DRP

After tomorrow, we start our DRPs! (Directed Research Proposals) which we work on for the remainder of the trip. I am PUMPED about my topic, I'm studying the Hochstetter's frog, a tiny, endangered amphibian living in the Hunua mountain ranges (see the pic, they're cute right?). I get to hike through the mountains finding these little buggers, collecting data, and writing a paper and presenting to the local Dept. of Conservation authorities. They said excellent papers in the past have even been published! I am so psyched about this; it's my own data, my own paper, and my own project! For the first time in college as a science major, I finally get to do oringinal research. I'm antsy to finish this poopy final exam and get started!

sniff sniff

For the first time since being here, I have a legitimate cold. It was kind of unavoidable, when one person got sick, the rest of us were bound to ("hey, can I borrow your chapstick?" "hey, are you done with your spoon and cereal bowl?" "hey, wanna finish my ice cream cone?" we are GROSS). It's weird having a cold and it being summer weather outside; seems kind of unfair actually. Anyway, I'm a sniffling, coughing, dripping mess of a person today, and I'm not a fan. My roommate, Kayla, was sent here with about a thousand herbal supplements by her mom, and has started popping a vitamin C every time I blow my nose in an effort to avoid catching the bug.

(Pretend like this was yesterday)

Happy Belated Birthday to my Dad back in the States!

(Looking for this picture just now has reminded me that I should probably upload some more recent family photos to my laptop. This is circa... 2008?)

Time difference

Sunday, April 3, daylight savings ends and New Zealand "falls back." Since the States "spring forward" at this time of year, the time difference between the US and NZ will now be 16 hours (8 hours behind on any given day, but I'm still one day ahead).

Example: at 8pm on Saturday in the States, it is noon on Sunday in NZ.

It's hard for me to wrap my mind around.

South Island week 3: Spring Break

It was kind of hard to write up what we did in Kaikoura and Nelson Lakes, because both of those happened weeks ago. But spring break was just last week, and it was a blast. I'll try not to be such a boring blogger!

We got dropped off in Nelson on Thursday, and all went out as a group that night, before splitting up the next morning for everyone to do their own thing. There were 6 groups, two went hiking in Abel Tasman (this beautiful coastal region on the tip of the S.Island) one group paddled for 3 days, kayaking through the Marlborough Sound, one rented a car to go climbing out west, and one group went across the bay to Wellington. Morgan and I stayed pretty city the first couple days. We stayed at different hostels in Nelson and Picton, whichever were closest to the things we wanted to do. We met so many people traveling this way. Everyone staying in hostels is a 20-something, and usually backpacking.

Yes we're college students on spring break (hence the little black dresses) but yes we have also been backpacking for 3 weeks (hence the rain jackets... dressing for all weather conditions is our everyday fashion statement)

 We met people every day to hang out with at night, including a couple of locals who showed us around Nelson on Friday.

 Hostel in Nelson (Paradiso). $25 a night! Why would you ever stay in a hotel, seriously.

 We cooked every dinner in the hostel kitchens, only going out to eat once (for lunch out on the patio of this Nelson brewery) as a special treat. This meant a lot of fairly romantic meals for two like the one pictured above haha

 Marchfest in Nelson on Saturday (like Oktoberfest, but in NZ! All local breweries. You got the half-pint glass when you came in, and could go to different stalls to fill up throughout the afternoon. We got to try really awesome beers (a huge change from our usual "buy the cheapest 30 rack" style of booze-choosing) with funny names like "mousey tongue," "fuggle hop," "civil disobedience," and "uber pils." 

 Another great thing about festivals: local live music. We saw a couple of bands here, some awesome (The Eastern were an alt-bluegrass group) and some very different (The Barons of Tang, pictured here. 2 sets of drums, a stand-up bass, a sax, a clarinet, a guitar, and a lead singer who thought he was Russell Brand. Self-described genre was "gypsy deathcore" which was actually pretty accurate. Reminded me of what a Tim Burton circus might sound like)

 Hostel #3, The Villa, in Picton. ($26 a night) The whole back was open, with wooden porch furniture, Christmas lights, hanging potted plants, a fire pit, and a hot tub. How I think I'd like my back porch to look when I have a real house.

We went for a bike ride on Sunday, and were going to go fishing before realizing we'd have no idea what to do if we caught a fish. Monday was our most outdoorsy day: we took a boat through the Marlborough Sound and went hiking on the Queen Charlotte Track. Perfect weather and an easy, 5k hike took up the afternoon, and when we got back, we met up with the 6 kayakers! We had tacos with them and went out later to this Irish place with a couple people we picked up at the Villa.

