Easter Weekend with New Friends and a little bit of Chocolate

At the end of March, for Easter weekend, the University is closed from Friday until Tuesday, so I had a nice break of time. I decided to visit my new friend Ruby who lives up in the northern part of the Coromandel Peninsula.

Some of her friends in Auckland were also going up to visit the same weekend so I was able to get a ride with them. They picked me up and we set out for Ruby's. Her friends were Eva and Dom, really nice people! They both graduated from University of Auckland and we chatted about different things to do and see in Auckland. Along the way, we stopped at a fruit and veggie stand and I tried feijoas for the first time. Yum! 

Feijoas

Then we continued along and after a fish and chips stop in Thames, we took the coastal road that wound around the various curves of the mountains. Much of the road was eroding into the sea on one side and there was danger of falling rock on the other so we had to be careful on certain stretches of road. It was really nice to have a weekend away with all entirely new people, and to spend some quality time being able to talk about and understand some Kiwi perspective. About 2 hours into the drive, we stopped in Coromandel Town to pick up another girl named Aurora who was also going to visit Ruby. She is from Galicia, Spain and had brought her accordion along! How fun! I brought my pennywhistle too, so together we had some fun once we arrived.

 Ruby works at the Colville Cafe so we stopped there and saw her at work. Colville is a really small town. I was talking to some local fishermen and they couldn't believe how I had ended up in Colville from the US. After chatting for some time, we headed up to her home in the Karuna Falls Community about half an hour away. The community is composed of about 15 houses and has about 25 members. It's situated in a valley and is really gorgeous. Ruby's house is awesome! She has a big porch with a grapevine hanging over the entrance, all her electricity is from solar energy, there's lots of open space, and a beautiful garden. Her house was bustling with activity this weekend. It felt like a very interesting family reunion between people who didn't know each other but were all related in some way. Everyone had a connection through Ruby but we all hung out together and got to know each other. On Saturday we drank tea and relaxed. I taught some people origami (my constant companion is my envelope of painted origami paper, it comes with me everywhere - thanks mom!) and strung up some of the flowers we made into a chain for Ruby to hang up.

Announcement! I discovered a new tea that I am really enjoying, it's called Red Bush tea and the flavor is lemon and ginger. I had brought some cookies up, and tried out a gluten-free recipe for the gluten-free people what were there. Ruby's older sister was up for the weekend, and staying at her parent's house who live next door. Her two kids, ages 6 and 3 were adorable and kept us well entertained. We all went down to the beach right near their house and climbed the sand dunes for a breathtaking view. There were about 3 or 4 people on the big beach and Ruby and the kids were disappointed that it was so crowded. Haha that is certainly a different definition of crowded! I didn't take many pictures really on this trip but this is the beach:

Waikawau Bay

Later on, we cut up the bags and bags of apples that Ruby had and helped her bottle them into jars. The ones that wouldn't fit we set aside and made into an apple crumble. One of the people in the community had a pizza oven in their backyard and around 8pm we decided pizza for dinner was the order of the day! So we fired up the oven, and by the time everything was said and done we were sitting around a cozy pizza fire eating midnight pizzas. Very delicious, we had all kinds but mostly vegetable and gluten free. Retiring back to Ruby's I read a little and reflected on the day, then went to bed as the rain pounded outside, singing me to sleep. 

Sunday was Easter, and I awoke to some hyper children jumping on me while eating chocolate bunnies. We all got up and had some breakfast and Esther, Ruby's sister tried to teach me how to make a woven basket out of the flax in the yard. I had a really hard time with it and couldn't get past the bottom. She said it would be easier if I had pegs to hold the base down. She made a wonderful one and in the end gave it to me! It's sitting on my nightstand next to my bed.

I like to keep my tin whistle in the basket :-)

There was a big potluck lunch down at the community house so we brought chickpea curry and rice and walked down. Then Ruby hid chocolate eggs for the kids and Esther hid chocolate eggs for us! So we went hunting for these eggs around the main green. After resting and playing music and learning some hula dancing, we went on a hike up to the top of Karuna Falls where some people went swimming. It was really cold but really clear water. The view was also spectacular, it overlooked the valley and we could see some of the houses peeking out. 

