Welp, that's the show, folks.
Leaving EcoQuest was super hard. We've all become such close friends in a reasonably short time span, and it's difficult to leave new friends. But on to new beginnings, I suppose.
I spent my last weekend in NZ in Auckland with a couple of friends. We basically wandered around the city for 2 days. Highlights: we went to the Auckland Museum, found a really cool playground with a zip line and teeter totters, climbed Mt Eden (a volcano in the middle of the city... there are a bunch of those), went to a Christmas concert with most of Auckland wearing a tank top and shorts... Basically it was a really nice, chill end to an amazing adventure. And now it's time to head to the airport for a nice 12 hour flight. I will arrive at home before I left here -- yay time travel!
So, here's to the end of two adventures: my trip, and my blog. ( :
smiles!
Sunrise over the Coromandel Peninsula, across the Firth of Thames
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Just going for a run...
So one of our field leaders, Maree, is basically the most amazing person ever. Yesterday, at 4 am, she got up and started running, and kept going until 5:17 pm. She ran 101 km for a charity called CanTeen, which is a foundation for children and teenagers with Cancer. I really can't imaging running 101 km, or running for 13 hours and 17 minutes.
About 13 of us got up a 4 to send her off, and a couple of us ran the first 6 km with her. That was fun, and kinda weird. I imagine it must have been weirder if any of the neighbors happened to wake up and look out the window and see a group of runners, a bicyclist with a flashing vest and a car with a siren light heading up the road in the wee hours of the morning. On of the boys here also runs marathons, so he kept going after the rest of us decided we'd gone far enough and ran the first 20 km with Maree. And of course we were all waiting at the finish line when Maree came through... for running as far as she did, she looked pretty amazing. Smiling and walking around, albeit pretty stiffly.
After we greeted Maree, we headed over to Kaiaua's annual Raft Races (Kaiaua, pronounced Kai-ow-ah, is the little town down the road from us). That was really fun(ny). A couple of guys built a "raft" (I helped!) made out of oyster bouys, and so EcoQuest competed. Basically, the rules are that the raft can't look like a boat, and you have to paddle out into the firth about 200 m, turn around and come back up a little stream thing to the boat launch. It was a pretty long course. Oh, and every raft has ammunition buckets filled with algea and compost... It was really funny to watch everyone trying to paddle, throw stuff, and avoid being hit by rotten fruit. I'm kinda glad I was watching from shore... of course, the onlookers got to help with throwing stuff, too. At the end, it was REALLY REALLY stinky (someone brought rotten eggs!), and so of course all the guys on the raft ran around giving everyone hugs and making everyone else smell, too. They also all teamed up and captured Dale, one of the field leaders, and threw him in the water because he was throwing all sorts of stuff at them. And then somehow it turned into all the guys pushing each other into the water, which was hilarious to watch.
And after that, we went to the charity event with live music and dancing, which was pretty fun. Maree's partner was playing, and he does a lot of irish folky type music, as well as covers of all sorts of songs, so it was really cool. Pretty much the whole community was out to support Maree and her run. It felt really good to be part of something like that. Kaiaua and Whakatiwai are both TINY, so the community spirit is really strong.
And to top off a great day, everybody turned in their Directed Research project reports yesterday, so now except for a brief little presentation, we are DONE with all our school work. And I was kind of glad to turn in my report and stop thinking about beetles and pest control. TOO MANY BUGS!
Sorry about no pictures... my camera's acting up. ): But pictures exist, I just need to steal them from other people.
About 13 of us got up a 4 to send her off, and a couple of us ran the first 6 km with her. That was fun, and kinda weird. I imagine it must have been weirder if any of the neighbors happened to wake up and look out the window and see a group of runners, a bicyclist with a flashing vest and a car with a siren light heading up the road in the wee hours of the morning. On of the boys here also runs marathons, so he kept going after the rest of us decided we'd gone far enough and ran the first 20 km with Maree. And of course we were all waiting at the finish line when Maree came through... for running as far as she did, she looked pretty amazing. Smiling and walking around, albeit pretty stiffly.
After we greeted Maree, we headed over to Kaiaua's annual Raft Races (Kaiaua, pronounced Kai-ow-ah, is the little town down the road from us). That was really fun(ny). A couple of guys built a "raft" (I helped!) made out of oyster bouys, and so EcoQuest competed. Basically, the rules are that the raft can't look like a boat, and you have to paddle out into the firth about 200 m, turn around and come back up a little stream thing to the boat launch. It was a pretty long course. Oh, and every raft has ammunition buckets filled with algea and compost... It was really funny to watch everyone trying to paddle, throw stuff, and avoid being hit by rotten fruit. I'm kinda glad I was watching from shore... of course, the onlookers got to help with throwing stuff, too. At the end, it was REALLY REALLY stinky (someone brought rotten eggs!), and so of course all the guys on the raft ran around giving everyone hugs and making everyone else smell, too. They also all teamed up and captured Dale, one of the field leaders, and threw him in the water because he was throwing all sorts of stuff at them. And then somehow it turned into all the guys pushing each other into the water, which was hilarious to watch.
And after that, we went to the charity event with live music and dancing, which was pretty fun. Maree's partner was playing, and he does a lot of irish folky type music, as well as covers of all sorts of songs, so it was really cool. Pretty much the whole community was out to support Maree and her run. It felt really good to be part of something like that. Kaiaua and Whakatiwai are both TINY, so the community spirit is really strong.
And to top off a great day, everybody turned in their Directed Research project reports yesterday, so now except for a brief little presentation, we are DONE with all our school work. And I was kind of glad to turn in my report and stop thinking about beetles and pest control. TOO MANY BUGS!
Sorry about no pictures... my camera's acting up. ): But pictures exist, I just need to steal them from other people.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
A Kiwi Thanksgiving
Happy first day of Summer!
Yup, that's right. New Zealand starts their seasons on the first of the month. We all slept outside last night under the stars. It was beautiful! There were tons of shooting stars, and we can see the Large Magellic Cloud and the Small Magellic Cloud and a bunch of constellations. It's kind of funny, but the skies are actually much more similar here than I expected... There are all the big constellations we see up north, like Orion, Sirius, Andromeda... They're all just upside down. Which is kind of funny, and a little bit disorienting. Of course, there are a bunch of stars that we never see in the northern hemisphere, too.
