Travel Updates!

Hi everyone!
I just wanted to update everyone on my travels and this is really the first time I've been able to do so. Firstly, I arrived safely in Sydney yesterday and found my friend Lisa, who I will be staying with for the next three weeks. From the 8th, when EcoQuest finished, to the morning of the 20th, when I flew to Sydney, I have been traveling around New Zealand with two other girls, Alex and Kara. To start, we rented a car in the North Island and drove down the entire west coast. The first night we spent in Raglan, which is a big surfer town because of their beaches.

The next day we drove to the Mokau beaches, which are black sand beaches. It was actually really weird to see pure, black sand, but also very cool. That night we spent the night in New Plymouth, a fairly large town on the west coast.

After spending the night there, we woke up and climbed a small portion of Mt. Tongariro, which is actually a dormant volcano. We knew when we started that we could only climb a small portion because we weren't prepared for the weather or snow that had begun to accumulate on the upper portion of the volcano. However, it was quite a surprise when we started our climb in beautiful, sunny weather, which in less than 10 minutes changed to snow/hail. This just epitomized, to us, how quickly weather can change in New Zealand.

That night we spent the night in Levin, which is basically a commuter town into Wellington. So the next day we arrived in Wellington, and were very happy to be in a city. We explored the city on foot, went to a movie, and went to the Te Papa museum, which is very famous in Wellington. On the 13th we woke up early and headed to the airport, where we flew to Christchurch and started our adventure on the South Island.

We spent that night in Christchurch relaxing, eating Mexican food (finally! there is very little Mexican food in New Zealand), and preparing for our 8 hour bus ride the next day. That 8 hour bus ride took us to Queenstown, which is basically the hub city for the southern part of the South Island, and it was absolutely beautiful.

We only expected to spend 2 nights there because we were going to head into Fiordland, which is a huge national park along the west coast of the South Island. It is world renowned for its beauty, especially Milford Sound, which is the most famous sound within the national park. However, it was raining almost the entire time we were there, which defeats the purpose of going into the Fiords. It makes the roads to get there kind of dangerous, and the low cloud cover ruins the vastness of it all, which is where most of its beauty comes from. So we ended up hanging out in Queenstown and meeting and reuniting with lots of cool people we've met throughout our time in New Zealand.

After 4 nights in Queenstown, Kara and I went to Wanaka, which is basically a smaller version of Queenstown about an hour north of it. A lot of people like Wanaka because its what Queenstown used to be like, a smaller, quieter, not as touristy town, where people come to relax and ski/snowboard. I actually liked the busier nature of Queenstown, but its all personal opinion.

My second day in Wanaka I said farewell to Kara and got on a bus to get back to Christchurch, so I could fly out to Sydney. I got on the bus at 2:30pm and was supposed to be back in Christchurch at 10pm. However, about after about an hour and a half on the bus, we come to a road closed sign, which was blocking the road over a mountain pass we needed to go through. Because these roads are usually cleared pretty quickly, we decided to wait. We ended up waiting for 3 hours, when finally a truck came down and said it would probably be closed for the night. So we had to turn around and add a 2.5 hour detour to get around this mountain pass. So it ended up that I didn't get into Christchurch until 4am, where I walked into this hostel and asked about airport shuttles. They had one coming in 15 minutes, so I jumped on that and headed to the airport, where I boarded my plane and flew to Sydney, without sleeping for even a minutes. Needless to say I was excited, but very exhausted to be in Australia. I met up with my friend Lisa, and we just hung out all day and then I went to bed early. So today starts my first official day exploring the city and I can't wait to see what it has to offer. I will try and update again soon with some pictures and stories of my adventures.

Done with DRPs!!

Today, at 11:30am I officially finished my DRP. This consisted of writing at 62 page paper and spending four days in the field, over a span of only 22 days. BUT I DID IT!!! I'm so happy that its all finished and it is a piece of writing I'm proud of. They print and bind a copy for us to bring home, so if anyone wants to see it let me know!

Now we have an oral presentation to give on our projects, which should be pretty painless, and then the semesters over! I can't believe we only have 6 days left. I feel like I made up most of the trip, that it didn't really ever happen. And now its time to focus on my travel plans. I will be driving with two other girls, Alex and Kara, down the east coast of the North Island, then flying/driving to Queenstown. I'm spending about 5 days there before I fly to Sydney for 3 weeks! I'm really really excited to get the chance to see Australia while I'm over here, and I'm ready to get back into city life.

So thats about it for now...just wanted to express my excitement. Love and miss you all!!

Easter Weekend

So because my DRP project is taking up so much time these days, my next update is going to consists of mostly pictures. We had the weekend off for Easter, so 5 girls decided to go to the Beach with No Name. This is a beach off of Cathedral Cove, which is a huge natural arch on a beach--its a big tourist attraction in NZ. If you have seen Prince Caspian its in one of the opening scenes (I haven't seen it so thats the best I can do!) We arrived at about 3 pm in the afternoon on Saturday and camped on the beach overnight. Basically the photos say it all...

