Back in the states

So it has been about a week since I have returned home from New Zealand and it has been quite difficult getting back into my regular routine of life. The flight back was a bit more strenuous than it was flying down. Sleeping was more challenging due to time change (and yes I struggled a lot with jet lag).
It was sad to say goodbye to everybody because we had developed such strong relationships but thank God for facebook because we are from all over the U.S. and visiting will be hard.
I will NEVER forget my time in Aetearoa (meaning 'land of the long white cloud'). I gained so much from this experience whether it be learning more about conservation and sustainable development to becoming a more well rounded person and appreciating everyones culture not to mention doing crazy adventurous things that I don't have the opportunity to do here at home. I strongly recommend becoming a part of the International Student Volunteers program, because not only do you get a life changing experience out of it, but it looks great on resumes as well =p. I posted below just a few pics for you to enjoy but there are many more where that came from....Aetearoa, you will be missed! cheers everyone!

Leia Mais…

Wet n' Wild in New Zealand

 Continuing from our many adventures I must say it has been outrageous! We spent a majority of our 20th day in NZ traveling to Rotorua. On our way, we made a few stops, one in particular was in a quaint little town, Taihape, known for its famous gumboot throwing competition. Upon arrival, we went to the throwing court and each of us got a chance to break the record of throwing a rubber boot, I failed due to it being slippery. Later in the evening, we made it to our lodge and relaxed in the hot pool until dinner. For dinner, we traveled to Tamaki Brothers Maori village for a real Maori culture experience. We arrived to the village and we greeted by the people with their ritual introductions. Eventually, we made our way in the village and got a chance to learn about some of their traditions, which was very cool! We proceeded to the dining room where we were entertained by some song and dance and story telling. Then began our feast which we learned was cooked in the ground which gave the food an awesome, smokey taste. Afterwards we got to wonder a bit more and were dismissed by the amazing haka, a chant that only the men do and also the NZ rugby team does before each match.
As for the next day, a majority of it was spent in water. Our first stop was to Hells Gate, a popular attraction for its natural thermal pools. This place was so cool and rich in sulfur smell. We spent some time in the mud baths and relaxed in some more hot pools. Once we rinsed off we got to take a walk and explore all of the natural springs. Some of these pools got up to 122 degrees celcius! It was definitely an awesome first spa experience for me. After lunch we went white water rafting, which was crazy considering it has just rained a lot the night before (and I was the only one to not fall off our raft :) We all had an awesome time and views were awesome. I also learned that the movie 'Without a Paddle' was filmed on the river we were on.
Now day 22 was one of the most memorable. We went hydro zorbing, which for those of you who don't know what that is, you basically slip into a giant rubber hamster ball filled with water and roll down a hill. Fun? I think so! Later in the afternoon we made our way to Waitomo Caves where upon we black water rafted!!! This was an experience like no other. We began by repelling 120 meters under then ground, then zip lined in the pitch black and jump off ledges into dark (COLD) waters and floated down the cavern looking up at the glow worms, and it really looked like a midnight sky, on top of this we slid and climbed water falls. Yes, I highly recommend this!! Welp, that's all for now! Be home very shortly!!

Leia Mais…

From Glacier to Rain Forest

Kia ora!
So it's been an outrageous couple of days and I havent had much time to even sleep because there is just so much to do and I'm loving every minute of it! Starting off from where I left off after our time in Queenstown, we departed early in the morning and drove a fair amount of the day, making it to Franz Joseph. FJ is known for is famous ice glaciers which we got the opportunity to hike all day. It was a pretty eventful day, waking up super early and gearing up for our journey. Once we arrived to the base of the glacier we hooked on our clamps to our boots and began. This glacier is considered a warm glacier, so even though it was all ice, we didn't wear much and I even got some sun. The views were amazing (and I assure you that I have many pics of all of the activities I am doing.) After eating lunch at the top we filled our water bottles from the glacier and began to hike back down. So, after much intense climbing and hacking away at the ice, we were exhausted and we made our way to the hot pools right by our hotel. It felt amazing and the resort was wicked! It was nestled in the middle of the woods and we just chilled in the pools under a canopy, we were really one with nature. Later in the night we went out for pizza and beverage then ended up doing outrageous challenges for free drinks the bartender gave us.

