One shire to the next..

I don't really know why I've waited so long to blog. This week has been awfully academic, but we've had a couple days to unwind, explore, and pack our lives up in a bag again for our journey to the South Island. This is a rough schedule of what I'll be doing down there:

- Sept 26th - Drive down to Wellington

- Sept 27th - Ferry across channel, drive down to Kaikoura and stay at the Takahanga Marae for 4 days and 4 nights

- Oct 1st - Hanmer Springs, day and a half off to play in the hot springs and go hiking

- Oct 2nd - Greymouth on the West Coast

- Oct 3rd - Reefton to look at the mines during the day, travel to Nelson Lakes National Park at Lake Rotoiti for 4 nights

- Oct 7th - Drop off in Nelson for spring break. I'll be hiking the Abel Tasman National Park "Great Walk" for 4 days and 3 nights and then exploring the largest caves south of the equator in Takaka for a day before meeting the rest of the group in Nelson on the 13th.

- Oct 14th - Going back to the North Island to East Cape to stay at another marae, Te Araroa, until Oct 18th

After 6 days of non-stop gale force winds (I'm not even kidding), the weather finally has cleared up. Yesterday I went to Waharau Regional Park, which are the trails going into the mountain ranges just down the road, and hiked to the highest point in the ranges. It was a lot of fun, very muddy, and the rain held out for more of the time. We got a great view of the Firth of Thames and the Coromandel Range. All in all it about 7 hours of hiking.

In the 4 weeks that I have been in New Zealand, I have already witnessed more rainbows than I have seen in my entire life. A few days ago in one of those brief moments when it stopped raining I saw a complete rainbow that framed the Hunua Ranes. I ran to my room to grab my camera and snapped a few photos, but when I went to upload them to my computer the memory card got corrupted somehow and I lost the pictures! On top of that, I took out my iPod (for the first time since the plane ride) to charge it for the long car trip ahead, and it died on me! All my efforts to bring it back to life with instructions from the internet failed, so it looks like my plane and car rides will be music-less. Just bad bad luck with electronics.

So I guess it's a good thing I will be internet free for the next several weeks! If I get the internet any time in between I'll probably pop in the blog for a bit to let you know things are all right. I'm looking forward to this trip a lot, and will hopefully have something interesting to write about when I get back.

Love you all... hopefully you'll hear from me too.

There and back again: an Ecoquester's tale..

Yesterday we took a ferry across the Hauraki Gulf to an island called Motutapu, formed by an ancient volcano. It is basically attached to a much newer island, Rangitoto, formed by a volcano that erupted only 500 years ago (you can supposedly still see the footprints solidified in ash of Maori that lived there). After the eruption, Motutapu was covered in ash. Maori, and later European settlers, learned that the ash laden soil was very good for farming, so the island was converted almost solely for that purpose. Now volunteers are putting in efforts to restore 1/3 of the island to its original native forest, in hopes of attracting birds back to the island. They are doing this by erradicating pests (flora and fauna) and planting baby native/endemic plants and trees.

After a ferry ride in very choppy waters and 60+ mph winds, we made it safely to Motutapu. We hiked up into the hills to begin planting. Over the course of the day our group planted 400 baby trees! It was so much fun, and aside from one sudden downpour and relentless winds, we lucked out on weather (sunshine all around). On top of planting, we also did some weeding and pulled out the nasty moth plant. We devoured our lunch at the top of the grassy hill and enjoyed the view.

(All in a days work)

Today we were given the luxury of sleeping in since class did not start til 1:00pm. I still couldn't bring myself to stay in bed past 7:30am, how sad is that? I ate some breakfast and called my little sister to talk to her for the first time since I've been here (other than the occasional facebook message) to wish her a happy birthday! She is 19 already, I can't believe it. It sounds like she had a great birthday weekend, so I was happy for that.

