Blueskin Bay FM 88.2

24 March 2010

WAITATI SCHOOL

By Jenna Packer

Picture this charming scene at the annual Country Fair and Clearing
Sale: from behind the laden tables of the 'Kereru Cafe', the Waitati
School P.T.A, bedecked in floral aprons (thanks Ms Burra!) we had a
superb view of the event to which the cafe had previously owed its
name: the Flying Possum! Sweet, bright eyed children rushed forward at
the sound of canon-fire, the smell of gunpowder and singed … say no
more.
Slightly less spectacular, but just as enduring would be my memory of
one of the schoolchildren taking part in the recent Enviroschool's hui
at the Orokonui Ecosanctuary. Within my brief visit, one student had
come up three times, face shining, to tell me "this place is so cool"
and "this is great!" Shylo was one of three students from Waitati
School who took part in the hui and who, despite the extreme weather,
had a "really awesome time" tracking kaka, setting ink traps for mice
and learning about the ideas and work that went into the eco-hut
designs. The children loved being shown Purakanui's ecohut, and came
back to school buzzing and eying up hut sites and planning
bird-feeders "to keep the birds alive and safe at our school". One of
the best things about the hui was the forum for children to share,
compare and appreciate what each other was doing. It is exciting to
see the local, coastal schools building relationships, both
competitive and collaborative.
Speaking of competitive, this season has seen the school cricket team,
the Waitati Wanderers, really start to take shape. Thanks to CRT for
the portable practice nets and big sack of grass seed for the sowing
of a future cricket pitch on Bland Park. The team also wishes to thank
the North East Valley Junior Cricket Club, with whom they are
affiliated, for providing kit and administration this season. The
Wanderers are looking to broaden their catchment, so any keen
cricketers in the Blueskin area, do start thinking about next summer
and contact Waitati School or Antony Deaker.
With term two approaching, the children are inevitably going to be
spending more time inside, however there is great excitement over the
imminent arrival of an interactive white-board and a computer
microscope. The P.T.A, with assistance from the Otago Community Trust,
has been successful in securing a grant for these new resources. This
really looks like the best of both worlds for our children, with
science based on observation and research 'in the field' – the field
being the rich environment around us and the extension of this
exploration into the classroom. Gumboots and high-tech!

From blueskin.co.nz and 'Blueskin News' published by Blueskin Media:
voluntary/non-profit community publishers in Blueskin Bay (Seacliff,
Warrington, Evansdale, Waitati, Doctors Point), Dunedin, New Zealand.
All material sent to or published by us is "copyleft" in the public
domain and may be freely shared, archived, re-edited and republished.
If you want to credit the source it's "blueskin.co.nz".

STOP PRESS

By Rosemary Penwarden and Derek Onley

In the past two weeks, sometime between the end of February and the
second week of March, an amazing, unbelievable yet ordinary, and
mostly unnoticed event occurred. About 600 godwits left Blueskin Bay
on their non-stop flight to Korea, then onward to Alaska to breed.
One male godwit, colour banded on Warrington spit in Feb 2006, was
seen feeding on the Karitane estuary on Monday March 8. Nine days
later on March 17 it was seen feeding at the Yalu Jiang Nature Reserve
on the China/North Korea border! This same godwit has been seen a
dozen or so times over the past four years.
See the next Blueskin news for the full story.

OROKONUI ECOSANCTUARY

By Sue Hensley

Despite the weather the launch of unguided walking was a buzz with
lots of people and lots of activities. A talk by Neville Peat on kiwi,
storytelling by Kaitrin McMullan and live music were just some of the
highlights. As track upgrades are completed they will be added into
the network of tracks available. It is hoped the Valley Track will be
finished and ready later this month.
The official opening of the Pa Harakeke/flax plantation will also take
place in April and a booklet is being designed giving information
about this amazing fibre, the background to this project and
tikaka/guidelines for its use.
Rats are at undetectable levels for the second time in a row and we
hope this current round of tracking tunnels confirms this low level.
If so, the proposed April robin transfer will go ahead. Dr Ian
Jamieson of the University of Otago Zoology Department is overseeing
this project. The birds are being sourced from commercial forest
plantations in Flagstaff and the Silverpeaks, which are scheduled to
be felled. The tricky thing about this transfer is that robins,
despite their small size, are renowned for flying straight back to
where they came from. Staff and students monitoring the robins will be
feeding out meal worms in the initial stages to encourage them to make
Orokonui home.
After successfully raising twins, the parent kaka re-nested at a new
site but abandoned it within a month. We presumed that was the finish
for the breeding season but at the end of February discovered the
female back in her old nest – this time with four eggs. Taking a photo
to find out what is happening in the nest is not easy as the nest
cavity is a deep one and about 4m up a tree. From the rather blurry
photo taken at the end of March it appears that possibly two have
hatched. Grey, down feathers indicate very young chicks only a couple
of weeks old.
The cafe and visitor centre are open seven days, 9.30-4.30. The Centre
is free to explore, as is the Pa Harakeke walk and the 9km perimeter
track. Guided tours are at 10.30am and 1.30pm. Unguided walking during
open hours.
• Orokonui Ecosanctuary: www.orokonui.org.nz,
www.facebook.com/pages/Orokonui-Ecosanctuary

NEWS

Climate expert to give talks in Palmerston
Dr Jim Salinger, honorary research graduate in the School of
Environment at Auckland University, and the president of the World
Meteorological Organization, Commission for Agricultural Meteorology
at Geneva (Switzerland) will present a series of lectures on climate
in the library at East Otago High School in Palmerston next month.
Organised by Hampden Community Energy Society and Waihemo
Wastebusters, the full details have yet to be arranged, but lectures
will be given over two days between Friday and Sunday May 14-16.