It was really nice to wake up with the sun (even though it was ridiculously early... ) and listen to the dawn chorus and go for a run. Now I've been up for almost 3 hours and it's only 8! So much time left in the day! Which is good, because I have a lot to get done. Directed research projects are going full steam ahead, and man do I have a lot of charts and graphs and tables to wrap my head around. But I think we made it over the hump, so now its just a matter of finishing everything before the deadline on Saturday. But with a start like this morning, I should be pretty well set.
Last weekend we took a little while off from writing our reports to celebrate Thanksgiving Kiwi style. It was really fun. We were preparing for 50 people, and we made sure that absolutely no one had an excuse to go hungry, especially because not that many people actually showed up. Since we only have one kitchen, we started prepping for the Sunday feast on Friday, and kitchen activity continued basically right up to when we served Thanksgiving dinner three days later. This was partly a function of how much food we cooked, but also oven space. I was in charge of the pumpkin pies (I made four!) and helped out making pie crusts for everyone else, too. Everyone had a great time helping out... this group makes even doing the dishes a great time.
Sunday was a really lovely day, and we turned the Wharekai into a really pretty dining room with all the food laid out and set up tables outside. I guess that California thanksgivings can be pretty warm, too, but for most people it was the first thanksgiving in short sleeves and sunshine. So we all dressed up and enjoyed the banquet.
We definitely made enough food.. we're still eating pumpkin pie for breakfast (the best way to eat it) and had plenty of other left overs, too. Which is how Thanksgiving is supposed to work. We certainly have much to be thankful for: good food, great company, and a wonderful time in New Zealand.
smiles!
Yup, that's right. New Zealand starts their seasons on the first of the month. We all slept outside last night under the stars. It was beautiful! There were tons of shooting stars, and we can see the Large Magellic Cloud and the Small Magellic Cloud and a bunch of constellations. It's kind of funny, but the skies are actually much more similar here than I expected... There are all the big constellations we see up north, like Orion, Sirius, Andromeda... They're all just upside down. Which is kind of funny, and a little bit disorienting. Of course, there are a bunch of stars that we never see in the northern hemisphere, too.
It was really nice to wake up with the sun (even though it was ridiculously early... ) and listen to the dawn chorus and go for a run. Now I've been up for almost 3 hours and it's only 8! So much time left in the day! Which is good, because I have a lot to get done. Directed research projects are going full steam ahead, and man do I have a lot of charts and graphs and tables to wrap my head around. But I think we made it over the hump, so now its just a matter of finishing everything before the deadline on Saturday. But with a start like this morning, I should be pretty well set.
Last weekend we took a little while off from writing our reports to celebrate Thanksgiving Kiwi style. It was really fun. We were preparing for 50 people, and we made sure that absolutely no one had an excuse to go hungry, especially because not that many people actually showed up. Since we only have one kitchen, we started prepping for the Sunday feast on Friday, and kitchen activity continued basically right up to when we served Thanksgiving dinner three days later. This was partly a function of how much food we cooked, but also oven space. I was in charge of the pumpkin pies (I made four!) and helped out making pie crusts for everyone else, too. Everyone had a great time helping out... this group makes even doing the dishes a great time.
Sunday was a really lovely day, and we turned the Wharekai into a really pretty dining room with all the food laid out and set up tables outside. I guess that California thanksgivings can be pretty warm, too, but for most people it was the first thanksgiving in short sleeves and sunshine. So we all dressed up and enjoyed the banquet.
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| Yummy apetizers... shrimp cocktails, cheese and crackers, baked brie and mussels. Yeah, we ate well. |
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| Sitting down to enjoy the feast. |
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| The dessert board. That's a summer berry cake in the foreground, the white things with kiwifruit and strawberries are Pavlova, a traditional New Zealand dessert made of merangue and custard and deliciousness, chocolate hazelnut pies, and my pumpkin pies in the background. Yes, we had enough food. |
smiles!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Bug Soup
So we've well and truely immersed ourselves in our Directed Research Projects (DRPs from here on out). I'm working on a project comparing the effects that pest control measures have on invertebrate populations, particularly beetles (Coleoptera) and Weta (Orthoptera, aka cricket type things). We collected samples from one mountain, Maungatautari, which has eraticated nearly all the invasive pests -- possums, rats, yada yada -- by putting up a big fence around the reserve and dropping poison, and from another mountian, Pirongia, which has only minimal pest control measures. Maungatautari reserve is incredible... walking though the gate of the Pest proof fence is like walking through a time machine. Pests have been excluded since 2004, so the forest has had the chance to really regenerate. It is so fully of life! Birds and bugs and plants and vines... it was very cretatious period. Oh, and also:
So yeah. There were kiwi birds. Our field leader, Jillana, used to work for the reserve as a kiwi bird monitoring person, so she took us on a night walk to look for them. They're hard to spot, but not that hard to hear... its like a mini elephant crashing through the underbrush. We didn't actually SEE a kiwi bird, but we heard a couple rustling around in the plants just a few feet from us! And we heard them calling. And since plenty of kiwis haven't actually seen or heard a kiwi bird at all, I feel pretty lucky about that (here, you have kiwi birds, kiwi fruit, and kiwi (New Zealanders)... kiwi always look at us funny when we say "eat a kiwi". anyways).
So to get the invertebrate samples, we collected 96 pitfall traps that had been set out six weeks ago. Pitfalls are basically just cups sunk into the ground with some preservative in them and a cover to keep debris out. Ground-dwelling inverts fall in and can't get back out, and we have our samples. The pitfalls were in transects along walking paths on the mountains, so each day we'd hike up a mountain and go bushwacking to find the transects. And by bushwacking I mean crawling under vines, scrambling over treefalls, and clambering up nearly vertical slopes. It was fun.
So to get the invertebrate samples, we collected 96 pitfall traps that had been set out six weeks ago. Pitfalls are basically just cups sunk into the ground with some preservative in them and a cover to keep debris out. Ground-dwelling inverts fall in and can't get back out, and we have our samples. The pitfalls were in transects along walking paths on the mountains, so each day we'd hike up a mountain and go bushwacking to find the transects. And by bushwacking I mean crawling under vines, scrambling over treefalls, and clambering up nearly vertical slopes. It was fun.
