Dunedin - Leadership course

The 1971 Daimler DS420 that picked us up from the airport and drove us around Dunedin.
This car was originally brought to drive around Queen Elizabeth II when she toured New Zealand in 1977.

It was also used to drive around Nelson Mandela when he toured New Zealand in 1995.


 The interior was stunning walnut.

Otago University by the river.

The staircase at the Dunedin Train Station. It has been rated in the top 10 train stations in the world due to its oppulance and incredible detail.

One of the oldest churches in Dunedin.

Outside the train station.




















The Dunedin Fire Station

1967 Jaguar 420G

We used this Jaguar to tour Dunedin.

The steepest street in the world!

Dunedin Street art

The Greggs factory. Dunedin either smells of coffee (Greggs) or Chocolate (Cadbury).

The students say that some nights the factory does it herbs and spices and all the streets smell of Oregano, garlic or other Gregg products.

The University

The view from my room overlooking the new stadium and the harbour.

Some of the fellows enjoying the ride in the Daimler. Felt a bit like Royalty!

Workshop

 My favourite part of the fellowship so far has been the access to the Massey Universtity Ecology department's workshop. I love tools! But what I love more is having access to everything you need under one roof. When you want to create something, there are no barriers to you making it.

This is the Mill. I used it today to mill out grooves in a perspex sheet to create a bee feeder.

This is the saw bench I used to create the Triwaks pollen dispenser.

Band saw... So many applications!

Mitre saw. 

Drill press

The sugar feeder I created using the Mill and mitre saw

Making a stain

This is the recipe to make Alexander's stain. It was a bit like following a recipe except there was no licking the spoon and these ingredients could kill me!

 This is Malachite Green. I had to add 0.02gm of it. That is an incredibly small amount. I had to use special scales that could weigh down to 0.0001 of a gram. They were in a special box because even a person moving by would cause them to flucuate.

This is a special instrument for measuring out precise amounts. I could set it to draw up anywhere from 0.1 ml to 40ml.

Here I am using the magnetic stirrer.

This is another stain. It is bright red.

This is Glycerol.

This is the most dangerous chemical in the recipe. I had to use a fume cupboard to ensure that I did not breath any in. It has a very strong odour and can make you very ill.

This is the last chemical I added. I have heard of Lactic acid building up in muscles but did not know it was used in chemistry.

Bee Training

I need to train my bees to a feeding station as a part of my trials. I need to know that the bees I will be collecting from the hive have left through the pollen dispenser.

 This is the beehive. I have set up a camera on a tripod so that I can monitor how many bees are leaving through the entrance and how many are leaving through the exit. The camera is powered by a sealed cell battery with an invertor attached.













This is the feeding station. It is 30 metres away from the hive. This is my favourite site. I get to sit under this Tortured Willow. It is right next to Bledisoe Park which has a beautiful stream and amazing bush walks. I have explored lots of this park as I have large amounts of free time while I am training the bees.










I train the bees using sugar syrup. I have to put in a small amount of fragrance initially. I have used peppermint. The watch glass needs to be placed directly in front of the hive and left there until heaps of bees are drinking from it. I have measured that it takes the bees 5 minutes to drink, take the syrup back to the hive and then return. The syrup has to be 40 to 50% for the bees to even bother with. This is a higher sugar content then nectar. Once the bees are interested, they will take the syrup back to the hive and recruit more bees.

Once the bees are interested, I then have to slowly move the watch glass away from the hive. My first move has to be 5mm. I leave it for 10 minutes then move it 10mm, I repeat this over the next hour until I can start moving it in larger jumps until I am at the feeding station 30 metres away. It took me a few days to get it right.

  Here I am in my hood with my smoker and hive tool. To begin with, I was wearing a hoodie and jeans with gumboots. It has been so hot that now I wear just shorts and t-shirt, sometimes without the hood and gloves.

I haven't been stung yet but in case I do and have an allergic reaction or if I get stung by multiple bees, I have an injection with adrenaline. I need to have it ready at all times!

Sugar Syrup

 Today, I'm in the lab setting up for my project. I'm going to be testing different pollen dispensers to measure their effectiveness. It's a huge project for me and requires a lot of setting up.

My first job is to mix up some sugar syrup. I need to mix equal ratios of sugar to water.











I have a huge sack of sugar to use and the bees will consume all of this over my trials.















This is the clean up area with all the flasks and vials. The tap in the centre contains special water that has been destilled.

 This is an Epindorph vial (5ml). I have around 1000 of these. I will be using them to collect individual bees in once I start my trials. I will be collecting bees to measure how much pollen they have on them. That will tell me how effective the pollen dispensers are. I will have to chop the bees heads off before they go in the vial which is a bit gruesome. I will be collecting 90 bees per day over 10 days. 

This is a very cool machine. It has an element controlled by the left hand dial. The right hand dial controls the magnetic stirrer. I have added the water and sugar in equal quantities to the flask. I added a small magnetic rod covered in plastic. I turn on the stirrer and it controls the speed. I love using this!

 This is the pack that I need to carry all my gear around. The beehives I am using are 2.7km apart. The pack weighs close to 40kg. I have since gotten a trolley to push it around with as it was killing my back.

 This is one of the pollen dispensers. It is called a Harwoods dispenser.The pollen gets placed in the middle and the bees walk through it as they leave the hive.

 This is the second dispenser called a Triwaks dispenser. It is a bit more advanced. This is the inside of it. The bees are supposed to leave through the left side. The pollen goes between the perspex pieces. They climb the ramp and leave through the small slot. They then return through the right hand side.

 This is the Triwaks closed.

 This is the old dump site. I have installed the Triwaks dispenser here to allow the bees to become used to it.

Here is a close up of the bees leaving and returning using the triwaks dispenser.