It sounds like this week is going to be quite academically intensive. I've already done over 40 pages of reading today, we have oral presentations on Wednesday, I wrote in my work journal about Opoutere, and I still have another paper for write for Thursday. As it turns out, we actually have Thursday night to Saturday afternoon off before we have to pack up the vans for the South Island (we are leaving Sunday morning). I'm not sure if I want to go on a little overnight hike or if I just want to stay around campus, after all, we are leaving for four weeks. I'm also considering doing a hike during the mid-semester break that climbs up to a little over 7000 feet and will probably require the use of crampons and ice picks. We're not sure about the snow conditions this spring yet, but I would be going with a few experienced guys that know what they are doing, so I'm sure we would be fine. I'm really excited to push my limits and try new things!

Opoutere and Wharekawa Harbour..

It's been quite an eventful past couple of days. As I mentioned before, we went to Opoutere and stayed at the YHA. There were no other guests which was nice and the set up was really cool. We still had group dinners every night and the majority of the girls stayed in one big room with bunks and a fire place. The first day the weather was beautiful and we did a lot of the introductory things such as the wet exit test. I was actually pretty nervous about this because I'm slightly retarded and can't really swim under water without holding my nose (I know I know), but it ended up being all right! It was sunny out but cold in the morning and I just wore my bathing suit with some polypro tops and bottoms on. The water was SOOO cold and I had to pull on my release strap twice before it came off, but I re-entered just fine and all was good in the world. It's amazing how warm the polypropylene can keep you even when it's wet. We then played a game that was a mix of soccer/football in our kayaks and my team won! It was so much fun.

After the kayak training we took our packed lunches and hiked to the top of the Pa site (former Maori hill site used for defense), a short but very steep hike that took us to the top of one of the two high cliffs that rose over 150 meters out of the estuary. The surrounding area had a very dramatic landscape. We were located on the other side of the Coromandel Mountains (the ones you can see from the beach at EcoQuest) and on the drive through the ridge was actually quite depressing. There is a great deal of plantation forestry here, and the lots are grown on 25 year cycles. We just so happened to arrive a few weeks after much of the clear cutting was done and there was active logging happening across the estuary, in plain view of the YHA. It's really depressing because I kind of expected more out of New Zealanders. Like really, clear cutting on slopes that steep? And then you wonder why sedimentation is causing the estuaries to die? Hmm. Just opened my eyes and showed me that even New Zealand has it's share of problems and not everything is peachy keen. On a more positive note, the view from the top of the Pa Site was wonderful and after some light showers on the hike up, the sky cleared as we reached the top and we had a breathtaking view of the harbour and the ocean. I found a clearing of grass, ate my lunch, and just lied back absorbing the sun for the first time in a long time.

Later we took a walk with Wendy, our field leader known as the bird expert, down the estuary at low tide and down to the beach. We brought our binoculars and looked at different types of birds, notably the dotterel, which is endemic to NZ and endangered as well. We found one which had a specific band on his leg and Wendy recognized him as the same bird she tagged 17 years ago when she started research here!! Insane that they live that long. He is affectionately called Patchy because he has unique spots on his chest. After walking down the mud flats we took a seat on top of the sand dune and listened to her talk for a while. "By the way, this is your class room." We then had some time to wander down the beach and made it back to the YHA for dinner.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning at 7:00am sharp we did our shellfish surveying, which is a continuation of monitoring that has been going on in Wharekawa Harbour for the past few years. There were approximately 150 sites in total that we had to survey which involved digging a 50x50x10 cm hole in the ground, sifting it through, picking out the dead shells, and then sorting, counting, and measuring each of the shells while one person recorded. This was actually pretty fun and interesting, but on Thursday morning we had terrible weather. Because we walk through streams and mud flats, we would just wear sandals. It was probably 45 degrees out with bitter winds and horizontal rain. Needless to say, it was pretty miserable. Sam and I only were able to go through 4 sites in an hour and a half, and with our luck, all the cockles and wedges decided to surface and we had over 200 shells to count and measure at each site. Thankfully we were relieved after that we ran back to warm up, dry off, and eat the best bowl of oatmeal of my life. As fun as not sitting in a class room is, it shouldn't be underestimated how difficult field work can be at times. When the weather is great I would have no problem working for hours, but we don't have the luxury of choosing the weather, so we work no matter what.

