Under the Sea

What have I been up to lately? ECOLOGY! One of the primary reasons I chose Creation Care Study Program was that it would fulfill the Ecology course requirement to wrap up my Biology Major... not to mention that New Zealand is a pretty ideal place to study ecosystems! We just finished part one of the course, Marine Ecology with Beth Horvath from Westmont College. Instead of sitting in the classroom for hours on end, we spent the majority of our time in the tide pools of the Kaikoura Coast – not a bad way to spend a morning! Throughout the week we identified a total of over 100 species, including sponges, seastars, anemones, invertebrates, birds, mollusks, and green, brown, and red algae (shout out to Dr. Lewis!) .

A cetacean mammal that I was privileged to observe up-close and personal was the Dusky Dolphin! On Tuesday we went on Dolphin Encounter, one of Kaikoura’s big attractions, and several of my classmates and I elected to pay the extra cost so that we did more than just sit on a boat and watch them… WE SWAM WITH THEM! So out we went, very early, into the Pacific Ocean, all wet-suited up. Our skipper quickly found a pod of about 30-40 wild Dusky Dolphins, sounded the bell, and I slid into the deep blue beneath me. They are so curious and playful, especially when you sing to them. So I flipped my flippers as fast as I could, even though keeping up with those guys is impossible, and alternated between singing “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5 and “God Bless America” to attract my new dolphin friends. Weird playlist, I know. AH it was so AWESOME! At the end of our swim we ate ginger cookies and took some pictures, which I’ll have to upload later because I’m writing this on the Convent computer (that has very little bandwidth.. I’m looking forward to wireless back in the states!)

Field biology isn’t as easy as it sounds, however. We went out in all sorts of conditions, even when it was freezing cold and raining. My field notes sometimes look pretty terrible, because all the blood had left my fingers. Our professor ran a tight ship, so by the time I was done with a 2.5 hour exam on Friday night, I was definitely ready for the weekend.

Weekends here can be pretty low-key. No TV or internet or car access makes entertainment on a rainy Saturday afternoon more of a challenge. But I hunkered down with a historical fiction novel and had some good loner time. Everyone needs some of that once in a while.

Tomorrow, Monday, we leave on a 10-day trip to the West Coast of NZ’s south island for Terrestrial Ecology with Joe (our prof). The south island can be so variable – the west coast is actually a temperate rainforest. All three of our big white vans will be packed to the brim with people and luggage and food. I don’t know all of the details off the top of my head, but it’ll be one big road trip with several stops along the way and sleeping in marae’s. Our group could definitely use prayer – that we can be gracious and patient with one another since we’ll be together ALL the time. I hope that this doesn’t turn into a National Lampoon’s west coast nightmare, haha.

We will be back on November 23^rd, which means we’ll be able to have a huge Thanksgiving FEAST back at the Old Convent on that Thursday! It’s a bummer to be missing Thanksgiving at home, but as far as food goes, I’m sure I will be sufficiently stuffed. And I’ll be contributing by cooking one of my favorite T-giving dishes.. CORN PUDDING! Yum.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Destination: QUEENSTOWN

Hmmm.. what should one do with 10 free days in New Zealand? My great friend, Halle, and I decided to head south to the adventure capital of the world – QUEENSTOWN.

We spent a good amount of time on the bus down there (about 11 hours in total), but we did get to stop at some scenic points along the way, like Lake Tekapo (below) which was THE most beautiful blue lake I have ever seen. Halle and I, probably too loudly, said “Oh my gosh!!” as soon as we came over the hill and saw the lake.

Lake Tekapo

Anyways, we arrived in Queenstown by Sunday night, checked into our sweet hostel, and then went out on the town to watch the Rugby World Cup Final. The New Zealand ALL-Blacks WON (beat France 9-8)!!! It was SO cool to be there for their victory – the kiwis couldn’t have been happier and the streets were filled with, let’s just say, joy. The last time they had won was in 1987, so it was a big deal! 

First night in Q-town

Tramping (hiking) is a favorite kiwi and tourist pastime, and Halle and I wanted to give it our best shot. We were in the area of the famous Milford Sounds and the Routeburn track, however huts in Milford are reserved usually a year in advance and Routeburn had avalanche warnings, so we opted for the tamer Greenstone Track.

We get a ride to the trailhead which is a little over an hour outside of Queenstown. I am prepared with a map, ready to make my father proud, and then literally as soon as Halle and I cross this swinging bridge, we go the wrong way. Follow the orange trail markers? Nahh.. let’s just get distracted by the beautiful scenery and then follow sheep paths for 2 hours! 