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| John fighting the supplejack vines. And this was on the trail. |
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| Cara collecting a pitfall. |
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| The "trail" head. |
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| Climbing back up to the trail. It doesn't look it, but that is one steep slope. |
| So after we collected all the bugs, we had to sort, measure and identify them. That took a while. As in three 12 hour days, sitting in a lab breathing ethynol fumes. And listening to music and learning all the weird latin names for all the bugs. It figures, however, that just as I was getting comfortable spitting out words like "leamostenus complenatus", "curculionidea", "leionidea" and the like, and figured out which bug went with which name, we were done. It only took me 1200 bugs to get the hang of it. I actually kind of enjoyed it. Now comes the even more fun part of writing the report. Which I'm going to go do now. yay! |
Sunday, November 7, 2010
FISH! so many fish....
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| View of Leigh Marine Laboratory and Goat Island Marine Reserve (and Goat Island) |
So last week I got to spend pretty much all my spare time snorkeling. It was awesome. We stayed at the Leigh Marine Laboratory at Goat Island Marine Reserve, and learned about ocean ecology and did some samples of fish populations for our marine unit. But mostly we just snorkeled and gawked at the reefs. It is pretty amazing: the surface of the water does nothing to hint at what is going on below it. All you see is a grey-blue mask of undulating water until when you open your eyes underwater and see a completely different world. Snorkeling at the reserve was especially a treat, too, because the area is a designated "No-take" zone, which means, well, just that. So the marine animals that usually face a lot of pressure from fishing or what-have-you, such as snapper or crayfish, can live peacefully and grow really HUGE! We saw some 40 lb crayfish and snapper that were as long as my arm!
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| Little Barrier Island: This is a really hard island to access and thus is one of the oldest reserves in New Zealand. It has been "landing by permit only" for over 100 years. So there is a lot of cool stuff out there that hasn't had to deal with invasive species or people. |
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| Harekeke Flowers |
After Leigh, we headed further north to Tutukaka to go snorkeling at the Poor Knights Islands, which is known to be one of the top diving spots in the world! And it was SO amazing. The islands are the remnants of an old volcano that has eroded away, so the cliffs just go straight down into the depths of the water. It's pretty incredible. There is just so much life, and so much color! Shock orange, neon yellow, lime green, bright purple, sky blue, deep red, shimmering iridescence... it was crazy. I could have floated for hours just looking at one patch on the wall. There would be so many different types of plants and animals all crammed into one spot. The islands are about 15 miles offshore, so we headed out in a boat that took us to a couple of different dive spots around the islands. Poor Knights is also home to the world's largest naturally formed Sea Cave, Rikoriko Cave, and yes, we got to go snorkeling in a cave!! Which is really neat because stuff that usually only lives at depth comes up to the surface because it is darker. So we got to see some sponges and weird stuff like that.
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| Snorkeling through salp. So many salp... There were masses of them everywhere at Poor Knights. It was pretty neat, though, because we got to watch the fish have a huge feast! |
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| Salp are a lot like jelly fish, but don't have stinging cells. Sometimes they'd get stuck between my snorkel and my face as I was snorkeling through them... that felt weird. |
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| Yup, that's me! I'm kinda lucky in that my dive partner had an underwater camera! (anything underwater I stole from her...thanks Tasha) It was really hard to tell people apart once we were all suited up (the water was definitely chilly!) so you had to learn what people's dive belts and fins looked like. |
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| Demoiselles and kelp. These fish were everywhere at the Poor Knights, swimming around in massive schools! |
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| Sailing away from the Poor Knights Islands |
We were given the weekend off up in Northland to go explore the upper regions of New Zealand, so we split into groups and rented vans from EcoQuest. My group's mantra was "we're flying by the seat of our pants"... and that definitely ended up happening. I can't exactly say that the weekend went off without a hitch, but on the bright side we now all know the signs of a burnt out clutch. Yeah... literally 20 minutes after we left we noticed that the van was having some issues shifting, but we passed it off as just getting used to driving the new vehicle. So we went to a nearby town, Whangarai, for dinner. We got to know that town quite well, because as we were driving away to continue our adventures, the van started smoking. So we cut our losses and checked into a nearby holiday park (we got really lucky that they were both close and open at that time of night) and took the van to a mechanics the next day. He was really surprised we'd managed to drive it at all. So yeah. He didn't have time to fix it that day, so we spent Friday waiting for EcoQuest to send us a new van and pick up the broken one. Which meant taking shifts waiting in the mechanic's waiting room (the people there were SUPER super nice and let us use their business as a home-base for the day, even though we weren't employing their services at all. So that was kinda interesting.  |
| We're all unhappy as our van gets carted away on a truck because the clutch burned out. ): |
Even though we lost our Friday, we still managed to have a good weekend. Once the replacement van showed up, we went to a small conservation park and went on a really nice walk out to some big Kauri trees, and found an awesome swimming hole.
We were a little limited in where we could go at that point, because a couple people in our group needed to be back at Poor Knights to go diving, so we dropped them off and then started heading back down south. We camped on the side of the road that night, just for kicks and because our driver got tired. Some people pitched tents, but I slept in the van... it was warm when we went to bed, but chilled of really quickly. But it was comfy once I smartened up and pulled my sleeping bag out... other people didn't do that and had a cold night.
The next day we drove to Auckland and went to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World, aka the most awesome aquarium ever. They had a super cool (pun intended) penguin habitat, with about 80 Gentoo and King Penguins. So cute! And even more adorably, the gentoo penguins were breeding, and had little baby penguins peeking out over their parents' toes. They also had a pretty neat shark exhibit. But the penguins were the highlight.
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| PENGUINS!!! Those are gentoo penguins in the front and King Penguins in the background. And... A PENGUIN CHICK!!!The Gentoos are breeding around now. |
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| Puberty is awkward. |
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| Janet, Denny, John, Drew and some excited little kids in the Shark tunnel at the Kelly Tarlton Aquarium in Auckland. |
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| Crayfish in the aquarium...we saw comparably sized (or larger) ones out in the reserves. |
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Grown-up Sandcastles
So tomorrow morning we head up to Leigh, in Northland New Zealand to begin our marine unit! We'll be staying at a marine lab and helping out with a survey program monitoring fish populations and the presence of sea urchins in the Goat Island Marine Reserve. We're also going to Poor Knights Island, which is apparently one of the top ten diving spots in the world. So lots and lots of snorkeling and cool fish and who knows what else. I'm pretty excited.
