South Island Adventures Continued

Its amazing how much the temperature can change when you go to the mountains. We went from primarily shorts and t-shirt whether to bundling up in polypro and sweaters. We definitely had some gorgeous warm days in Arthur’s Pass but the nights were a temperature shocker, that’s for sure. It probably wasn’t even that bad considering the northeast at home, but im pretty acclimated to this climate now. :)

The mountains are stunning. I can’t imagine what they look like further south (Milford Sound area) but I hope I get the chance to go down there someday. I’m thinking that the footage from Lord of the Rings doesn’t do them justice.

We stayed at a student education center for the week, basically in the middle of nowhere, it was awesome. Literally surrounded on all sides by forest and mountains. I kept forgetting where I was and when I walked outside and saw a gigantic mountain, I pretty much had a heart attack. The views from the tops of a few hills were ridiculous. A hike I did up to the top of Lydon’s Saddle was beyond beautiful. We didn’t really know what to expect or how long it would take. The view was unbelievable and totally worth accidentally missing dinner for. Of course I forgot my camera, so I guess ill have to get pictures from other people again! The next morning I got up for the sunrise at the top of a different hill, SO GORGEOUS. The light that was cast on the clouds and mountains behind was spectacular. There was a valley where you could see the light come through and illuminate the mountains. So cool!

We spent the week learning about alpine ecology. We went on a ‘hike’, more of a walk, through the Otira Valley in Arthur’s Pass and worked on a few projects there. Absolutely stunning views. I definitely took a ton of pictures. On our way back to the center we stopped at a café that had the best hot chocolate EVER. It came in a huge glass mug and had layers. The bottom was coated in chocolate syrup with hot cocoa, the next layer was a creamy white layer of something and the top was more hot cocoa. And, if that weren’t enough, there was cocoa powder and caramel syrup on top. SO good.

We also went to a ‘luxury’ lodge to talk about ecotourism with the owner, but we basically got a short lecture, amazing scones and a cool walk around the forest where we ripped out Douglas fir trees. EcoQuest basically went on a rampage. 30 people, 1 hour, 10,000 fir trees gone. Booya. It was awesome and we all felt accomplished. The lodge was beautiful, like amazing. I recommend anyone coming to NZ to stay there. I wish we could have for the week. Oh! I almost forgot, they also have merino sheep there that they harvest wool from. We got to see a bunch huge rams which were really cool, they had huge twirly horns. We got to touch the wool and it was so unbelievably soft, now I know why it is so expensive.

We left Craggieburn Friday morning and drove to the west coast and up to Nelson. We made a cool lunch stop where we saw ‘pancake’ rocks (basically a bunch of layers in the rocks). They were cool and it was beautiful there too. Once we arrived in Nelson, each of the weekend groups dispersed to find our respective accommodations. It was really cool that everyone stayed in Nelson that night, it was awesome to go out with everyone, especially since there was a bday in the group. The hostel we stayed in was the best one yet. It was really nice, had free internet and laundry and he gave us our own rooms, instead of being split up and with random people like we thought we would be. Sweet deal.

That night we went out to a few bars and had a ton of fun. Im going to miss everyone when EcoQuest ends. :( I really like our group, everyone meshes well which is great.

The next morning was unbelievable. We went sky diving over Abel Tasman National Park. AHH!!! That morning was a bit hectic and we ended up being late to the sky diving place, but luckily it didn’t seem to be a big deal. But yeah, SKY DIVING!! As in I voluntarily jumped out of a plane. Actually, more like fell out attached to someone. I decided to go all out and get a video and pictures done. It was expensive but how many times am I going to get the chance/have the money to go sky diving? Much less in New Zealand. Im so glad I got them, they are really cool! The absolute best part was the 10-15 seconds of freefall, INTENSE. Falling at 120 mph. We kind of fell out and twisted backwards, so for a second or two I was falling backwards to the ground and facing the plane, it was wild. I highly recommend doing it if you ever have the chance/desire.

