Just as I was
getting a bit desperate with my new temporary casual tasks at work
(involving a lot of exasperating excel sheets full of administrative
stuff, as well as a label maker and various hazardous lab-equipment),
someone else was getting desperate about finishing sampling New
Zealand's soils. So off I went again with Andre and Veronica, to
sample more soils in the hills of Otago. Thomas stayed in Canterbury
to map other soils with another colleague. Andre, Veronica and me are
all rather introverted people who only speak when we have to, and
for various reasons we also all three had/have a bit of trouble with
seeing reason and rhyme in Life, the Universe and Everything, so to
speak, so it promised to be an interesting, if quiet, trip.
When we arrived in
Alexandra after 5 hours drive, the actual issue of the trip arose
however, not that we had been quiet together for 5 hours, but that
none of us were very keen decision-makers. This first became clear in
the supermarket where we laboriously went through deciding on what
yoghurt, muesli, bread, dip, cheese and energy bars to eat.
However, we got on
well with the sampling, we all dug our share of soil pits, cored our
share of soil cores, carried our share of soil samples, and discussed
details of the plot locations, soil descriptions and sampling
schemes. We struggled only with important decisions such as how best
to get to a specific paddock or where exactly to dig, to wait for the
rain to pass or not, to use the rain shield or not, to keep going or
not...
Veronica had a
friend in Alexandra, who worked in a historic tavern, so we went
there for dinner and had a good time.
The last plot was a
bit of a 4WD adventure again, we almost got stuck in a maze of rocks,
and we still had to traverse a steep gully to sample the site, which
was rocky so we were done quickly. And then back through the rock
maze and the 5 hours to home.
All in all it was a
successful trip and our distant team-leader decided for us that we
would sample the remaining sites after Easter. Unfortunately none of
us are available after Easter, but perhaps there will be another soil
sampling adventure this year.
