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POINT VIEW RESERVE
Saturday 26th February 2011
On our first leisure walk for the year we learnt so many things. When we arrived at the Point View Reserve, near Botany, we were excited and filled with energy...ready to both challenge and enjoy ourselves. Before embarking on the walk we read the information board at the entrance to the reserve, reading the map helped us decide which route we wanted to follow.
Once we started walking we realised this was going to be challenging, with lots of hills and steps to climb. The first interesting structure we came across was the enormous water reservoir, this is like a huge man-made dam which holds water for the surrounding urban area when it is needed, this particularly one held about 49 000 cubic metres of water...now that's a lot of water. Another man-made structure we came across was a trigonometry beacon, these are build and placed in specific areas as a reference point for people in case you get lost...they are always indicated on a map of the area.
When we were in the forest part of the reserve we were lucky to spot a few fantails and read about other New Zealand native birds found in the area, but unfortunately we didn't get to see any. When we walked over one of the bridges with a stream running below it, we read the information that explained how the eco-systems in so many streams are threatened because of pollution, land being cleared for building as so on...this made us think about the important part we play in trying to be responsible citizens when it comes to recycling, reusing and rethinking about what we do with our rubbish, particularly plastics. We remembered lots from studying oceans and ocean pollution last year.
While on our journey through the forest we saw lots of New Zealand native trees, such as the tall Totara tree, the Rimu tree and some native ferns. We felt incredibly lucky to be out in the New Zealand bush, even if it was only an urban walk (in other words a walk located within the city), it just shows you, as New Zealanders we don't have to go very far to experience the wonderful outdoors.
We had an exciting morning, filled with new learning and excercise...why not get out there and enjoy the outdoors with your families!