On Wednesday Kayak Group 1 (my group) got to go out after 2nd breakfast and do some land transects, which ended up taking a while as we waited for the tide to go out. That was fine with be, because we just got to tool around on the kayaks as we waited for the water to get lower :) As a bonus, we completed 10 more shell fish survey sites which ended up saving us some time on Friday. Even though it was really crappy all day Thursday (and the winds were so bad that the second kayak group couldn't even go out), it cleared up just before dinner so I went on a walk with a few people to the beach. It was even cooler than a few days before because the surf was huge and the light in the sky was different. We even met some local fishermen who told us about the snapper they were catching and gave us some insight into the Coromandel region was was really cool. It amazes me how friendly Kiwi are.

Highlights from Opoutere: spontaneous Bohemian Rhapsody singalong before the oral presentations, listening to "business time" during kitchen crew, story time with Denny, Apples to Apples, naps in the living room by the fire, the tree swing, and probably more.

We got out of Opoutere pretty quickly on Friday so that we could work on our group project presentations there. The weather was forecasted to be very fierce (thunder, lightning, and gale force winds upwards of 100km/h) and we didn't want to get stranded on the east coast. As promised, the weather turned out to be AWFUL (after an absolutely beautiful morning when everyone broke out the shorts) and during dinner the power went out! It was actually so much fun. All the field leaders were gone other than Dale (which isn't much help hahah) so Papa Paul (as we so affectionately call him) took charge. We broke out the headlamps and the beer and started over to Grannie's a little earlier than originally planned. I'm actually so glad that the power went out because it just made everything so much fun. Tons of games, Kaka vs. Wood pigeon flip cup, shoulder massage trains, tickle fights, late night walk to the beach. Couldn't ask for a better night :). Ecoquesters know how to throw down.

Woke up surprisingly early today and caught a ride to Thames with Ria and some other people to buy some toothpaste, dark chocolate, and candy (you know, the essentials). We walked through some farmers markets and got my yummy free samples from bakeries. I got home, went on my first solo run. The wind was still incredible which made me want to cry haha. I ran to the hills for the first time and got chanced by a cow (scary). After I got back, got showered up, watched a cheesy horror movie, some people started a game of touch football so I joined in. So much fun!! We played for 2 hours and now I'm just sitting in the Wharekai waiting for dinner to be cooked, but the oven just ran out of propane so we've got a little bit of a problem.

Tomorrow we're taking a ferry to an off shore island for a day. It's a restoration island that has been eradicated of all mammals and is being replanted with only native and endemic flora. So we'll be volunteering our time for the day (in the spirit of Conservation Week here in NZ). Goodbye!

The answer is blowing in the wind..

I was actually wrong about the date that we are leaving for the South Island (someone can't read their schedule correctly, woops). We are leaving for Opoutere tomorrow morning for 4 days, coming back Friday night with a day off on Saturday, then taking a ferry on Sunday morning to an island off the coast of Auckland and staying there for a few days. We'll return to Ecoquest for a couple days and then depart for the South Island that Sunday (the 26th, I believe). Sorry for the confusion.

In Opoutere we will be staying in a YHA (chain of youth hostels) and it sounds like we have the place all booked up, haha. The vans are fully with all of our field equipment, kayaks, and food for the next few days. I definitely underestimated how much food/supplies are needed for a group our size, but it seems like the field leaders have packing for these kind of trips down to a science. We are going to be doing a few days of work on the estuary which sounds fun in theory but it will likely be very windy and rainy. The first day we also have to do skills training on the kayak which I'm not psyched for because it involves flipping yourself upside down/underwater in the kayak, undoing the skirt, and releasing yourself in the water. For some reason that just kind of scares me and I know it shouldn't. Cold water + cold weather + bathing suit = unhappy Bella. Maree said they will try to make the drill as quick as possible.

