We no speak Americano..

(You know me, always making the best fashion choices)

The past few days have been pretty great. Thursday night I was working hard trying to plan out my presentation, and someone suggested a giant game of campus-wide Man Hunt at 9:00. I almost opted out because of all the work I had to do, but at the last minute I changed my mind, and I'm SO glad I did. We all dressed up like ninjas (all black polypro/spandex with bandanas over our faces) and split into two teams with the Wharekai as the safe zone and climbing wall as jail. Even though our team lost (marginally..) it was sooo much fun and I'm glad that I took a break and played.

Friday morning was a bit stressful and I woke up early to run before I had kitchen crew, then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon rehearsing my presentation. My group helped out a bit and by 1:00 I felt pretty good about it. The presentation went well according to them, and I felt okay too! I don't normally like public speaking but I think Ecoquest is making that a lot easier for me. Being pushed out of my comfort zone is definitely a good thing. After the presentations, we had one last lecture and then everyone was kind of dispersing. We had friday night and saturday off so some people made plans to go to Raglan to surf, others to Hot Water Beach to camp, and my group decided to just CHILL for once with plans take a day trip to the Coromandel the next day to beach hop.

Since it was only the 7 of us, we more or less had free reign over the kitchen for the night, which was excellent. Put some good music on over the ghetto-blaster and cooked and baked away. It was so weird having only girls around, and this was my first official girls-only night the whole time that I've been in NZ. We made dumplings and starry and then for dessert we got a little crazy… I busted out my famous chocolate chip recipe and we made GIANT ice cream pizza's as well as chocolate and vanilla buttercream frosting on the side to dip and spread at will. Dale (one of the field leaders, only a few years older than us) joined us for dinner as well as Hermoine's husband (he's from Holland originally), which made for some great conversation. Dale never ceases to amuse. We planned a little bit of our trip to Northland but for the most part everything is kind of up in the air.

The rest of the night was just spent at Grannie's watching "Into the Wild." I've seen the movie so many times and read the book but it never gets old, it's still one of my favorites. Some of the girls hadn't seen it and they loved it, and are finally able to understand some of the references I often make ("SOCIETY!" or "You're the apple of my eye, apple").

We got up early and made some gourmet breakfast for ourselves (what can you expect with a bunch of foodies? haha) and some guacamole for our sandwiches! Mmmm. On the drive we actually ended up driving through a 100k/200k bike race! It was super exciting and we rolled past the cyclists on the brutal climbs cheering them on. They seemed to appreciate the encouragement :) Our field leader from the south island, John, was actually racing it, but we didn't end up seeing him. Our first stop was to Cathedral Cove, a famous spot on the Coromandel Peninsula about a 2 hour drive away from Ecoquest.

The weather was kind of crumby and was drizzling as well as colder than it was in Kaiaua. It didn't put much of a damper on the experience though, we just didn't go swimming/tanning. The hike out of Cathedral Cove was about 30 minutes. The actual cove was technically closed due to recent rockfalls but we went through it anyway because we had a great goal in mind: SECRET BEACH!

"Secret beach" is this infamous spot that has been passed down from generation to generation of ecoquesters. It's accessed from Cathedral cove but involves almost half an hour of bouldering along a rocky coast. It was really cool to climb all kind of volcanic rock and notice all the strange formation. The waves were crazy today and we were often getting sprayed by them crashing on the rocks. Finally we made it! There was a little "shack" set up (we're not sure by whom) and a huge pohutekawa tree which we sat under to ate our lunch (and the rain stopped!). It would have been a lot cooler if we could have spent the day there with sunny skies and warm weather, but we will definitely try to get back there before December 10th rolls around. Next stop: Wendy's house.

In exchange for dropping us off at the rental place, Wendy asked us to stop by her house by Cook's Beach and pick up her mail for her and encouraged us to munch on anything ripe in her garden. We ended up finding some asparagus that was ready for picking and ate it raw. I never would have thought that it would taste good, but it was delicious! We left and headed for Hot Water Beach, but ended up taking a detour to this little winery that Sam and Sara noticed on the drive in. If you blinked you would have missed it, as I did.

