I was happy that I ended up meeting with a few people after the plane landed in Dallas. We were originally supposed to stay on the same aircraft but they took ours out of service, so five of us lined up at the desk to ask "uhh so how are we getting to LAX?" and all five of us were Ecoquesters! We all ended up just sticking together which made the whole situation a little easier and somewhat comical as the flight attendants and pilot played with our heart strings.
Three field leaders met us outside of customs with huge smiles on their faces and patiently waited for everyone that brought tents with them to get checked out. We eventually made it out into the parking lot and loaded up the mini trailers with our many suitcases and packs and immediately wanted to scream "GET IN THE VANS!"--UNH Cycling style-- as all 25 of us boarded into the 3 white vans. Each group had to make up a song to sing to the rest of the field leaders and after about 10 minutes of chattering away and brainstorming we settled into a comfortable silence as we drove away from Auckland and into the countryside, totally in awe with the scenery.
We were welcomed to the country on the "first day of spring," September 1st, and although it's still technically winter, I'm amazed by how much green there is. Although many of the trees are only starting to bud, the country side is filled with luscious green fields, many very steep and terraced and scattered with sheep, goats, and cows. Hills are everywhere! I was also taken aback by how many "exotic" looks trees there are here, as I was definitely not expecting that. There are many palm trees as well as giant ferns that I believe are also classified as trees here.
Our drive was very scenic and we had a stopping point half way through as we reached the Firth of Thames and looked across the large bay to the Coromandel Strait, which is completely different than our side of the bay, geology-wise. These mountains jut hundreds of meters straight out of the ocean with sharp peaks that stretch on for miles and miles. And I thought Mount Desert Island was impressive! On our drive we also saw huge flocks of gammets (sp?) diving down into the water, feeding on a school of fish. Apparently these birds eventually starve to death over time due to going blind from all the diving (they don't have eyelids, that's a pretty cool trick, Evolution).
The campus is beautiful. It's on a flat 3 acre piece of land right on the ocean (with a bit of shelter from some tall grasses and isolated trees). It's small and simple and very minimalistic. The land was formally a Maori burial ground before it was turned into a campground and now it is converted to the Ecoquest Field Center (with the blessing of the local Maori of course). Each one of us has our own cabin, sleeping 2-4 people. I'm in a cabin with a girl Kate from UVM, and we have a porch! It's wonderful. Very simple, but really all I need. Our large sliding glass door allows the afternoon sun to warm up our room nicely.
We were greeted with a delicious brunch by the cooking staff (I have yet to remember their names but they are two very charismatic women who constantly blast the radio and sing to 80s music... I LOVE THEM). All of our produce and meat (excluding chicken) comes from a 10 km radius of the field center. As a matter of fact, most of the vegetables, especially the greens are grow right on campus, and the climate allows for fruit/vegetables growth 10 months out of the year. It's awesome. So far everything they served us has been delicious.
Anyway, it's getting late, but I just wanted to close with the fact that my backyard is the ocean with a view of the Coromandel Mountain Range and our front yard is full of rolling hills leading to hundreds of miles of wooded trails in native forest. Tomorrow we head to Thames for a swimming test and do all the boring paperwork stuff, pay for our books, get our calling cards, etc. I'll get pictures up as soon as I can. I can't wait to start exploring!
Those diving birds are called gannets.
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