Today I did a bit of weeding (it was my turn for this Monday morning task) and a bit of class and finally got started on my work journal, which was a bit of a struggle but I managed. It was just hard to get myself into work-mode because we have done a lot of listening/lecturing and lot of group work and hands-on learning, but very little paper writing or anything intensive. I got it all done and went for a run with Kim and Kelsey, had a delicious dinner, started formulating some plans for my mid-semester break in Nelson with some other people, and watched Wayne's World.

Now it's bed time for this girl.

Tails from the city of sails..

Now begins the period in which blog updates will be very few and far between. I just got back from a weekend in Auckland, and tomorrow we have a day to clean and learn, then we are leaving at the crack of dawn on Tuesday for Opoutere for 3 days. We'll be back Friday with a day off on Saturday, and then we are leaving for journey to the South Island for 4 weeks! That's right, four weeks sans laptop, so I'll have to do blog the old fashioned way: write in a notebook journal.

This weekend was so much fun. We started it off right by going to the pub in town as a whole group. Basically, the locals were pretty much waiting for us to come (our field leaders must have given them a warning so they could stock up). It's actually a bit of a walk from campus, about 2 miles, so about a half hour walk. We sang songs and looked at the amazing sky which opened up just for us. Friday mother nature was on our side and it finally stopped raining for a little while. There are very few lights around so the amount of stars you can see in the night sky as staggering. That in combination with the moon lit the way for us. The pub was really fun and the locals were incredibly friendly and interested in where we came from, and very eager to give us advice on things to see and such. No heated politic debates yet, but we've been warned haha.

(Kelsey and I at the pub... don't think I could have smiled any wider)

Saturday morning was a bit of a rough start since we had to leave so early to catch the train for Auckland. I actually felt great other than being a bit sleep deprived but some other people were dragging pretty badly. It was also raining (big surprise) so that kind of put a damper on things. After about 2 and a half hours we made it to Auckland, missed the Polynesian market, and checked into our hostel. For a first time hostel experience it was actually REALLY cool! Our "apartment" thing was kind of styled like a Gables apartment at UNH except with much brighter colors, cooler couches, and 8 beds/bunks in each room. Luckily there were enough of us that we had 1 room to ourself (on a girls only apartment, which was nice) and a key so that we could lock our belongings. We set out to shop and dine after that and split up but agreed to meet back by 5 so that we could go to the rugby game together. Auckland food is ridiculously expensive which was really frustrating. I ended up paying 11 dollars to eat a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, and that was the cheapest thing on the lunch menu. Yikes.

The rugby game was really cool! We sat in front of some men who explained the rules to us. It's such a fast paced game and so much more badass than football. It was also raining which made for nice mud effect. It was just a regional game, Auckland vs. Wellington but everyone was still really into it. I was starting to fade a bit towards the end (3 hours of sleep, remember) but once we got back to the hostel and got ready to go out for a night on the town, there was no turning back.

(On top of Mt. Eden)

Our hostel actually had a bar on the bottom floor so we decided to start there. The drinks were cheap (2 for $5 power hour woo) and the New Zealand vs. Australia rugby game was on. Now THIS was a sight to see. So many 20-somethings jammed in a bar with the game projected on a huge screen and everyone intently watching and getting rowdy. We sang the national anthem and boo'ed at the Aussies (haha where did i suddenly get all this pride?). The coolest part had to be when the All Blacks (NZ team) did their Maori style battle cry (hakka) in the beginning. I have seen what the Maori actually do in movies but I didn't know that the All Blacks actually performed the hakka before the start of the game in a stand-off with the opposing team. If you're curious, just youtube it. It really was so intense, I loved it.