The walk over boulders, for about 20 mintues, to get to No Name

No Name beach

Relaxing Saturday night with Andrew, who decided to join us

The sunrise Easter morning

Cathedral Cove, tourist free, Easter morning

Spring Break and DRPs

The last week of our South Island trip was time off, basically our spring break. Alex, John, Riley and I decided we were going to travel together for these 5 days and see as much of the northern part of the South Island as we could. Sunday night we went to Nelson, which is a decent sized city, to spend the night. The next morning we rented a car and drove to Marlborough, which is the famous wine country in New Zealand. We rented rooms in a hostel that is in the middle of about 6 vineyards, then started our wine tours. We walked around to 5 different winery's and tasted so many different types of wines. It was really cool to figure out what types I liked more then others, and which vineyards were better than others. After we finished the tour, we went back to our hostel and made dinner, then went to a little bar called the Cork and Keg. We met 3 Kiwi's while we were there and it was really interesting to hear their opinions on New Zealand society. We also talked about American stereotypes...and its funny because they assume all American culture is the same. It was hard for them to comprehend that people from the east coast are not like people from the south, who aren't like people from the west coast. New Zealand has such a low population that the entire country takes on one culture, which they assumed was a pattern internationally. Overall, it was really interesting hearing their opinions on New Zealand and American society.


The next morning we took our time leaving and headed to Abel Tasman. This is a national park on the northern coast of the South Island. It is probably the most recognized/famous national park and 3 day hike. We just relaxed and camped outside of the park on Tuesday. Wednesday, we got up early and hiked a 26 km loop. While the track was fairly flat, we were definitely exhausted by the time we got back. But it was all worth it, it was one of the most beautiful hikes I've been on.





After we got back to our campsite, we loaded up the car and headed into Takaka. This is a smaller town famous for its rock climbing and hippie, artsy atmosphere. When we arrived we walked around the town then headed to the campsite where other EcoQuesters were staying. We set up our tents, met some of the other people that were camping there, then everyone headed to Mussel Inn. This is a really cool restaurant outside of Takaka that is growing in popularity. All the tables are outside, as well as a fire pit and tire swing. Inside they have a stage where live music is almost always playing. When we got there we all sat down and ordered our various meals, which all included mussels. Then we found out that they were having a concert that night which a pretty famous New Zealand band, Sola Rosa. We didn't plan on staying that long, but it turned out that the band was really good, and much more famous then we had thought. (After the trip was over, the head of EcoQuest told us there was a really good band we all had to hear...which was Sola Rosa).


The next day we left Takaka and headed up to the farewell spit. This is a 20 km sand spit that makes up the northwest coast of the South Island. We walked along part of it, which was so beautiful, then ate lunch at a cafe that overlooked the whole thing. After lunch Riley and I got a lesson on how to drive a stick shift car...I think I'm getting the hang of it! Hopefully I can apply everything I learned once I switch back to sitting on the left hand side of the car, haha. After our lessons we headed back into Nelson, where we were being picked up by the staff early Friday morning. Once we arrive in Nelson and were checking into our hostel, we ran into 3 of the people we had meet the night before in Takaka. After we ate dinner, I ended up meeting up with them back at the hostel. Evan, one of the boys whose actually from Akron, is a tattoo artist. So that night I watched him give his first color tattoo to one of his friends. It was one of the most interesting things I've ever seen in my life. He is an insane artist so it turned out really well, but it just solidified my feelings of never wanting to get a tattoo.


Friday morning we all got up early and met the staff to head back to the North Island. We arrived back at EcoQuest Saturday afternoon, all of us happy to be home, but sad to leave the South Island. We had Sunday as a day to relax before our last week of academics at EcoQuest. The overall theme was Restoration Ecology, so we focused on New Zealand projects that work to remove exotic pests. We also had a quiz and our final exam to sum up everything we had learned. With the finale of our academics, EcoQuest shifted into DRPs (Directed Research Projects) which will last until the end of our semester. I am a part of the stream team, which studies the ecological health of 6 streams around EcoQuest. We do this by collecting macroinvertebrates (bugs) and survey the streams for 30 different variables.


The first week of DRPs, for us, consisted of a lot of reading and practicing our field technique. We had to familiarize ourselves with the subject and write first drafts of our Introduction and Methods. Overall, it was a pretty relaxed week and a nice way to start our projects.

Craigieburn, Reefton & Nelson Lakes

After our weekend in Christchurch, we got picked up by our teachers and headed into the mountains. The South Island of New Zealand is essentially split down the middle by a number of different mountain ranges, and we were just on the west side of the divide. We were staying in an Environmental Education Center, which was basically a small cabin in the woods. We were surrounded by Beech forest on all sides at the top of a mountain. When we first arrived we settled in and then did a 1 hour solo in the forest. This was a big time flash back to Island School, but much less intense. It was a little scary walking into the forest because it is filled with an invasive species of wasp. When your standing in the woods you can hear them all hum and it is SO loud. So we walked into the woods and were distributed along a path to do some observing. It took me about 20 minutes to settle my nerves because of the wasps. But it was still such a nice experience to be alone and just observe. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and hanging out.


The next day we went into Otira Valley, which is a small valley created between two mountains in the range we were in. To get there we had to go through Arthur's Pass, which is the lowest spot in the range. This town was developed because, in the 1800's, it was the only way to get from the east to the west side of the country. Currently the population is 40 people and consists of an information site, one cafe, and a little chapel. You would never expect it, but the chapel was stunning. It is just a little building, but the top half of the back wall is all windows with a beautiful view of a waterfall. I spent a while sitting in there, just soaking it in...it was a really cool experience. After we left the town, we got to Otira Valley and hiked up about 2/3 of the way with incredible views the whole time.

On the way down we focused on different plant adaptations to the extreme conditions (it was an exposed area above the tree line). It was cool to learn about different strategies because I really don't know that much about plant ecology. After we got back to the camp we relaxed and enjoyed dinner.

Wednesday we went to the Wilderness Lodge at Arthur's Pass which was quite the experience. By the sound of it we expected this cabin in the woods, but it was actually this really fancy lodge run by a famous New Zealand environmentalist. First we listened to him speak about starting the lodge and how he built it. Throughout this entire talk, he was pushing peoples buttons. He made a lot of general statements about the environment that indicated he didn't care, which was a little bizarre. However, he kind of won people over after he finished his talk. We went outside and hiked around his property talking about invasive species, plant adaptations and the effects of pastoral farming. Afterwards we got a tour of his sheep farm which was really cool. He has about 2000 merino sheep and ships his wool all over the world, including Italy to supply Lauro Piana.

