Posts

Last week, Mararoa School went out on the Kepler Track to learn about our own backyard. Alessandra spoke to us about Richard Henry, one of New Zealand's first conservationists. Richard Henry caught and then rowed 500 kakapo to Resolution Island in the late 1800's in the hopes of saving the population from introduced stoats. He built a hut to live in on the shores of Lake Te Anau. Students used team work and found objects to build their own huts. Later, we continued to the student predator trapline to learn about how we can humanely continue Richard Henry's work. We learnt so much about local history during our time in the bush, thank you for an awesome day Alessandra!

Timeline Photos

Here a few pics from our last trip in the Kepler area before Christmas. Te Anau School Room 13 spent a lovely day looking for wonderful critters, learning about some of the introduced predators and venturing along the track all the way to Dock Bay. Season’s greetings & enjoy a well-deserved break Kids Restore the Kepler friends and whanau! 📸 Karyn Gamble

Yesterday Te Anau School Room 6 and accompaning adults travelled back in time to the late 1800s and visited the site of John Jack Beer's farm on the isolated west bank of the Waiau River, in what is now Fiordland National Park. The children were absolutely fascinated with Jack's story and two improvised (and talented) actors gave away the clue to find Jack's hidden (and forgotten) treasure... This was by the Kepler's very own Christmas tree (the Pinus radiata that Jack planted more than one hundred years ago) and was definetly goldy... but edible! 🙃 📸 Sylvia Bell & KRTK

Another gorgeous day along the Kepler Track!

Love this map on one of the envelopes 😄

Just received these from Matai students (Rimu Full Primary School) and will pass them on 😉 The letter attached definetly made my day, a riminder of why the Kids Restore the Kepler project is so important to us and the generations of children we share it with... Thank you, Nick & Matai Class, for your kindness 🙃

Thank you, Gully & Mr Filmer, for printing and delivering laminated copies of the beautiful Fiordland College signs... to replace the dated ones at the entrances to the Kepler Track 🥳

On Tuesday Te Anau School Room 7 enjoyed a beautiful day along the Kepler Track. The children checked the first six traps along the schools’ trapline (from Dock Bay, no catch) and spent some time playing in nature and exploring. What a great day out! Thank you, Room 7, for your help and a big thank you to all parents, grandparents and caregivers that always make these trips possible… on top of providing transport and a wealth of experience! 📸 Nat Calder & KRTK

Te Anau School Room 12 children have adopted some tadpoles from a brown tree frog, sometimes referred to as the whistling frog, which is one of the three established introduced species. During these last weeks of school, the children are learning about the frog life cycle and finding out interesting facts about these fascinating amphibians, including the species endemic to Aotearoa / New Zealand. Did you know that native New Zealand frogs have a very interesting type of life cycle? Most frogs will lay thousands of eggs and then disappear and leave the eggs to their own devices, and obviously you get huge mortality, whereas New Zealand frogs lay only a few eggs, but they look after them. They’re big eggs. After about 4 or 5 weeks, they’ll eventually hatch out into almost fully developed froglets with a little tail, so then – no tadpole stage, the tadpole stage happens in the egg – and when they hatch out, they’ve got this little froglet. And the little froglets then climb up onto dad’s back, and they sit on dad’s back absorbing their tails. A couple of months later, they are big enough and they hop away and lead their own lives. And that’s very different from the introduced species (Dr Phil Bishop). Information from: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/videos/1782-frog-s-life-cycle 📸 Dawn Hansen & KRTK

THANK YOU, Fiordland Conservation Trust for all your hard work over the years and for supporting (and believing in) KRTK.

Here some pics from last week's Room 4 trapping trip 🙃 The children checked twenty-one DOC200 traps and were also shown how the Sentinel possum traps work.

Photos from Department of Conservation's post

This week Te Anau School Room 1 and Room 4 spent a day trapping in the Kepler area. Total catch results: two stoats and one rat. I am always blown away by the children’s knowledge and by their teachers and caregivers’ determination in getting the kids into the outdoors. Their enthusiasm is contagious! November marks Kids Restore the Kepler’s 10th Birthday. Here is a little treat from Room 1 and more pics of both excursions to follow soon 😉 Have a lovely weekend, Alessandra 📸 KRTK

These pics are from last Friday. Last week Rimu Full Primary School senior class spent four days in Te Anau / Fiordland and also enjoyed a trip along Line 7. Thank you for volunteering checking the traps! Here a message from their teacher: "We had such a great time! The children absolutely loved it, thanks so much. Libby, Nina and both Rileys [from Te Anau School and Fiordland College] were great leaders, so knowledgeable and kind." Very impressed and so nice to see our students shine. We are looking forward to hosting you again Rimu School 🙃 📸 KRTK

Photos from Fiordland Kindergarten's post

A fun Southern Adventures for the team from Southern Stars today. We started off on the track at the Control Gates but as per usual we spent some time ‘off-piste’ - lots more challenges - fallen logs to climb over or under, little banks to scramble up or slide down, and even some natural ‘fire station poles’ to slide down. A few bug hunts today too - everyone wants to hold one!

Last Thursday after school a small group of teachers from Fiordland Kindergarten, Te Anau School and Fiordland College, together with two Y8 students, checked Line 3/4 (John C. trapline). Today the Y12 Rec Skills students were out checking Line 9/1 (college teachers trapline). Kaka have been spotted on Line 9/1 before, but Jasper (Y8 Fiordland College student) spotted a kaka also on Line 3/4 last week, the closest to the Control Gates we've heard of. Pretty special! Awesome effort everyone! Total catch: 17 rats and 4 stoats. 📸 Vaughn Filmer & KRTK