 

We returned to Ruby's and drank more tea. Then we talked into the night. A bunch of people played music together and the rest of us played card games. We ate some dinner and then some more apple crumble before going to sleep.

On Monday we packed up our things and had a nice breakfast. Then we all went down to the beach again and from there headed out back to Auckland. The drive back was a little windy and I did get a little carsick but all in all it was a good drive. We stopped in Coromandel Town for a break and I tried garlic butter french fries which were amazing. We played a word association game in the car where you say two words and everyone has to guess what the connecting word is. For example, if I said hat and cut, the connecting word would be hair: hat hair and haircut. It was a fun game. We hit some traffic as everyone was returning to Auckland after a nice weekend away, and I got home around 8pm. 

No one was back yet in the apartment from their respective adventures, so I had the place to myself. Two of my roommates went to Wellington and the other one went to Australia. I did some laundry and unpacked then relaxed with you guessed it, more tea! and watched a movie then hit the bed. What a wonderful relaxing time. And most of the people I met live in Auckland so I will hopefully meet up with them again. I bumped into Aurora on campus and we decided we will definitely need to hang out more and play some more music together as well. She is really awesome. She writes stories and poetry and is always smiling. Now I am back in school for a couple weeks before another week off. I haven't planned anything for that week yet, but am working on it. I am more than halfway done with my time here. I cannot believe how fast the time is flying! I am missing everyone back home and hope you all are doing well. I love you so much!

Marching into the new Semester

After the amazing and exhausting South Island adventure at the end of February, I began my internship and class in March. More specifically, the day after getting back to Auckland! The class I am taking is an anthropology course called Music and Identity in World Music Cultures. It seems like it will be interesting so far, but too soon to tell.

 For my internship I am working with a researcher at the university, Cate Macinnis-Ng who is studying carbon and water fluxes in the Kauri Tree forests. She wants to see what the carbon  and water cycles are like in this environment since they haven't been documented before. With this information she is hoping to gain some insight into how they react to climate change and how they compare to other forest environments.  Because this summer there has been a drought in New Zealand, she is also able to use data to compare drought and wet conditions in the forest. Very interesting stuff! She works in the lab and out in the field gathering samples and performing tests at the field site in a Kauri forest 30 minutes from the city.

I happened to begin working at the time she conducts a week of intense 13 hour long field days that she does once a year. My first day at work she picked me up from the university at 5:30am and we drove out to the field site before the sun came up. I was kind of nervous for my first day, not sure what to expect or what I was expected to be able to do. We used our flashlights and carried the instruments up through the forest until we got to the site. We were soon joined by two other researchers who were also working on the study. In addition, three tree climbers arrived who were going up into the Kauri canopies to collect leaf samples for the tests. I was introduced to the group and we set about beginning the day's work. The tree climbers cut the samples and sent them down in a bag on their climbing rope, and then I ran the sample to Cate who tested their water pressure in a portable machine she had brought. It was quite simple; I needn't have been worried at all! I had to yell up to the climbers, Freddie, Rossi and Drew to tell them how many samples and what kind to get, which was a little harrowing at first, but became fun after several hours.

Our work shed at the field site

Sap flow sensors in trees and leaf litter collection basket

One of the scientists, Luitgard using the photosynthesis machine

Cate at the water pressure machine

Everyone was so nice that I was working with! The climbers were really cool and liked to joke around. Drew told me how he was hired to climb these trees in South Africa because the government wanted to know how tall they were, and while he was doing that he was bitten by a spider of some sort and almost lost his leg! Crazy! Also his team climbed an active volcano in Australia and they were featured on 60 minutes Australia. I enjoyed listening to all their stories and being so involved in the research process. Cate explained how everything was working and why. The days were long and tiring but productive and exciting at the same time. This was my first experience with fieldwork research!

 

I gave my camera to Freddie at one point and he took some pictures from up in the canopy of the trees. They were joking about letting me climb up one of the trees but we ran out of time unfortunately. Darn! I would have really like to do that!