Needless to say, we get lost. My peanut butter sandwich is deformed. There are orange rocks that lead us nowhere.  We have to cross multiple (really cold!) streams with our shoes off. We almost get attacked by a bull defending his heifers. Halle breaks down. And we end up at a hut that was the opposite way of where we wanted to be. WIN. So we spend the night alone at the Mid-Caples Hut, and come up with an alternate plan as we sit by the somewhat warm fire I made and a serious storm rolls in, complete with thunder and lightning. 

LOST

Tuesday. Wake up, eat an apple, get on our way. We hike back to the carpark with the intention of getting cell phone service to see if we can come back a day early (yes, we were pathetic at this point). But there is no service, it starts pouring, and Halle breaks down again. BUT we carry on, and hike another 14 km to the Greenstone Hut. We made surprisingly good time and made it to the hut right before it started raining again. However our good spirits were squelched yet again, as I could not make a fire out of wet wood, and our dinner for that night depended on boiling water. So what did we eat for dinner? A packet of soup mix with cold water and raw rice. I broke down. 

Wednesday. No intention of hiking. So we spend the entire day lounging around the hut. In fact, we don’t even make it off the porch, because we are SO sore. And starving. But by late afternoon, other people started showing up at the hut! HOORAY! These 3 older Aussie gentlemen let us use their gas stove so we had hot food for dinner. Plus, we met 2 cool American guys who are in the Air Force. The evening certainly turned around. 

Our humble abode

Halle and I woke up very early on Thursday morning to hike back to the car park to catch our 12pm ride back to Queenstown. 

On the way, we got the driver to stop so I could take this beautiful shot. It might even be my favorite picture from the entire semester!

After checking into our hostel and taking a glorious shower, we headed out to experience FERGBURGER – world famous in New Zealand. These things are massive. Worthy of a Man vs. Food challenge perhaps. After three and a half days of eating very little, that burger tasted pretty amazing!! After that we walked around the city, took some more pictures, and then indulged ourselves even more by getting Dark Chocolate ice cream from the Patagonia Chocolate Shop (conveniently located right next to our hostel). Heaven. 

YUM

Cheers. To New Zealand.

Then we come to our last day in Queenstown. Friday. 

Bungee Day. 

Queenstown is actually the birthplace of bungee, so these guys know their stuff. Two of our friends, Paige and Sophie, were also in Queenstown on Friday, so we met up with them at the top of the gondola, to meet our bungee fate on… THE LEDGE.

The Ledge is unique because the bungee is attached to a harness around your waist rather than around your feet, giving you free range of motion.. and the option to dive off with a running start! Halle and Paige and I were so hyped up for this. The fall itself is 40 meters, but since you’re overlooking Queenstown it feels like a heck of a lot further. 

I put my life in the hands of Will, Adam, and Ollie as they tightened my harness and hooked up the bungee to the tunes of Metallica. No going back now!! Ollie had me walk to the edge to see where I was headed..

Then I took a deep breath and ran off the ledge, screaming with simultaneous terror and delight. The feeling was UNREAL. Like the drop of the steepest rollercoaster you can think of, x 200. Check out these shots!!!

 

They bring me back up, and I’m all smiles. “Want to go again?” they ask. “Only $35 bucks extra!” I’ve already emptied by wallet on this trip anyways, so WHY NOT?! The guys tell me that I should do the pendulum jump. “What’s the pendulum?” “Oh, we can’t tell you. You just have to agree to do it.” Um, ok.

Ollie makes me face BACKWARDS on the ledge, holding onto my harness. He tells me to lean back, and once I get up the nerve, I do. He counts to three and lets go, and – get this – AS I AM FALLING, one of the other guys RUNS to the ledge HOLDING A CARIBEANER LIKE HE HAD FORGOTTEN TO HOOK IT ON!!!! I have never been so scared in my life. I realized sometime during my death fall that they were playing a sick joke on me. But I was screaming nevertheless. UNbelievable. 

Halle and Paige had awesome jumps too – Halle decided to go a second time, and they threw her off backwards! What a job. 

Hardcore.

Bungee jumping was, hands down, the highlight of my 21^st year of life.

The rest of the night we tried to get our adrenaline levels down, and walked around the beautiful gardens in Queenstown and watched the sunset. We left Saturday morning – goodbye Queenstown! Thanks for the memories!!