Day 18 was yet another travel day and we spent our time on the bus making our way to Nelson. We did make a few stops to see the famous pancake rocks and furry seals, cheeky fellows they are. Nothing too exciting. The following day, after being well rested, a bunch of us explored the town and did some shopping. After lunch we were picked up in some psychedelic vans and went quad biking (4 wheeling). It was SO much fun riding dirty through the rainforest and open pastures where the sheep roamed. Halway through our adventure, we got the opportunity to ride the skyfox, which is just like a zipline/ski lift. With this, the weight determined our speed and 4 of us got up to 97k. After our night there, we took the ferry back up to the north islands into NZ's capital, Wellington. We didn't have much time to do anything because it was so late, but we did decide to go out to a disco club called boogie wonderland, yeaaah enough said. As for today we got to visit one of the museums, which was really cool and we got our tour in the morning before it even opened, I learned a lot from my experiences here. I am really loving my time here, and the adventure tour is only halfway finished, so there is much more to be done and I am so excited for it!!!

Leia Mais…

Mission Complete

Kia ora!
So this country never ceases to amaze me. We ended our project on the Motuihe island on August 5 accomplishing a lot! Our project achievements including (keep in mind there were only 8 of us) planting 2800 trees, removing 25 meters of old fencing, creating 50 meters of hiking trail, extreme weed removal of 70 meters of hillside, planting thousands of seedlings into root trainers and rescuing 300 kakabeak plants from pests, doing a decent sum of beach and nursery clean up, and installing post markers for the trails. Aside from this we've created a lot of good memories during our 2 weeks on the island.
We spent our last night in Auckland participating in a bar crawl and celebrating one of our members birthdays...goood night. The next morning we hopped on a flight to the south island, Queenstown. I can already say this is probably my favorite town, its so gorgeous, sitting at the base of the snow capped mountains, it's fit for a queen (hence why its called Queenstown. It is also the adventure capital of the world, and if you want to do something outrageous, this is the place to do it, and I am certainly living it up! Our first night in the town, we did yet another bar crawl and I got to experience minus 5, an ice bar that was so cool, litereally :) everything was made of ice, including the cups we drank out of.
As for today, we spent to morning jet boating on one of the rivers, doing intense things from 360 degree whip turns to dodging the rocks. Then in the afternoon, a bunch of us went bungy jumping on the 2nd highest jump in the world, but this is also where the bungy jump originated! and I'm doing it again tonight....in the dark! call me an adrenaline junkie I guess ;) Tonight, I think we might take it easy and watch some parkour snowboarding and eat at a local pub. That's all for now, but there will definitely be more posts to come.

E noho ra!

Leia Mais…

Billy Goat Point(NZ)

It has been another productive couple of days since my last update, and it feels good to have another day off. Following the work we have done, Day 7 started off by path making. We cleared and leveled off about 25 meters and even got fancy by putting in some drainage. By lunch time we were given a break by doing some work around the nursery. We continued to protect 150 more kakabeaks and then transplanted 672 karamu seedlings into root trainers.
Once again our evenings havent been too fun so we decided to change it up a bit by taking a dip in the ocean, invigorating! so now we can check that off of our to do list =) Once it got dark enough we went out searching for kiwi birds, we didn't see any but we heard them, sneaky buggas.

Day 8 we began our morning continuing our path building, adding another 25 meters. It was a bit more strenusous considering there were a lot of root, however using the ax felt good. From the path we tranlocated 60 sopling trees as well. In the afternoon we headed back to Billy Goat point and took it easy, planting 250 trees. I'd say it was a successful day.
As for yesterday, it was a bit cold and rainy which held us back from doing more epic work. We went back to Billy Goat and planted around 350 trees and then went back to the nursery and planted more seedlings. Not the most eventful day outside, but later in the afternoon we had some discussion time where we conversed about biodiversity and how important it is. I rather enjoyed the rap presentation my group did on it (videos and pictures soon to come) The rest of the evening consisted of playing games, eating, reading and just being our abnormally werid selves.

searching for kiwi birds

Only a few more days left on Motuihe, but then we fly south to Queenstown, where our real adventures begin. soo excited!. Until next time, cheers!

Leia Mais…