Kia ora
 And the drought continues... Dry as it is around Wellington, our sanctuary valley has been holding up quite well considering. Not only that but some of our upper reservoir’s water has been quenching the local sports fields - Facilities Manager Russ Drewry explains how the city's old water supply has been put back in to action.
Scroll down for a great kids offer, a frog talk, school holiday activities, entertainment books, pest plants, some good news about our freshwater advocacy and more - it's a packed newsletter this month!
Early in March, sanctuary trustee Professor Charles Daugherty chatted to Kim Hill on Radio NZ about all manner of things, including Zealandia, tuatara and the curly case of cats - the first 7 minutes are more about Charles's brother so skip that if you are tight on time (although it's interesting too).
Chair Denise Church writes about the latest organisational developments at Zealandia in this month's update.
Nāku noa
Lauren and the Zealandia team
Photo: Lloyd Homer
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 Free child admission with a main at Rata
22 April - 3 May
This school holidays just treat yourself to a main meal at Rata Café, relax overlooking the lake, and receive a free child admission to both the sanctuary valley and exhibition.
It's the perfect family day out.
Photo: Shaun Matthews
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 “Save the Frogs” talk
Sunday 28 April, 1pm
Did you know our native frogs don’t croak? Ben Bell and Tanya Karst share their knowledge about our fascinating native frogs in this interesting talk, free with admission.
The day before our frog talk is world Save the Frogs day - seeing as our clocks are so far ahead of the rest of the world’s we’ll be talking frogs while it’s still Save the Frogs day in New York ;-)
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 Kids’ night adventures
Always popular, our kids’ night adventures are really special and give the kids something wonderful to tell their class mates about when they get back to school.
These 90-minute after-dark expeditions are specially designed for kids aged 7 to 12 years old, with hot chocolate in the bush included.
Child $15, Adult $30. Booking essential. Read more.
Photo: Jo Moore
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 Entertainment Book 2013-14
These books are packed with hundreds of up to 50% off and 2-for-1 offers for the best restaurants, cafés, attractions, hotel accommodation, travel and much more! Best of all, 20% of your book purchase goes towards supporting our restoration and education work.
Available from early-April, the new Entertainment Book is only $60, and you’ll receive $15,000 worth of valuable offers which are valid until 1 June 2014.
Available at our Store from early April, or order online now.
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 Pest plant: Wild ginger
Hedychium gardnerianum
If you’ve walked past our weed garden recently you may have noticed the wild/kahili ginger in flower. Though it’s quite attractive this plant is a weed so if you recognise it and want to remove it from your own garden follow the handy tips over at Weedbusters.
Wild ginger can smother the ground. It's very drought and flood tolerant so may take off when other plants shading it die or are weakened.
All known wild ginger sites at Zealandia were controlled by careful manual removal with follow up checks to take out surviving material. It has not been seen inside for a few years now, except at the weed garden.
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 Funds approved for freshwater advocacy
How many of your friends would know what a kākā is? How about a kōkopu?
With the support of Wellington Community Trust, Zealandia can now further plans to raise the profile of native freshwater species with sanctuary visitors. The $8,000 grant will go to completing an engineering and feasibility study for an enhanced viewing area, with specifications and conceptual drawings already in place – defined in partnership with the Department of Conservation (DOC).
Read more.
Illustration: J. D. Grose
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