On Thursday I visited Zealandia to meet Al Dicks the marketing manager. My Uncle Steve had suggested to Al that I might be able to help out with some of the IT stuff required to market Zealandia, specifically help with editing and uploading videos to their YouTube channel. Al is a busy man and in the hour or so I was at the admin office he seemed to be dealing with many different people and projects while doing his best to give me some of his time as well. There is another volunteer who comes in to deal with videos but they were not in having succumbed to illness, so I was left to look at what was currently in place and play around with YouTube and familiarise myself with some of the other social media sites that Zealandia has a presence on, such as Facebook and Flickr.
Another volunteer with an IT background is also starting to help out Al, looking at things like the current filling system for photos and video, together we’re going to look at all things related to the current two Zealandia websites, marketing via social media, back end organisation and anything else that Al thinks we can help with. I think it’ll keep me busy for a long time coming.
Once done I went and had lunch with Keryn at the University before heading back to Zealandia for a bit of a walk, seeing as it was a nice day. I walked for about three hours, taking a few tracks I hadn’t been on before and seeing what I could find. I had fun watching a territorial tui at one of the kaka feeders. The tui was taking sips from the kaka’s drink sipper and wasn’t too happy if any other bird came too close. A kaka arrived and proceeded to feed much to the tuis annoyance and it fluffed up its feathers and started to flap its wings to show its displeasure. It flew closer, but not too close, always retreating whenever the unconcerned kaka moved towards the display.
Photo by Brendon & Keryn
Further highlights included a nice bunch of bush clematis coming through on the side of the Valley View track, watching a kaka feeding on seeds on the ground while walking on the Round the Lake track and disturbing a family of California quail who rushed across the track to disappear into the bush.
Photo by Brendon & Keryn
Photo by Brendon & Keryn
I also came across a lone duckling near the lower lake. The duckling was running around and peeping for mum. I saw the mother duck fly into the lake and heard her calling, as did the duckling who promptly sped towards the comforting sound.
Photo by Brendon & Keryn