Rainbow from our cabin porch after the Wilderness Lodge

Thursday mainly consisted of studying and working on projects, and for the first time having lamb for dinner! For as many sheep as they have in this country I wasn't that impressed, but I'm going to blame that on our makeshift kitchen.

Friday morning a couple of us woke up really early to watch the sunrise over the mountains. It was freezing when we woke up, but definitely worth it.


After we cleaned up our cabin areas we got into the vans and headed to Reefton. This is a city that has developed on the west coast of the South Island purely because there is a mining industry. They have a couple of huge coal mines as well as one decently sized gold mine. While we were there we talked to a representative from the gold mining company. He explained what the mine is doing for the economy of the town and its impacts on the environment. It's interesting to learn about these situations--on one hand they are bringing in so much money for the town, but they are also destroying the land. Do the economic gains outweigh the environmental impact or vice versa? While we were there we got the chance to visit a coal mine which was really interesting to see. It was a HUGE open pit mine that they are slowly starting to fill in with different restoration techniques. When the pit is deemed uneconomical, they are going to fill it in with water and create a lake.


Sunday morning we woke up bright and early to head to Nelson Lakes. This is a national park on the northern part of the South Island. When we arrived we were welcomed by a big jet boat racing competition. EcoQuest has never encountered this in the 10 years they've brought students there, so we were all caught a little off guard. Our plans had to change a little bit because of the absurd noise coming from these boats. We hiked around a trail, learning about restoration sites in New Zealand and how they try to eradicate pests. We ended up having our lectures in the information center because we couldn't talk over the noise outside, which was a bummer. However, we still managed to get some good photos and enjoy the beauty of the lakes.

Christchurch

On Saturday morning we left the Marae and headed into Christchurch for our time off. We were dropped off at the hostel we were staying in and then had free time to roam the city until the rugby game started! So we decided to walk around Cathedral Square, which is basically the center of town. After we explored, we found a nice strip of restaurants with outdoor patios, so we sat and had some appetizers and drinks. On our way back to the hostel from the restaurant, we passed by a huge thrift store so we decided to go in and check it out. About 30 minutes later we all walked out with rugby polos to wear to the game.





Watching the game was so much fun because we got to meet a lot of Kiwi's who were sitting around us, and got to enjoy the camaraderie of a big sports arena. Everyone is outside enjoying the beautiful weather watching their favorite sports team play. It was nice to be in a city setting after being in rural areas for so long. After the game was over one of the women that was sitting near us told us if we stuck around the players would come by and sign rugby balls. So of course I was in and waited for Isac, one of the Christchurch Crusaders to come over to our end of the field. Riley and I worked our way through the crowd and got him to sign my rugby shirt (soo cool!!) and I got a picture with him because I said it was my birthday!

(picture to come!)





After the game we walked back to the hostel to meet up with everyone who didn't go. Then we all went out as a big troupe and hit the town the celebrate my birthday. It was a little frustrating because we got separated pretty quickly, and I wanted everyone to be together to celebrate. But after we cleared some confusion we all met up at Fat Eddie's where this main with an insanely long white beard was doing Billy Joel covers. He was so entertaining while he was playing, but we only caught him for about 10 minutes. Afterwards a lot of people were tired so they went back, but some of us headed to a bar called His Lordships. The only reason we went because a live band called The Wolverines were playing and we liked their name. However, we were in for a big treat when they ended up being a really cool cover band with a guy who opened for them that could beat box like I've never heard. He actually was probably the most talented person I've ever seen, it was insane. But after a while we all decided we were tired and headed back to the hostel to go to bed.



The next morning we woke up and decided to walk around the city some more. We went into a more historical district where we found this really cool market that we ended up spending so much time in. After we had spent enough money we walked into the botanical gardens which were beautiful. We explored the fountains, flowers, and the famous Avon River. Once we were finished we got lunch at this very cool cafeteria/restaurant called Dux de Lux. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing around the square in the city and in the hostel. That night we decided to go out to Mexican for dinner, which was delicious. We went back to His Lordships after dinner so everyone else could see the bar, then just headed back to the hostel.

Brenna, Me, Emily and Kara in front of the Botanical Garden fountain

Punting on the Avon River

Monday morning we got up and had breakfast, then walked around and went to a couple more shops for the last time. After we got all of our stuff back together, we met the teachers in the parking lot of our hostel and headed off to Craigieburn.

South Island--Kaikoura

Hello once again!!

After a long three week journey around the south island, were finally back back on campus. Writing updates on this blog is such a daunting task because there are so many amazing details, but I will try to do my best. In a short summary, traveling around the south island has made me truly fall in love with New Zealand. It has a kind of beauty and relaxed attitude that the north island doesn't possess. And with these next few blog posts I will try to explain why...

