You can contact LEARNZ, part of CORE Education, at:
Postal Address:
PO Box 13 678,
Christchurch 8141,
New Zealand
Ambassador Tito
<- Homepage: Marine Reserves: Exploring Kapiti
Kia ora everyone
I'm Tito the Tūi from Waiheke Primary School. Waiheke is an island near Auckland. Some things I like doing are composing songs and inventing stories. I also like to travel and explore, spend time with friends, and I enjoy peaceful places.
I am looking forward to being part of the Marine Reserves field trip!
Talk soon,
Tito
Monday 18 February
Kia ora everyone,
We did quite a lot of travelling today. First, we flew from Kerikeri to Auckland, Then, we flew from Auckland to Wellington. And then we drove from Wellington to Paraparaunu. Phew, no wonder I’m a bit jaded!
It’s nice here in Paraparaumu. It’s a town by the beach. Not as nice as Waiheke though (IMO)! We’re getting a ferry to Kāpiti Island in the morning but I reckon I could fly there easily enough!
Talk again tomorrow,
Tito
Tuesday 19 February
Kia ora everyone,
Today we went to Kāpiti Island. I thought I heard some tūi but when I looked, they were actually korimako/bellbirds. I said to Ben they were copying my song. He laughed and suggested that it is in fact the tūi which copies the korimako!
I learned a lot more about how technology is helping marine reserves. Ben Knight told us about a camera that has been set up to monitor Kāpiti Marine Reserve. You can see the camera in action here - https://www.groundtruth.co.nz/kapiti-marine-reserve-webcam.
Talk again tomorrow,
Tito
Wednesday 20 February
Kia ora everyone,
We had lots of fun today learning about citizen science. Did you know that anyone can be a citizen scientist? When you watch today’s videos you can see how easy it is to get involved in a citizen science project called Marine Metre Squared, also known as MM2. There are plenty of places on Waiheke to do one of these surveys. Hopefully when I get back we can all go to the beach for the day and do an MM2 survey – that way we can all be citizen scientists and help with New Zealand’s biodiversity knowledge of the coastline!
Talk again tomorrow,
Tito
Thursday 21 February
Kia ora everyone,
It has been a fun week learning about marine reserves and how to look after our sea and coastline. I hope you have all enjoyed the field trip.
When I get back, we can share stories and find out what we have all learned. More importantly, we can start planning on a citizen science project or some positive action to take for our marine environment!
See you all next week,
Tito
Tito is looking forward to being part of the field trip. Image: J Alexander.
Monday. Tito likes it at Paraparaumu, but not as much as Waiheke. Image: Andrew Penny, LEARNZ.
Tuesday. Tito is on the beach at Kāpiti Island. Image: Andrew Penny, LEARNZ.
Wednesday. Tito is at Waikanae Estuary. Image: Andrew Penny, LEARNZ.
Thursday. Tito is in front of some of the litter collected from the beach today. Image: Andrew Penny, LEARNZ.