LEARNZ

LEARNZ is an interactive education programme that uses online tools such as live audio conferencing, web diaries, and videos to take students to places they would never usually get the chance to visit, without the expense and time of a physical field trip.
Project Crimson works with LEARNZ to bring the outdoors to the classroom. The Project Crimson LEARNZ virtual fieldtrip was to the East Cape in October 2009 and Whangarei Region in November 2010.

Each year more than 2,000 primary, intermediate, and secondary school students from around the country have participated in the virtual field-trips to learn about pōhutukawa and rata.

The four-day LEARNZ-run Project Crimson field is used to teach students about biodiversity, coastal ecosystems and habitats, land use, resource management and plant biology.

2009 East Cape trip

The LEARNZ team and Project Crimson travelled to the East Coast of the North Island, starting the virtual trip at Gisborne.

Day 1 Saw the team visit Native Gardens Nursery at Gisborne and see where all the pohutukawa seedlings are grown. Then it was off to Tuahine Point where Sandy Bull and his team of helpers have planted plenty of pohutukawa provided by Project Crimson.

Day 2 Saw Ruud Kleinpaste aka Bugman, getting very excited about his favourites things, bugs!

Day 3 Visited the remote East Coast at Ruatoria. Meet Graeme Atkins and see what work he has undertaken at the Pokai Marae.

2010 Whangarei Region Trip.

Project Crimson and the LEARNZ team headed north this time. We wanted to find some pohutukawa in flower.

Day 1 We were at Kai Iwi Lakes, north of Dargaville. At the Pine Beach campsite, they have removed aging, dangerous pines. Project Crimson, Kaipara District Council and National Bank Rural Managers from Dargaville helped to plant pohutukawa around the camp site. In a few years, there will be shade and the beautiful red flowers at the amazing camp ground. Around all the new plantings, there was a deep layer of mulch. Ruud Kleinpaste aka Bugman, explained how the insects would break down the mulch and even the old pine stumps!

Day 2 We visited Carolyn and John, who have been planting up their property with natives over the last few years. They live on the Tutukaka coastline with a walkway down to the coast. Then it was off to visit Ian Fox and his team at AlterNatives in Waipu. His nursery grows 1000s of natives plant, including Project Crimsons for revegetation. We got to see what the seed looks like and how quickly the plants grow.

Day 3 We went to another revegetation site, out by the Whangarei Heads. Tony Munroe is managing the land on behalf of his iwi. There is an interesting combination of land uses. There are a few houses, there is a propagation shed, there are rows of potatoes and there are pohutukawa provided by Project Crimson. The first ones were planted 15 years ago by Tony's grandmother.

And the answer is, yes we saw pohutukawa in flower. We saw them on the roadside at Dargaville and again by Whangarei Heads.

Have a look at our videos to see all the amazing places that we went to and all the inspiring people we met.

Thank you to all those that shared their special part of the country with the LEARNZ and Project Crimson teams.

View videos below

A little piece of paradise

Cultural uses of pohutukawa

Meet Graeme Atkins

Restoring the land

The future of project crimson

Threats and pests

Meet andy bassett

Meet Gordon Hosking

Meet Sandy Bull

A final word for Thursday

A helpful tree

A treemendous garden

A well adapted tree

Cross pollination

Meet Ruud Kleinpaste

Nectar and honey

Planting in Whangara

Eco sourcing seeds

Erosion on the east coast

Final word for wednesday

Meet Lana Hope

Seedlings

Succession

The project begins

Tuahini point

Welcome to Gisborne