We get back in about a week, and then we jump right into our Directed Research Projects. I'll be helping with a monitoring program at a montain reserve that has a pest-proof fence excluding pretty much everything that damages native ecosystems, so I'm pretty excited to see the site. We're collecting invertebrate samples to try to keep track of how pest eradication is affecting large beetles and Weta species (Giant grasshopper type bugs). I think I have a pretty good group, too. So that's up next.
But this weekend... this weekend was fun. We had Saturday off, so Friday after lecture 12 of us piled into a 10 person van (there were some... complications with renting the vans. Somehow the group with 8 people got a 12 seater... anywho. so we had some pretty good bonding going on) and drove to the Coromandel Peninsula, which is a pretty popular vacation destination because it is SO BEAUTIFUL!! We went to Hotwater beach, and got there for the low tide, which meant we got to test out the beach's namesake: the stream that bubbles up on the beach from being heated by near-to-the-surface volcanic activity. Then as the tide came in and cooled down the pools, we set up camp right on the beach, watched the stars, and had an awesome campout.
A couple of us woke up at 5:30 to catch low-tide and the sunrise the next morning, so we got to basically build grown up sandcastles and dig our own hotpools. It was pretty cool! See:
It was actually quite an art... you have to pick the right spot where you wont get washed away by the waves too soon, but aren't at the mouth of the stream where you get scalded. The water was actually REALLY hot... we had a bit of trouble finding a comfortable spot. But eventually, everyone got settled in. It was also really nice to go jump in the ocean and play in the waves. The water was so clear!
By about 9 am, the tide had come in and washed away our efforts, but what a way to start the day: hotpools and swims in the ocean.
We moved on to explore some more beaches along the Peninsula, and did a really nice hike to a bunch of beautiful coves. Unfortunately, it kind of started to rain, but since we're prepared for all weather here, we just added raincoats to our swimsuits and continued on our way. The beaches were stunning:
However, the rain kinda cut our stay short, so we were on our way home early when we stopped for lunch in a small town and ran into one of our on-again-off-again field leaders who lives nearby. Of course, by this time the weather had remembered it's early summer, and was gorgeous again, so when she told us about an amazing swimming hole in the river, we just had to go.
It was super cool! It was really deep, but intensely clear. At one point, I went to stand up because I could see all the way to my toes and the rocks, but was still out way over my head and apparently just lack depth perception. There was also an awesome rock right over the deepest part of the pool that was obviously used as a jumping point, as there were handholds carved into the sides. So of course we all had a blast jumping off the rock into the beautiful water... someone has a million pictures of that, but not me, so you'll see some of that eventually.
So it was a weekend very well spent. Now, I need to get ready to leave for the week and then turn in a handful of term-long running assignments when I get back, so I'm gonna get on that.
but I'm sure to have exciting stories about snorkeling in the subtropical marine reserve!!
smiles!
We get back in about a week, and then we jump right into our Directed Research Projects. I'll be helping with a monitoring program at a montain reserve that has a pest-proof fence excluding pretty much everything that damages native ecosystems, so I'm pretty excited to see the site. We're collecting invertebrate samples to try to keep track of how pest eradication is affecting large beetles and Weta species (Giant grasshopper type bugs). I think I have a pretty good group, too. So that's up next.
But this weekend... this weekend was fun. We had Saturday off, so Friday after lecture 12 of us piled into a 10 person van (there were some... complications with renting the vans. Somehow the group with 8 people got a 12 seater... anywho. so we had some pretty good bonding going on) and drove to the Coromandel Peninsula, which is a pretty popular vacation destination because it is SO BEAUTIFUL!! We went to Hotwater beach, and got there for the low tide, which meant we got to test out the beach's namesake: the stream that bubbles up on the beach from being heated by near-to-the-surface volcanic activity. Then as the tide came in and cooled down the pools, we set up camp right on the beach, watched the stars, and had an awesome campout.
A couple of us woke up at 5:30 to catch low-tide and the sunrise the next morning, so we got to basically build grown up sandcastles and dig our own hotpools. It was pretty cool! See:
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| Since it was only 5:45am, we had the beach to ourselves, despite Hotwater Beach being a SUPER popular tourist spot. |
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| Anna testing out the pools. |
We moved on to explore some more beaches along the Peninsula, and did a really nice hike to a bunch of beautiful coves. Unfortunately, it kind of started to rain, but since we're prepared for all weather here, we just added raincoats to our swimsuits and continued on our way. The beaches were stunning:
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| Looking through the natural rock arch at Cathedral Cove |
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| Cool rocks! |
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| More cool rocks! Actually, the same rock from a different angle. |
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| Arriving at "Secret Beach"... you have to do some serious bouldering to get to it, and I don't think that it's *technically* open to the public. But one of our field leaders told us how to get to it and we'd heard good things from previous ecoquesters, so we had to go. It was pretty neat! And we obviously weren't the only people who were in on the secret: there was a little "house" (more like floorplan) with some chairs and a "fireplace" and a "door". It was cute. |
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| Everybody up on a rock ledge at Cathedral Cove. There were some pretty amazing rock formations all up and down the coast. |
It was super cool! It was really deep, but intensely clear. At one point, I went to stand up because I could see all the way to my toes and the rocks, but was still out way over my head and apparently just lack depth perception. There was also an awesome rock right over the deepest part of the pool that was obviously used as a jumping point, as there were handholds carved into the sides. So of course we all had a blast jumping off the rock into the beautiful water... someone has a million pictures of that, but not me, so you'll see some of that eventually.
So it was a weekend very well spent. Now, I need to get ready to leave for the week and then turn in a handful of term-long running assignments when I get back, so I'm gonna get on that.
but I'm sure to have exciting stories about snorkeling in the subtropical marine reserve!!
smiles!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Keep an Open Mine!
So this week we were studying extractive industries, and trying to figure out the asnswer to "Can mining be sustainable?" It's an interesting question... mining and extractive industry is very closely wound into our everyday lives. We really can't do anything without interacting with something that has been dug out of the ground. Yet mining is a pretty dirty business, both environmentally and socially. So its hard to accept, but hard to criticize. Its interesting here too, because pretty much everyone is quite inclined to out and out hate mining. This topic has made it pretty clear that preconcieved notion can really color how you look at and absorb information.
In any case, the fun stuff I did in relation to mining, rather than my philosophical waxings about it: we went to a town called Waihi which has two active gold and silver mines pretty much in the middle of town. It was pretty amazing, actually... we stopped at the visitor center, and walked up the hill to look at the old mill's pump-house, and all of a sudden there was a HUGE hole in the ground! We had no idea it was there! Which is pretty good testament to the mine's noise barriers, because there were a lot of massive trucks going in and out of that thing.