One of our EcoQuest instructors came with us, Liz., which was totally awesome. She did a high ropes course with some of us last weekend which was really fun. She’s afraid of heights, so her doing either of the two activities is pretty awesome, esp sky diving. She loved it though! The landscape was gorgeous and the plane ride over before the jump was cool. That was the smallest plane I have ever been in, as well as the closest I have ever been to people on a plane. There were 8 of us shoved in there, sitting on the floor without room to stand up or anything. Tiny!

I can’t really even explain the feeling of it, it doesn’t feel like you’re falling like you would imagine. More like floating, with a lot of wind involved. But you do feel completely out of control which is awesome and obviously slightly unnerving, but it’s all good.

Our plans for the rest of the weekend changed drastically. We literally went with it and decided to see what happened. Let me tell you, always go with the flow, awesome things happen for sure. We drove to Takaka and stayed at a DoC campsite in Abel Tasman. We had a really good night there and the next morning we decided to go on a walk to a cave, Harwoods Hole. Little did I know that this so called ‘hole’ was literally a giant pit in the ground. Like HUGE. Apparently it’s the largest cave in the southern hemisphere. You couldn’t see the bottom from any vantage point we could get too. Oh and there weren’t any bars or fencing to keep you from falling in. It was intense.

From there we decided to drive and see where we ended up. We stopped at a winery and met this awesome guy originally from Napa Valley. We talked to him for awhile, did some tastings and he recommended that we stay in Mapoua for the night. He suggested a brewery with the best Mexican food in NZ and a pizza place that has live music Sunday nights. We figured why not and went to a campsite that was right next to the beach! Awesome.

We went to the brewery first and, as it turns out, was closing. BUT they decided to serve us a drink anyways. We were sad about not getting to eat Mexican food, but right then, one of the owners came out and asked if we wanted food. She made us all burritos even though they were technically closed. SO GOOD. I miss Mexican food, that’s for sure. The two owners were also from California, we happened to meet a lot of Americans (or previous Americans) this weekend.

From there we decided to go to the pizza place that had live music and ended up getting a pizza to split. There was a singer/songwriter and she was really good. Great voice. It’s funny how much of an awesome night we had by just going with the flow, it was great. :)

Monday we went back to Nelson for the day since the weather turned sour. We ended up seeing Alice in 3D which was cool. Not a bad movie, but a couple things could have been changed or edited out. And the 3D wasn’t even comparable to Avatar, at all. It was a fun movie though and Jonny Depp is always awesome.

We also went to the Grape Escape, another winery, and the lady there gave us all sorts of tastings and free food. It was awesome. They had amazing dipping oils and dressings. So good! There was also this ice cream shop in Nelson called penguino, so obviously I had to go in. It turned out to be gelato and was really really yummy. Cheap too. After that we headed to Nelson Lakes National Park, first to Lake Rotoiti, and camped there. For some reason this whole weekend we lucked out on not paying or only partially paying for our campsites. Good thing since I spent a ridiculous amount of money on other things. The lake was gorgeous, mountains surrounding it on all sides. I went on a nice hike the next day for a couple hours. I love the forests here, so beautiful! Later that day we headed to the other lake, Lake Rotoroa. The only thing wrong with these lakes, and all of NZ biota in general, are sand flies. GAH! So bad at Nelson Lakes, but also at most beaches. They are basically mosquitoes that are always out. At least mosquitoes don’t really come out till dusk. I have so many bug bites; my feet look like I have chicken pox.

The next day we made our journey back to Nelson to meet up with everyone. It was a great weekend, very chill which was perfect.

We are now back at The Quest which is SO WEIRD! Donna is here though which makes it better (admissions head at UNH). I really wish we were still in the south island but it’s also good to be back I suppose. Lots of work coming our way though, booooo. Sorry for the length of this blog, the rest should be much shorter from here on out. I can’t believe there is only 5 weeks left. AH! Crazyness, it’s flying by.


