Debrief Week: Meghan's Birthday

Happy Birthday Meghan! No longer a teenager! Meghan was queen for the day. What a lucky day, hot pools, a picnic with yummy thai food...could it get any better??

Debrief Week: Hanmer Springs

As part of our debrief week we made our way to Hanmer Springs to enjoy the fine weather and the relaxing hot pools. During our time there we spent some time reflecting on the semester and what we will take from this time together. The weather was beautiful and a nice hike to a waterfall was a great way to spend our afternoon. We had a couple of dinners out, which everyone enjoyed this nice treat. Some people had an evening picnic, taking advantage of the long lasting sunlight and warmth!

West Coast Trip: Makaroa

Our first stop during West Coast was at Makaroa's Wilderness Lodge about 45 minutes outside of Lake Wanaka on Haast Pass. The views are quite stunning and there are lots of outdoor activities for those who are keen. During our stay there we did a long hike up the rainforest to do our first "plotting" for Forest Ecology. The hike was exciting, with a bit of a climb, and some interesting species of plants were found such as the"lancewood." Andy Wells, professor of Forest Ecology, can definitely climb up those hills as easily as he can name almost any tree in the NZ forest! The students were quite impressed with his abililty to answer almost any question. On our way down from the hike we stopped to look at the "blue pools" which have an uncanny blue hue to their water. It's hard to find water so pure looking.

ISP

Integrated study Projects were finally presented, after much hard work on the students part. Global warming, bio diesel, and new zealand vs. US health care were all brought forth, examined, questioned, and presented in entertaining ways. One of the groups even had each one of us write a letter to our local senators urging them to make other aware of the growing issues concerned with global warming. Thanks guys for putting forth such a great effort, we all appreciated the insights and research that went into these great reports!Kaleb and Kevin acting out the New Zealand Health System....Kaleb is looking due

Thanksgiving

I can't even believe the amount of food that was available--most of it cooked by students. It was a feast for sure and even some of the Living Springs staff came up to join us. A game of Thanksgiving Jeopardy was played and guess who won??? the KIWIS!! how sad is that? Guess I need to brush up on some of that American History......

Castle Hill

Before we left on our Forest Ecology adventure we had a little stop at Castle Hill for some play in the rocks. Castle hill is known for being one of the best bouldering spots and you start feeling a bit small when you get into this vast maze of boulders. It's quite amazing and there are new places to be found everytime. Afterwards we tried to conquer the cave stream, which didn't quite happen due to the high water levels. Some had fun floating down the roaring river though.

West Coast Trip: Day Off

A couple of fun activities occured on our day off while at Bruce Bay Marae -- Mt. Fox climb and a view of another glacier, Franz Joseph. The Mt. Fox group found themselves practically climbing up roots and vines to get to the top, ending with unfortunate accident of a broken leg. While they were working out their quads others of us went and did a few other activities. We hiked around a lake and found ourselves observing 2 long eels for quite awhile and then made our way to Franz Joseph for another little adventure. The river was a bit high so much river crossings and hopping around on rocks happened in order to get a good view of the glacier-- we even found a nice chunck of ice to conquer. All in all, despite some injuries, everyone had a good day with stories to tell.

West Coast Trip: Fox Glacier

We spent one day of our Forest Ecology class at Fox Glacier learning about the Moraines and forests that have found their place where the glacier used to be. Once again Andy awed us with his mass amounts of knowledge and love for God's creation. Even though the glacier has receded in the past years it still seemed overwhelming as it spanned up the mountain.

West Coast Trip: Bruce Bay Marae

Sleeping Conditions: Bruce Bay Marae

Just thought you might like to enjoy a taste of our close cummunity during our west Coast trip. Future students-- bring ear plugs!! haha..it's a good time.

Slacklining

I don't know if you ever tried this, but it's pretty fun. Ryan set up his slack line for everyone to try after a good weeks worth of work!

Environmental Literature

John Dennison for down south came over to teach the students a lot about poetry and how it connects with God's creation. Some of the students cringed at the idea of having to dissect poetry, but in the end all said they found a new appreciation of it-- especially Haikus. During our week of class we had a visit to Quail Island, a little island of Lyttelton Harbour. The island still holds some of the quarentine buildings of old exiled lepers.

Students enjoy a lovely day in Quail Island and experience all the voices of nature while studying Env. Lit.