A representative from the mining company took us on a tour of the mining process, and it was pretty neat to follow the rock from the open pit to the processing plant and the tailing pond. The mining company is American owned, based out of Denver, and as a whole doesn't have a very good record in terms of social and environmental ethics, but the branch in Waihi was doing pretty good. They are very on top of their pollutant run off, have done a lot of restoration work to plant native trees and restore habitat, and plan to turn the tailing ponds into wetlands and convert the open pit into a recreational lake once the gold runs out and the mines close. Which could be a while... they're still prospecting.
We also had a talk from one of the public relations people, who told us about how the company works within the environmental legislation framework here in New Zealand and how they're trying to make the industry sustainable. You could just tell from his whole talk that people really don't like mining; he was really defensive the whole time. It was kind of odd, actually... I kind of got the feeling from a lot of people that they didn't want to like what they were hearing, so they didn't. But then, the company gives a lot to the community, but there is only so much environmental stewardship a mine can make.
Anyway, after that, we drove to Karangahake Gorge, where there used to be a huge mining operation that has since been long abandoned, so there are just crumbling foundations, random bits of rebar sticking out of the rock, and old mining tunnels to explore (don't worry... it's all managed by the Department of Conservation and kept safe for the public... EcoQuest is not taking us to clamber around random abandoned mines!). The place was just beautiful:
Part of the walk was through the old mining tunnels. It was SO COOL! It was absolutely dark in there (we'd brought flashlights, but decided not to use them), so we all held hands and felt our way through. Periodically, there were "windows" out of the tunnel over the gorge, and it was pretty crazy to emerge from the darkness and see something like this:
At one point we all stopped in the dark and just stood in silence. It was really eerie, and very cool. It was kind of like you could hear the mountain. There were also a bunch of glow worms in there... it looked like there were hundreds of stars. Super super pretty. So that was a really neat trip.
So to explain the title of this post, we had a debate this afternoon on the topic: "That a previously closed gold mine should be reopened if it becomes economically viable to extract the gold". I ended up speaking for the affirmative, and our "team line" was "Keep an open mine". Play on words, eh? Ha ha? It actually worked out pretty well... our team won the debate. It was pretty silly... we all dressed up at the last minute, and it came out pretty funny. Also, all our instructors wore goofy hats. So it was a pretty lighthearted debate. But pretty interesting, too... we weren't told which side we'd be arguing in advance, so we had to prepare for both.
Anyway, enough with school stuff: this evening we had a massive game of Ninja manhunt... everyone dressed up in ninja clothes (pretty much everyone here has a full compliment of black spandex-y clothing) complete with facemasks, and then we ran around campus in the dark hunting each other. Basically, its a lot like capture the flag, minus the flag: one team hides, then tries to get to their safe zone, and the other team tries to stop them and send them to jail. So it was a lot of full-out sprinting in the dark and crawling through bushes and basically creeping on everyone else. It was awesome. There are pictures of everyone dressed up out there somewhere...
And finally, I'm going camping at a beach where we can "dig our own hotpools" (i'm sure I'll have stories) and then we are heading up to Northland for our Marine unit, which means snorkling and the like. SUPER EXCITED!!!
so yeah. sleep time.
In any case, the fun stuff I did in relation to mining, rather than my philosophical waxings about it: we went to a town called Waihi which has two active gold and silver mines pretty much in the middle of town. It was pretty amazing, actually... we stopped at the visitor center, and walked up the hill to look at the old mill's pump-house, and all of a sudden there was a HUGE hole in the ground! We had no idea it was there! Which is pretty good testament to the mine's noise barriers, because there were a lot of massive trucks going in and out of that thing.
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| See? Big hole! This open cast mine is 260 meters deep, and its only a third of the depth of an old (now closed) underground mine. |
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| One of those big trucks. My head comes up to about the top of the inner yellow ring on the tire. The truck can carry 10 tonnes of rock, which has about 1 oz of gold. And that's economical, because gold is worth a firstborn child these days. Apparently. |
We also had a talk from one of the public relations people, who told us about how the company works within the environmental legislation framework here in New Zealand and how they're trying to make the industry sustainable. You could just tell from his whole talk that people really don't like mining; he was really defensive the whole time. It was kind of odd, actually... I kind of got the feeling from a lot of people that they didn't want to like what they were hearing, so they didn't. But then, the company gives a lot to the community, but there is only so much environmental stewardship a mine can make.
Anyway, after that, we drove to Karangahake Gorge, where there used to be a huge mining operation that has since been long abandoned, so there are just crumbling foundations, random bits of rebar sticking out of the rock, and old mining tunnels to explore (don't worry... it's all managed by the Department of Conservation and kept safe for the public... EcoQuest is not taking us to clamber around random abandoned mines!). The place was just beautiful:
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| This picture doesn't even begin to capture how stunning this gorge was. The walls went straight up (partially helped by mining) and the river was beautiful! |
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| Looking down at a suspension bridge across the river and at the mouth of a short tunnel through the rock. |
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| The view from a "window". |
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| We've almost made it through Moria! But seriously, I think that's a cool picture. |
So to explain the title of this post, we had a debate this afternoon on the topic: "That a previously closed gold mine should be reopened if it becomes economically viable to extract the gold". I ended up speaking for the affirmative, and our "team line" was "Keep an open mine". Play on words, eh? Ha ha? It actually worked out pretty well... our team won the debate. It was pretty silly... we all dressed up at the last minute, and it came out pretty funny. Also, all our instructors wore goofy hats. So it was a pretty lighthearted debate. But pretty interesting, too... we weren't told which side we'd be arguing in advance, so we had to prepare for both.
 |
| Us pro-miners, looking all snooty. I had a really hard time keeping a straight face. |
And finally, I'm going camping at a beach where we can "dig our own hotpools" (i'm sure I'll have stories) and then we are heading up to Northland for our Marine unit, which means snorkling and the like. SUPER EXCITED!!!
so yeah. sleep time.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
So much happens after 22 days on the road...
So I don't even know where to begin. We've driven slightly more than 2,000 km in the past three weeks all over New Zealand in a caravan of three 9-11 person vans with trailers attached and about 5 CDs, and never stayed anywhere longer than 4 nights in a row. Usually we were in a different hostel each night. New Zealand's South Island is an incredibly beautiful and varied place... and for the first time we actually had nice weather!!! I went out and bought an actual raincoat and everything, and haven't had to use it. figures, right?