We loaded up the vans Monday morning to prepare for our van ride down the entire north island. The ride should have taken us about 8 hours, but because we stopped to much to look at the scenery and go pee, it took us about 11. We stopped for the night in Wellington, and I was lucky enough to see my friend who lives in Wellington. We worked together this past summer in St. Martin, so it was really nice to see him and have him show me around the city. Wellington is a very cool place and I'm excited to spend some more time there traveling after the program. We woke up obscenely early the next morning to board the InterIslander, this HUGE ship that crosses between the two islands. After the 3 hour journey, we got back into our vans and drove along the east coast of the south island to Kaikoura. This town is really well known in New Zealand for its marine mammals; there are so many whales, dolphins, and fur seals that live in the coastal waters the town has become a pretty big tourist attraction. While we stayed there we were very lucky to have the opportunity to stay on the local Marae. The gardens around the buildings were so beautiful, and they had very tall wooden 'ancestor' sculptures that surrounded the buildings also. I wish I could show you pictures, but it is not acceptable in Maori tradition to take pictures. (By the end of our trip we thought this was kind of cool because now the memory only exists in our memories and can't fully be shared with anyone else). The room we actually slept in was the Wharanui, the room of the ancestors. When we first got there we sat in a circle and all explained where we came from and what our family histories were, which was really cool to describe while standing in a room that was built for the remembrance of ancestors. All of the walls and ceiling are covered in beautiful carved panels that are specific to this sector of Maori people; it was an amazing and peaceful thing to fall asleep to.

The view of the mountains from the Marae

We spent our time in Kaikoura learning about the marine mammals and shorebirds that live in the Kaikoura waters and shores. Also, we learned about the many different tourism sectors that take advantage of the presence of these animals. After learning about all the different companies, and different levels of certification they can achieve for being eco-friendly, we found out we were going to go swimming with dolphins! So we all woke up at about 5 am on Thursday morning and headed into Kaikoura to get fitted for wetsuits and head out on the boat. After about 30 minutes on the boat we came across a pod of about 200 dusky dolphins. We split into 2 groups and consecutively jumped into the freezing water to swim with dolphins. It was such a cool experience because we got to see them in the wild and it was clear they were entertained and liked playing with us. We were told we couldn't touch them, but so many of them got so close to me I swore they wanted to touch me. But it was really cool to be so close and look them in the eyes.

The next day was my 21st birthday!! Friday the 13, how appropriate, haha. We had a regular day of classes and got to walk around the peninsula Kaikoura is on to look at the different geological formations, which was really cool. During some of our time off, Brenna and I went into town to enjoy a first official drink as a 21 year old...a sharkbite!

That night I did get a very beautiful/delicious chocolate cake as well as some candy and cards from some of my good friends. That night, as a tradition when leaving a Marae, we had a talent show. This requires everyone to get up and share a talent or something that is important to them with the rest of the group. I ended up making up some riddles and challenging everyone to my favorite riddle. Afterwards, we all got to say a couple of words expressing our appreciation for being able to stay at the Marae. Overall, it was a really great experience staying there and also being able to see Kaikoura. As most of you know I love the ocean and all the organisms that live in it, so I really appreciated learning about New Zealand specific waters and getting to see them up close. Plus, it was such a beautiful place to spend 4 days.

Whangarei

So this blog is going to be a little short, but I wanted to complete my series of three before we left for the south island...

So Friday after we finished our day of snorkeling on Friday, we drove back into Whangarei which is the closest, largest town to the Poor Knights. We drove around the city looking for our hostel, finally drove up a HUGE hill to get there, and got settled in. After we were all organized we went into the town to get some pizza. Throughout this entire semester everyone has been craving pizza...so we all decided to splurge.

All of us at our pizza dinner!

After dinner we went to the one bar we had been hearing so much about...Danger Danger. Let me tell you, this was one of the funniest bars I've ever walked into. It had a cowboy/western theme with the huge wooden tables, but then a dance floor with cages and stripper poles. It was quite the experience. Also, the only reason they let us in was because we came so early, we were clearly out of dress code. Because none of us had anything to wear we were in shorts and tee-shirts, but I guess you had to be in heels/dresses to be considered acceptable. We have now encountered a dress code problem twice...

After the club we all went back to the hostel and went to bed. The next morning we went out to breakfast and a bunch of people left to go camping and hiking in a Kauri forest. I stayed because Jesse and I had made plans to go SCUBA diving on Sunday at the Poor Knights. So Saturday we spent wandering the town, going into gift shops, used book stores, and camping stores. Those of us that stayed decided we were going to make dinner at the hostel that night, so we went to the grocery store and prepared our chicken breast, grilled veggie, and pasta dinner. Afterwards we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and reading. Cooking dinner was actually really fun, except the stove couldn't get hot enough to boil all the water we needed for the pasta, so we served it a la dent. Once we finished dinner we all decided to go into town and see a movie. Emily, Katie and I decided to go see He's Just Not That Into You. Definitely a good movie...although slightly overwhelming. (not sure if thats just the movie...or the fact I've been removed from American culture for 6 weeks). But it was really nice to go see a movie, and I think its fun to explore what movie theaters are like in different countries.

It was good we had a relaxing evening because Jesse and I woke up at about 6:15 to eat breakfast and get ready for our day of SCUBA diving!! We weren't sure if it was going to happen because the predicted weather for the weekend was pretty bad, but luckily it all worked out! By the time we got back to Poor Knights it was probably already 10 o'clock and we had a really hard time finding a protected area to do our first dive. While the weather wasn't that bad, the currents around the islands were really strong. So eventually we come to this area, where every other dive company is trying to dive also, and gear up for our first dive. There were only 4 of us diving, Jesse and me, and two Japanese girls, plus the dive leader. Even though the numbers were small, this turned out to be one of the most hectic dives I've ever been on. One of the Japanese girls knew what she was doing, but her friend had just been certified days before, and basically had no idea what she was doing. She couldn't figure out how to get herself down, so once the instructor helped her, she was just sitting at the bottom. It was like she forgot that she had to swim in order to dive...so the entire dive she was pulled by the leader, she wasn't even kicking her legs. So this incident alone made the dive a little crazy, but minus that the views were amazing. We saw so many different species of fish, a HUGE moray eel, and probably 5 eagle rays. After we finished we came back on the boat and went to a new dive site. Once the Japanese girls came out of the water, they both kind of gave up...they took off all their gear and just slept of the front of the boat. So the next dive was just Jesse, me and the leader which was soooo much better. This dive was really cool because we went through little underwater passages and caves. Again we saw so many different species of fish, really cool sea slugs (they don't actually look like slugs) and an enormous eagle ray, it was probably 6 feet across. While slightly scary, it was amazing.