Arthur's Pass


Sunrise in Craggieburn


Sunset in Abel Tasman


Harwoods Hole


In the plane!!




AHHHH!!


So awesome!



Fun Fact
A kiwi can be a fruit, bird or person. Be careful to differentiate when speaking.

Albatross. Seals. Dolphins. LOVE.

The South Island is referred to the South Islanders as the 'mainland', I now know why. It is absolutely amazing. Pretty much even before we got off the ferry it had the North Island beat. I was hesitant in believing anything could be better or more beautiful than what we have already seen and done, but it could and is. Holy Crap.

We left on the 7th for the long drive down to Wellington for out ferry the next day. Although the ride was 11-12 hours it really wasn't that bad. We passed through gorgeous scenery, as always, like the Tongariro National Park in Taupo. I am hoping to go back there and climb the volcanoes at some point when we return. We stayed at a 'top 10' holiday park that night that had the best playground ever. Now imagine, 25 young adults (who usually still wish/think/act like they are children) who have been cooped up in a van for 12 hours who are then presented with a playground. FABULOUSNESS. That's what that means. There was this huge bubble/blob thing that was kind of like a trampoline, except way harder and more fun to jump on. You could like catapult people. I'm pretty sure we popped it, or caused it to deflate rapidly...oops. It was really fun though.

The next morning we boarded the ferry. Biggest boat I've ever been on. Gigantic. As in rivalling cruise ship size. It had TEN (count them) 10 decks! Including, but not limited to, a cafeteria, bar, cafe, 2 lounge/observing areas with recliner seats, a 2-story playground, 2 movie theaters and an open top observational deck. All for a 3 hour ride...wow. The trip was gorgeous, especially coming into the Marlborough Sounds.

Once we arrived in Picton, we drove a few hours to Kiakoura. On the way we stopped on the side of the road and saw a tong of seals and pups. SO ADORABLE. I took a ton of photos and videos. The pups were so cute and it was ridiculously awesome.

In Kiakoura we were to stay at a marae for 4 days. Awesome opportunity. The location of the marae was amazing, between mountains and the beach. The mountains were huge and the beach was just a couple minutes walk. The marae itself was astonishing. We were welcomed in the customary fashion, as we did for the tangi in Kiawa, and sang our Waiata. We were then given a tour of the buildings. I cant express or explain the amazement we all had walking into the Wharanui. It was unbelievable. Every inch of the room is decorated with vibrant colors on wooden panel carvings. Each carving or sculpture tells a story. We briefly heard the stories and explanations of each panel. So amazing. Also, this is where we slept for the week. Is there a more awesome place to sleep? I think not. We laid on mattresses on the floor and were literally lined up next to each other, approx. 30 of us in one room. It was great. The beds were unbelievably comfortable too.

The first day we gardened a bit then went to Kiakoura's waste dump. Sounds unappealing but turned out to be really awesome. They have what they call 'innovative waste management' system for rubbish. So basically, everything that can be recycled is and all remaining rubbish is put into a landfill at the community members expense. So, if you dont go through your trash or just separate out what cant be recycled (very few things) then you have to pay for that weight in a landfill (~3 bucks per smallish trash bag). SO AWESOME. As in every place needs to do this. ~75% of their rubbish is diverted and they are working towards 85%. The dump does all separation of recyclables except glass, which they ask people to do beforehand. THey even compost green waste and food scraps. It basically made me think of everything the the US doesnt do, which is a huge fail. So everyone watch out, Im going to be a recycling freak when I get back. :) Be excited.