I'm trying to figure out the best way to share everything... I think you get bullet points and if you want details you're going to have to talk to me. there's some incentive for letters, people. [1204 East Coast Road, RD 3 Pokeno 2473 NZ, hint hint hint (: ]. But there are some stories worth telling in full, so I'll get to those eventually. but if I tried that now I'd get carpal tunnel from typing too much. so here goes:
-- Kaikoura: The first place that we stopped... we stayed at the local Marae for 4 days, and that was an amazing experience. The place was absolutely gorgeous, with amazing carvings and paintings that told the whole history of the tribe. We were looking at eco-tourism and sustainability, and the main attraction in Kaikoura is the plentiful marine life.
oh, and I nearly forgot (not)... I SWAM WITH DOLPHINS!!!! It was an incredible experience... really not what I pictured swimming with dolphins to be. I've always thought of it as a pretty exploitative, touristy, cheesy thing to do, but the company we went with was really good and took their ethical responsibilities to the dolphins really seriously. So we swam with a pod of 150-200 really playful and inquisitive Dusky Dolphins for a good 45 minutes. They are amazing animals -- so graceful underwater. They'd surge up around us and whiz around in circles checking us out, then zoom away to look at someone else. It was SO AMAZING, in case you didn't pick up on that. So some pictures:
-- Hanmer Springs: A really cutsy little mountain town with geothermal springs...we had 24 hours off there and I wandered around in the foothills for the day and ate cheese and crackers by a stream and met really nice kiwis who gave me directions.
I'm trying to figure out the best way to share everything... I think you get bullet points and if you want details you're going to have to talk to me. there's some incentive for letters, people. [1204 East Coast Road, RD 3 Pokeno 2473 NZ, hint hint hint (: ]. But there are some stories worth telling in full, so I'll get to those eventually. but if I tried that now I'd get carpal tunnel from typing too much. so here goes:
-- Kaikoura: The first place that we stopped... we stayed at the local Marae for 4 days, and that was an amazing experience. The place was absolutely gorgeous, with amazing carvings and paintings that told the whole history of the tribe. We were looking at eco-tourism and sustainability, and the main attraction in Kaikoura is the plentiful marine life.
oh, and I nearly forgot (not)... I SWAM WITH DOLPHINS!!!! It was an incredible experience... really not what I pictured swimming with dolphins to be. I've always thought of it as a pretty exploitative, touristy, cheesy thing to do, but the company we went with was really good and took their ethical responsibilities to the dolphins really seriously. So we swam with a pod of 150-200 really playful and inquisitive Dusky Dolphins for a good 45 minutes. They are amazing animals -- so graceful underwater. They'd surge up around us and whiz around in circles checking us out, then zoom away to look at someone else. It was SO AMAZING, in case you didn't pick up on that. So some pictures:
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| Suited up and excited to swim, but awestruck by the scenery in the meantime. The mountains come right down to the sea. |
-- Hanmer Springs: A really cutsy little mountain town with geothermal springs...we had 24 hours off there and I wandered around in the foothills for the day and ate cheese and crackers by a stream and met really nice kiwis who gave me directions.
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| Me at said stream. |
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
PICTURES! OMG!
A few days ago we went to volunteer on the island of Motutapu in the Hauraki Gulf, a bit offshore from Auckland. The island has a long history of cattle and sheep ranching, so they're trying to restore about a third of it back to native bush. The other two thirds have cool archeological and historical sites on it from Maori settlements and early European occupation. So we planted about 400 native plants -- that's a lot of holes. But the ground was nice and soft because it has rained Every. Single. Day. we've been here so far (except 2, to be fair). So there was of course a nice little downpour in the middle of planting, but for the most part, it looked like this:
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| That's right! It's a photo!!! Of the mainland from Motutapu Island. |
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Opoutere
When I walked outside my room this morning the first thing I saw was a huge rainbow over the Hunua mountains... it was a good day. It was the first really chill day we've had... I made a kite (we're in the midst of a VERY large storm... last night the power went out (we all played cards by the light of our headlamps) and there has been some pretty intense winds. It was nice today, but we're due for more weather this evening and tomorrow).
We're back at EcoQuest after spending the week on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula in a little town called Opoutere. Basically, I went from field work meaning sitting in the middle of the desert in the dust measuring rock track depths to field work meaning sitting in the middle of tidal flats in the estuary in mud up to my ankles counting shellfish. It was awesome... we were helping in a shellfish monitoring program across the Haukuri Gulf region (Northern NZ), so we went out at low tide three days in a row to record how many cockles, wedge shells and welks were present across the estuary. The first day was windy, the second morning was pouring rain and super cold, and the last day was just the most perfect weather ever.
We also got to explore a little bit... we hiked up to the top of a hill near the hostel we were staying at. It was the site of an old Maori Pa, or fortress, and you could tell why the tribe had chosen to build it there: we could see for miles (it seemed) and had a really nice overlook of the whole harbour and valley, and it was kind of steep climb up. There wasn't much left of the settlement -- just shell middens. They ate a lot of shellfish! Not so surprising, really...
Tomorrow we are going to an island called Motutapu near Auckland to help out with a community restoration day... should be fun, especial with the wind. It might get canceled because of the weather, which would be a bummer. but so far so good.
smiles!
We're back at EcoQuest after spending the week on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula in a little town called Opoutere. Basically, I went from field work meaning sitting in the middle of the desert in the dust measuring rock track depths to field work meaning sitting in the middle of tidal flats in the estuary in mud up to my ankles counting shellfish. It was awesome... we were helping in a shellfish monitoring program across the Haukuri Gulf region (Northern NZ), so we went out at low tide three days in a row to record how many cockles, wedge shells and welks were present across the estuary. The first day was windy, the second morning was pouring rain and super cold, and the last day was just the most perfect weather ever.
We also got to explore a little bit... we hiked up to the top of a hill near the hostel we were staying at. It was the site of an old Maori Pa, or fortress, and you could tell why the tribe had chosen to build it there: we could see for miles (it seemed) and had a really nice overlook of the whole harbour and valley, and it was kind of steep climb up. There wasn't much left of the settlement -- just shell middens. They ate a lot of shellfish! Not so surprising, really...