After we got back into Whangarei, an hour later then we were supposed to, we met up with the others that stayed and started our drive home. It was definitely an exhausting, but very rewarding day. I'm so happy we got the chance to dive at Poor Knights because its acclaimed as one of the top 10 dive sites in the world.

So thats my final story for this past weekend...this week has just been filled with studying and paper writing, nothing to exciting. But in about an hour and a half we are leaving to start our south island adventure!! I'll try and keep notes while I'm there so I remember to update on everything, but I will be out of email/internet contact for the next three weeks. So I hope everyone has a good couple of weeks, and I will update soon! Miss you all!!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY DAD!!! love you!

Leigh and the Poor Knights

Lots of people have been asking for my address and I figured it would be easier to just post it here:

Elizabeth Koury

c/- EcoQuest

1204 East Coast Road

RD 3, Pokeno, 2473

New Zealand

I can get mail through any carrier, you just have to make sure there's enough postage on it.

On to the travels...on Monday morning we left bright and early to head up to Leigh, which is a city in Northland. It took us probably around 3 hours to get there, plus stopping on the way to get fitted for wetsuits and snorkel gear. Once in Leigh we found out where we were staying which was the University of Auckland's Marine Lab. The lab itself is pretty nice, but it is right on the coast of the Goat Island Marine Reserve which is BEAUTIFUL. It was the first marine reserve to be established in New Zealand, which means there has been no fishing allowed there since the 1970's.

Goat Island and the Marine Lab

The coast of Goat Island Marine Reserve

After we got situated in our rooms, we all divided into groups and did our first snorkel of the marine reserve. As soon as you get in the water you are inundated with these huge, curious fish, who are by no means intimidated by people. The most prevalent species was the snapper, which was really good to see because its such an economically viable fish. Their populations in this area are still under recovery, but definitely improving. We also went snorkeling in one of the caves in Goat Island which was so cool.

The next day we woke up and went to a lecture by Bill Ballantine. He's a really famous ecologist in New Zealand because he has advocated marine reserves from the beginning. He talked about why he thought they were important and the major problems he faces trying to get them implemented. He was also quite a character...throughout the entire lecture he was rolling and smoking his own cigarettes! Very different from any scientist I've met! In the afternoon we started our research assignment, which was locating and counting Kina, an endemic sea urchin. We went around the marine reserve and picked 16 different spots, 8 of which were kelp forest, 8 of which were bare rock, and counted all the kina we could see in a measured quadrant. After we finished we came back to the lab and got a tour of all the different projects from one of the doctorate students. Then we enjoyed dinner and went to bed.


The third day we started by going to Matheson Bay, where we continued our research assignment. We repeated our Kina counting procedure and then compared the data between the two sites. As we suspected Matheson Bay had significantly more Kina because it wasn't a marine reserve (Snapper eat Kina, which help control their population). After lunch, we had a lecture from Dr. Roger Grace who is another very famous marine scientist. We learned more about the benefits of marine reserves and also about all the various habitats and species that exist throughout New Zealand's marine environment.


On our last day we spent a lot of time cleaning up the lab and then giving oral presentations. This time it was my turn, so I had to speak for 10 minutes about the Quota Management System and Individual Transferable Quotas. I'll spare you all the nitty gritty but I think it went really well! Plus I enjoyed doing the research, which is always a good thing. After the 4 presentations we packed up the vans and headed to Tutukaka and Poor Knights, which is another marine reserve about 2 hours further north.


We arrived in Tutukaka at about 4 o'clock and got settled into the cabins we were staying in. Then Jesse, the only other person who is certified in SCUBA, walked over to the marina to figure out if we could plan diving for that weekend. After calling a bunch of different companies we made tentative plans because the weather was supposed to be really bad. We then walked back to our camp, ate dinner, and celebrated Cori's birthday. At about 7:15 we all met up and walked back to the marina to hear Wade Doak speak. If your at all into SCUBA diving this name would ring a bell, he was one of the people who helped invent current SCUBA gear, and was actually famous for finding a sunken ships treasure. (I wouldn't have believed this, but he actually brought some to show). Then he went on to show us one of the 18 movies he's made about the species at the Poor Knights. It was really helpful to learn some of the species names and where we would find them. After the viewing we all went back to our cabins and went to bed.


Friday morning we all woke up bright and early to get ready for snorkeling at the Poor Knights. We walked over to the marina, got on a big SCUBA boat, and made the hour long ride over to the islands. It was AMAZING once we got there, the islands and their waters are completely untouched.






We went snorkeling at 3 different sites, all of which were cool in their own ways. The first sight had so many different types of fish, and a sandbar with about 8 eagle rays. After getting over the awe of so many fish, we went snorkeling through a cave which was amazing. It was really cool to hear the sounds of the ocean in a cave, and to be able to look out on the water which was a perfect shade of blue in the sunlight. The second spot was a Blue MaoMao arch. We would swim under the arch and it was just thousands of these fish. They were really spectacular all together because when the light hits them at a certain angle they all shimmer. After we left the arch we went swimming throughout all these thin openings that took us to interior areas of the islands. This spot was definitely my favorite. The last place was the worlds largest natural sea cave. We drove the boat into the cave, then the captain blew into a conch shell because the acoustics are on par with the Sydney Opera House. Afterwards we got into the water and explored. Overall, it was a phenomenal trip and my favorite day in New Zealand.


