A Great Quote

Here's a great quote I stumbled across while on my recent reading binge (3 books in 4 days! wow...never done that before...that's what happens when you're driving for 10 hrs/day!). I feel as though I can somehow deeply relate to this one:

"I grew up exhuberant in body but with a nervy, craving mind. It was wanting something more, something tangible. It sought for reality intensely, always as if it were not thre... But you see at once what I do. I climb. " ~John Menlove Edwards, "Letter from a Man"

WEST (wet) COAST!!!

(Photo Above: view from Lake Matheson...a picturesque, mirror lake that reflects the big boys: Mt. Tasman on the left, and Mt. Cook on the right...what a gorgeous spot to study forests!)

Here's a brief rundown of what we did for the past five days of forest ecology roadtrip:

Long drive from Kaikoura thru Lewis Pass...but SNOW! big, classic snowball fight...it was perfect

Spent two days exploring and being creeped out by Waiuta...the gold mining ghost town we stayed in....creepy, 800m deep mine shafts, still-standing but abandoned and run down barber shop with hair still on the floor!, glowworms on the side of the trail at night, etc...way cool but really scary!...and of course the forests surrounding Waiuta were perfect for forest ecology

On our way south down the west coast, stopped at Franz Joseph Glacier, a GIGANTIC slab of ice coming down from the southern alps...lots of great exploration and photos from here...i'll show you soon!

Spent a day going ultralight on the Copeland Valley Track...which links the East and West Coasts over the ridiculously dangerous Copeland Pass...we didn't quite make it that far because of daylight restrictions, but the rivercrossings and swingbridges were CLASSIC!

Walked for HOURS along the gorgeous Maori Beach of Bruce Bay, reading Dove, the story of a 16 yr old who sailed solo around the world...pretty nice spot to read a sailing biography!

Drove back through pouring rain, but took Arthur's Pass home...which meant stopping at CASTLE HILL one last time...saw a man an his wife cross a slackline rigged 60 ft off the ground between two free standing boulders! yikes!

Back in class now...finishing Forest Eco today, then two days of final project presentation prep...then weekend of presentations, a few days of debrief, then exploring the top of the south island with kate for five days...yay!