So that night we were informed that we were going to have a meeting after dinner. Usually this means boring procedural stuff so nobody really wanted to be there. However, after getting the news we got, we all may look at spontaneous meetings slightly differently from now on. We were told, in a calm, collected manner, that there was a good possibility that we would be swimming with dolphins the next morning...WHAT?!?! My jaw literally dropped to the floor and our instructors face in response to ours was great. We were told that there was a chance that we may not see any dolphins or even get on the boat if conditions weren't right. But oh were they right. Not only did we swim with dolphins, we swam with HUNDREDS of wild dolphins. HOLY CRAP!!!! My life is now complete, I am fairly sure.

They were dusky dolphins which are very well known for their acrobatics. They leap, jump, lunge, flip and twist in the air. SO RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING!!!! In the beginning we only saw a few, and after awhile we all were getting ready to accept the fact that it wasnt going to happen. Ten minutes later, the first group (I was in the second) were getting suited up to head in the water. We happened to come across a pod of the epic proportions. In total ~500 dolphins. OMG! It is so amazing how they follow along right underneath the bow of the boat. I cant even begin to explain everything that was happening. Groups of them would jump up together, one would do complete flips 3 times in a row...unbelievable. They were coming in from all directions, it was insane.

The first group was in the water while we watched from above. I was entirely jealous of them for awhile but I think our group got the better deal :) Thats just me though. By the time it was our turn, I was jumping out of my skin with enthusiasm, and as soon as they blew the horn I was in the water. We were told that the best ways to get the dolphins attention and hold their interest was to make noises through the snorkel, dive down or swim in a circle with them. Let me tell you, they all work. SO AMAZING! Right away they were coming up from below me and swimming past so fast. Making noises and swimming in a circle with them was usually the best way to go. This happened several times and I got a couple really cool videos (facebook videos at some point). Making eye contact was also unbelievably awesome.

My favorite part(s), however, was when I dove down. The first couple of dives were unsuccessful but then I realized I was slacking on the noises. The next time I dove down I had 2 dive with me and I started circling with them which was awesome. The next dive, however, was something I am still having a hard time believing myself. I happened to see a couple below me so i decided to dive down (still making noises) to see if they would play around. All of a sudden though, as soon as I dove, there were 7-10 dolphins circling around me. Legit. It was seriously exactly like the fish at Poor Knights I talked about, only dolphins...IT WAS SO COOL! As I said, literally unbelievable. I'm still waiting to wake up from that dream.

Shortly after that they had dispersed and we were called back onto the boat. We watched them flipping in the distance as they swam away. There were SO many of them. Apparently the pod was 800 dolphins. EIGHT HUNDRED DOLPHINS!

Since I haven't mentioned them yet, we also saw albatross and seals which were also really neat. The albatross were huge! apparently their wing span can reach 3m! That's a big seabird. We saw seals frolicking through the water being their normal cute selves.

But, back to the dolphins. Apparently one girl had a dolphin push her which made her swim really fast, so thats really awesome. Nobody can believe our luck though, even the company we were with was surprised. I guess we were the only group that was able to go out due to weather for the next couple days. Good freakin day, that's for sure. :)

Myself and a couple other people are now in Christchurch for the weekend, should be a lot of fun! :)

Warning: If you come to NZ, bring twice the amount of money you think you'll need. You spend more than you think, lol.


Ferry ride to the south island


Seal pups!!!


Amazing sunrise in Kiakoura


Jumping dolphins!




Only underwater photo I got. Water clarity not that great but the videos are pretty cool. :)


Peninsula walk we did one day


Pretty flowers

Fun Fact:
You usually don't have to wear shoes in any store/shop.

Say no to gold, yes to the environment.

Kia Ora! So I promise this blog will not be as long as the previous one, not even close. This week has been very much work oriented and now that my presentation is over, I have no motivation to study for my midterm tomorrow. Somehow I was very productive early in the week, thank goodness, I got my paper done by Tuesday morning. It helped that I happened to know my presentation was this week though. Speaking of presentation, mine was on rehabilitation after mining and it turned out to be pretty interesting. When the packets of reading were handed out for our groups, mine was 5 times the size of the other groups, typical. But the presentation went well and now I have the midterm to study for and a short journal/paper to write before we head off for the South Island. SO EXCITED!

