Students are on the road again heading north from Christchurch up to the Waipara and Kaikoura areas. Spotty or no WIFI so they will blog as able or when they get back. Stay tuned...
Showing posts with label Traveling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Traveling. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Thursday, July 14, 2022
July 13 & 14
JULY 13, 2022
The crew woke up to the familiar grey sky and rain in Greymouth today. We loaded our bags into the gatorwaka bright and early and headed to Maggie's for breakfast for the last time.
After our delicious breakfast we bought some sandwiches and pies for lunch (from Maggie's) and began the drive back to Christchurch through Arthur's Pass. |
| The crew posing with Allen (co-owner of Maggie’s) |
The rain persisted so in an attempt to wait out the peak of it we had tea time at the local cafe and prayed to the weather gods.
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| Waiting out the weather in the warmth |
Luckily, our prayers were answered and together we hiked and climbed the icy steps (up 150 meters) to Devils Punchbowl Falls. The waterfall itself is 131 meters tall and well worth the cold and rainy hike!
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| Look at how tall! |
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| Some of us are more wet than others |
After hiking back we decided to stay for an extra 30 minutes in the local town with the hopes of seeing a Kea. Unfortunately, only a few of us managed to see a brief glimpse of one but we gave it our best try! Then we piled back into the gatorwaka and continued our journey back to Christchurch.
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| Our final picture in Arthur’s Pass |
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| Can you see the rainbow? It’s in the center and in front of the mountain! |
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| We look so tiny in comparison to the limestone rocks |
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| Native New Zealand falcon via Ava’s incredible camera |
We were given an hour to explore the area and as you can see we had a lot of fun!
Veronica sliding in the snow
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| Veronica in her element |
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| Charisse, Veronica, and Nico atop one of the many boulders |
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| Ryan eating the rocks (?) but looking more like a baby bird |
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| Nico playing dead |
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| Taking a bite of the donut |
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| A better quality photo but without me in it |
We arrived safely to Christchurch and the dorms around 5:30pm. I’m thankful to be back to Christchurch’s slightly warmer and less rainy weather. We’re all excited for what the next day brings!
P.S.
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| This is Debriana’s official submission to the snowman competition |
We woke up to beautiful clear skies in Christchurch this morning! Our first activity of the day was to go to the Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research center and attend a lecture from Dean Anderson about the mammal pests in New Zealand. His lecture explained the troubling paradigm of having to kill animals (invasive mammals) to do conservation (for the native species). Unfortunately, 40% of New Zealand’s land bird species are extinct since human occupation began 750 years ago. But there is still hope for the remaining bird species if New Zealand is able to reduce the brush tail possum, stoat, and rat populations across the country.
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| Dean Anderson’s lecture |
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| My group planning to add more green spaces to campus |
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| The other group planning to reduce monoculture lawns |
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| Gregory Gator contributed by Ryan |
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| Felicity contributed by Veronica |
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| The view from the top |
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| Group photo at the top of the mountain (I’m a bit muddy haha) |
After lunch we hiked back down and took a short drive over to Lyttelton. We did a bit of shopping around before settling down at Coffee Culture for tea time.
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| A shop kitty I saw in the town |
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| Tea time! |
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| Ryan found some toys to play with in the corner |
At around 4pm we headed back to the dorms. There was a tunnel on the way and everyone attempted to hold their breath through it but no one succeeded (it was a very long tunnel).
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| Nico enjoying the tunnel while simultaneously making the gatorwaka smell like car fumes |
These past two days have been quite eventful :) We’re all super excited to do restoration tomorrow morning and then (hopefully) have time to work on our journals in the afternoon. See you tomorrow!
Kia ora!
~ Hanna
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Last full day on the west coast
Once again, the skies were grey in the town of Greymouth and we headed back to Maggie’s for another hot breakfast. This time, they made vegan pancakes and also prepared our lunches for the day. It was still raining by the time we were done with breakfast, so we changed our plans and decided to shop around town.
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| Breakfast at Maggie’s |
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| Ashley’s also joining the Saturday Brunch Bunch |
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| Shopping around Greymouth |
After finding some souvenirs, we climbed back in the gatorwaka and headed to the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki, part of Paparoa National Park. We noticed a hint of Florida, while we drove by nīkau palm trees and learned that this is the southern limit of nīkau palm trees in New Zealand. Once we arrived at the pancake rocks, we did some more shopping and then walked the short trail. We saw some incredible views and learned about the erosional coast and limestone rocks!
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| Entering the Pancake Rocks trail |
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| Group picture at the Pancake Rocks! |
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| Veronica on her throne |
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| Figures in the pancake rocks |
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| More pancake rocks and a blowhole |
We then began our journey back in the opposite direction to the Crèche du Bois Gentil (Friendly Forest Crèche for kiwi) Kiwi Crèche, in hopes to see the endangered birds and restore some of their habitat. Once we arrived, we met a ranger, Christy Owens, who works for the Paparoa Wildlife Trust and she answered our endless questions. We learned that they take the kiwi eggs, hatch them in a facility to improve their chances of survival, and then keep the chicks in the crèche for about a year. After this year, they release them into the wild in the Paparoa National Park. Also, kiwis live until around 65 years old! Using a transmitter and a receiver, we located a chick named Turiwhate, and Christy performed a monthly wellness check on her. We even got to take pictures and pet the kiwi! It’s hard to express how cute the kiwi really was!
