Hold on to whatever you find..

(The boys practicing their haka)

These last few weeks have been winding down far too quickly. Even though we've been hard at work with DRPs, I've made the personal decision to wake up early every day and not work past 4 in the afternoon so that I have some time to unwind and have fun and do the things I love to do still. With so little time left, I didn't want to waste too much time staring at a computer screen. AND guess what? I'm ALL DONE Baby!!! I've handed it all in and will be receiving the final published version to show off right before I leave.

To celebrate the first day of summer a few nights ago, almost everyone set up their tents on the lawn by the gazebo. Some people just brought out their sleeping pads and bags and lied out in the middle of our tent city circle. The sky was perfectly clear and we all lied in the middle, huddling for warmth and watching the stars. Sam made mochas and Chris popped some corn with the perfect amount of salt and butter for everyone to share. We could see Jupiter that night and Orion's belt was in plain view. I saw more shooting stars than I could count. We reminisced about the early days of Ecoquest, when we barely new each other, and how far we've all come since then.

(Tent city by day)

One of the girls, Valerie, is a physics major and specializes in astronomy. She spent at least an hour pointing constellations and galaxies and nebulae out to us. She even knows quite a bit about Greek mythology and the stories associated with the constellations, which was really cool to hear. It was probably one of my favorite nights so far.

The next night a few dedicated people including myself went back out to tent city. The stars weren't out, but it was nice to be out in the fresh, crisp air rather than our stuffy cabins. We were eventually reduced to just the four of us- me, Tasha, Paul, and Chris. After taking a walk on the beach around 10:00, we went back and lied down and ended up talking about life until almost 2:30 in the morning. Incredible. Finally at that point we were all sleepy and I retired to my tent. I've made the decision to spend the rest of my nights at Ecoquest in a tent.

(Mochas and popcorn outside Drew and Chris' cabin)

(Drew brought his whole bed set into his tent haha)

I've spent a lot of my afternoons swimming in the ocean, which has been really great. A lot of the time, when the wind blowing the water feels warmer than the air. I can't believe that I've been in New Zealand this long and it was my first time last week going swimming in the Firth, and now I go practically every day. I've also spent a lot of time reading and lying in the grass and having long conversations with people.

(The lovely frog crew.)

I can't believe it is only 5 full days before we leave. That's scares me to death. I love it here so much, and have become so accustomed to this lifestyle that it is hard for me to remember life-before-EcoQuest.