We went to the Waihi gold mine this week which turned out to be fascinating, both good and bad ways. The day before we went to the mine a member of parliament for the Green Party came to talk to us about mining and mining companies. It was probably one of the best talks/discussions I have ever been to. She was so passionate about what she believed in, it was incredible. We watched a video that showed the Waihi mine in the 80’s, something significantly smaller than what we saw. It. Was. Huge. (pictures below) 85 ton trucks looked minuscule against the road of the mine that wound around. It was intense.

It’s kind of ridiculous how much gold mining is for jewelry. 85%....!!! Seriously? Not worth it.

After the mine we went to a gorge that used to be an old underground mine. They had a pathway that used to be one of the tunnels which was pretty cool to walk through. Hard to imagine people actually working in there for hours and hours a day. The gorge was beautiful though.

I guess I should go study. I don’t know if I will be blogging at all on the South Island so keep a lookout but don’t get your hopes up :-P If I don’t, I will be back in three weeks with a blog 5 times the size of last weeks most likely.

Fun Fact
The first person to hike Everest and a penguin are on the $5 bill. Great combo.

BEST. WEEK. EVER. New Zealand Style.

I am in love with this place, and to the worry of many of you, I want to stay here forever…for the most part. We just spent the week at the Leigh Marine Lab and Poor Knights, aka my heaven on Earth.

As a warning, this is going to be an epically long blog since I have an entire week of awesomeness to pack into it. It is also probably going to lack pictures for the time being because I stupidly grabbed the wrong cord for my camera battery charger. UGH. That and the battery was almost dead to begin with. Go me. The one week that I especially wanted/needed an underwater camera. Owell, I got a few pics and hopefully other people got good shots.

We left for Leigh on Sunday, stopping to get wetsuits on the way. It was the first time I’ve ever worn a wetsuit, and let me tell you, they definitely are skin tight. For some reason they gave me an extra thick material and if I wore the jacket and pants together, I had an inch of material across my chest. Totally unnecessary, so I ended up 86ing the jacket most of the time. I did, however, have to wear it the first time we went out and I was unbelievably buoyant (even with 6 weights on). Ridiculous. We are supposed to have enough weights to be neutrally buoyant (eye level with water when floating vertically). However, my shoulders were out of the water…problem. So I added more weights (ended up being 3) and in the process of adding them to my weight belt, I beached myself on a rock like a whale. Special. I now know what problems whales face with their blubber…Good to know.

The 3 days we spent at Leigh were awesome. We snorkeled every day, did fish and kin (sea urchin) surveys and basically had no work, unless you were doing a presentation. We got a tour around the lab, which they are currently doing a ton of construction on. The building we stayed in was really nice, nicer than some dorms at school. What was really cool was that one of the grad students there was a past Eco-quester doing her masters work. :)

The entire week there was really chill and stress free. We had time to do whatever we wanted after dinner and didn’t have to stress about work. I got up for the sun rise one morning which was absolutely beautiful and went snorkeling the next morning. We saw huge stingrays, so cool!

We had a series of awesome lecturers throughout the week. All the talks were based around marine management which was cool to learn more about since I don’t have much background in it. We left for Poor Knights Wednesday, staying at a camp ground that night. Our room had triple bunks, there were pretty epic. I claimed a top bunk, which made getting back down in the morning interesting. We had a lecture from Wade Doak that night on the boat we’d be taking out the next morning. I have found my new idol. He. Is. Spectacular. I can’t put into words how crazy awesome he is and everything he has accomplished. In semi-simple terms, he and his family were invited by jacque cousteau to accompany him on a 3 month trip. OMG! I will leave it at that.