Kate and I met a really cool Australian while playing pool actually. His name was Glen and he was in Auckland for 2 weeks on business (works for IBM, and reminded me so much of Tomek!) and already had some time to scope out the nightlife. We told him that our group was interested in some dance clubs, so after the game was over around 11 we went to one down the street. They gave us some trouble because we didn't have our passports but I spoke to the manager on our behalf and somehow sweet-talked our way into the club. The music was amazing (putting E-Marcee to shame) and the vibe of the club was really good. The drinks were ridiculously expensive but there was no cover charge and you don't tip bartenders here, so it didn't really matter. The dance floor was a lot better than the ones i've been to in Boston at least because there's more room and people aren't packed in like sardines so you have more room to... express yourself, if you will, haha. I showed Auckland my moves and got some compliments. Before we knew it, it was 2:30. It's not uncommon for bars and clubs here to be open til 6 in the morning! I was ready to go all night, but half the group wanted to leave and get food. I convinced 4 others to stay for a while, and then us and Glen moved on to a different club down the street. It was this really cool marketplace during the day that is situated on the 2nd story above a restaurant in the artsy-district of Queens St. At night the place was completely transformed. It was a lot trippier than the first place but equally as awesome. Eventually we left to go get food at this bus that's permanently parked on Fort street that sells food 24 a day, kind of reminiscent of one in Portsmouth. We parted ways with Australia (as we so affectionately called him) and went to bed close to 4. Not bad.

Breakfast this morning was another ordeal because nothing is open on Sundays and our few options that were open had $20 meals. Later we split up and most of the group went to the Museum of Auckland (which was the plan if it ended up being a rainy day) but a few of us didn't want to spend the whole day cooped up inside because it was actually sunny! So John, Kate, Sam, Abby and I took the bus to the base of Mt. Eden and ascended Auckland's tallest volcano. It was a lot of fun, and it sure beat the museum. We took lots of funny photos and explored and didn't get rained on, which was key. The views of the city and the surrounding islands were gorgeous. Later we headed back downtown and ate lunch at this swanky restaurant that made me feel like I was in a loft Manhattan. My food was delicious and cheap. Some gelato to end the day, and then we caught the train back to Katapura, all of us falling dead asleep along the way.

(Look at meee, so stylish in my skinny jeans and running shoes)

To sum it up, I had an amazing time and feel like I bonded really well with some people. It's definitely starting to feel like family here.

The song we sang to the Maori..

The kahikatea is New Zealand's tallest native tree. They can grow up to 65 meters straight up. Kahikatea have shallow root systems. Beneath the ground the roots of a stand form an intertwining mesh that provides support for a tree to grow to great heights. This is how they stand together.

E tu kahikatea

He whakapae ururoa

Awhi mai, awhi atu

Tatau, tatau e

Tatau, tatau e

Stand like the kahikatea

Stand against the storm

Together, united

We will survive

We will survive

Under my thumb..

The internet was not working for most of last night (big surprise) so I didn't post a blog. We took a trip to the Waharau Regional Park 5k up the road to take a walk through the forest and familiarize ourselves with more of New Zealand's native and endemic plant species. The walk was nice and leisurely, and we finished it off by eating lunch in the foothills of the forest next to grazing sheep.

A new field leader has replaced Sally and her name is Wendy. She was late arriving to the program because in the Northern Hemisphere summer she runs a whale watching tour with her husband in England! Pretty cool. It was sad to see Sally leave because she has this very calm and soothing motherly spirit that I really like, but she will be back to visit a few times I guess. Wendy is really cool too; she is a bird expert so I hope to learn a lot more about the birds here from her.

At night I made oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies with my friend Sara, which turned out to be delicious. We had a lot of extra dough which we saved so that we can bake them tomorrow so they'll be fresh for the group that's going hiking. Other than that, I am STILL sick with this cold that I can't seem to shake, so I've decided to take it easy in bed during off-time today and not go running, as much as it pains me to do so (I'm so restless!). Also as you can probably guess, it is still raining. It has rained in some capacity every single day that we have been here excluding the very first day (it was sunny and 60 degrees and beautiful just to welcome us!) and today is just an absolute downpour. Oh well, I kind of expected it since this is typical of North Island early spring, but it really can bring down your spirits.

