Auckland Highlights

Communities across the Auckland region celebrated Seaweek with a variety of ocean-inspired events. This year's highlights included exciting rock pool discoveries, engaging snorkel tours, watersports, and upcycled art making! So many people got involved in creating opportunities for people to join in the annual celebration of the sea in the city of sails - our sincerest thanks to everyone for their efforts.

Kicking off Seaweek

Celebrations started on Friday 1 March in Auckland with Seashore Explore at the Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve. Participants went on a guided walk with the Sir Peter Blake Marine Education & Recreation Centre (MERC) team where they discovered a wide range of marine species along the rocky shore and learned about the intertidal ecosystem. From tiny nudibranchs to large shore crabs, the 35 individuals who joined us were delighted to see so many interesting animals.

On 2 March there were heaps of activities on! Friends of Wairaki Stream held their annual Lynfield Cove Cleanup which brought together a crowd! The FOWS volunteers and Raise Up were joined by over 30 participants who removed a random assortment of rubbish from the area over two hours. The clean-up was followed by pizzas, refreshments and chats about the area's native wildlife. In the afternoon a Wonderful World of Marine Food Webs event was held at Albany Village Library, the first in a series of events across Auckland libraries. Organised by MERC with support from the Hauraki Gulf Forum, the hour-long interactive education session took attendees on a learning adventure about the food webs of the Hauraki Gulf and wrapped up with a cute predator-prey craft. Participating in a bit of a who-eats-who role play activity kept the children very engaged.

Saturday also included a Seaweek display & MERC activities at Coastival - an event designed specifically for youth by the HBC Youth Hauora Network. This brought together a multitude of groups and organisations for activities along the edge of the Ōrewa Western Reserve. Attendees had the opportunity to experience giant stand-up paddleboarding with MERC on the estuary and take home free marine education resources. Experiencing Marine Reserves also ran two guided snorkelling events at Te Hāwere-a-Maki/Goat Island (2 March) and Whangateau (3 March). People were overjoyed with being able to see a variety of marine life! Those two events accommodated over 300 people, providing them with the opportunity to borrow a wetsuit and snorkel gear and build their confidence with the support of EMR's guides.

There were also opportunities to celebrate Seaweek through creative arts, with two events hosted by the ReCreators on 2 March. At the Undersea Landscapes workshop at Te Manawa Library, children used shoe boxes and other recycled materials to create their own ocean dioramas. Similarly, during Make a 3D Rockpool at Parnell Library, participants created mixed media rockpool artwork from an assortment of upcycled materials; shoe box lids, paper, and dyes.

Midweek

Throughout the region, classes took part in learning about the sea, some choosing to align with our sea creatures theme and utilising our creature resources. Some shared photos of their students' Seaweek costumes, classroom displays and ocean-inspired art, created from rubbish & recycling. Others shared updates about what they were learning in their enquiries and many classrooms got involved with the Young Ocean Explorers 21-Day Challenge which started during Seaweek. There were also some activities organised for schools by Keep New Zealand Beautiful and Yachting NZ.

On 6 March there was a Fish and Ocean Puppets ReCreators event at Mt Roskill Library, plus a Sunset Groove Silent Disco with Papaya Stories at Point Chevalier beach. For the Sunset Groove, participants gathered at the beach at 6:30 and were provided with headphones synced to three different music channels which they could dance to. There were games for attendees to join in on, including sea creature charades, a 'save the water' challenge, and dance battles! During the evening of 7 March EMR hosted a Night Snorkel at Waiake and MERC did another Marine Food Webs session at East Coast Bays Library. Throughout the week there were Seaweek Storytime sessions, like at Warkworth and Wellsford libraries and excellent sea-themed displays were at many libraries with books sure to inspire all ages on display.

Big Finale

During the second weekend of Seaweek, we had two big events and several smaller ones! Conditions were ideal for the Discover Takapuna Reef event on the final Saturday. Over 310 participants got in and under the water and explored Takapuna Reef with options for participants to snorkel, paddleboard and explore the reef on foot. The highlight for many was seeing fish darting around the kelp covered reef with the EMR crew but there was also great rock pool exploring sessions and giant standup paddleboarding with team MERC. In addition, at our event base, people could observe and learn about freshwater critters with Whitebait Connection, get informed about marine pests with Biosecurity New Zealand, and get involved with local conservation initiatives with Pupuke Birdsong Project.

Saturday's Create Upcycled Sea Creatures session with Tinker Designs was a huge success. Children and families had the chance to create 3D mosaics and sea creatures from salvaged and recycled materials. More than 40 people came and created ocean-inspired artwork throughout the day, with participants aged from 2 to 70 years! There were also two workshops hosted by The ReCreators, Octopus Creations and Paper Mache Sea Creatures, as well as Marine Food Webs sessions at Orewa and Mahurangi East Community Centre. 

On the final Sunday of Seaweek was the 7th annual Sea MERC Day in Long Bay! Participants were invited to come down and spend the afternoon getting involved in a variety of water activities and learning about the environment. Everyone enjoyed the sunny weather and light breeze, perfect for kayaking in the ocean and on the Awaruku Stream, and adventures on the giant stand-up paddle boards. Plus, Surf Lifesaving Northern Region was also there to offer participants the chance to have a go at knee-boarding. As the tide went out MERC's team took several groups on guided tours of the rocky shore where attendees found a huge variety of marine life waiting for them. Highlights from rock pool exploring included discovering tiny gem nudibranchs, sea hares, kina, half crabs, a camouflage crab and many colourful sea stars!

RAFT Studios hosted a Recycled Raft Race in the stream adjacent to MERC. A group of onlookers watched a colourful flotilla of nine small rafts made from wood, plastic bottles, rulers, pencils, and more as they floated down the estuary to the finish line. Prizes were awarded for the fastest, funkiest and best design!

On the final weekend in the city, there was also a Flying fish craft session at the Maritime Museum, and collective art-making at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, decorating big fish scales as part of a display and colouring little fish to take home. A little later in the month, Awhitu Coast Care held its annual Seaweek Walk which attracted 70 keen people who hiked to Irwins Gap via Awhitu Heights Farm. Many bags of rubbish were collected from the beach and after lunch there was a short talk about wind farms by two representatives from Blue Float Energy.

A big thanks to all that joined in this year's celebration of the sea!

We are so grateful for the support of all participating organisations and would like to acknowledge these event organisers in particular who played prominent roles in this year's pinnacle of events.