That's me in the orange hard hat!

Freddie getting ready to go up

Drew up in a tree

After that first week, we said goodbye to our tree climbing friends and went back to the lab. Here we sorted leaf samples into different types of leaves and materials. We found some interesting things in there including a weta, a grasshopper like critter that can get huge in New Zealand. This was only a small one.

Small Weta

 

Before...

...And after!

The work is a little repetitive but I find it soothing and I am in good company with Cate so the time passes quickly. Every week we alternate between being in the lab and going out into the forest to do tests and collect samples. I like the change, it makes the job exciting. I like working with Cate. She is actually not from New Zealand, but Australia, and she happens to have grown up in Manly, the same area that my cousins are from! What a coincidence! Anyways I am also sometimes working with another intern from The Netherlands named Inga who is really cool. She is working on her master's degree currently. 

I ask a lot of questions about the project and last week I asked a question that Cate wasn't sure about, I wanted to know if the sample locations were consistently contributing the same amount each collection time. She decided to let me work on the project of trying to answer this question so we came up with a rough outline of how I would go about that and now I have my own little side project! How cool! I get to see if I can analyze the data in a new way that will contribute new information. This is my first time working on a research project, and Cate is letting me try to figure out my own questions, what a great learning experience! I am really loving my internship so far! Next week we are going back into the forest. I can't wait!

South Island Road Trip

February as a month was quite different than what I am used to back home. Usually at this time, I am just getting into the rhythm of my semester's classes and finding a new routine unique to the term; especially finding my new table at the dining hall and the good food items on the menu (the naan bread at Marciano Commons will always top this list. I just love that syrup they drizzle over it....yum). This year however, February saw finals for my summer session classes and a big break before classes beginning in March. How exciting to experience February in the summer and with no classes! I had one final at the beginning of February then one on the 20th and no classes until March. What to do with all this time?! Well study for my final of course, but I did manage to have some fun! I didn't do any big trips between the finals, but stayed around Auckland and explored more of the city I have settled into. I find that in my daily routine here, I have established certain routes and areas that I spend most of my time in. I walk from my apartment to the university, and to the grocery store, asian market and the park. Albert Park sits next to the university and I often like to sit and read or do work in the park. I recently found out that it is actually a volcano. Sometimes I make a trip to Mrs. Higgins Oven Fresh Cookies and bring a couple along to enjoy while there. Ah what a treat! I think the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies may be my favorite so far. But enough about that, it's making me hungry. So during this break I decided to venture into the other suburbs and areas of Auckland and see what there is! I went to Ponsonby which is hipster central with cafes and chic shops and bars lining the streets. Lots of cool murals and art in the park. Then there was Parnell which is a different collection of shops with a French market on Saturdays and Wednesdays. I also walked to NewMarket to get to the fabric store for my latest project, sewing a skirt. It seems to be an ongoing thing that I work on once in a while when I have time. Hopefully I will actually finish it. I enjoy walking around and seeing the different areas that Auckland has to offer. Getting out of city centre is refreshing and away from my daily route is nice.

 After my final at the end of February however, I did go on a big trip to the South Island with my roommate Erin for a week before the start of classes, and man, that was seriously the most amazing adventure. I was in awe of the amount of beauty and personality in the sparsely populated island and gained new skills such as driving on the left side of the road and learning to navigate very windy mountain roads. Of course I did it all gracefully; stress-free and effortless - my hair remained perfectly coiffed as well ;-P 

My expression during the first day of driving

Day 1

We took a shuttle to the airport and flew to Christchurch. It was a small plane, and we boarded using stairs like real jetsetters!

All packed and ready to go!

Erin boarding the plane like a jetsetter

 Once arriving in Christchurch, Erin and I picked up our rental car and started off on our 11 hour drive down to the Cascade Creek Campsite where we were supposed to meet up with some friends who had arrived earlier.  First and foremost, we stopped at Pak' n' Save, the NZ equivalent of BJs to get food for the week. Afterwards, we drove down the east coast of the island along state highway 1 and passed through many small towns, all which seemed to have their own little personality. There was one town we drove through that reminded me of the neighborhood in Edward Scissorhands; what I think of when I hear 1950s Long Island. Much of this landscape was farmland and once in a while we would end up along the coast, looking out across the Pacific Ocean - well not me, I kept my eyes on the road of course. 

