to not be hit by falling rocks...).

Brian saved the day by using his man-muscles to hit the plant. Our reward was 3cmx3cm of plant leaf!!

It was a good day overall, with all goals accomplished, and at the end of 13 sweaty hours we were very happy to return to our little home in Hamilton.

On a side note, as I sit here finishing off this post, I just felt an earthquake (4.0 reports say...)! Crazy New Zealand.

Home sweet home

Well here it is at long last - the blog about our new house! We looked around Hamilton for ten exhausting days and at about 20 places before signing the rental lease for this little guy:

Ours is the one on the far left with the red roof! Its one of four A-frame townhouses about 15 minutes walk from the university.

Here's what you see when you walk in the front door. It's a little place, with an open floor plan. As you can see, the living area (and dining table just out of sight to the right), are right there next to the kitchen. And um...the bananas may look like they are levitating but are in fact are hanging from a wire wine glass holder under the cabinets.

One of our favorite features in the kitchen is the beautiful wooden counter (here they call them "benches"). It's made of Kauri (Agathis australis), which is a rare and beautiful endemic tree of New Zealand (only found only in the north of NZ at that!). There's even a bit of Paua shell (Abalone to the Americans), embedded in the corner of the single enormous slab of tree.

Paua shell, AKA Abalone

    


Below is another shot from the corner of the room.

To the left you can see a bit of the beautiful flower bouquet Brian bought me for my birthday! To the right you can see some of the spiral staircase leading to the second floor. In the back of the kitchen you can see another favorite feature of mine, the white dishwasher (albeit the tiniest in the world).

She's not allowed inside though.

 Here's the view if you're standing at the bench and turn around. Our little front yard (where Brian is already growing Basil that I made pesto with tonight), the footpath, and our trusty little Honda "Yousaf". Oh, and our "pet" cat that comes to visit who we named "Fluffster Jericho Butt-Licker the 10th" (but usually shortened to "FJBL", or even more usually, "the kitty").

Ok, now before I take the tour upstairs you should see the room to the right of the kitchen. It's the "laundry room" (almost all NZ houses have them, even tiny apartments!). Kind of like a mud room or something. Just beyond it there's a tiny little toilet room (we are super lucky because most houses here only have one toilet and there are TWO in our house!!!).

Rental places here don't come with all the large appliances (aka "whiteware") included, so we had to buy our own fridge and washing machine and dryer. But wait, you don't see a washing machine AND dryer in the picture?! But actually, you do. This marvelous machine has BOTH functions. That's right, you are looking at a washing machine/dryer. You put your clothes in, it washes them, and then if you opt for it, dries them as well. It really works too. Magic.

Ok, that's it for the first level - time to go upstairs!

 Being an A-frame, everything gets a bit smaller and angle-y upstairs. If you're standing on the stairway landing and look to the right you see the full bathroom (pictured below, right). In front of the landing is the door to the smaller of our two upstairs rooms (pictured below, left) - which we are designating as "the office" once our cargo arrives with our desks in it (in like one week...yay!).

 

Destined to be the office, currently the catch-all.

The toilet, just invisible beyond the shower curtain, has a spring-loaded seat/lid...so it never slams when you put it down...just slowly lowers. How funny.

Finally, here's a shot of our bedroom from the landing (if you looked to your left). Of course we love the giant window (and will try not to fall through/out it).

Our duvet cover is a floral print of Pohutakawa (Metrosideros excelsa) leaves and blossoms. Another endemic tree, which is of special significance to the Maori.

 The room is about half filled with bed, but thankfully the high ceiling makes it feel pretty open.

Big closet on the left, besides that we can maybe fit bedside tables?

The view when we wake up in the morning: a beautiful giant tree (a cottonwood?)!!

And our house faces pretty much due north (which is really nice in the southern hemisphere).

The mattress had to be put up a ladder and through the window!

Here's a panorama Brian took from our bedroom window...the green mesh on the tree is protecting figs from being eaten by birds! Yum, I love fresh figs.

Magnificient Maungatautari

The Kaka, an endangered primitive parrot found  in Maungatautari and a few other parts of New Zealand.

One of our first trips out of Hamilton was to the nearby Maungatautari Ecological Island.  It is not an island surrounded by water, but rather it is 3,400 hectares (about 8,400 acres) of habitat surrounded by predator-proof fence.

47 km of fence keeps introduced rats, cats, weasels etc. from killing native wildlife.

Aside from bats, New Zealand has no native mammals.  Many of the birds that evolved in the absence of these furry predators were rather over-trusting, many were flightless, and all were apparently delicious.  Many species were particularly prone to over-hunting by hungry humans (500 pound tame chicken anyone?).  Others that weren't driven to extinction by humans have been pushed to the brink by the rats, cats, stoats, and other mammals that we brought with us.

Takahe were believed to be extinct for 50 years.  After their rediscovery, their population plummeted to 112 birds in 1981.

Some sensitive native species survived only on literal coastal islands that were not colonized by humans and their mammalian cronies.  The unspoiled islands provided temporary refuges for small populations of vulnerable species.  This is where the fence comes in - intrepid New Zealanders started fencing off large areas on the mainland and removing all of the mammals from within the fences.  This is no small task - you try and find the last mouse in 11,000 American football fields... of forest.  Many of these projects have been successful, and have provided predator free islands in the midst of an ocean of bird chomping mammals.  Several endangered species including Takahe and Kaka have been reintroduced to Maungatautari.

Kakas are beautiful, cheeky, and LOUD!

We visited Maungatautari with Daniel and Kara - our wonderful hosts while we have been getting situated in Hamilton.  They know quite a bit about New Zealand and are avid hikers (aka trampers), but they didn't have any complaints about moving at a snails pace while we investigated every plant, insect, and bird along the trail.  We have both really enjoyed spending time with them.

Eagerly learning about native trees

 Also, the bush! <3

At Maungatautari there is a tower you can climb to get up into the canopy of the forest.  The NZ sun up there is hot, but the view was amazing.  We learned about the rata (tall tree below).  Like the strangler figs of tropical America, the plant starts as a vine, and over many decades they overtake and kill the tree they grow upon, remaining standing on their own as magnificent trees.  I can't wait to see their red flowers!

Chaffinch and ferns

It wouldn't be right if we didn't mention the insects!  These weta boxes provided daytime hiding places for the huge insects.  I didn't imagine how well they would work - as we hiked along, it seemed that each box was crammed with more and more wetas of increasing size!

One weta, two weta, WHOAH !

We were also super excited to come across this four spined weevil.  The spines presumably would make it a pain in the neck (literally) for any hungry bird.

 

While engrossed in photographing the weevil we suddenly realized that we were surrounded by a friendly group of Toutouwai - the not so common North Island Robin.  These are not very similar to the American Robin (Turdus migratorius har har), but are much smaller.  Something about their curious and docile nature just makes them fantastic to watch.  If you stand still they will hop right up to your shoes - flipping leaves for small insects that you may have scared from hiding!

Toutouwai.  They look like they are on stilts!

We can't wait to go back and do some more tramping in Maungatautari.  Maybe we'll see some other rare species unique to New Zealand - Tuatara or Kiwi!