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| Turiwhate, the cutest kiwi! |
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| Christy performing a wellness check |
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| Entering the predator proof fence of the crèche |
We also planted some native trees to help with restoration of the crèche!
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| Tree planting with George! |
To finish off the day, we headed to Hokitika for a Thai dinner and glow worms. The worms lit up the walls of the dell and resembled stars in the sky! Today was another full and exciting day on the west coast!
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| The town of Hokitika |
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| Glow worms in the dell |
Kia ora!
-Haiden
Sunday, July 10, 2022
Placeholder July 10th, 2022 Croesus Track Hike
If weather permits, students will be hiking the Croesus Track today, tonight, and tomorrow. No WIFI so they will post about their adventures on late Sunday/early Monday (USA)/Monday night (NZ) time when they get back to the hotel.
Saturday, July 9, 2022
Journey to Greymouth!
Goblin (Forest) Blocks Our Path
Today marked the first day of our trip the West Coast. We all loaded up in the gatorwaka bright and early and headed out towards the western alps via Lewis Pass. On our way over we stopped at a mystical forest called the “Goblin Forest” (Alpine Nature Walk). The trees were covered in lichen and the entire place had an ethereal feel. After walking about 10 minutes out we all spread out to look for the elusive bird’s nest fungus, a tiny fungus shaped like a bird’s nest, complete with eggs. As we walked, the soft ground deflated under our feet and the cold rain and wind beat against us. Luckily, we successfully located lots of the bird’s nest fungus, along with lots of other fungi that Colin was happy to identify. Freezing and soaking, we ventured to our next stop.
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| Looking for ‘shrooms |
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| Found them! |
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| The lake on the goblin forest |
Through the City of Light
Rain pounding against the gatorwaka, we made it through Lewis Pass and into Reefton, the City of Light. At a local museum (at an NZ iSite), we learned more about the history of the city, along with New Zealand as a whole. We learned that the city got its monicker because it was the first town in the Southern Hemisphere to have electric streetlights. After stocking up on goodies from the gift shop, we continued on our journey.
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| Veronica participates in museum activities |
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| Ashley does not participate in museum activities |
Arrival!
A couple hours later, the gatorwaka was trashed from all the snacks we had eaten, but we had finally arrived at our destination, the town of Greymouth. True to its name, the sky was grey and fog prevented us from seeing the mountains we had just passed through. Everyone was starving, so we went to a local Asian restaurant. The food was great and everyone left satisfied, especially me. We then made a short stop at a local supermarket to get supplies for our hike tomorrow and made peanut butter and boysenberry jelly sandwiches for meals. I am nervous but excited for tomorrow.
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| Colin and his minions |
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| Dinner! |
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| Supermarket Selfie |
That’s it for me! ✌️
- Ryan
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Tuesday, July 5th: Hinewai
Hello again! I had to post this blog a day late due to lack of cell service or wifi.
Our morning started off with an early drive to Hinewi Reserve. We took the half mile hike to where we were sleeping, and were greeted with 10 comfy bunks.
After dropping off our things, we began our hike. Dr. Hostetler said this would be a three hour hike, but it ended up taking five hours to complete. Granted, since he had last been in Hinewi, there was a really bad flooding incident last December (firsthand account by Hugh D. Wilson, Botanist and Caretaker of Hinewai) that created many dangerous slips.
During our hike, we were greeted by waterfalls that were perfect places to fill up our water bottles. We also saw a giant totara tree that we made sure to hug. Shaking the trees to mimic the ancient Moa, we even attracted tomtit birds. The views of the ocean were amazing when we could see through breaks between the trees.
Nico filling up his water at the waterfall
Ryan shaking the tree to act like a Moa
Sheep farm!! They were afraid of us which means no petting them :(
The beach view, so gorgeous.
Posing at Hinewai before our hike
The view of the beach from our hike.
At the end of our hike, after munching down on snacks from the Gatorwaka, we took another little walk to see the coast. Unfortunately, to get there we had to walk through a sheep farm, and with a sheep farm came plenty of sheep poop. Yet the destination was worth it. We collected rainbow New Zealand abalone, paua, shells and sat on the rocks. On the way back, we got to visit a Hinewai caretaker helper, Tricia, and her Kākāriki (“small green parrot”), which were extirpated from the area.
Sheep farm!! They were afraid of us which means no petting them :(
The kākāriki!!
Finally back at our lodging, while our lasagna was cooking, we were told many stories about Hinewai by Hugh, the caretaker of the 900+ Hectares of land. He told us of the history of the area and of his “hands-off” management practices. Afterwards, we ate, played some games, and looked at the stars. We could see the milky way and thousands of stars, it was incredible.
Hugh telling us all his stories by the fire.
The milky way late at night.
See you tomorrow,
Maya
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