Arataki

What was the best part of our trip to Arataki?  

Remember to use the word BECAUSE!
What new facts did you learn?

Arataki Visitor Centre

First stop - a session with Bronwyn in the classroom.

Bronwyn got us to complete a puzzle on the 
life cycle of a plant.  
Then we had to try and trick our friends.

We watched a cool DVD on seed dispersal.  
Then we got given some sycamore tree 
seeds to throw in the air and watch 
them glide to the ground like a helicopter!

Our next stop was the nursery.  
We could see tray after tray of native 
seeds.  They were getting them 
ready to put into some soil to grow 
into a big, beautiful trees.

When the seeds are planted they 
are put into a seed tray.  They have 
a very interesting watering system set up.  

Once the seeds sprout and become 
seedlings they are then potted into 
individual pots.  This gives them more 
space to grow.

They are then repotted into even 
bigger pots and put into a separate 
room.  I think they called this the 
toddler's room!

You can see the size of the next pots!  
The black ones in the middle of 
the picture.  They are still covered 
at this stage to protect them from the weather.

The final stage of the plants nursery 
life is out in the big tree area.  They 
have no protection from the 
weather.  This is to get the plant 
ready and hardy for when it is planted 
in the bush.  They stay here for about a year.
This is so they won't die once they are
planted in the bush.

We were then able to plant our 
very own Pohutukawa tree.  We had 
to fill the container up, leaving about 
a 1cm gap from the top.  Then we 
used our finger to make a hole and 
poke the little Pohutukawa into.  

Our potted Pohutukawa waiting for
 their first watering. We watered it with a soft,
 misty spray.  This was so the tree didn't get 
washed away.
We watered it because plants need water
so it can grow and survive.

After lunch we had time for a quick photo in
Waitakere Ranges photo frame.  The back 
row had to use team work to help each other 
to stand up on the frame.

The first set of Junior Rangers.  Their job was 
to ensure nobody went past them when John 
stopped to tell us one of his interesting 
stories.  We needed Junior Rangers because
there are already 6 people who have been 
lost and never found in the Waitakere Ranges.
We didn't want to be number 7!

If you are ever lost in the bush, 
follow John's 5 'S' steps to survival.
Sit down
Stay put - don't move around
Stay calm - don't panic
Shelter - keep warm and dry if you can
Signal - call out for help
The Junior Rangers helped us to not
get into this situation. 

The orange ribbon shows us that there
 is a tunnel nearby and a pink ribbon 
told us that there is poison around.
This is an animal identification tunnel.   
The animal walks through the tunnel.  
Inside the tunnel is an ink pad.  
The animal steps on the ink pad and then 
steps onto the card inside the 
tunnel.  It leaves its footprints so the 
Ranger can then see what animal it is by 
the footprints left.   The Ranger will then 
lay bait to poison that particular animal/pest.

Jumana is setting off a possum trap.  
This was to show us how dangerous these 
possum traps are.  We learnt not to ever touch 
them. The possum trap works by breaking the 
possum's neck when it tries to eat the apple in 
the trap.  The possum trap is yellow so we can
 easily see it.  The possum traps are shown by 
using a blue ribbon.
John surprised us by pulling out a real possum 
out of his bag.  He was a great story teller so 
we believed it was a real possum!  It was only
the fur of a real possum.  It was sooooo soft!

The end of the bush walk.  John 
was asking questions to see if we 
had remembered everything he had told us.
We had a fabulous time at Arataki.