(Our little frog friend, native to Australia. No wonder they are endangered: he didn't even move as people were crowding around him to take pictures!)

Now I see, I'm never gonna stop this train..

When I signed up for Ecoquest I have to admit that I was somewhat relieved that I would be living in an english speaking country so there wouldn't be a language barrier to fight and I'd already be equipped with all I had to know. As it turns out, I am slowly learning a second language here: Maori (and a 3rd, the crazy Kiwi dialect if you count that). We have spent the past few days concentrating on the history of New Zealand, specifically the Maori people, as the white-people (for lack of a better term) is very short. We learned the Maori alphabet (which was adapted into the roman alphabet) and pronunciations as well as key root words that we'll often find in names of places. We've learned a few songs as well, one of which we performed for the Maori at the local Marae as part of a welcoming ritual into the community.

We spent the morning doing last minute preparations, and around 2:00 we walked down the road to the local Marae (Kaiaua). For those of you that don't know, a marae can be compared to a church or a mosque in christianity or islam, with some key differences. It is usually fenced and gated with lots of wide open area of grass inside. The one we went to had a main building (Wharenui, the meeting house) and a building for eating (Wharekai). The main walkway leading up to the Wharenui is used to greet the Powhiri (the outsiders or intruders, us) as we walk through slowly with women in front to show that we are not a threat. A woman from our local iwi (tribe) called out to us in Maori and Ria (one of the founders and teachers of Ecoquest) called back a greeting. It was very pretty and is sung in a kind of sorrowful tone. They led us into the Wharenui because it was raining, but normally this next part is done outside. We sat opposite of the Maori and their leader stood up and made a speech (this is all in Maori language by the way), welcoming us, followed by a song sung by the group. Next, Jono (Ria's husband) made a speech explaining where we came from and what we were here to do and asked for acceptance and their blessing. After giving us a cue, we all rose from our seats and sang our song to the Maori. I will admit, I got the chills hearing us all singing in unison and harmonizing so well. Just two days before we thought it would be impossible to learn a song in a language we had never heard before, and here we were. Our voices boomed off the walls of the Wharenui and filled the room.

After that we all sat down and the iwi leader made another speech (in english this time) welcoming us to their marae and blessing us for the work and research we're doing and for making effort to preserve the beauty of their land. Hearing those words from him really meant a lot and made me realize just how important all of this is. It was very humbling to know that they appreciate us being here as much as we appreciate having the opportunity to visit this stunning country. After he finished his speech, we formed a line and greeted each individual with the Hongi, which involves shaking hands and saying "Teno koe" and pressing your forehead and nose to the other person. This was my favorite part and it made me feel really at home and it honestly warmed my heart. I felt like these people were genuinely grateful for us to be there and accepted us as an extension of their family. The last woman in line was an elderly woman that was very small and reminded me of my Babcia (grandmother) in Poland, she even smelt a bit like her too. I had to bend down to give her Hongi because she was so small.

After the cermony was over they invited us to the Wharekai for "tea time" (the British influences are somewhat comical at times) which was an intricate spread of all kinds of sandwiches and pastries, with tea, coffee, and "drinking cocoa." Everything was delicious and we all felt obliged to stuff ourselves even though we literally just ate lunch before walking there. Afterwards they gave us a brief tour of the grounds which included a look at their war canoe, which was really cool, although it is not an original. They gave us explanations for all of the carvings, many of which was incredibly complex and tell stories of their ancestories and their gods. It was really cool. Also one of the Maori there was visiting from a different iwi on the east coast of the North Island, and we will be making a stop to his Marae after week 6 or 7 of our program, after the South Island component. It will actually be the first time this program has gone to that Marae (including Jono and Ria) and we will be staying over night. There is also a Marae in the South Island in which we will reside for two nights. Now I'm really excited! Their culture is fascinating and I love all the rituals.

