By Helena (age 8) from Nelson.
Me and Mum like to volunteer as Campground Hosts and Hut Wardens at Nelson Lakes National Park. In February, me and Mum were the hut wardens at Blue Lake, Rotomairewhenua
We went on a fizz boat to Sabine Hut. We had to walk through lots of storm damage. Lots of trees had fallen down over the track. We had to walk for a very long time. It took us 7 hours and we didn’t make it to the hut. We slept on the comfortable moss in our sleeping bags and had chicken crisps for dinner. Then we had to walk up, and up, and up a little more.
Blue Lake is the clearest lake in world. It is where Māori cleansed the bones of their loved ones. It is tapu. We drank water from the outlet. It was yummy and fresh. I went for a swim in the river, it was freezing. The big hut was comfortable but I preferred our little Hut Warden cabin. It was really cute and I really liked the deck and picnic table.
We had to check the dates on the hut passes and collect hut tickets. I talked to the other people. I helped clean the huts but Mum had to clean the toilets, ewww.
We caught 11 mice and one rat. I dissected two mice. We saw lots of beautiful butterflies on the scree; they were boulder butterflies. We saw lots of different types of animal poo. We ate snow berries. We walked to Lake Constance and found cool shaped rocks with white shapes on them. My favourite was a blue triangle. It had a white rim (due to weathering). I read Harry Potter and the prisoner of Askaban and I made a NIMBUS 2000.
After a week we went home. We both loved it.