After a long stretch down the east coast, we cut across the country inland towards Queenstown and traveled through long curving roads that cut through green pastured mountains. We decided if we ever needed a shower on this trip, we would just jump in one of the farmers' sprinklers. Driving for a couple hours on this stretch, we were the only car on the road for the majority of the time. It felt surreal; blasting music and singing loud in the midst of all this beauty, and at other times just driving quietly through, awed into silence. We stopped in Cromwell for a dinner break where we broke out some canned vegetable soup and crackers.

Erin in front of the giant fruit in Cromwell

 

 Then onwards past Queenstown which was lit up against the dark sky by the time we reached it. It twinkled across the black water and was gorgeous in the glow of the full moon. We drove through the dark, and stopped in Te Anau to pick up our tickets to hike the Routeburn Track the following day from the Visitor Center. They left them outside in a wooden box for us to pick up.  Continuing on along the Milford Road we finally reached the campsite in the middle of the night and found our friends and pitched our tent before collapsing in exhaustion.

Day 2

The following morning we got our first actual view of our insanely beautiful surroundings that we had missed during the night drive. Our campsite was nestled along a creek against some towering mountains. This was only a taste of what we were about to experience. 

Our campsite

Mountain in Cascade Creek Campsite

Friends getting ready in the morning!

Gorgeous Cascade Creek

We packed up our bags and tent and our friends dropped us at The Divide, one end of the 3 day Routeburn Track hike before moving our car to the other side of the track for us to pick up, and where they were starting the hike from. The Routeburn Track traverses the Southern Alps, and connects Fiordland National Park with Mt. Aspiring National Park. It is generally hiked in 3 days, but some people do it in 2. The first day was a 5 hour hike to the campsite at Lake Mackenzie, then the second day was a 7 hour hike to the Routeburn Flats campsite, and the last day was a mere hour and a half to the end.

Starting out we were all energized and excited to go, with a little dose of uncertainty of what to expect. This leg of the trek was mostly under the canopy through the forest of ferns and beech trees. We passed several waterfalls where we could fill our water bottles and have a nice refreshing rest. 

Refreshing!

An hour in, we did a side hike up to Key Summit, where we got our first glimpse of the gorgeous snow-capped mountains. Completely surrounded by these magnificent mountains was breathtaking, and being above the cloud cover was unreal. It was foggy so we didn't get clear views but it was stunning nonetheless. 

 

I'm on top of the world!

Continuing on, the path climbed steadily until we reached the campsite at Lake Mackenzie. Every time there was a break in the trees, we got a view of the mountains. I just can't get over these mountains; I'm going to keep talking about them probably for the rest of time. We had lots of fun along the way and saw so many gorgeous sites. 

Beautiful Waterfall

Me under the beautiful waterfall!

At the campsite, we rested, ate dinner along Lake Mackenzie and crashed to bed early after a walk around the area. 

Lake Mackenzie

Erin and Lisa sitting along the lake

Our campsite

Day 3

This was the longest, toughest and most rewarding day of the entire week for me. It climbed steadily upwards from the campsite until we broke above the treeline and it was at this moment I felt foolish for being awed by my previous views of the mountains. Because seriously, these mountains! And from above the treetops on a perfect day, I could not ask for anything more. Except maybe for my brother to be there, because he seriously would love this so much. I know that one day he'll make it here and see if for himself. As we hiked this leg, we kept running into a tour group of middle aged and elderly people who were hiking the track with a guide. They were from all over, but mostly from the US and Australia. 

Some new Aussie friends!

One guy from San Fransisco named Darwin was a riot. I was so impressed by this group, they were cheerful and determined. I could see my Grandma Ruth and Aunt Doris doing something like this, they were so adventurous! The whole day, I felt so small in this immense environment. It was really special to experience that. 