After we got back onto land, our weekend off started. And that is to be continued...

Shellfish and Auckland

So this is going to be the beginning of 3 separate blogs to cover what I've been doing for the last week and a half. Basically, we spent the last week in Northland without any internet or phone, so I couldn't do any updating. This first blog is about the activities of last weekend (starting Feb. 20th).

On Friday, as a part of our field research, we had to do a shellfish survey in a harbor that was about an hour away. As we woke up to get ready, we were greeted by 40 knot winds and torrential downpour. After talking to the teachers, we decided we were going to go through with the survey despite the weather. So we all loaded into the vans and experienced one of the most nauseating car rides ever. Everyone, even people that don't get carsick, were feeling it by the end of this trip. Once we got out there, we were quickly briefed on our assignment and what we were supposed to do. Then we headed out to our different stations to begin our surveys. I was in a group with Brenna and Kara, we were team three and named ourselves Triple Threat. We had the second furthest point to walk to, so we spent about 15 minutes being pelted by rain, walking in 3 inches of water, out to our station. Once we got there we had to dig up a small squares worth of sediment, then siphon through it to figure out how many shellfish we had collected. The problem was it was really difficult to tell which ones were alive and which were dead, so the process actually took a while. After we finished the first point, we moved inshore and did 3 more. While this may sound tedious or annoying, we actually had such a good time. We were instantly soaked, which we just accepted, and then began to enjoy. We were singing and dancing in the rain, and just making the best out of the weather. It was amazing. This is a picture of T-Threat after we came back:

Kara, Me and Brenna completely soaked

After we got back from the survey, we had a quick debrief and then started our weekend off. It was Brenna's 22nd birthday on Thursday, so we decided to go to the local pub Friday night. After everyone dried off, ate dinner, and put on clean clothes we headed to the pub. In hopes of good weather, I didn't bring a raincoat, and then obviously got rained on during the 25 minute walk. I was also wearing flip flops with really bad traction, so I ended up slipping and slicing my toe also. Once we got to the pub, I cleaned up my toe and we all started playing pool. Let me tell you, it is quite difficult in NZ because all the balls are probably half the size that they are in the States. After hanging out for a while, we decided to walk home to rest up for our trip to Auckland the next day.

At about 10am Saturday morning, we took a 45 minute van ride to get to the train station that would take us into Auckland. Once we arrived we checked into our hostel and then split into smaller groups. I was with a bunch of girls that all decided to go shopping and just kind of wander the city. It definitely isn't like any American city I've seen...I think Toronto is probably the best comparison I can make. After some more shopping, and getting sushi for lunch, it was time for Abby and me to go find David. After a huge debacle in his hostel trying to figure out where he was, we found him in the lobby. We then walked back to our hostel to meet up with everyone from EQ and get dinner. We walked down to the Viaduct Harbour and ate in this really cute restaurant.

Me, David and Abby in front of the harbour

Me, Riley and John in the restaurant

After dinner we did some bar hopping around the city. The first place we went had live music, which was what drew us there. However, after listening to the singer for 5 minutes, we couldn't stand being in the bar any longer. So we basically ran out of that bar, and headed to another one that we had noted earlier in the day. This bar also had a band, but they were a cover band singing classic American music which we all loved. Also, we started chatting up this bartender who ended up being from Detroit...how random! All the Michigan girls started freaking out, so we started talking about restaurants and bars in Ann Arbor.

A bunch of us with Adam, the bartender from Detroit

We then decided we wanted to go to a club, so we started walking around trying to find a place that looked fun. This was when we realized we were severely under dressed. It was like the city underwent a transformation, because suddenly the streets were filled with girls in 4 inch heels and little black dresses, and all the guys were dressed in pants and nice shirts. This was when we first realized that Auckland nightlife had a strict dress code. We decided that we would roll with it and try and get into a club anyways. At the first club we were immediately declined because we were all wearing flip flops. We then decided we had to re-evaluate. This ended with David and our friend John going back to the bar we had come from, and the girls trying to get into the club again. This time, we walked right through and the bouncer didn't say a thing. That was where we spent the rest night dancing to late 90's music, because thats what NZ thinks is popular.

The next morning we rode the train back out of Auckland, met up with the van and drove home. We all were reminded of the lingering work we had to do, which is what everyone spent the rest of Sunday and Monday morning completing. Then, by 9am Monday, we were off in the vans heading to Northland.

Opoutere

Sorry this blog has taken me so long to write and update, but it's amazing how busy we've been the past couple of days.

Going back to last week...we had Monday to recover from our weekends off and then left Tuesday for our trip to Opoutere. Opoutere is located on the western tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, which was about an hour and a half away from EcoQuest. We spend 3 nights there studying the local estuary and learning the general EcoQuest rules for kayaking. Our major assignment while we were there was to create a vegetation map that reflects all the different species that exist in an estuary. To get all this information we hiked up 2 different summits, and spent about 4 hours kayaking around the perimeter. While this doesn't sound that bad, it was actually incredibly difficult because everyday it was at least 90 degrees and insanely humid. Somewhere in this week Auckland actually broke its record for the hottest, most humid day. Therefore, it was actually pretty tough for us to get all the information we needed to, and absorb everything they were trying to teach us.

