South Island Study Break Trip

In the middle of October, fresh out of lectures but not yet ready to face the reality of exams, Alexis and I took off for a week to explore the South Island, which had been our home for so many weeks already.

Dunedin

Our first stop was Dunedin, where we connected with Alice, one of the NZ staff members from our study abroad group.  We walked around the town a bit, since there was a street art fair going on, and lots of murals were going up.


In the evening we headed to the beach and ran across the sand, eager to see some penguins!  We had to be careful around the massive sea lions that were lounging around, but they seemed pretty content to lie there without bothering us.  As we were walking across the beach, we saw a yellow-eyed penguin amble past.  This was a fortunate surprise!  Usually penguins are very shy and won't come to the beach if they see you.  To encourage more to come, we climbed up to the penguin blinds:  little huts with slit windows we could watch through without bothering the penguins.  We saw some little blue penguins zipping around in the waves, but no one else came up on the beach.  But here are some pictures, courtesy of the internet.

The next day we visited the museum, mainly playing in the kids' section, until it was time for First Flight, the releasing of the butterflies in the Butterfly Jungle!  It was so much fun!  There were butterflies everywhere!  They landed on my face and head, and I carried some around on my hands.  They were so bright and cheerful.  It was just lovely.

After that we explored the rest of the museum.  There was a big section on Maori history and culture, and a huge exhibit on the animals of New Zealand, from plesiosaurs to penguins.  Alexis was giddy at all the fossils!  It was a great stop, and I wish I could have spent more time there, but we had to rush quickly off to the Cadbury factory for our tour!  At the factory we got to see the basic steps in making chocolate, as well as taste-test a bit of it ourselves.  It would have been cool to see the machinery working, but it was the weekend, so our tour was a bit more limited.  After that, we rushed to the bus and made it just in the nick of time (with Alice's help) to take off for the next part of our adventure.

Milford Sound (Piopiotahi)

After a night in Queenstown we bused out to Milford Sound.  It was a bit drizzly, which was concerning as we planned on freedom camping the first night.  Even through the drizzle, though, the views were highly impressive.  Upon arrival we didn't waste any time, but straight away walked up the road in search of a suitable place to camp.  It was quite a struggle, but eventually we found a flat, relatively open place in the woods, set up our tent, and settled in for the night.

The next morning dawned bright and beautiful.  We started our day with a morning cruise up Milford Sound, which is actually a fiord (since it was carved out by glaciers).  The views were just stunning.  You could follow the little trickle of a waterfall straight up the sheer cliffs to the snowline.  The trees clung to the rock sides only thanks to the adhesion of lichen.  Everywhere there were little rainbows and soaring snowy peaks.  It was simply gorgeous.

As we turned around at the Tasman Sea and headed back, some bottlenose dolphins came to play in our wake.  We also surprised a fiordland crested penguin!  The dolphins stuck around for quite a while, playfully diving over and under one another in the foamy water.

The weather was lovely, so we spent the rest of our time there walking short hikes and enjoying the views.

Queenstown

In Queenstown we had to pass on the bungee jumping, but we did go ziplining by the Kawarau Bridge, which was lots of fun.  Then we wandered the town a little bit and ended up at the Kiwi birdlife park, where we got to see some frisky kiwis and a variety of other birds including kea, weka, and New Zealand falcon.  We also saw a conservation show, kiwi feeding, and tuatara.

Fox Glacier

My last stop was Fox Glacier, where I did a bit of hiking through the rain forest up to Glacier View, caught a helicopter ride over both Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers, and biked up to Lake Matheson.  I was fortunate to have nice weather almost the whole time, so I really got to enjoy the hikes and the views.  

I wrapped up my adventure on Sunday by taking the Tranzalpine railway through the Southern Alps, back to Christchurch.

Thanks everyone for keeping up with my adventures!

A Star-Studded Outing

On the weekend of October 3rd I went to Mackenzie Basin with some friends from church.  Katherine lived in the area, so she drove us down and showed us around.  Thomas, Dan, and Becca came, too.  We got a late start but had a pleasant ride down, with lots of singing, story-telling, and muffin-munching.  When it got dark I was glued to the window to catch the first glimpse of the stars--the Mackenzie Basin is an International Dark Sky Reserve, home to some impressive stargazing.

We arrived late at night and set up our tents quickly in the dark before making pizza in the kitchen.  We ended up staying awake quite late enjoying waffles, nutella, German coffee, and good company.  At last we each took our hot water bottles to our tents and braved the first chilly night.

The following day was filled with amazing views from start to finish.  First thing in the morning we walked down by Lake Tekapo and took in the sights.  Then we drove up to Lake Pukaki, a brilliant turquoise lake with fantastic views of the mountains, especially Aoraki, or Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand.  There was hardly a cloud in the sky.  Even Aoraki, which is usually shrouded, had cast off his cloak for us on that fine day.

