LEARNZ video chat

On the 19th March we had a video chat with LEARNZ. We were talking about our waterways in Canterbury. Our water comes from the rivers and aquifers. One thing they talked about was desalination. Desalination is when salt water is turned to fresh water through an expensive and complicated process.

Another interesting thing was when they explained fossil water. Fossil water is when there is water deep, deep, deep under the ground, when is taken out it cannot be filled again. Where as ground water never runs out because of the water cycle is on going. One thing that I never knew was that there's a minimum flow for rivers. I found the video chat with LEARNZ interesting. 

Thank you. 

Te tuna o taone trip

On Thursday the seventh of March the Batten team and the Hillary hub went down to the Heath cote river The two groups were split to into five, there were five rotations one was learning about the habitat and generally just about the long fin eel, another was learning about the bugs in the water and how some can live both clean and dirty, some dirty, some can live in only out things we could find in the are no paint just natural things; sticks, grass, water dirt. we also did a storm-water  scavenger hunt trying to find a vessel of zinc,sediment, paint etc. and we did a thing with a sheet of paper drawing how the river flows.


it was very interesting learning about about the bugs in the water, because for me personally I never knew there were bugs in our waterways let alone know that they could only live in clean water.

South Sudan - Phil and Janet's visit

This morning two missionaries from South Sudan came to talk to the Batten team about life in South South Sudan. The two missionaries were Phil & Janet. Janet was working on translating the Bible into a South Sudanese language. And Phil works for MAF: Mission Aviation Fellowship, in the ground control department. the first thing they taught us was how to greet someone, the first person would say Salam Alaikum. Another thing I found interesting was seeing the South Sudanese coins and the cash. Some people were were given coins if they answered a question.

Learning about eels

Don showing us the size of an eel he caught

Last week on the 22nd of March Don an eel scientist came to talk to the Batten team.
We learnt that there were three different types of eel in New Zealand.
There is the Longfin eel the Shortfin eel and the Australian Longfin.
Most of the stuff he told us we already knew but he was just confirming
# the facts that we had learned.

Eels don't need to eat everyday because they eat (inhale) large chunks of food.
Sometimes young ducks only have one leg because eels have arrow sharp teeth
facing backwards.
Not only do they not need to eat but nor do they have to move to
get water through their gills unlike
other fish.

Australian Long Fins are only found in the North Island.
Eels go to Tonga to breed. The female eels lay their eggs
and the males fertilise the eggs.
They can between lay 7 - 50 million
eggs.
The biggest eels can grow to two metres LONG, and can live to 112 years old.

The way you can age them (after they have died) is by cutting the head in half
take out the ear bone and count the rings.