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.