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16<br />
Wednesday <strong>August</strong> <strong>14</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
AS I SAID in my last column,<br />
we’ve travelled to Italy so Vittoria<br />
can meet the family. And what a<br />
journey it’s been.<br />
Before we even left, Vittoria<br />
caused her parents a heap of stress<br />
with her first ambulance trip to<br />
the emergency department, starting<br />
on a course of antibiotics for<br />
pneumonia, setting us back a day<br />
on doctor’s orders.<br />
It sounds bad, and it wasn’t<br />
ideal, but it was all okay apart<br />
from unsettling our sleep patterns.<br />
So we were lucky, our pre-dawn<br />
flight on Saturday went swimmingly.<br />
Vittoria was happy to nap,<br />
draw or watch cartoons all the<br />
way to Brisbane where we stayed a<br />
night with my sister-in-law Sarah.<br />
The only niggle was that she<br />
leaked on me because her nappy<br />
was askew but, like for most parents<br />
I think, that’s a non-event.<br />
It looked like either the antibiotics<br />
or time were working a treat<br />
on Vittoria, so we were quietly<br />
confident going into the <strong>14</strong>-hour<br />
leg to Dubai on Sunday night.<br />
And again, it went pretty good.<br />
Fourteen uneventful hours.<br />
Arriving in Dubai we were all<br />
tired, dishevelled, probably smelly<br />
and definitely over trying to sleep<br />
in an aircraft seat with a fidgety<br />
toddler. Between us and relaxation,<br />
were only four hours in an<br />
airport and a six-hour flight. Easy<br />
right? Spoiler alert – no.<br />
Our luck ran out 20 minutes before<br />
boarding started for our flight<br />
to Venice when Vittoria vomited<br />
all over the floor in the middle<br />
of a packed terminal. And a little<br />
on my shirt and shoes. Honestly,<br />
what’s the protocol for that?<br />
I just floundered in surprise for<br />
a bit until Laura went into nurse<br />
mode and sent me off to clean<br />
Vittoria up while she “dealt with<br />
it” in the splash zone.<br />
Once we were as “fresh” as possible<br />
and a suddenly exhausted<br />
toddler crying in my arms, we<br />
made our way to the gate where<br />
we were told we could get Vittoria<br />
checked up for free at the airport<br />
clinic and wouldn’t miss our flight.<br />
However, once the “ambulance”<br />
arrives (literally a push trolley)<br />
we were told that a full check at<br />
the clinic might make us miss our<br />
flight – great.<br />
With all the vitals coming back<br />
healthy, and Vittoria totally out to<br />
it asleep, I was offered a difficult<br />
choice; do further checks and<br />
miss the flight or sign a waiver<br />
saying “refused treatment” and<br />
that if it gets worse it’s all on you.<br />
Although I was confident to<br />
sign away and just get to the flight<br />
so we could be done with it, I felt<br />
terrible anyway. So for three long<br />
and stressful hours of the last flight<br />
we thought of all the worst things<br />
it could be – dehydration, gastro,<br />
some sort of never-wake-up disease.<br />
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
Highs and lows of travel<br />
VITTORIA<br />
& Matt<br />
CONFIDENT: In Dubai,<br />
unaware of what was coming<br />
next.<br />
And what does Vittoria do when<br />
she finally wakes up? Sits up, laughs<br />
and becomes the flight staff’s<br />
darling by running laps around the<br />
plane with a huge grin on her face<br />
for the duration of the flight.<br />
Anyway, we’re in Italy now and<br />
ready for family time.<br />
•Former Star Media<br />
journalist Matt Salmons has<br />
become a stay-at-home<br />
dad. We follow his journey<br />
weekly.<br />
BACKYARD CRITTERS<br />
Feasting on kawakawa leaves<br />
Mike Bowie is an ecologist who specialises in<br />
entomology (insects and other invertebrates).<br />
Each week he introduces a new species found in<br />
his backyard at Lincoln. His column aims to raise<br />
public awareness of biodiversity, the variety of<br />
living things around us. Check out the full list of<br />
invertebrates found at http://naturewatch.org.nz/projects/<br />
backyard-biodiversity-bugs-in-lincoln<br />
ANYONE WHO knows<br />
kawakawa, or Piper excelsum,<br />
will be familiar with the holey<br />
nature of its leaves.<br />
The main herbivore causing<br />
damage on these peppery leaves<br />
is the native kawakawa looper,<br />
Cleora scriptaria. The moths<br />
are found throughout the year,<br />
but mostly in the hotter months<br />
throughout the North and<br />
South Island.<br />
The moths are extremely<br />
variable in size and colour, but<br />
often have a 30-55mm wingspan<br />
and are brown in colour. The<br />
wings have scalloped edges and<br />
have a distinctive spot in the<br />
middle of the forewings.<br />
Newly-emerged females<br />
produce pheromones to attract<br />
male moths with feathery<br />
antennae adapted for sensing<br />
SELWYN TIMES<br />
DISTINCTIVE:<br />
The<br />
kawakawa<br />
looper moth<br />
varies in size,<br />
but often has<br />
a 30-55mm<br />
wingspan.<br />
these chemicals. Pale green<br />
cylindrical eggs are laid on<br />
leaves of host plants in clusters<br />
of three to 12. As well as<br />
kawakawa, other hosts include<br />
horopito, wineberry, ramarama<br />
and akeake.<br />
Young larvae are green but<br />
usually turn browner as they get<br />
older, reaching a length of up to<br />
40mm.<br />
The fully developed larvae<br />
then descend to the leaf litter on<br />
a silk thread and pupate close to<br />
the soil.<br />
Interestingly, herbalists like to<br />
use the holey kawakawa leaves<br />
rather than the undamaged<br />
ones, as the damage caused<br />
by the caterpillars stimulates<br />
the production of defensive<br />
chemicals that are beneficial for<br />
medical creams.<br />
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