Whio School - visiting the whio creche in Tongariro

I've admired whio (also called blue duck) ever since I encountered them at Blue Lake. High in the mountains, this lake is only accessible to trampers after several days journey. Consequently I think of them as rare and hard to find - and it's true, there are only around 3000 left in New Zealand. These unique ducks are adapted to life on fast flowing rivers.

Whio, the Māori name resembles the male's call
Blue duck, the English name refers to the slate blue-grey colour,

So when the opportunity to visit the whio creche at Tongariro National Trout Centre came up, I was delighted. My enthusiasm led to us being too early! The car park gate was shut and the centre not yet open. With time on our hands, we drove on to Red Hut Bridge to take a quick look at the Tongariro River. From this lovely old bridge, we looked down and saw to our amazement two whio feeding in the river right under the bridge. It took us awhile to realise what we were looking at, they are so well camouflaged. (If the video below doesn't play, try a different browser.)

School Holiday Crafts - with a freshwater fishy theme

As my latest book is all about freshwater, I've come up with some freshwater fish crafts to keep kids busy on a rainy day. Readers of "Up the River" will know that two of our native fish are banded kokopu and tuna (long-finned eels). Here are some fun ways kids can create their own banded kokopu or make a fishy themed pop-up card.

MAKE A POP-UP CARD

You will need:

• two pieces of rectangular origami paper
• ruler
• pencil
• scissors
• glue stick
• colour pens

Instructions