Tomorrow we are going to an island called Motutapu near Auckland to help out with a community restoration day... should be fun, especial with the wind. It might get canceled because of the weather, which would be a bummer. but so far so good.
smiles!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The Pinnacles
So, I love my hiking boots. I moaned a lot about having to get them in the first place, but they are basically the best thing ever. Context:
Twelve of us went on an overnight backpacking jaunt this weekend up to a lovely spot called "The Pinnacles" on Coromandel Peninsula (which is right across the bay from EcoQuest). It's a three/four hour hike up to the top, where there is a REALLY snazzy backpacker hut and some tent-pitch spots, and then another half hour or so up to the peak. We planned to hike up to the hut on Saturday, pitch camp (who needs a roof and bunks when you have tents and sleeping bags), and climb up to the top for sunrise on Sunday.
The hike up was lovely... lots of treeferns, crazy jungle scenery, picturesque springs along the path, rain... wait, what was that last thing? Oh yeah, Pinnacles happens to be the second wettest spot in New Zealand. So it started drizzling as soon as we started up the track, and started pouring as soon as we went to set up camp, and continued all night long and well into the morning. We cooked dinner in the hut, where they had gas stoves and solar lighting, and talked with a bunch of New Zealand hikers. They looked at us like we were absolutely nuts as we started packing up to head back down to our tents.
The night really wasn't that bad... the tent I was in did a really good job keeping out the water out. The rain was just super loud. Anyway, we got up at 5 anyway to head up to the Pinnacle... didn't end up leaving until 6, but the semi-dawn was very useful, since the ascent involved vertical ladders, steel pegs driven into sheer stone slabs, and some pretty fun scrambles. I loved it. The views stayed a little mysterious behind the clouds, but huge stone pillars and dramatic cliffs would loom through the mist when the wind changed.
Anyway, back to my boots: the trail down was a stream. Literally. The entire mountainside just poured water out of every possible nook and cranny. So those waterfalls that were so pretty the day before were even more amazing. And my feet stayed dry, since it was generally pretty shallow and/or I could avoid deep parts. So yeah, hiking boots + New Zealand = good idea.
On an unrelated note, we are going Opoutere (pronounced Ah-po-tear-ee) on tuesday for a week to study the Wharekawa Estuary and participate in a community driven shell-fish monitoring program. We'll be back on Friday, and then have a week back here before we leave for the South Island for a month-ish. I wont take my computer when we travel, so I probably wont post anything during the trips... you'll just have to wait to hear about it. and pictures... I'm working on that. I know that everyone is on the edge of their seats in anticipation. right.
smiles!
Twelve of us went on an overnight backpacking jaunt this weekend up to a lovely spot called "The Pinnacles" on Coromandel Peninsula (which is right across the bay from EcoQuest). It's a three/four hour hike up to the top, where there is a REALLY snazzy backpacker hut and some tent-pitch spots, and then another half hour or so up to the peak. We planned to hike up to the hut on Saturday, pitch camp (who needs a roof and bunks when you have tents and sleeping bags), and climb up to the top for sunrise on Sunday.
The hike up was lovely... lots of treeferns, crazy jungle scenery, picturesque springs along the path, rain... wait, what was that last thing? Oh yeah, Pinnacles happens to be the second wettest spot in New Zealand. So it started drizzling as soon as we started up the track, and started pouring as soon as we went to set up camp, and continued all night long and well into the morning. We cooked dinner in the hut, where they had gas stoves and solar lighting, and talked with a bunch of New Zealand hikers. They looked at us like we were absolutely nuts as we started packing up to head back down to our tents.
The night really wasn't that bad... the tent I was in did a really good job keeping out the water out. The rain was just super loud. Anyway, we got up at 5 anyway to head up to the Pinnacle... didn't end up leaving until 6, but the semi-dawn was very useful, since the ascent involved vertical ladders, steel pegs driven into sheer stone slabs, and some pretty fun scrambles. I loved it. The views stayed a little mysterious behind the clouds, but huge stone pillars and dramatic cliffs would loom through the mist when the wind changed.
Anyway, back to my boots: the trail down was a stream. Literally. The entire mountainside just poured water out of every possible nook and cranny. So those waterfalls that were so pretty the day before were even more amazing. And my feet stayed dry, since it was generally pretty shallow and/or I could avoid deep parts. So yeah, hiking boots + New Zealand = good idea.
On an unrelated note, we are going Opoutere (pronounced Ah-po-tear-ee) on tuesday for a week to study the Wharekawa Estuary and participate in a community driven shell-fish monitoring program. We'll be back on Friday, and then have a week back here before we leave for the South Island for a month-ish. I wont take my computer when we travel, so I probably wont post anything during the trips... you'll just have to wait to hear about it. and pictures... I'm working on that. I know that everyone is on the edge of their seats in anticipation. right.
smiles!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Te Ao Maori (the World of the Maori)
Today we were officially welcomed by the local Maori Iwi (tribe) with a Powhiri (Poe-fi-dee: welcoming ceremony... for future reference, "wh"="f") at the nearby Marae (MAR-eye: Maori meeting house/church/ancestral home place). We've been learning about Maori culture, language, beliefs and history for the past few days, so it was really interesting to actually participate in their way of life. The Maori place a lot of emphasis on ancestry and ancestral honour, so the powhiri is basically a meeting of our ancestors and their ancestors, carried out though us, the living. Before this meeting, we (us EcoQuesters new to the area) are strangers and potential threats, but once we have "exchanged breath" during the ceremony, we become "people of the land" -- honorary members of the tribe. [An aside: the exchanging of breath is a pretty important part of Maori greeting. The Hongi (hong-ee) is basically like the french cheek kiss (except closer): when two people meet, you shake hands and press your forehead and nose together. It definitely emphasizes the differences between cultures' personal space bubbles... it feels really strange to be that close to someone's face the moment you meet them! ]
The ceremony started with us waiting nervously outside the gate to the Marae... apparently, time moves a little differently on a Marae, so things take as long as they take. So we weren't all that sure how long we would be there. But, they didn't keep us waiting too long; we soon heard the call/chant that signaled it was time to start. We walked across the courtyard, women in front (as a sign of good faith... visitors put the most vulnerable party members first with the warriors behind them) and then filed into our seats inside the Wharenui (far-eh-new-ee: the ancestor's house). We were met by 6 elder members of local tribe. Most of the members have spread out to Aukland and elsewhere, so there isn't a very big presence locally. The highest elder gave us a welcoming speech, which was followed by a song, and then our director thanked them and we sang (in Maori... I think I may actually be fairly competent in the language at the end of this... at least with nouns). The songs are meant to support the speaker and add to their honour and status. Then we hongi-ed, and then shared food (tea and crumpets... a testament to the Englishy-ness of New Zealand), and are now officially welcome on the land. Yay!