This place, Purangi Estate, was SO cool! It was really cool and full of character. We were greeted by a cute cat that followed us around and the owner ushered us inside to this room with dusky bottles of wine and liqueur and just started cracking jokes (mostly poking fun at Americans in general and our accents and Australians) and pouring all different kinds of alcohol. We tried feijoia, plum, and honey liqueur all of which was delicious. He had some pretty strange flavors but everything was so intriguing to taste. We asked him what he thought about Scrumpies (a cheap hard cider made in NZ that comes in 1.25L plastic bottles) and just laughed and ran out back, and brought back some feijoia cider which we all sampled. Needless to say, this was much better than Scrumpies. All of this was for free! Clearly his charismatic marketing worked and after 45 minutes or so, we all settled on our favorites and made our purchases.

(America's Next Top Model photoshoots in the woods)

When we left Purangi, the weather totally turned around and the sky opened up. Our last stop of the day was Hot Water Beach, which is a beach that people go to and dig their own hot pool. There are springs right on the tide line and the hot water rises up through the sand. It was really cool and the water was scalding hot in some places if you weren't careful. We didn't have the actual means to dig a huge pit for ourselves so we were content with just dipping our feet in. It was relaxing and beautiful. On this particular beach there were very few barrier islands and the waves started breaking very far from shore, making it quite a good beach for surfing.

The ride home was great. Girl talks, Disney movie singsongs, all of that good stuff. I love day trippin'.

Tomorrow morning we're leaving bright and early and heading up to Northland (Poor Knight's, an island ~20 miles off shore) to do some snorkeling in one of the most famous Marine Reserves in the world. We'll be staying at the University of Auckland's marine lab for 4 nights, and then we are set free for our last long weekend to explore Northland ourselves. So I'll be back the 8th of November, hopefully with some more great adventures to share.

As brothers we will stand, and we'll hold your hand..

(Finally warm enough to wear sandals WITHOUT SOCKS and shorts)

In other news, the weather has been absolutely stunning the past week. This is the type of weather we've been expecting since we arrived in New Zealand but haven't actually received until now. I never thought I'd see so many rain-less days on the North Island!

What better way to start the week than with some chores and gardening? To be honest, the chores were a little therapeutic and it's always nice to have everyone working together on various tasks around campus. The long weekend proved to be quite disastrous to the campus in terms of things that needed to be cleaned. I even voluntarily cleaned the kitchen on Monday afternoon for everyone's sanity. Yesterday after the chores were done we split into groups and did various gardening tasks and weeding. The Ecoquest campus is bordered by the Whakatiwai River on the northern side, and over the past years Ecoquesters have made efforts to remove all the invasive weeds from the stop bank and replacing them with native shrubs and trees. The majority of us pulled weeds around the juvenile plants, while a small group composed the weeds and another few people planted trees. In addition to that, Tasha and I worked with Ria in the vegetable garden. We picked some lettuce, greens, scallions, and silverbeet for the kitchen. I also cleared some room and planted a row of snow peas and carrots, which will hopefully start to sprout by the time we get back from Northland.

After gardening and weeding we had a few hours off in which the vast majority of us simply hung out and lied around on the deck outside the Wharekai. Paul played the guitar, some people did yoga, others read books, but most of us just soaked up the sun. It's amazing how strong the sun is here, after being in the sun for only a few minutes I can already feel it heating my skin (and lots of people found out just how quickly they can burn here). I even got a little tan! Summer is peaking its head over Whakatiwai and smiling at us.

(The Wharakai on a late spring day with flowers in bloom)

Yesterday morning we did get some rather sad news. Sally, one of the field leaders that accompanied us in the first 2 weeks or Ecoquest but then left, was back. We were all happy about this because we love Sally, but I knew that it was a little strange for her to be here. That morning Ria announced that she will not be accompanying us to Poor Knights next week as she has a medical emergency and will need to go into surgery this weekend. As she choked up a little bit, she told us that her recovery will take a few weeks and that she will unfortunately not be able to assist with the beginning of our Directed Research Projects, and that Sally was here to take care of us.

Although she was vague about what is actually wrong with her, it still makes me really scared. Ria has become like a second mother to all of us here at Ecoquest. Her and Jono are the founders and the lifeline of Ecoquest. She is one of the most beautiful, kind, and wise people I have ever met. She is incredibly patient and selfless, and I hope that she puts herself and her health first time time, when it really matters. As Valerie perfectly said it yesterday, "We'll be fine, take care of yourself, please." I'm hoping to get everyone together to make a card for her that everyone can sign with a personal message, with a line written across the top borrowed from a Mumford & Sons song:

You are not alone in this.

Because we never are, but sometimes people forget that.

I climbed a mountain and I turned around..