This afternoon I went on a 40 minute run with some girls, as I was starting to feel a little better and not quite as sick as I was this morning and the day before. Even though it was raining (and has been raining for days) it was still great. I feel like these runs are when I get to know them best (thank god for run-talkers haha). We had a late dinner tonight because of our tea time at the Marae and we spent a good two hours afterwards planning out of trips this weekend. Half of the group is hiking the Pinnacle and our half (the better half ;)) is going to Auckland! So far the plan is to get dropped off at the train station, take the train to Auckland, visit the Polynesian market, stash our stuff in the hostel (right downtown, next to the Uni!), scope out the harbor a little bit, go watch the Wellington vs. Auckland Rugby game at 6 and then celebrate our arrival in New Zealand properly at night. Sunday we're planning on doing the Coast to Coast walk (look it up), which goes through the best parks and even some VOLCANOS (yeah, I feel like Aucklanders are just asking for it..). That'll probably keep us busy for a few hours, and somewhere between the west coast and dinner time we are going to have to find our way back to the train station. I think it'll all work out :) Do I even have to mention how excited I am? (proof below!)

Can't turn back the hands of time..

I'm writing this from the comfort of the Wharekai as the wind blows loud enough to whistle through the windows and Jason Derulo blasts over the sound system in the kitchen. It's been a pretty academic day here at EcoQuest which is fine since it's been so crumby out and we haven't had a whole lot of classroom time yet. Hope put it pretty well comparing EcoQuest to elementary school: we have one classroom that we stay in all day, we have breaks for snacks ("tea time") every hour, we have cubbies ("pigeon holes"), and it's FUN unlike high school/college style learning (for the most part).

Yesterday was a half-day, which was spent on the beach in Tapapakanga Regional Park, a few minutes north of Kaiaua. We started off by having a half-hour to explore, which they encouraged us to do by ourselves so that we could reflect on the

past few days. I took this "scheduled me-time" as a blessing because we have spent so much time together that it was nice to take a step back. It was the fastest half an hour of my life, and before I knew it I was a mile away from our meeting tree in front of a waterfall coming down from the red clay cliffs with no one else in sight. It was chilly but peaceful and I made my way back slowly, as it turned out everyone else did.

We had a solo activity in which we had to draw a "tree of life" that had our roots, trunk, branches, and leaves representing different aspects of our lives. We were allowed to get as creative as possible and they urged us to be as honest with ourselves as possible since sharing our work was optional. Normally I hate those self-exploration type things since they are kind of a pain and really cheesy, but I honestly enjoyed this one. It helped me take a step back and realize where I am and where I plan on going with my life. Later on, we worked in groups to make a sculpture of our vision of "sustainability." Every group had a different idea, some complex and some simple, but they were all really great.

Later on I went on a bike ride with some girls. They make us wear these goofy reflective vests every time we go running/cycling and the helmets are at least 15 years old. The bikes are these rusty old "mountain bikes" but they get the job done. Needless to say, as if all the townspeople didn't know before, they knew now that the Americans were back in town... aka band of retards haha. We stopped to take a walk on a natural jetty made entirely out of seashells and a pick-up truck sped by with a guy hanging out the window and screaming "PRAISE JESUS!". I think he was glad that there is going to be a new group of females frequenting the only pub for miles.

I woke up feeling really crumby today so I decided to not to go for a run in case it made me feel worse. We learned a lot about the Maori today and their customs, like how to do the Hangi greeting and what to do when we enter the Marae. There is a song that we learned to sing as a greeting to the Maori as well, which is incredibly pretty and meaningful (I'll post it later). Other than that, nothing too exciting. I'm sitting at Grannie's with the whole gang watching the Blues Brothers on DVD.

"JESUS CHRISTCHURCH! .... ohhh... too soon?"

