Disruption

Wellington's wild weather has brought chaos this weekend (2 minute read)

This week, I’ve been in Christchurch for the Science Communicators of New Zealand conference. While the conference is always an inspiring event, it meant that the weekend was always going to be difficult and that I’d be working Saturday and Sunday to meet a major Monday morning deadline. Then I lost most of Saturday to the travel chaos caused by Wellington’s wild weather. I have a partially-written essay reflecting on some of the changes in Christchurch since I lived here in the 1990s, and I’ve been writing in the airport, but I realise that I’m not going to be able to finish it properly. By half past six on Saturday night I didn’t even have anywhere to stay.

So, I’m just sharing a few photographs and thoughts, and I’ll be back as usual next week.

I’ve taken extensive notes at the conference, and illustrated them with a combination of doodles and drawings of objects I picked up, such as the kowhai seed pod and the fragment of a Lebanon cedar cone. One amazing environmental educator, Sian Crowley from The Seed Pod, commented that connection lives in noticing the detail in nature. It’s one thing to recognise a seagull, but once a child notices that there are different kinds of seagull, they begin to understand the complexity and wonder of our world.

Here are some of my notes and doodles. These include the kōwhai pod, a karoro or black-backed gull, a kauri tree, some forest which has been logged and burned and a scale of a Lebanon cedar cone.

Some of my notes (image credit: Melanie Newfield)

In addition to my doodles, here are a couple of photos of the Kā Waimaero/ Ilam Stream, which runs through the grounds of the University of Canterbury, where the conference was held. It brightened my day to see the streamside planting, which will eventually help to improve the condition of the stream.

Kā Waimaero/ Ilam Stream (image credit: Melanie Newfield)