ANZAC Day
A commemoration service will be held in Waitati on Sunday April 25
starting at 10am, at the Waitati Hall and Cenotaph, followed by a
community morning tea (please bring a plate).
This is a community commemoration, and many people and local groups
help to make it happen. If you are keen to be involved and haven't
been in the past, please contact Helen Beamish (4821440) or Alasdair
Morrison (4822505). New ideas... new faces... most welcome.
This year we are keen to include more local "flavour" so if you have
family stories to share, or medals to show, please contact Helen or
Alasdair. We will be trying to incorporate those stories into our
service if possible.

Bohemian Nights return
It's been three years since we've seen them in Blueskin Bay but
popular Australian folk performers, Bohemian Nights are returning
later this month for one show in Warrington.
Violinist Ernie Gruner and accordionist/singer Phil Carroll have
already visited New Zealand five times. They draw from diverse
sources: Gypsy, Klezmer, Middle-Eastern, French, Italian, Russian,
jazz and tango. Their music ranges from soulful to wild.
Ernie and Phil last performed in Warrington in 2007. In association
with Blueskin Bay FM, they play Warrington Memorial Hall on Saturday
April 24. Doors open 7.30pm and tickets are $15 (concession $10,
families $25).
Tickets only available at the door.

Library Development Community Meeting

Monday April 19, 7.30pm, Waitati Hall

What will the new library look like?

Why knock down the existing library building?

How will it affect the play ground?

Who's paying and how much will it cost?

Time to find out the facts and express your view.

Ā ā Ē ē Ī ī Ō ō Ū ū
From blueskin.co.nz and 'Blueskin News' published by Blueskin Media:
voluntary/non-profit community publishers in Blueskin Bay (Seacliff,
Warrington, Evansdale, Waitati, Doctors Point), Dunedin, New Zealand.
All material sent to or published by us is "copyleft" in the public
domain and may be freely shared, archived, re-edited and republished.
If you want to credit the source it's "blueskin.co.nz".

BLUESKIN PLAYCENTRE

By Marion Rucker

We've had a busy month with our neighbourhood theme, visiting the
garden centre and cafe, Bland Park, story time at the library and the
Ecoscantuary, with our children learning lots about what is on our
doorstep. We also enjoyed Miss Burra bringing Room 3 to visit us at
Playcentre.
Children have enjoyed lots of messy play – cornflour, slime and finger
paints to name a few. Our swan plants have been a real hit with a
Monarch butterfly emerging from its chrysalis during a session, drying
its wings and flying away, watched by 18 children. To celebrate, as
part of our baking programme, we made butterfly cakes.
We have welcomed two new families this month: Soo with Jessica and
Natalie with Ellie. Happy birthday to Jessica who turned two and
Benedict now four!
Playcentre will finish on March 31 for Easter, reopening on Monday April 19.
We are also now collecting for our annual jumble sale that is to be
held on Sunday May 23. Donations can be left at playcentre during
opening hours.
• Blueskin Playcentre: Marion Rucker 482 1395

Mainly Music
Mainly Music started in Waitati this month and the Tuesday morning
sessions have been well attended with children enjoying some classic
songs such as Miss Polly Had a Dolly and I'm a Little Teapot, as well
as a number of new songs.
Mainly Music runs during term times at Waitati Hall on Tuesdays
10.00–11.00am with songs followed by morning tea. Cost: $2 per child,
$3 per family.
• Mainly Music: Kim 473 8932

BLUESKIN GARDEN CLUB

By Lyn Hastie

Last month the club visited the Village Potager herb garden in
Waitati, and shared recipes along with tasting many delicious pickles
and preserves. Here are two recipes which were enjoyed.

Liz's Silverbeet Pickle
4 C silverbeet, 7 onions, 5 stalks celery. Chop and cover with 4C sugar.
Add 1T celery seed (or celery salt), 1T mustard, 1½ cups vinegar, ½ t salt.
Boil till tender and thicken with ½ C flour, 1t turmeric, 1t curry
powder mixed together in ½ C cold water.

Lyn's Cauliflower Pickle
6lb green veges – including at least 1 large cauli, also green beans,
courgettes, cucumber, green apples, green tomatoes, broccoli –
anything you have to spare.
Wash, chop veges and cover with 2T salt and leave overnight.
Boil together above plus, 1D curry powder, 1D mustard, 3lb sugar, 3
pints vinegar, pinch cayenne, 2T turmeric.
Boil for one hour and thicken with ½ C flour mixed with a little vinegar.