Semi-uneventful day yesterday. We stayed on campus the whole day but did a lot of in-classroom stuff. Started the day off right with a nice 30 minute run with the girls really gearing it up at the end. It was another rainy one and all the sitting around gave me a lot of time to get kind of sad and homesick. Facebook doesn't really help the situation because you see pictures of all your friends. There are a lot of things I'm missing back home, especially UNH Cycling related, but there will be plenty of time for that in the spring.

Today was loads better. Got up before my alarm again at 6am just as the sun was starting to peak over the Coromandel Mountains and went for a run again with a few of the girls today. It was a lot faster today, and by that I mean 3 of us dropped the rest of the group in the first 10 minutes, and by the time we were 3/4 of the way back, there was only 2 of us, and we raced back home. It was invigorating and I've never felt so good on a run! I'm really loving it. Took lots of time to stretch, ate a big breakfast, packed my lunch and got my pack together for our first tramping experience!

We took a 45 minute drive to the Hunua Falls. The Hunua Ranges are literally right to our west, but the falls and dams are only accessible by road on the western side and there are no roads crossing through the park and as a result we had to drive that far. We split into 2 groups and did an approximately 4 hour loop. The only real objectives today were to orient ourselves with compasses and directions (have the sun in a different spot in the sky really screws with my naturally excellent sense of direction!). The first challenge we had, however, was about a quarter mile into the hike when we encountered a "steam crossing"... a stream which was now a river. Maree told us that New Zealanders never take their boots off to ford rivers so we sucked it up and crossed in our boots and just hiked in soggy shoes the whole day. Even though we were all really skeptical ("Can't we just change into our Keens?!") they were right, your feet warm right up even if it was a little squishy (and it was in the low 50s for temps).

The forest here is SO different, and now I understand why they call it "going into the bush," because the vegetation is SO dense. The Hunua Ranges are basically a temperate rain forest, so everything is very muddy, very wet, very cold, and very dark due to the many layers of growth in the canopy. One of the first things we saw was a waterfall that was easily as tall as the tallest waterfall in New Hampshire, Arethusa falls. I told Maree this and she said this is considered small as far as NZ waterfalls go, and that I'll be amazed at what we'll see on the South Island. We learned about all the different relationships between trees and vines and flowers and birds and insects. It was interesting because there was not one species of plant that I recognized. I felt like I should see velociraptors flying through the canopy or tarzan swinging from vines. They even showed us a special wide leaf that typically grows on the sides of trails nicknamed "Bushman's toilet paper" because the underside literally feels like the softest TP you can imagine haha. Good to know.

At lunch Maree and Dale let us in on a little secret after much begging. As we were complaining of the cold and wet, they said that we could look forward to a warm surprise at the end of the day! When we returned back to Whakatiwai and ate dinner, they would take us to the Miranda Hot Springs, about 15k down the road, so bathe and relax. Needless to say, that gave us something to look forward to when we got the chills :)

Tonight was my first turn for kitchen duty and I worked with Sara, Drew, and Emily. We made chili (veggie and non-veggie) with brown rice and then baked a chocolate cake for everyone. It was really weird working out of NZ cookbooks, since their measurements are all done differently and the oven is in celsius but it came out great! Everyone looooved the cake so that made me happy. The Miranda Hot Springs were really fun. It was basically just a gigantic pool with different levels and we played typical pool games (Marco Polo, Chicken [which brought me back to spring break!], and volleyball) and exhausted ourselves until our hands and feet couldn't possible get more pruney. Getting out of the water was torture because it was probably only 45 degrees or so, but it was worth it :) The ride back was hilarious as we were all loopy and tired and Dale was babbling away as usual and being his goofy self, causing us to laugh until our abs hurt.

It was a good day! Tomorrow we are doing some field work on the coast and then we have the whole afternoon off to do as we please (our first non-programme time). There is talk of a beer trading/tasting party, hmmm. I really hope to get out on a bike tomorrow and go exploring the hills. I'm craving some 2 wheeled adventure.