After we cleared the tops of the treeline

I had to....the ring made it through the Misty Mountains!

We met up with our friends who moved our car!

We arrived at our campsite Routeburn Flats and set up our tent then ate some dinner. We were sitting outside our tent when a girl walked over to us with a cup of tea and asked if she could join us. We said, why of course! And thus we were introduced to Ruby. She hiked the track alone and covered what took us two days in one....I felt extremely inadequate at this moment....and very impressed, so we dubbed her bushwoman Ruby. We chatted for a while and found out she lives in a community at the top of the Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island, only several hours drive from us in Auckland.  After talking to Ruby, we went to sleep for our last night on the Routeburn.

Dinner

Day 4

The next morning we woke, ate breakfast and finished the track. It was an easy last hour and a half to the end and I felt so accomplished and amazed that it was already over!

Celebratory photo with Ruby and Erin

We dropped Ruby off in Queenstown and got her contact information, then continued on to Milford Sound. This time, we drove the Milford Road in the daytime which was spectacular. We stopped several times along the way to do some small side hikes and eventually arrived at the Milford Sound Lodge where we were camping for the night. 

Ruby doing yoga

Just stretching our legs

On the Milford Road

Day 5

The next morning we rose early, ate some breakfast, then waited in the lodge common room for the kayak team to pick us up. We were going kayaking on Milford Sound today! I was looking forward to this for weeks! We drove to the site and changed into the polypropelene clothing they supplied, along with the kayak skirt we wore that attached to the kayak so we didn't get wet. High tech stuff, they weren't messing around!

All decked out and ready to go!

I was so excited! We loaded ourselves into the trusty sea kayaks and our group headed out onto the sound. We were with some people from Ireland, some from New Zealand, and some from England. They were all very nice. As we paddled into the Sound, I was once again rendered speechless. Although this time, it was not entirely from the beauty of the place, but also in part due to seasickness. The waves were gentle I am told, but unfortunately my body did not agree. Everyone else in the kayak group thought I was hung over. They didn't understand how I could get sick from just the waves. I managed to not vomit and it was beautiful, so in retrospect, I am really happy I did it. Just maybe not in the moment so much. We paddled down part of one side, crossed over, had lunch in the middle of the sound on our kayaks, then paddled back to see Bowen Falls before heading back into port. We did see a sea lion lounging on a rock, but no sighting of any penguins or dolphins which also live in the sound. 

On the Sound

I was still able to appreciate the view

Bowen Falls

Mitre Peak

After changing out of our gear, we headed out on our second big driving day up the west coast to Franz Josef Glacier. We drove back past Queenstown and stopped quickly at the AJ Hackett Bungy Jump Bridge, the first commercial bungy jump in the world. It was really cool, and the turquoise blue river it is suspended over was also a filming location in Lord of the Rings. It was the site at the end of the first movie where the two Pillars of the Kings stand. A private event was being held so we weren't allowed on the bridge, but it was still a nice pit stop.

AJ Hackett Bungee Jump

At this point I was a pro at the driving thing, which was good, because there were many windy roads and sharp turns on this leg. We passed Lake Wanaka and saw the rugged west coast. This side was also dotted with small towns, but the geography was more mountainous than farmland, and the towns had a very different western feel. We also passed the famous Cardrona Hotel, which is a historic site, as well as being the inspiration for the Prancing Pony in LOTR (I can't help it! my inner LOTR nerd was very happy with this).

 As the day ebbed and grew into the shadow of night, many critters came out to play. And by play, I mean sit in the middle of the road and stare me down. While there were a couple rabbits, the main critter we encountered was the Australian possum. It is an invasive pest species from, you guessed it, Australia, that is a big problem in the NZ ecosystem. I didn't kill any, but instead went around them, since they didn't move out of the way. Erin and I were beat tired by this point, having driven another 10 hours. We started to get nervous when we couldn't find the campsite, then realized we had missed it and backtracked until we found it. Because it had been so cold while camping in the South Island so far ( My sleeping bag was intended for indoor use only...), we decided to just sleep in the car, so that's exactly what we did. 