(Marsha mine, the open pit gold and silver mine in Waihi)

Today we saddled up in the vans and headed south east of Ecoquest Headquarters to Waihi. This town is well known for its gold mining industry, and today we planned on taking a tour of the gold mine. For some reason, I was under the impression that Waihi was a former gold mining town, and it attracted tourists by interesting them in the historic aspects of the industry. I was unaware that there is currently large-scale open-pit mining in the town.

We arrived in Waihi a little bit early, so we had a debriefing of the day on a hill by an historic Cornish pump house. Just before we left to go to the tour headquarters, a few of us ran up the hill to look at the view. You can imagine my surprise when I saw a gigantic open pit of which I could not even see the bottom. I had never seen open-pit mining in person before, and it reminded me of pictures of coalmines in Appalachia that I have seen on the Internet. It was mind boggling to think that people casually driving through Waihi would never realize that this gold mine even existed. The majority of people probably imagined an underground mine with a modest and unassuming opening, but what we encountered was the exact opposite.

(The walls covered in native vegetation)

The tour itself was incredibly educational and was a bit of an information overload at times. I tried to keep an open mind, because coming from an environmental science background, it is natural for me to automatically jump to the conclusion that MINING IS BAD. The Waihi contains two mines; one is an open pit mine called Martha and the other is a deep underground mine called Favona. Newmont Mining Corporation, an American company based out of Denver, Colorado, is in charge of all of the mining. Mining of Martha began in 1988. At present it is 260 meters deep, 600 meters wide, and 860 meters long. The rock needs to be separated between waste rock and rock from which gold and silver can be extracted. On average, only 1 ounce of gold can be extracted for every 10 tonnes of rock. Although this seems extremely uneconomical, the mine apparently produces $1.5 million in revenues a week from the extraction of silver and gold. The mining industry in Waihi employs about 750 people, 350 of which are full time equivalent employees. At present, the Martha mine will be closed in about 4 years and the pit will be filled with water, a process which will take approximately 5 years.

The next part of the tour involved a bus drive a few kilometers down the road to an area where the waste rock and tailings are deposited. The waste rock is transported to this site by a gigantic conveyor belt that can transfer thousands of tons of rock a day. The waste rock creates an embankment that surrounds the tailings, which are a waste product of the gold mining. The tailings are composed for water, ground rock, and cyanide. The cyanide is supposed to naturally break down when exposed to UV radiation so it does not create an environmental problem. The current plan is to convert the pond of tailings into a man-made wetland, which is feasible when you consider that many birds already gather there.

(The walk through the gorge)

The last part of the tour involved a presentation back at the main building/museum. We learned some more facts about the mine and we touched on a little bit of the Resource Management Act and how it applies to mining. The presentation was very biased and in support of gold mining, and we could sense the discomfort of the lecturer. I couldn’t really blame him, considering that he was speaking to a room full of skeptical environmentalists. However, when he started to talk about how gold mining is a sustainable industry that really got me going. I appreciate their efforts to attempt and rehabilitate the land after they are done with it, but I also realize that the only reason that the Newmont Mining Corporation is even doing this is because they are mining in an area with strict regulations and pressure from residents. In the question and answer session afterwards, I asked the speaker if Newmont Mining Corporation takes similar initiatives in the developing countries that they exploit. Instead of answering my question directly, he replied that these mines are usually “in the middle of nowhere” and that the people of these lands “are simply happy to have a job.” So I’m guessing the answer is no. Other people also posed some interesting questions, such as what the speaker thought about the importance of gold on the global market compared to other non-renewable resources such as coal and oil. Although I disagreed with most of the things that the speaker said, it was good to fuel the fire and get me going for the debate that we are going to have in class tomorrow.

On the drive home, we made a stop in the Karangahake Reserve in the Karangahake Gorge. This was the site of an old mine that is now abandoned, the ruins of which are still around for educational purposes. We did a little hike that crossed over various suspension bridges, followed old cart tracks, and weaved in and out of tunnels. At some points on the track, it felt like we were in a tropical rainforest exploring ruins of an ancient empire. All of the old foundations were covered in native vegetation, with all kinds of plants emerging out of cracks and crevices and vines covering entire walls. The most exciting part was a walk through one of the mining tunnels on the “windows” track. We formed a line and held hands as we walked along because it was literally pitch black and we couldn’t see a thing. Sally halted us at one point and told us to just stand still and be quiet for a moment to listen and observe. I looked up and could see tons of glowworms on the ceiling that illuminated the space like stars in the night sky! It was incredible. The only noise you could hear was the echo from the river down below. It was a great way to end an otherwise emotionally frustrating day.