But besides the academics, the trip was really really fun. It was a nice time for the group to bond as a whole, unlike the time we had off where everyone split up. Also, the hostel we stayed at, and the general area, is beautiful. The estuary had steep cliffs that bordered it on one side, rolling hills/mountains on another, and then its opening to the ocean. Also, about a 10 minute walk away from the estuary, was an amazing beach. It was actually a beach with huge surf, so we had to be careful when we could swim in it, but when we did the waves were so fun. We also did an assignment there where we had little contour maps of islands that we had to build, to scale, in the wet sand. It was more challenging then I thought it would be, but was loving that one of our classes was essentially playing in the sand.

After we got back from Opoutere, which was on Friday night, we had the night to relax. But no one really did any relaxing because Saturday morning was our first set of oral presentations. Throughout the semester everyone has to give a 10 minute oral presentation on information they have been given, and a group they have been assigned to. So while we were in Opoutere, I was assigned to Missy's group with 4 other people, and we had a topic we had to research and discuss together, which she then presented to everyone. At some point this semester, I'll have a group and a topic to present on also.

After all the presentations were finished on Saturday, we had the rest of the day and Sunday off. We all opted to stay on campus and relax, hang out, and get some work done. Although I was pretty productive on Sunday, I feel like the work is piling up. This week were just staying on campus and having lectures, but they have definitely loaded the assignments. We have 3 different maps and a paper due from our trip to Opoutere, plus a quiz (which is basically a test) and an annotated bibliography all to do this week. It's definitely hard to get all this work done, but it will all be worth it when this weekend and next week arrives. This weekend were going to celebrate Brenna's birthday on Friday by going to the local pub and having a little celebration. Then Saturday Abby and I are going into Auckland to see David Rubin (who goes to Michigan, but is also from Cleveland) and hang out with him for the night. Then Monday were off to Leigh and Poor Knights, which are two areas in Northland (which is the most northern part of the North Island). I'm super pumped about this because Poor Knights is supposed to have one of the top 10 diving spots in the world. So hopefully I'll get the chance to do some diving!!!

So that's about it for now, I haven't uploaded any of my pictures from Opoutere onto my computer, but once I do I'll add them to this blog.

I love and miss you all, keep the emails coming!!

PS. Less than a month till my birthday...yayyy!!

Lake Taupo

This weekend was definitely the adventure that I signed up for. This past friday was Waitangi Day, which is a national holiday in New Zealand. This was a big benefit for us because it gave us a 3 day weekend to go to the destination of our choice and explore. After much deliberation and indifference, Hannah and I decided to go to Lake Taupo. We rented a car from Thames, which is about half an hour away, and Friday morning made the drive down to Taupo. It took us about 3 hours to get there, driving on the left hand side of the road. Once we arrived, I was instantly excited about our choice. The lake is actually a crater lake that formed somewhere around 500 years ago, but because of this, there is a variety of landscape around it. One side was a nice town/residental area, the other side was rolling farm hills, and behind it was 3 snow covered mountains (which I couldn't get a good picture of).

Once we arrived we got some lunch and explored the town of Taupo. Afterwards we went to the grocery store to get some BBQ materials. (Just to explain how many cows there are here, a pound of ground beef fillet was $3.84 NZ which is about $1.60 US). Then we checked into our hostel and made some dinner on the roof, which was actually a really nice, big patio area. This was my first time staying in a hostel, and I was a little nervous, but really ended up enjoying it. You meet so many travellers that are on their own adventures, and just want to meet lots of peole on the way. The coolest person was definitely Tony, a guy from Ireland, who was just travelling between Australia and NZ. Then, after dinner, we ended up hanging out with some people from Costa Rica and Argentina, which was an experience in itself.

The next morning was our day of adventure. We got up, had some breakfast, walked around the lake, and then...WENT SKYDIVING!!!!!! It was by far one of the coolest things I've ever done.

I expected to get nervous while I was going up in the plane, but it never really set in. I was flying with a Tandem Instructor named Alan, who has spent his whole life in Taupo, and has been skydiving for 9 years. We were the first people to jump from the plane at 12,000 feet. So I was sitting with my legs hanging from the plane, and then he (gently) pushed us from the plane. That instant was the most intense moment because your stomach drops and your heart leaps at the same time. We were first falling upside down so we saw the plane fly away, which was actually pretty cool. Then he flipped us over for 45 seconds of free fall. This was such an insane feeling, its just this constant, intense air pressure pushing up against your entire body. Once we reached an elevation of 5,000 ft. he opened the parachute, which I thought was going to be an intense jerking feeling, but it actually wasn't. Then we got to float down over the lake, which was probably one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. And, at one point during our desent, he let me operate the parachute!! It was surprisingly really hard with the air pressure and the weight of two people, but definitely very cool. Then we gradually spiraled down to the ground, and landed very softly right next to the airport.
I'm ecstatic that I had the opportunity to do this and in such a beautiful place. If anyone is thinking about doing it, I HIGHLY recommend it.

The rest of the day we just spent eating, swimming in the lake, and sleeping/tanning on the beach. Then, in celebration, we decided to go out to a nice dinner. Afterwards we went back to the hostel and hung out with some of the friends we had met the night before. This eventually led to a night of dancing and bar hopping.

Sunday morning we woke up and had to check ourselves out of the hostel. After eating breakfast we decided to go swimming in a hot spring. It is a geothermal area that heats water to an insanely high temperature, and then dumps it into a river, which eventually feeds into the lake.

This was the river the hot spring lead into--the spring was directly behind the tree on the right.

So we were right up in the area where the water was feeding into the river, and it was such a weird sensation swimming there. It is basically a natural hot tub, so all the water sitting on the top is very warm. However, the water from probably 3 ft. and below is cold, so your upper body is experiencing this hot water, while your lower body is in cold water. Because of that, everyone tries to sit on the rocks that are right near the hot spring entrance into the river. After we got our turn on the rocks, we got out, got some lunch, and headed back to EcoQuest.