The next morning we left for Poor Knights. It was an hour boat ride out there and it turned out to be a gorgeous day. We have had the best luck with the weather, its crazy. We stopped at a harbor-ish area as our first destination to snorkel and there was only one other boat there. (BTW, Poor Knights is a marine reserve and no one is allowed to touch/take anything, or even allowed on land at all). I was able to get some pictures of this first stop before my camera completely died. It was so beautiful underwater; incredibly clear and the diversity is insane. The sea urchins here are huge and they have the most colorful sponges and sea anemones I have ever seen. SO AWESOME. I don’t know how long I was in the water for, but Steph and I were one of the first ones in and by far the last ones out. They had to keep some food out for us because we missed lunch.

Before moving to the next spot, a bunch of us were jumping off the second level of the boat into the water, so much fun! Our instructors got some awesome pictures of it.

From there we headed to Rico Rico cave. The caves and arches at Poor Knights were formed by gas bubbles in lava. This cave was gigantic. We drove into it (2 other boats already inside) and the acoustics were unbelievable. It is the equivalent of the Sydney opera house and holds an echo for 8 seconds. Apparently they have had a couple NZ bands play in there, which would have been SO cool. The captain of the boat blew a trumpet shell (like a conch shell) and the sound was spectacular. It actually sounded like the horns that orcs blow in LOTR, only better…way better. Next, there was a guy on the boat that brough a drum and recorder. He played the drum and sang first, so amazing. I have NEVER heard anything like it before. And when he played the recorder I thought I was going to die of shear happiness right then and there. I didn’t know someone could play a recorder like that. So unbelievably amazing.

From there we moved to one last snorkeling spot which is possibly where I had the best moment of my life. We wentto an area where there was an archway/cave type thing. We explored around it for a little while until we noticed a line of Blue Mao Mao swimming into the archway, so we followed. It was really neat to dive down and swim along with them. I made a couple of friends with some curious fish that swam right up to me. Once we entered the archway I literally gasped for breath. Inside there was a huge school of mao mao circling beneath us. I dove down in the middle and literally had thousands of fish circling me. IT WAS SO AWESOME. They were playing a ‘game’ on the rocks below which Wade referred to it as the invention of play, which is really neat. We stayed in there awhile just diving down with the fish. After awhile I made myself leave because my left ear was hurting, it wouldn’t clear half the time I dove.

I really wish I had my scuba cert and could have dove there. I guess it gives me a reason to go back, with a fully charged camera battery. Needless to say that it was one of the best days of my life and this week in general is probably the best week of my life.

And how to follow an amazing week is with an amazing weekend. There was a lot of back and forth about plans for the weekend and a few people were worried about it, but if I haven’t learned anything else here yet it’s that everything will be fine and to go with the flow. It was great not to have hour by hour plans and to do what we wanted. A group of us went to Whenagrei to rent a van (7 of us) and I proceeded to drive to the west coast. As in, I drove on the wrong side of the road AND car. Kind of cool, not gonna lie.

We drove to Trounsen park Thursday night and stayed at the DoC site there. We decided to do a short night walk into the bush in hopes of finding a kiwi…and we did! It was so cute! Rather large too and so awesome. It is rare to see a kiwi in the wild, go us! The next day we went up to the Kauri Forest and stopped at the larest Kauris trees in the world. They were HUGE! It’s hard to imagine something that large; one was 16.7 m around. That night we decided that we were going to go up to a DoC hut on a trail, but once we started we realized we weren’t going to make it before dark. So we pitched our tents on the side of a waterfall trek. Awesome night. It was filled with chasing possums and the best rendition of Lady Marmelade ever.

The next morning we headed back to small town we stopped at before to get some water and such only to run into a ‘Wild West Festival’. It was hysterical, complete with costumes and line dancing. I bought a beautiful pair of earrings and a ring, yay!