I had my whole world strapped against my back..

(Mt. Doom/Ngauruhoe looming in the distance of the Alpine Crossing)

We were greeted back to Ecoquest with heaps of work to do including a 3-essay/3-hour midterm, a research paper, and work journals a-plenty. We had to finalize our plans for the 3 day weekend (NZ's labour day weekend) by Wednesday, and although I was kind of burnt out from all the traveling and was concerned about finishing my work, when someone suggested the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and pointed out that this is our last major break until after the program, I knew that I had to go. That's why I'm in New Zealand right? Living it up. We would be at Ecoquest on Friday night to celebrate Janet's 21st birthday and then leave in the morning to drive south to the Taupo Lake area. We would then hike in for 3 hours, camp by one of the huts, and continue the rest of the walk to allow time for a summit attempt.

For anyone that doesn't know, Tongariro Alpine Crossing is another one of New Zealand's "Great Walks" making it the second one that I've completed since I've been in New Zealand. It's in an active volcanic area and the largest volcano, Ngauruhoe is Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings. So naturally, I was really pumped to go!

(A few of us in Grannie's on Janet's birthday. Kelsey, Drew, Sam, Me, and Emily)

No surprise, Friday night was a ton of fun. Started off well with a barbecue that the boys cooked up for us. It was also collectively decided that everyone would dress up a bit too. It was so funny to see everyone all cleaned up and fancy considering that we are all on a cycle of the same 5 t-shirts and pants, and are used to not showering for a couple days at a time when we're in the field. "Who IS that?!" was a phrase repeated throughout the night a lot. Sara Gassman and I spent the better part of the afternoon preparing a cake for Janet. It was a double chocolate and double tiered cake with buttercream frosting. With the limited resources we had (in terms of cake decorating instruments), I'm very happy with how it came out. We did the happy birthday ritual and Janet's childhood dream of receiving a letter from Hogwarts was complete, owl call, parchment, and all. The night was full of dance offs, baseball, outdoor mosh pits, intense tickle fights, Rammstein rock out sessions (Sarah got this one of me and Drew on video... it's hilarious), Scrumpies, darts, heart-to-hearts, a full moon (surprise?), and vent sessions. The last time I looked at my watch it was 2:30 and I headed to bed, knowing that our 7:00 wake-up call for our road trip was going to be quite rough if I stayed up any longer.

(Our group on the highest point of the actual alpine crossing, with Ngauruhoe/Mt. Doom in the background. From left to right: me, Chris, Kristen, Sam, Drew, Sara, Tasha, and Hope)

After getting a little lost, the eight of us were on the road by 9:30. With a few stops for provisions and bathroom breaks, we ended up getting to the start of the crossing around 3:30. We left the rental van in the parking lot, threw on our packs, and headed up the mountain. The majority of people do this hike as a one day (approximately 13 mile) hike in the opposite direction. The other direction involves less climbing and more descending, but since we wanted to split up the hike (to leave more time for exploring Mt. Doom itself), we did it in the more difficult direction. We heard a lot of sarcastic remarks from Kiwis finishing the hike as we were starting ("You're going the wrong way!" "Hope you brought your torches"). As I've learned over the past few months, New Zealanders are very against people going "against the grain," guess it's a cultural thing.

The first hour or so, we passed through some native forest, a mix of beech and the typical north island vegetation. It was probably one of the steepest sections that involved a lot of tedious stairs (I hate when trails are built that way). Once we got above treeline and regrouped the views were already stunning. For the first time on a hike in New Zealand, it was so hot that we all had to strip down to our sports bras (and shirtless for guys). We could see red rocks and steam coming rising from several areas in the distance, which one passerby told us were thermal vents and hot pools. I stayed with Drew in the front and led the way to Ketatahi hut in hopes of getting a jump start of setting up our tents to speed up the process. As we hiked we could see the hut in the distance. We crossed a few streams which were cloudy with erosion and quite sulfuric smelling. The slopes were covered in native grasses and you could see long patches of vegetation that was clearly regenerating from the pyroclastic flows of the recent eruption in 2007. After about 2 hours of hiking we reached the hut and set up our tents. The site was at 1450 meters (almost 5000 ft), which is the highest elevation at which I have actually tented, so that was exciting. The warden at this hut was actually a girl from Texas! It's always comforting to hear American accents. For dinner we made some delicious burritos with refried beans, salsa, avacados, rice, and cheddar cheese. We figured we didn't need to worry about packing light since the hike in was short and we only needed one big meal for the trip ;) Only the best. We watched the moon rise which was incredible; it was red/orange and we could see it rising over the mountains in front of us. When the sun set it got cold very fast, so the eight of us huddled into a 2-person tent and texture-fest ensued. I shared a tent with Sam and I don't think our giggles stopped until after 11:00, pretty late for a camping night haha.