The relations between Maori traditions and the modern world is actually pretty interesting. Maori culture is going through a renaissance after being pretty beaten down in typical colonial fashion. However, New Zealand is making a pretty concerted effort to honor a treaty drafted between the Maori and the English and redress past wrongdoings. It is, of course, a controversial issue, but it's kind of neat to think about, especially in terms of the US's policies regarding our First People. What rights to they have as the original inhabitants of the land, and what responsibilities to modern nations to respect at least the spirit of their culture?
Anyway, it's 9pm, which means it's bedtime. I've been going to sleep ridiculously early... but pretty much everyone else is also in bed by 9:30. We haven't quite figured out why a group of 25 college students is asleep by 10 and gets up around 6, but what-the-hey. Sunrises are beautiful.
smiles!
The ceremony started with us waiting nervously outside the gate to the Marae... apparently, time moves a little differently on a Marae, so things take as long as they take. So we weren't all that sure how long we would be there. But, they didn't keep us waiting too long; we soon heard the call/chant that signaled it was time to start. We walked across the courtyard, women in front (as a sign of good faith... visitors put the most vulnerable party members first with the warriors behind them) and then filed into our seats inside the Wharenui (far-eh-new-ee: the ancestor's house). We were met by 6 elder members of local tribe. Most of the members have spread out to Aukland and elsewhere, so there isn't a very big presence locally. The highest elder gave us a welcoming speech, which was followed by a song, and then our director thanked them and we sang (in Maori... I think I may actually be fairly competent in the language at the end of this... at least with nouns). The songs are meant to support the speaker and add to their honour and status. Then we hongi-ed, and then shared food (tea and crumpets... a testament to the Englishy-ness of New Zealand), and are now officially welcome on the land. Yay!
The relations between Maori traditions and the modern world is actually pretty interesting. Maori culture is going through a renaissance after being pretty beaten down in typical colonial fashion. However, New Zealand is making a pretty concerted effort to honor a treaty drafted between the Maori and the English and redress past wrongdoings. It is, of course, a controversial issue, but it's kind of neat to think about, especially in terms of the US's policies regarding our First People. What rights to they have as the original inhabitants of the land, and what responsibilities to modern nations to respect at least the spirit of their culture?
Anyway, it's 9pm, which means it's bedtime. I've been going to sleep ridiculously early... but pretty much everyone else is also in bed by 9:30. We haven't quite figured out why a group of 25 college students is asleep by 10 and gets up around 6, but what-the-hey. Sunrises are beautiful.
smiles!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Tena Tatou Katoa! Welcome!
Kia Ora (keyor-A)! Gidday!
So this is a two-fold adventure... one into sustainability and ecological responsibility in New Zealand, and the second into posting things on the inter-webs. It'll be great. There is so much to share...
This semester, I am participating in a program called EcoQuest, and am taking classes in the Ecology and Bio-geography of New Zealand, Environmental Policy, and Resource Management. For the most part, I'm situated on the North Island, about an hour southwest of Aukland City, on the Firth of Thames in a little tiny village called Whakatiwai (pronounced Fauk-a-TEA-why). There are 25 of us, and it looks like we're going from friends to family pretty quickly. The main campus is three acres right near the bay, and is covered in fruit trees, herbs, and vegetable gardens. It's early springtime, so the plum trees are flowering, there are lambs everywhere, and we're getting tastes of New Zealand summer between the cold fronts and the rain.
We went on our first tramp (aka hike) yesterday in the Hunua mountain range. It was lovely. Kiwis (New Zealanders) seem to be much more waterproof than Americans, but they're acclimating us nicely... we forged a knee-deep stream right off the bat (the rest of the hike was like having our own private puddles to squish through... it really wasn't bad because the water warmed up). We saw tons of native plants and trees, including tree ferns that grow to be 10 m high millions of climbing vines. In the evening, after we got back and we're trying to warm up a bit, we got to go soak in a nearby geothermally heated pool... talk about a wonderful end to a day! (I thought it was particularly poignant due to the pretty major Earthquake down on the South Island. We weren't affected at all here, and so far it seems that damage is limited to things, not people. It's a reminder that New Zealand geology is pretty active.. and that we make the most of it.)
So we'll see how good I am about keeping this updated... there's a lot to share, so it's only a matter of time and internet connections. I'll do my best!
smiles, Valerie
So this is a two-fold adventure... one into sustainability and ecological responsibility in New Zealand, and the second into posting things on the inter-webs. It'll be great. There is so much to share...
This semester, I am participating in a program called EcoQuest, and am taking classes in the Ecology and Bio-geography of New Zealand, Environmental Policy, and Resource Management. For the most part, I'm situated on the North Island, about an hour southwest of Aukland City, on the Firth of Thames in a little tiny village called Whakatiwai (pronounced Fauk-a-TEA-why). There are 25 of us, and it looks like we're going from friends to family pretty quickly. The main campus is three acres right near the bay, and is covered in fruit trees, herbs, and vegetable gardens. It's early springtime, so the plum trees are flowering, there are lambs everywhere, and we're getting tastes of New Zealand summer between the cold fronts and the rain.
We went on our first tramp (aka hike) yesterday in the Hunua mountain range. It was lovely. Kiwis (New Zealanders) seem to be much more waterproof than Americans, but they're acclimating us nicely... we forged a knee-deep stream right off the bat (the rest of the hike was like having our own private puddles to squish through... it really wasn't bad because the water warmed up). We saw tons of native plants and trees, including tree ferns that grow to be 10 m high millions of climbing vines. In the evening, after we got back and we're trying to warm up a bit, we got to go soak in a nearby geothermally heated pool... talk about a wonderful end to a day! (I thought it was particularly poignant due to the pretty major Earthquake down on the South Island. We weren't affected at all here, and so far it seems that damage is limited to things, not people. It's a reminder that New Zealand geology is pretty active.. and that we make the most of it.)
So we'll see how good I am about keeping this updated... there's a lot to share, so it's only a matter of time and internet connections. I'll do my best!
smiles, Valerie
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