The least outdoorsy-twosome on spring break--though ya couldn't tell from this picture ;-)

 Now for the most exciting part: SKYDIVING ON TUESDAY!!! The last day of break, Kathryn's 21st birthday, and a super warm, cloudless day. Kathryn, Sibley, Kayla, Eli, Annalea, and I went skydiving over Abel Tasman at 13,000 ft.

 tiiight goggles (good thing too, your eyes would dry right off I feel like. Once you open your chute and stop free falling, you take them off so you can see clearly!)

 the dinky little plane that took us up (3 skydivers at a time)

 Look at this badass group!!!

 happy 21st!! (recognize that dress she's wearing? It's mine :)

I want to be 21 toooooo!!

South Island week 2: Nelson Lakes

In Nelson Lakes we learned about beech forest ecology and invasive mammals, doing day hikes through the surrounding forests to look at traps. There were mammal traps ALL over this area, it was supposed to be a high-intensity control area. Basically, they are trying to eradicate every mammal from NZ, we also received a somewhat disturbing speech/video about how they kill deer (it involves a helicopter chasing them around the mountains with a shotgun...)

 This is my favorite view of New Zealand yet. All the coastal cliffs and bluffs are amazing, but the mountains are my FAVORITE part. Pittsburgh is pretty mountainous, but not like this.

Most of the beech tree trunks were covered in this black tree fungus (which loves the honeydew. See all the sugary, silky strings coming off the trunk? There's a sweet drop on the end of each one). It made the forest look very spooky, because all the trunks were black with little bits of white showing through.

Overall, this week was fairly slow compared to other weeks, we were all just kind of antsy to start our spring break and not be supervised for a while.

South Island week 1: Kaikoura

 

Getting super close to seals on the drive to Kaikoura

In Kaikoura, we stayed at a marae (<spiritual house) with the local Maori. I was kind of intimidated going into it, because we learned all these RULES about things that were offensive to Maori.

Don't sit on tables or counters

Don't drink or eat in certain rooms

Don't wear your shoes inside

Greet people with a forehead/nose tap, and grasp their arm above the elbow

So I was just so nervous about the whole situation, thinking it was going to be high-stress. It ended up being totally the opposite though, it was the most comfortable I've felt this whole trip actually. They're big on singing and belonging as part of their culture. All 25 of us slept in this big room called the Wharenui (fair-a-new-ee) which was so cool, every wall panel was a neon-colorfully painted carving that told a story of a part of their past, and we slept in rows on the floor like a slumber party. It was cool to be able to talk to everyone before we fell asleep, but if you weren't one of the first asleep, you lay there awake amid a cacophony of snoring and sleep noises forEVER (as I soon discovered). I would have loved to take pictures of this, but we weren't allowed for religious reasons. The whole marae was on a cliff facing the ocean (whale-watching is Kaikoura's #1 industry) and the buildings were surrounded by patios, rose bushes, peach trees, and giant, bird-like statues. A sweet spot.

The last night, everyone had to participate in this goodbye celebration, talent-show sort of deal. Morgan and I did a duet with her playing the guitar ("Anyone Else But You" by the Moldy Peaches. Pretty freaking adorable) which was slightly terrifying. I don't like singing in front of people, but the group is SO tight by this point, I could've been the world's worst singer and they still would've cheered and told me I was alright. 

The next day we went on a boat out into the deep ocean to look at pelagic seabirds. We loaded up onto 2 boats with wetsuits and a kiwi skipper on each to look at albatross: a GIANT bird that feeds on the water, they are huge, with wingspans of over 3m on the males (I'm 1.64m tall, to give you an idea). When we were out there though, we found a huge pod of dusky dolphins!! We killed the motor, suited up, and then SWAM with wild dolphins in the ocean!!!!

(I tried to upload a video here, but even after 8 hours of uploading, EcoQuest's second rate internet still just could not handle it)

Dolphins are super smart, and super cool. The jumps and flips and all that they do are just for fun! They don't play any other natural role. Very cool. They were playing with us under the water, and if you dove down, they'd circle around you. They probably thought we were mentally-retarded seals or something, who didn't know how to swim very well and made more squeaking noises than they did. It was fantastic

 See the town on the peninsula? (click the picture for a bigger version I believe) This is from our hike. So pretty, and the waters around Kaikoura are teeming with orcas, dolphins, seals, and giant seabirds. The whole economy of the town depends on those guys.

 And more of our hike, this above picture is so typical NZ I hardly know what to do with myself. Watch where you step.

'ello gulls (mine?)

We spent our weekend off in Hanmer Springs, where I only took dumb pictures of us doing stupid stuff, so I don't really think any of them are worth posting. But Hanmer Springs was just surrounded by green mountains, everywhere you looked. I couldn't get enough of it. Everyone in our little group said Hanmer looked just like Colorado. My original life plan was to live somewhere, anywhere warm as soon as I got the chance, but this trip has changed my mind. I am headed for Colorado. I want to live in the mountains, I'm serious about this. Maybe I'll winter somewhere warm... or take up skiing or something. This trip to the South Island has made me realize I want to live somewhere where I can look off the porch and see beautiful things every day (and there are worse things than cozy hats and thermals)