I was awoken the next morning at 6:30 to Drew outside our tent: "Hey guys, you might want to come out and see this." I groaned a bit to myself because I had a restless sleep, but Sam and I looked outside and the view was incredible. We were literally ABOVE the clouds. It felt like we were on top of the world. The air was crisp and the sun was beating down on our faces. It was the perfect day for a tramp.

(On top of the world)

We ate breakfast and headed up for the alpine crossing portion of the hike. We quickly passed the groups that stayed in our hut and left before us. After only half an hour or so of hiking, we were already seeing snow on the sides of the trail, and after another half hour we were hiking in the snow. It was pretty packed down so it didn't slow us down much. I was thankful to have the walking stick that I found the day before in some sections because we had to cross some narrow sections of snow/ice with steep drop offs that looked quite treacherous. It was just nice to have the added stability of my trusty walking stick. We saw beautiful emerald lakes as well as one larger frozen one. We each added our own stones to large pile on one of the ridges. After a few hours it was time to descend a little bit into what looked like a large snow covered desert. We saw one lone person in the distance walking towards us and realized it was Drew! He had gotten a little bit ahead of us as we stopped to take pictures and shed layers. Instead of taking the round-about trail down, we all slid down on our butts and sleeping pads about 300ft on this open slope. So much fun! I almost lost my walking stick but luckily Chris ran back up and retrieved it for me.

The next part of the hike was probably the steepest and was up an open, loose rocky slope. Somewhere along the way as I labored up with my pack, a girl and a guy were walking towards me and as they spoke I recognized their accents. The guy was wearing a Hartford Whalers hat! I stopped and asked them where they were from and they said just outside of Hartford! What a small world. They were just my age too, and we talked about the different things we were doing in New Zealand. It turns out they are here volunteering for different conservation projects and they had heard of Ecoquest. Next week they're heading to the South Island and I gave them advice on what they should go and see. After a few more minutes of excited chatter we parted ways, but it was so nice to meet other Americans my age here. Very comforting in a way, and it really shows how small the world is. After a bit more climbing, I made it to the top and waited for the rest of the group with Drew, snacking and sheltered from the wind behind a large boulder. This was where we got our first glimpse of Mt. Doom. What a sight! The anticipation of the whole hike to that point was totally worth it. It was covered in snow with certain bare patches along the higher ridges. As we got closer we visually mapped out a route we would take to attempt the summit.

(My lunch box on Mt. Doom)

We diverted off of the Alpine Crossing trail and climbed up a little ways to rest for lunch in a patch of alpine shrubs on Mt. Doom. Our field leaders warned us not to even think about summiting without crampons and ice picks, but we decided to give it a try anyway because the conditions were favorable and the weather was good. We could see a few people coming down the volcano too. Drew and Chris were the only ones that actually made it, while me, Tasha, Hope, and Kristen turned away after making it about 3/4 of the way up. The climbing itself was not very difficult, but I was concerned about the actual descending. I stopped climbing at one point to look around and take a picture (after 30 minutes of only looking at the ground in front of me) and it dawned on me just how steep it was. The ground was at well over a 45 degree angle and it wasn't possible to stand up straight. My legs got a little shaky as my stupid fear of heights (that I have mostly conquered, except in situations like this apparently) set in. I ended up stopping with Hope and sat down to enjoy the view and take it all in.

Although now that I look back on it, I know that I could have physically and mentally climbed to the top, I am satisfied with what I did do. It wasn't worth me panicking at the top or getting hurt somehow. The hike back down was actually very easy, as we made our way down on the snow and were able to slide down on our shell jackets most of the way! It was a lot of fun and I felt silly for being scared at first. I made a snow angel and when we rejoined the other two girls part way down I took a very relaxing nap on my pack. I've never been so warm with snow surrounding me. The rest of the hike was not very eventful, and we were mostly rushing down to ensure that we made it back in time for our shuttle. Every once in a while I would turn around and catch a glimpse of Ngauruhoe and marvel at its grandeur; just an hour or two before I was climbing, sliding, eating, and napping on its snow covered slopes and now I was back in the desert.