This was definitely an amazing weekend, and I'm so happy I got the chance to do it. Hannah and I travelled really well together, and got to know each other much better in the process. Also, it was really nice to get out and meet so many different kinds of people. Sometimes while were on campus it's hard to remember we're in NZ, beacuse it's just a group of Americans all hanging out. But I think this weekend was good for everyone, and now we're all happy to be back together. Tomorrow we're heading out again, as a group, to do some sea kayaking and studies on estuaries. Once we get back from that trip I can update once again!

I love and miss you all, keep the email/facebook updates coming!!

Some Fun Photos...

Hiking down the pinnacle next to a railroad that was used for logging in the 1920's.

Girls on the pinnacle!

From the back left: Kara, Riley, Cori, Brenna, Me

Abby, Emily

Sunrise over the Pacific from the pinnacle

A view of the pinnacle from our hut.

The sunrise driving to EcoQuest the day we landed.

Hi Everyone!!

So I figured this was the easiest way to keep everyone updated with my adventures in New Zealand. I get the internet pretty regularly, so hopefully I'll be able to update pretty often. I want this to serve as a way for you guys to know whats going on here, but also as a journal for me. By the end, it will hopefully be a colorful illustration of my journey across this country!

So I guess I'll start from the beginning...on the 26 of January I boarded the Air NewZealand flight for a 13 hour ride. This actually went way better then expected with the help of Tylenol PM. We landed the morning of the 28th to an intense search by the NZ biosecurity department. (They have to make sure we aren't bringing any diseases or pests into the country). After we got out of the gates we were welcomed by three staff members: Elizabeth, Bruce and John. We then got into three vans and rode for about an hour before we arrived at the EcoQuest campus. It is actually a fairly big plot of land, that has a beautiful location. If you look east, we have a view of ocean, west is a view of the mountains, and north is the Whakatiwai river. Needless to say, we were all impressed. After a short introduction to the staff and to each other, we were directed to our cabins. Im living in cabin 5 with a girl named Cathryn, who goes to Mt. Holyoke. After we moved into our new homes, we spent the rest of the afternoon touring the campus and getting to know our way around.

The next 3 days basically consisted of orientation information. We learned all the rules and regulations of EcoQuest as well as New Zealand (my favorite, you're not allowed to wear shoes inside because it's considered disrespectful). Saturday morning we were allowed to go into Thames and explore the city. They have the biggest main street of any city in NZ, which was cool to see. There were also a ton of stands up for the Saturday morning market, selling mostly food. The food here is actually AMAZING, so none of us found the need to purchase anything. After we got back, we had our final afternoon of orientation.

Sunday morning we woke up early to go on our first overnight camping trip and officially start school. We went up into the pinnacles of the coromandel, which is on the eastern coast of the northern island. We powered our way up on the first day, but made a lot of stops to observe different forest compositions. The main point of this exercise was to see the big picture, how different conditions effect certain tree species, and let me tell you...after 2.5 years at Michigan, this way of thinking is not easy. In a way, they want you to be so simple it's hard. After observing probably 7 sites as we worked our way up, we finally reached our hut (which was actually much nicer then we expected). We all picked our bunks, stretched, and started making dinner. After we ate we had a final lession about how words like nature, environment, and wilderness have so many different meanings to different people... it was actually very eye opening. Then we all got to bed early because at 5 am the next day we got up to hike to the very top of the pinnacles. This was hard for two reasons: it was dark outside, and it was ALL stairs. However, all the pain was worth it to watch the sunrise over the Pacific ocean. After about an hour, we decided to hike back down to the hut for a delicious breakfast of pancakes. After breakfast, we hiked back down the hill (which was a surprising amount of uphill also), again stopping to observe different forest compositions. But let me tell you, it was great once we finally got to the bottom and back to campus.

Then all day yesterday and this afternoon we had class. It is actually kind of refreshing to be back in a typical classroom, but hard to be productive in such a beautiful place. Nevertheless, work finally kicked us all in the butt tonight because we have our first big assignment due tomorrow. We have to write a paper based on our findings during our hike, being as specific as possible, not easy. However, we are all motivated because tomorrow night begins our three day weekend!! This is our time off to do whatever we want, where ever we want to do it. One of the girls Hannah and I are going on an adventure to Lake Taupo, which I will update on once we get back!

Finally, the last thing I want to talk about is what we did this morning. To my surprise, New Zealand is a country with a very prominent indigenous people called the Maori. They are a very spiritual people and the most important fact about a person, to them, is their ancestory. In Maori culture your ancestory, and nothing else, defines who you are and everything that you come from. Because we are in such a rural area, the Maori are very prominant. Therefore, we had to go to their Marae this morning for a powhiri. A marae is a general meeting place for all the Maori in a specific area. The powhiri is a ceremony where we asked to be welcomed innto their community and they allow us. This is a big deal because they are welcoming us into the place of their acestory, which is the core of who they are. Now, whenever we travel throughout NZ we can say we are part of Kiaua (which is the town the Maori identify with). The ceremony was actually much more informal then I thought it was going to be, but it was very interesting. Basically their male elder speaks on behalf of their community, then our male elder speaks on behalf of us (all in Maori by the way). Then then welcome us across the sacred middle land, where we shake hands and introduce ourself to all of the Maori people that were present. Afterwards, we walked into the wharakai, which is the room where food is served. We then just enjoyed some traditional Maori food before we walked back to campus. It was definitely an experience to remember.

So, thats about it from me right now...look for another update about this weekend probably on monday or so. I love you all!!!