Day 6

We woke cozy and warm in the car and drove into town to where Erin was supposed to meet her tour group. She was planning on doing a tour ontop of Franz Josef Glacier which was going to be really cool. Unfortunately, the weather was bad, and it started to rain, so the helicopters were not able to run to bring them up on the glacier. They cancelled all the tours and Erin was so crestfallen at this turn of events. She had been looking forward to it all trip. We decided to continue driving onward instead of wallowing in the town, and made a spontaneous stop in the town of Hokitika. It was a cool small town and we perused the small shops and galleries. I especially liked the photography gallery we looked around in; there were some gorgeous shots of the area. Then we walked onto the beach and looked at the driftwood sculptures people from the town had made. They were really creative and looked like they were fun to make. There were also heaps of interesting rocks on this beach. I collected so many! Hopefully I'll be able to bring them all back with me. 

Driftwood fisherman

Driftwood kiwi in a tree

Driftwood Kiwis

That evening we decided to see what was playing at the local movie theater. There was only one theater and one movie playing so the decision was made for us: we watched Django Unchained.  It was just what we needed to lift Erin's spirits and turn the day around. After the movie (which we thoroughly enjoyed), we chatted happily in the car until we reached our next campsite. We again decided to sleep in the car. This night, Erin was outside and suddenly whispered to me, look! It's a kiwi!! I was so excited! On the geography trip I waited so long to see a kiwi and didn't and here one was in our campground! I grabbed a flashlight and looked around. I saw the bird waddle towards me and as it got closer I could see why she thought it was a kiwi, since the body looked the same. I then looked at the face and it had a very short, parrot-like beak. This was definitely not a kiwi. It came towards me and I jumped back into the car and locked the doors for good measure. I'm sure Erin would be fine sleeping outside. Haha of course I am not that mean, I let her back in when she got back from brushing her teeth. I am still not quite sure what that bird was. 

Day 7

On this day we continued up the coast and crossed over back to Christchurch via Arthur's Pass. This was a very nice drive, leisurely and beautiful. We did get to one point in Arthur's Pass called Death's Corner but it wasn't as scary as it sounds. We stopped at a scenic lookout to take a picture and as we returned to the car, we noticed a flock of about 6 parrot type birds called keas on the roof of a nearby vehicle. We were trying to get a picture of them on the other car when one landed on our windshield! It scared us and then started pecking at the window. I turned the windshield wipers on until it finally flew away, but we did drive for a minute with a big bird in our faces. I learned later that they have a tendency to pull out the rubber linings of windshields so I am very happy it didn't manage that. May have been a little hard to return the car if it had! 

Death's Corner

Kea on our car!

 

We arrived at our campsite in Christchurch in the afternoon so we showered for the first time all week, then headed into town. I knew Christchurch had been hit by an earthquake in 2011, but I wasn't expecting the state of destruction the city was still in. The entire city centre was blocked off and there was construction everywhere. Many buildings and churchs were in a state of ruin and it was sad to see it all. 

But amidst this sadness, creative community projects had sprung. There was a community pavilion space constructed out of pallets with a cafe and stage for music acts. There was also a temporary mall constructed out of shipping containers. Different stores were in different shipping containers that were altered and painted along this stretch. It was very cool to see.

Pallet Pavilion

Pallet Pavilion

Storage Container Mall

 We saw the memorial for the earthquake victims and the construction of the cardboard cathedral that is in the works. It will serve as a temporary cathedral for the community when it is completed.

Memorial

Cardboard Cathedral

 We finished off the evening by going to the Chinese Lantern Festival that was being held in a park. We ate yummy asian food and watched dance acts, music acts and acrobatics. Then we returned to the campsite and fell asleep in our tent for our last night on the South Island. 

Day 8

We awoke early and returned the rental car, then took a taxi to the airport. We boarded our flight and journeyed back to Auckland. We reached our apartment in the late morning and immediately fell asleep. What a week, oh what an amazing week I had, full of adventure, beauty, anxiety and surprises. The road trip of a lifetime.