Will
November 29,2008, Maatsuyker Is

After 3 solid days of Hebe removal we started surveying new areas of the island in groups of 3. We kept our eyes open for blackberry as well as Monbretia and did find a few small outcrops of Hebe that we eliminated on the spot. Tad, one of the lighhouse keepers, Craig and Owen are in the pic pushing through the wind pruned scrub. The time of year selected to do the weeding took into account the breeding patterns of the short tailed shearwater (mutton bird). These birds usually come back from the northern hemisphere in October and then clear out their burrows, then go out to sea to fatten up and return in late November to nest. In completeing the transects we could not avoid standing on and collapsing some burrows but we figured the damage done outweighed the gains in keeping weeds at bay.

Comments [0] | | More

Will
November 29,2008, Maatsuyker Is

We were briefed very efficiently by the organizer Craig Saunders in the safety and weed removal aspects of Hebe elliptica and got stuck into it. The native vegetation was quite different on the leeward side of the island with low ground cover on the exposed steep slopes but the ornamental weed had still mangaged to spread over 500 m from the infered initial sites near the houses. We found previously surveyed weeds using the GPS and they usually required attack with big loppers and chainsaw with a team approach allowing stacking of the cut branches in piles to rot and the stumps coated with straight glyphosate coloured pink. A pile can be seen to the right in front of Owen.

Comments [0] | | More

Will
November 29,2008, Maatsuyker Is

The power-supply for the lighthouse keepers had recently been upgraded to a solar and wind powered system with a quite impressive battery bank as shown. The 24 cells were linked in series to make a 48V system that still had a generator as backup (hidden behind the old one) and a smart PLC controller that ran the diesel only when necessary and for a minimum of 2 hours. Records suggested the genny ran for about 2 hours every 2 days. The single terrestrial airmarine wind genny had been modified with the last 10 cm of the blades cut off but still seemed to pump a good deal of power into the batteries. It does tend to be a windy place.... The amount of diesel saved must be quite significant since the genny would have previously run continously . It would seem that the wind could probably feed heaters ..if there were any.. in our quarters

Comments [0] | | More

Will
November 29,2008, Maatsuyker IS

This view is of the 1st lighthouse keepers cottage (Q1); the other 2 cottages are basically the same plan. There is a weather station on the left and observation hut on the right that has a laptop and radio data system. Part of the responsibilities of the caretakers is weather observations at 6:00 am, 9:00 am and 3:00 pm including wave and swell heights (based on viewing the outer rocks of the Needles) and also rain, wind, temperature, barometric pressure etc and also to take a digital photo of the seal colony on the nearest rock for a research project.

Comments [0] | | More

Will
November 29,2008, Maatsuyker Is

This pic gives a view of the lighthouse from the garden surrounding the 1st lighthouse keepers quarters - on a nice day.

Comments [1] | | More