This month, in lieu of a nightly meeting, we are visiting the Chinese
Gardens on Saturday April 17, at 2pm. Cost is $9 pp or $18 for a
year's membership.
May is our AGM, which will be held at the Warrington Surf Life Saving
Club Meeting Room on the 13th. Food is to be pot luck. Time TBA. There
will be a dress code for the evening also TBA. After last year's hat
parade we decided it would be fun to carry on with a dress-up theme.
• Blueskin Garden Club: Lyn Hastie, 482 2896

BLUESKIN 10:10

Calling all no. 8 wire kids!
By Mei Ling

Did you know that about one in five New Zealanders is under 15 years
old? That's a whole lot of fresh thinking and new ideas. Almost all
the people talking about climate change are adults and a lot of the
things suggested about how we can make a difference are adult-sized
solutions – things like driving less or using energy efficient
appliances.
Sue Roberts-Blyth, a part-time teacher at Waitati School, recently
reminded me that young people's voices and experiences are often
missing – your voices and your experiences. Maybe your family already
grows its own veggies and you always turn off the lights when you
leave a room. At Blueskin 10:10 we'd like to hear about what you and
your family are doing now, and what you think you might be doing in
the future. It could be a Big Idea that might transform the world, or
simple actions we can take every day, using our own creativity,
resources, and No. 8 wire thinking.
If you are lucky enough to be in Sue's class at Waitati School you'll
have the chance to think and write about your experiences and ideas in
class, and in the next few months we'll be sharing some of those ideas
with you in the newsletter. If you aren't in Sue's class that doesn't
mean you can't use your incredible brain to think about these ideas,
and we at Blueskin 10:10 would love to hear from you.
Here is the list of ideas for reducing our personal greenhouse gas
emissions from the UK 10:10 website (www.1010uk.org). It might help
you think about what actions on the list you and your family already
take, if there are any you would like to start doing, and then the
exciting bit – your brand new ideas!
• Fly less
• Save 10% on heating by wearing more clothes, turning down heaters
and insulating houses
• Save 10% on electricity by changing to energy efficient light bulbs
and appliances, and turning things off at the wall
• Drive less – leave your car at home one day a week, join a car club
instead of owning your own, or car pool
• Eat local, in-season food and have one meat-free day per week (but
don't replace meat with dairy!)
• Buy high quality goods, repair things, and buy and sell second-hand
• Dump less – avoid excess packaging and useless stuff, recycle
everything possible and compost food waste
• Don't waste food
• Don't waste water – take showers rather than baths, be careful when
watering plants, and only run full dishwashers and washing machines.
Blueskin 10:10 is loosely based on the UK environmental awareness
campaign attempting to get people to make a public pledge to reduce
their personal/business/organisational greenhouse gas emissions by 10%
in 2010.
• Blueskin 10:10: ameilingb@yahoo.com, 482 2289

22 March 2010

OPINION

Shop redevelopment could solve Library impasse
By Peter Dowden

The Dunedin City Council's proposal to demolish and rebuild Blueskin
Bay Library is threatened by a lack of community support. Funding
bodies will not give grants to a project which is so controversial.
Funding bodies will demand to know whether demolishing a perfectly
good building in an area where there is ample vacant land is a worthy
use of charitable funds.
The Council wants to demolish the existing library, one of Waitati's
newest and most modern buildings, and replace it with a larger
facility on the same site. Council staff are ignoring pleas from the
community to turn the library project into an opportunity to enlarge
the Waitati Hall.
It is the duty of charitable funding bodies, and of local governments,
to maximise the benefits a community receives from a project. We have
every chance of getting more than just a library for little more cost,
except perhaps for a loss of face by Council bureaucrats.
Meanwhile, at the north end of Waitati township, a highway project
requires the demolition and relocation of the Blueskin General Store.
The New Zealand Transport Agency is willing to meet the needs of the
store and its customers by building the replacement shop in the most
favourable location in relation to the new piece of highway.
The most desirable location for a shop happens to be on the existing
highway, raising the question, where to put the shop while building
the new highway?
Road planners have come up with a generous proposal: to build a
temporary shop away from the road works site, move the General Store
to the temporary shop, build the new road, then build a permanent
replacement for the General Store where the existing road used to be.
Customers and owners of the General Store ought to be pleased that
NZTA is paying more attention to their needs than the DCC is giving to
the community's concerns about the library project.
When the General Store is happily set up in its new location alongside
the new highway, what of the no-longer-needed temporary store?
An elegant solution to Waitati's needs for a new library and desire
for improved meeting space is available from NZTA's road and shop
redevelopment:
• Build the temporary General Store to suitable standards for a new library
• Put the library here when the road and shop development is complete
• Allow the existing library to become an extension of the hall
facilities as an extra meeting room, lounge, permanent Toy Library or
community office.