We drove up to the Hermitage at Mt. Cook village, glimpsing some snowflakes on the way.  The weather was nice when we arrived, but we put on a few layers too keep warm and partook of some Cadbury chocolate to keep our strength up, just in case.  We needn't have worried.  The trail was sunny and warm, not to mention gorgeous!  Snowy mountain peaks surrounded us as we crossed soaring bridges over seafoam-green glacial rivers.  The vegetation was bright and festive, and Aoraki stood tall in front of us almost the entire way.  We had a lot of fun on the way up.  We sang Frozen, scaled rocks, and visited a little cabin with a great view.  We finally reached the end of the trail and were greeted by a lake adorned with icebergs and stopped up on the far end by a glacier.  We tossed rocks onto some of the closer ice bergs, then just relaxed in the sun.  Eventually we headed back, tired but joyful.

We struggled to stay awake during evening Mass in the cozy, warm church, but somehow we managed.  We headed back to Lake Tekapo for some stargazing: there was a free event and a clear night waiting for us.  We took our sleeping bags and wandered out into a field, arranging ourselves in the shape of a star and looking up.  The moon was huge and bright and round like a silver sun.  Its light dimmed the stars, but we could still see a decent number.  We talked about God and creation, about the cosmos and life.  We glimpsed some shooting stars.  It was lovely.  On the way out we said goodbye to the Jedi and snagged some cake.

The next day, Sunday, we started with a trip to the monument to the working dogs of New Zealand and the Church of the Good Shepherd, taking in some lovely views of Lake Tekapo while we did.  Afterward, we climbed Mt. John.  We were still exhausted, but we eventually made it up in one piece.  There was a cafe at the observatory on top, which was a welcome stop!  The views around us were amazing.  We half expected the armies of Mordor to come spilling out onto the plains.

By the end we were utterly exhausted, but we had such a good time.  It was really a great time with friends, just doing something amazing together.  What a great trip!

Wildlife at Willowbank

The time is going by so fast now!

On Sat, Sept 27th, I joined Becca and a couple of her friends on a trip to the farmers' market (which was lots of fun) and Willowbank Wildife Reserve.  The reserve is set up kind of like a zoo, and you follow a trail around the different parts to see the animals.  We started out with the eels, then wandered through, seeing all sorts of animals.  There were some very interesting birds, including a black swan, a pukeko and a golden pheasant:

The pheasant was running around on its own, so it seemed to have escaped.  It also looked like it was trying to get into one of the cages!

We saw plenty of non-native critters, including wallabies, peacocks, and ridiculously soft bunnies.  

Of course I was excited to see some native birds!  The kea had a lot of personality.  They were friendly and a little cheeky--one kept going after the bows on someone's shoes!  Then they appeared to have a meeting where they gathered and shouted at each other.

Finally, I got so see my first kiwi bird!  We went into a nocturnal enclosure, and while our eyes adjusted, we listened carefully.  I heard some rustling off the path to our left, and stared at the spot until I saw a fluffy little kiwi sifting through the leaves.  A kiwi is about the size of a big chicken with shaggy brown feathers and a long beak.  It was so neat to see!

Verso L'alto: Adventure at Lewis Pass

Hello, all.  I know I haven't been doing a great job of keeping up with the blog since spring break, but fear not--updates are coming!  My adventures have certainly continued since then.

On September 13th Becca and I met up with the Catholic tramping club in the St. Teresa's carpark.  We drove up to Lewis Pass to hike to the Ada Pass hut, hoping that the sun would come out!
We were an international group,with members from New Zealand, the US, France, England, and Germany.  The hike up was pretty wet, but nice.  The trees were coated in moss.  We crossed a number of little mountain streams, but most of the views were concealed by clouds.

On the trail we befriended a little robin named Pierre.  It was a long hike in the drizzle, but it was excellent company, so we were all chipper when we arrived at the hut.  We could finally see some mountains through the misty clouds.  We changed and heated up some water for tea, then had a beautiful Mass before dinner.  Evening activities included training in "the Cup Song," a ridiculously fun version of charades that culminated in "a community of dentists imitating a haka," and a possum named Barnabas.  Long before bed we were all best friends with each other.

The following morning we were up with the sun and had a lovely morning Mass.  The clouds had all cleared away, leaving azure skies and mountains lightly rimmed with the last of the morning fog.   We washed up in a clear mountain stream, took a group photo, and headed back across Billy Goat's Gruff bridge towards civilization and the ice cream that waited for us there.

 We said a Rosary on the way back, enjoying the nicer weather.  It did end up getting a little chillier as we went along, though, which was nice for our speedy pace!