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is by far one of the coolest hikes I have ever completed. I still can't get over how dramatic the landscape was, and the company of great friends made it even better.

You are not alone in this..

I'm finally back from the best road trip of my life. I'll admit it was quite freeing to be out of contact with the rest of the world, and not worrying about the internet or cell phones. For once I was living completely in the present and enjoying the purest of interactions with people. Now that I'm back I'm a bit overwhelmed by technology! I felt like I should be trying to open up my laptop with a rock yesterday. What is this foreign device?!

In the past three weeks I have learned more about myself than I have in two years of being away at college. I have become closer with my peers and made friendships that I hope will last a very long time. I have sat on the beach and basked in the sun while looking at snow covered mountains. I have sat in solitude and enjoyed peace and quiet and contentment with myself. I have looked a dolphin in the eye and felt its soul. I have woken up for countless sunrises. I have laughed until I cried and held in tears that should have been wept. I have been accepted into the loving arms of the Maori culture. I have shared stories, hopes, and dreams in crowded tents on rainy nights. I have spent days living off of only what I could carry on my back.

While I was gone I wrote down a few things every night at the back of my school notebook so that I wouldn't forget it when I got back. It's really hard to write one entry about the entire trip, and I don't think I'll ever be able to do it justice. I've come to realized just how privileged I really am to be where I am right now. My favorite experience so far, from my entire stay in New Zealand, was the time I spent at the Marae in Kaikoura. We all slept in the wharenui together side by side under beautiful and intricate carvings of the ancestors. We shared stories our of families and where we come from. We had a "talent show," sang songs, learned a haka, made delicious dinners together. I got out of my comfort zone, and it felt all right. I woke up early to wander the grounds and watch the sunrise over the ocean and light the snow covered mountains pink. Our goodbye on the last day was very emotional and I felt like I was leaving my family behind, just like we do in Poland every time I leave. But just like leaving Barlinek, I know at heart that I will do whatever it takes to come back to this place.

The South Island in list form, so I don't forget the little things:

Car bingo, jumping on trampolines and feeling like a kid again, ferry ride into the Marlborough Sound, 7000+ foot mountains coming our of the ocean, swimming with wild dusky dolphins, talking cycling with John (a former EQ field leader), weeding the harakeke trees, Innovative Waste Management in Kaikoura, seeing the largest bird of flight in the world, the Albatross, drumroll "chooo!", the NZ song, keeping the wharenui warm, oh Hamner Springs!, verbal pacts, Bootsy, the guys from Phoenix and the guys from Christchurch, last to go to bed at night and first to wake up in the morning, trail running in Nelson Lakes National Park, kiwi hunting at night, seeing the reflection of the stars in Lake Rotuiti, "morepork" calls and mouse sounds, the palace hostel and gourmet italian food in Nelson, stripies!, backpacking the entire Abel Tasman National Park in 3 days, tent buddies with J.Do and pre-slumber giggle fits, my tent staying dry in the downpours (woohoo!), being hounded by the DOC, crossing estuaries at low tide at 7 in the morning and eating breakfast with a kind German, storming Separation Point, "Sarah can we come and play?!", hitchhiking to Takaka, meeting wonderful hippies and eating an entire pizza to myself, back to Nelson again, Accents in the Park- a beautiful hostel with triple bunk beds and the coolest lounge I've ever seen, adventure park in Levin, Te Araroa and placing the first footprints into this conservation project, the untamed beauty of the East Cape.

I can't post them all of course, but here are a couple of key pictures to highlight my trip.

Early morning walk in Nelson Lakes National Park. This is Lake Rotuiti, the smaller of the two lakes.

The basalt rock gardens in Te Araroa. In a decade this landscape will be completely transformed with the elimination of pests and the installation of a predator-proof fence.

One of the views from Separation Point, a side hike on the Abel Tasman Track.

The stripey crew! Our group that went on the Abel Tasman hike. From left to right: Sarah, Drew, me, John, and Holliday.

Going for an early morning run and catching the sunrise in Kaikoura, one of the many places in New Zealand where the mountains meet the sea.

The East Cape, arguably the most eastern part of the world (you know, if the earth is flat).