As if our weekend could get any better, it did. We headed north to the Hauraki Gulf and chilled on a beautiful deserted beach. It’s amazing how little people are at these places. Following our beach naps, a few of us went dune boarding. Yes, dune boarding. So much fun! I think I pulled a muscle in my shoulder though, oops. Climbing up dunes after a day of hiking turned out to be quite the task but totally worth it. We literally were boogie boarding on our stomachs, but down sand and into the water.

Last night we drove down to the Kai Iwi lakes and stayed at the campsite there (showers!). It was gorgeous. There was a short hike up to an awesome lookout where we watched the sunset.

Now I have to get back into school mode and slightly out of fantasy land. Midterm, presentation and paper this week, oh boy. It’s all good. After this past week, I’m pretty sure some work should be in order. Besides, I am here for school…right? ;)


Sunrise at Leigh


Snorkeling at Poor Knights!






7th largest Kauri tree in NZ (and the world...)


Dune Boarding!

Fun fact
Swim suits are called togs.

EcoQuest

Hello All!

We spent this week back at our EcoQuest base in Whakatiwai and pretty much did work all week. We have a bunch of things due tomorrow (the paper of which I just finished) and had our first quiz yesterday. I really need to work on my procrastination issues, it would have been nice to be able to chill tonight but I spent it all writing. One day ill learn…maybe.

We did a couple cool things this week like doing a transect shellfish survey and going to the Miranda shorebird regional park. The survey turned out to be a ton of fun with the group I was in. We were in mud flats counting shellfish and somehow it turned out to by hysterical. I got stuck several times and had to fish out my shoe. The shorebird park and center was also really awesome. We went out there at low tide and watched some birds, mostly godwits and wrybills, feed on the mud flats. There were a couple times that the entire flock left the ground in a unified swoop and passed overhead before settling back down. The sound they make with the wind was so awesome and I got a couple really cool videos of them.

I decided this week that I was going to get up and go for a bike ride/work out every morning before classes and such. A couple of us did it two days in a row but skipped today and since we are leaving for a week I guess it wont be happening again for awhile. The first day we went was awesome. It was a beautiful morning and we biked to a grass clearing by the beach to do some ab workouts. When we arrived, there was a guy sitting on a picnic table playing a recorder. So basically we were stretching and doing ab workouts with a beach front view, listening to the waves, birds and a random guy playing the recorder. It was perfect.

We are leaving tomorrow for Leigh and Poor Knights for marine biology week. IM SO EXCITED! We are basically snorkeling all week, I cant wait! I will have ungodly amounts of pictures when I get back, I am hoping my camera will hold them all. :)

Fun Fact
Parking is free, everywhere.

Coromandel

This past week has been pretty amazing. We went to the Coromanel and stayed in a youth hostel in Opoutere. The hostel was so nice! The room I stayed in fit 12 of us and had a fireplace, obviously we didn’t need it but it was cool. We basically took over the place and I kind of feel bad for the other people that were there but hopefully we weren’t too unbearable. We spent the week mapping or learning how to map (I still need to do my map). We kayaked several times which was SO much fun. I love kayaking. It was gorgeous and we had to intentionally tip ourselves over and awkwardly climb back into the kayaks like uncoordinated seals. It was hysterical.

The days were long but most of it was enjoyable which is good. Opoutere is gorgeous and we all wished that Ecoquest was where the hostel was; although, we definitely don’t have anything to complain about here. :) You know your professors/instructors are awesome when they hide in the bushes at night to scare the crap out of you going to the beach. I probably woke up the entire Coromandel with my scream.

The stars here are so amazing. I can’t put into words how beautiful they are. Stars at Shoals were incredible but somehow not even comparable to what we saw at the beach. There are absolutely no lights anywhere and you can see the entire sky and for some reason the moon wasn’t visible or out. We have come to the conclusion that New Zealand doesn’t have a moon. ;) I have never seen the Milky Way this many times in a row. I really wish I could take pictures of the stars, tends not to work though.