 We made it back really quickly and made plans to reunite at the next event, our Frozen Unfrozen night.  All in all, a wonderful weekend with friends.  So much fun!

Father, Cathy, Patrick, Dan, Hillary, me, Becca, Bianca, Thomas

North on Holiday

Hello, everyone!
Last week we were on holiday, so Alexis and I trekked up to the North Island and had some grand adventures!

Our first stop was Wellington, where we were greeted in the airport by Gandalf swooping overhead on an eagle.  Shortly thereafter we dragged my rolling suitcase all the way to the Weta Caves.  That's where they make all the props for all sorts of movies, including Lord of the Rings.  There were some people still working in the shop when we got our tour.  It was really cool!  They even have a master swordsmith who forges the swords.  And they have to make about four or five of each prop for different uses in the movies,  all to the same level of intense detail.

After that, we got a great bus ride from this very nice bus driver, who took us right to our stop instead of having us catch a connection.  There we met up with our friend Leah, who's studying in Wellington.  She took us around the city, and it looks like a happening place!  We had dinner on Cuba Street, then strolled along the waterfront for their Lux festival of lights.  It was lovely.

 

The next day (Sunday) we were up with the sun.  We ran quickly to church, then sauntered over to the bus stop for our long ride to Tongariro National Park.  The weather was beautiful.  When we arrived, we ran into Becca, our friend from UC!  It was pretty late, so we just bought some wifi time and relaxed.  It's winter and not very busy, so we had our own room at the hostel.

The following morning we headed out to Whakapapa Village and the start of some hiking trails.  It was cold and drizzly, but it actually turned out to be quite pleasant for hiking.  The forest around the base of the volcanoes was great.  It was super green and mossy, and there was a racket of birdsong everywhere we went.  We even saw a type of owl called a morepork.  I kind of freaked out with excitement over all the cool plants.  When we got up into the shrubbier altitudes, the views were so pretty!  Even though it was cloudy, you could see all three volcanoes (including Mt. Doom) clearly.  Between hikes we had a warm meal at the cafe.  It turned out to be a great day.
The next day was sunny and warm again.  Go figure!

Next we bused up to Hamilton.  That was our home base for our next adventure, which was Matamata and Hobbiton!  The Hobbit village was lovely.  It was quaint and comfortable.  The level of detail that went into that entire set was amazing.  They even wired leaves onto the trees so they would look like native English trees rather than NZ flora.  At the end, we got complimentary ginger beer (non-alcoholic, in our case) at the Green Dragon Inn.  It was really good.  We said hello to Pickles, the cat, on our way out, and the entire bus ride back I watched the little knock-kneed lambs that were frolicking in the fields.



Our final adventure was to the Waitomo Glow-worm Caves.  We signed up for a tour, and right away you could tell it was a very nice cave.  It was big and open with lots of cool formations.  The coolest part of all, though, was the glow-worms.  A silent boat ride carried us down the underground river.  The only sound was the echoing drips of water.  Up above, thousands of glow-worms were scattered as little blue points of light across the black cave ceiling.  It was like a dense, bright milky-way of stars arching overhead.  It was so pretty!

Then came a long day in the airport, then some long days of finishing my homework, and here I am, back in the swing of things at Uni.

Kaikoura: Seals, Shells, and Spouts

 Hello!  Spring Break has brought a whole host of adventures!  Halfway through the first week, I left for Kaikoura for a field trip.  It was a lovely place with a beautiful view.  We are studying conservation and the co-management of resources, so we visited the field station and rahui there.  A rahui is a temporary restriction that is often used to allow a resource to replenish itself.  We worked with paua, or abalone, but more on that later.

 Last Wednesday (August 27th) we headed up, and one of the first things we saw was a fluffy cluster of fur seals!  They were supposed to be up a trail by a waterfall, but instead, we found them all curled up on the beach.  Most were snoozing, but some were playing in little pools in the rocks.  They were so cute!

The second day, we tagged paua.  We glued little yellow tags to their shells until we had a layer of superglue over our fingers.  Then we made bags out of kelp, which is the traditional way of releasing the paua.  We turned the kelp inside-out to give the paua some of the nutrients and algae on the outside, then cut slits in the side for them to escape through when they are ready.  We released some of the critters this way, but others we released with the modern method:  we set them on rocks and allowed them to crawl underneath on their own time.

 On the third day we got up early to to whale watching while the other half of the class hiked around to see a Hutton's shearwater colony.  It wasn't too eventful as far as whale watches go, but it was still really cool!  We saw albatross and a lot of fur seals, but the highlight of the trip was a sperm whale that surfaced twice during the tour.

In short, the field trip was lots of fun.  There was great food and lots of fun activities.  I've only mentioned a few of the highlights here, but it was definitely a great experience all around.