Laura from New York City has come to the Valley this summer. Laura has a background in advertising and media, and since arrival she has chosen to put a firsthand account of her experience online via YouTube videos and her blog.  This includes her journal and photograph albums.

See Laura's blog and photos here:

http://sustainthis.posterous.com/

and youTube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/lshine21

Over the past six weeks our Summer volunteers have been targeting a number of weed plants in the Valley and around our Volunteers House.

Species targeted include gorse, blackberry, wooly nightshade, wild ginger, and mistflower.

Lynn from the USA and Daniela from Mexico deal to a wooly nightshade tree:

Recently we have been gathering large numbers of native tree seedlings from areas where they have no future.  For example there are many pohutukawa seedlings that pop up along the roadside margins only to get mowed done by the Council mowers on a monthly basis!

We've created a small "plant nursery" to grow these plants to a bigger size, afterwhich we can plant them into sites where they have a longterm prospect. As there has been very little rain in Tuateawa this Summer we are waiting until Autumn rain, when the ground is softer for planting, and then we'll be spreading these trees into many areas of the Valley.

Although not truly a flax (actually it is a lily!) the NZ Flax Harakeke is an amazing plant.  Few actions have as much environmental benefit in New Zealand as planting large areas of flax.

NZ Flax stabilises wet, erosion-prone soil and provided habitat and food for numerous species of birds, insects and reptiles.  It gives nectar to birds like tui and bellbird, and then seeds to parrots.  It is an important plant for weaving and was milled extensively in the early nineteenth century.

Many creatures live in flax.  For example "Daniela's Prince" was found during a flax planting day!

We have been planting hundreds of flax in the lower valley and swamps, as well as along the river edge right to the sea around Tuateawa cove.

Daniela is our first volunteer from Mexico and she is spending 13 weeks in the programme this Summer.  She may never go home, since she's now met her "NZ Prince"!  haha!

This frog is in fact not a New Zealander, but actually an introduced Golden Bell Frog from Australia.  We now have a large population of these frogs breeding in the new pond created last Summer, and they do provide food for many native birds using the pond - like Kingfisher and Herons.

See full-size frog-prince photo

View more valley wildlife photos album

One the first projects in 2010 has been expanding and revitalising our Volunteer House gardens.  We've added cow poop, seaweed and 'duck sludge' which is gooey goodness from our new pond, fertilised by a variety birds including Pateke  - the rare brown teal that has been nesting there since Spring.

Not many gardens have the honour of being fertilised by endangered ducks - but there you have it!

ELFNZ has organised a beautiful house set in rainforest just 5 minutes from the Valley. This will be used as "Valley HQ" and accommodation for volunteers, friends and supporters of our charity.

The house has large sunny decks, a charming wood interior and is set among some very large native trees. It is the perfect compliment to our recreation activities and work in Earthwise Valley.

There are sheltered areas for growing vegetables and a great sheltered spot for raising native trees, for later replanting in the Valley. In the near future the house will get hammocks, a games-room/library, BBQ tables and a cob-oven - perfect for pizzas!

See more house photos here!

In February 2009, ELFNZ built a dam and pond in Earthwise Valley. Early on in the project, we noted an area of low-lying land which is 'boggy' in Winter but dries out in Summer. We decided it was perfect wetland habitat and created a body of static freshwater would be a blessing to local wildlife. Environment Waikato approved of the work.

Volunteers created the formwork and laid concrete to secure a "hockey stick" outflow pipe under the dam and then an earth-mover deposited a large body of clay to build the drivable dam and contain the pond. Read story here. This created a shallow pond and over Winter this area fulled with water and native reeds grew like crazy. We've seen herons, kingfishers and more recently pukeko have bred producing several chicks. But last week was a great surprise - an endangered Pakete has been found, with 5 ducklings!! The Pakete, or Brown Teal Anas chlorotis is endemic to New Zealand and is one of the World's rarest ducks - being less than 1000 individuals remaining. It is classed as "endangered - a class A species" on the IUCN Red List.

The presence of these birds in Earthwise Valley is a tribute to the extensive pest control that has suppressed predator numbers in the Northern Coromandel over past years. We're proud to have created habitat suitable for Pateke and hope they flourish in our area!

Click the image below for an expanded photograph.

This photograph shows our property nestled beside the sea from a vantage point high up in the volcanoes that surround our land. The shot was taken from the swaying top of a large tanekaha tree on a brilliant sunny day and really shows the extent of the forest that surrounds our home-base.

Click on the image below and EXPAND to see the really BIG full-size version:

Both the East and West coasts of the Coromandel Peninsula offer an enormous range of exceptional kayaking.

The recent extended warm periods means the sea is also warming up - but typical Spring weather mean sudden squalls, grey clouds as well as the fine spells. Hiding close to shore is a good way to avoid the wind, and the coastline near the Valley provides lots of places to shelter and explore safely.

There are also a great number of sea arches and caves to play in when the sea is calm.