We had this weekend off and a most of us went to beaches the whole weekend. Friday night we went to a hot water beach in Haihei. It was unbelievable. We literally dug a foot or two into the sand and steaming water came through. It was like a bath. It was by far the coolest beach ever.

Cathedral Cove, on the other hand, is the most beautiful beach ever. I didn’t realize that they filmed the second Narnia there and, by association, I have now been to Narnia. It was a beautiful day, couldn’t ask for better and it wasn’t even that crowded. It’s amazing how some of the main tourist attractions here really aren’t regulated as they would be in the US. For example, if Cathedral Cove was in the US, 50% of it would be blocked off and inaccessible to the public, buoys would restrict you from where to swim, it would cost an arm and a leg just to get access to the beach and you definitely wouldn’t be able to climb on the rock-like islands and dive/jump off of them. I absolutely love my underwater camera, I swam with some fishies and got some really cool pictures. :)

The next day we went to what was supposedly one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world, New Chums. Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful, but we all thought Cathedral Cove was much better. New Chums was secluded and was awesome that no one was there. It was also overcast, sprinkling and really windy which may have taken a bit away from it.

The weekend was great but we are now back at Ecoquest and getting ready for more classes and such this week. It’s been proving difficult for me to get into the school mode here. It feels like summer camp or vacation and is unnatural to do work. Hopefully I’ll get into the swing of things soon.











Fun Fact
Public toilets here talk to you and have elevator music.

Fun in Whakatiwai

Since I don’t think I have mentioned it yet, our campus base is in Whakatiwai (Wh is pronounced f) on the western edge of the Firth of Thames. I still have not taken pictures of our ‘campus’ yet for whatever reason and if it weren’t dark I would take them now. Hopefully those pictures are to come soon. For other info about the life here, it is amazing, if I haven’t made that clear yet. It is a very simple life which I love. It is great not having/needing a cell phone every minute of every day. I shockingly don’t miss texting, which I definitely did in excess previous to this trip. I actually completely forgot I had a cell phone till I randomly found it yesterday. I recommend that everyone take a vacation and leave their phone behind or off the entire time. It will do you good.

The food here is amazing. I didn’t think it would be as good as it is, especially when it is as healthy as it is. I haven’t ever eaten this healthy in my life and I hope I can keep it up when I leave. I had the best guacamole EVER last week and there are always fresh avocados, as well as fruit and vegetables from our own gardens. We seem to go through tubs of peanut butter each week, our instructors and kitchen staff don’t seem to understand. It’s so good! If anybody was wondering, I have tried vegemite and I would love to know who thought that concentrated yeast extract was good, but who am I to judge? People love it. I definitely don’t. More power to them.

This past weekend, myself and 7 others from our group went to Auckland. It was a blast. We went to a market Saturday morning which was kind of like an art festival and farmers market in one. It was really awesome and I spent a good amount of money, yay presents! From there we went to the Waitangi Day Festival in southern Auckland where we happened to see Stan Walker, the Australian Idol. It was fun. :) There were more tents and art things along with really good food and shows.

I had my first hostel experience which turned out to be pretty chill. We got a free ‘dinner’ with our stay and it overall was a lot better than I was expecting. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Auckland where I spent a bunch more money, mostly for other people. :) We went to an ice bar that night which is legit a bar made out of ice. A little pricey but totally worth it, parkas and all. The next day we went to Rangitoto Island and hiked the volcano. The entire hike ended up being 11 km which was longer than I thought, it was a good hike though. Really pretty, pictures on facebook if I don’t get some on here. There were awesome lava caves too, I had never been in a cave before.

We leave tomorrow for the Coromadel for 4 days. We have the weekend off but most of us are staying on the peninsula and going to Cathedral Cove and the ‘hot’ beaches. It should be a good time.







Fun Fact
The sun is more intense in NZ not only due to tilt of earth, but because of a lack of significant pollution and particulates in the air. Due to this, the sunscreen is formulated differently. 35 proof ‘American’ sunscreen is 15 here.