Last Class!

Well, we're winding to a close here in Kaikoura...super sad. After my first day of Forest Ecology, though, I'm thrilled about what lies in store for the next two weeks. Lots of field research and time in the forest, observing the interdependence of species, not to mention seeing all kinds of critters that only exist here...nowhere else on earth!

Here's a brief low-down of upcoming hightlights:

Wed: AM forest walk, then afternoon whale watch off kaikoura!!! yes please!

Thrus to Wed: travel to and from West Coast of S. Island, through Reefton, past the glaciers (day trip!), eventually Bruce Bay (Hicktown NZ...hehe), then hopefully a long daytrip up to the famous welcome flat hot springs on the copeland valley track, under Mt. Cook!

Thurs on: final presentation prep for Integrated Student Presentations, presented in a community-wide symposium that saturday

following week: debrief week: recap of all we've covered, deep cleaning the convent, final small group activities and trips, etc

that's all for CCSP, folks!

Brief Overview of Spring Break...photos soon!

Greetings once again!
Here's a quick low down of the 9-day spring break I just had...buckets of fun!:

Rental (small!) car pickup in Christchurch. Drove to Mt. Cook for MOUNTAINEERING adventure.
In Mt. Cook, climbed Mueller Hut route through scree and snow to a snow bivy sight. Woke up Easter morning for a gorgeous sunrise over Oceania's highest peak...what an Easter start! spent the day going over mtneering skills as we traversed toward the Annette Plateau and Mt. Sealy...gorgeous views of Cook and the Mueller Glacier far below...great photos soon!

Left Mt. Cook, traveled through Twizel on the way down to touristville, i mean Queenstown area. We hated the hecktic insanity of Queenstown, so we didn't even stop! Camped in Twelve Mile Delta, right on the beautiful lake...spent a half day in Glenorchy, then Arrowtown, going on random river crossings and long explorations into the moutains and forests...fantastic scenery.

Spent just over a day in Wanaka: caught another outrageously pink sunrise, I climbed at Hospital Flat...a great, classic spot we had to ourselves that day! Met up accidently with another CCSP group in the town of Wanaka, and eventually traveled north toward the West Coast.

Most epic night of my life...0 minutes of sleep and a very miserable, cold, wet night in the sleeping bag...enquire later...it's a long story. Drove through the west coast...miserable stormy weather with many landslides, road closures, and floods. Crazy...

Sucked it up and went to a hostel in Hokitika to dry out and sleep well for once. Toured a jade/Greenstone carving factory the next day...amazingly unique.

Drove back through Arthur's pass and nearly ran out of gas...spent an afternoon doing solo time in the foreign landscape of Castle Hill again, I was bummed not to climb.

Camped near Oxford by this cool river gorge that night...a quick morning drive to Christchurch to attend a church service at the astounding Christchurch Cathedral...and return the rental car...

so many little side trips and funny stories mixed in there that words can't justify...i hope the photos do a little better job later!

Mt. Cook!

We arrived in Mt. Cook National Park after the sleepness night. As we entered the Southern Alps, we drove right into a beast of a storm...howling wind and bitter cold, stinging rain. That's the condition we set up our tents in...and we crawled in later that night, cold and wet. The day itself was exciting just because we were in Mt. Cook Village, close to the tallest peak in Oceania. We couldn't see a thing the first day, though, but made the best of it by going to the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre, a tribute to his first ascent of Everest and his tremendous influence in mountaineering and antarctic exploration worldwide. We also went to the world's most southern planetarium and 3D show. Way cool...

the following morning, we woke up to a GORGEOUS day...the sun was glistening on the peaks that we didn't even know were there. Pictures won't do it justice...did a fantastic day hike up the Hooker Valley to the Hooker Glacier at the bottom of Mt. Cook. OUTSTANDING!!! Such a contrast from yesterday too! Spent the entire day researching the mountains and planning a mountaineering trip down there next month! Yeah!

EDORAS!

After a crazy day on Avalanche Peak, we took the rental station wagon off road the following day on Audra's pilgrimage to Edoras, where the LOTR set was constructed. This beautiful craggy hill, Mt. Sunday, is set in the middle of an enormous valley surrounded by the snowcapped peaks of the Southern Alps. We took the liberty to cross some private land, cattle ranges, and sheep grazing hills. We had to ford quite a few braided streams, thigh deep, and go through ankle deep manure, but finally we arrived on the summit of Edoras for a nice, well earned lunch! We left after a ton of photos and a few hours to head to gorgeous Lake Tekapo, where the sunset over the southern alps lit up this tiny stone church, the Church of the Good Shepherd. AMAZING. car camped and didn't sleep at all that night, but nothing could dampen the day!

Arthur's Pass!

This was one of the most action packed days of my life! Woke up at 5am to drive/hike/climb up a boulder and watch the sunrise with Kate. We then picked up Kat and Audra and headed for the Pass, only a 35 minute drive from Castle Hill. We got some maps and info at the iSite, then bundled up and took the Avalanche Peak trail...it was INTENSE...crazy waterfalls, steep sections, and no level or semi-level ground to the summit, at nearly 2000 meters. Insane views...awesome exposure. We had perfect weather, too. Took Scott's Track down the peak and ended up in the tiny town of Arthur's Pass Village...we got some great pub food, our first eating out experience all week. I took the night shift, driving all the way down to Mt. Somers that night. LONG, but epic day...pictures don't do it justice!

CASTLE HILL!

We spent 2 and 1/2 days and 2 nights camping in Castle Hill, one of the most outlandish "moonscapes" I've been in. As a climber/adventure junkie, I fell in love with the place. Here's a brief rundown of our stay there:

Monday: arrived from Christchurch in the afternoon, wandering in awe of the over 20,000 enormous limestone boulderings (torrs as they're called), some of which are larger than freestanding 18 story buildings!

Tuesday: climbed and bouldered for a while, enjoying the heat of the day. Set up an ENORMOUS single-rope rappel, probably over 140 feet off a freestanding boulder. Went to this long (over an hour without the light of day), narrow, freezing cold, deep underground cave that we walked upstream, sometimes chest deep with our headlamps. Way cool, literally. Set up a big rock climb at night under the stars...it had this tricky frog-move crux to get off the ground and this commiting dyno jump to reach the top...a blast!

Wednesday: drove/hiked to the top of a big boulder to watch the moonset and the sunrise with Kate. Picked up Kat and Audra at the campsite, and drove out early to a full dayhike at Arthur's Pass. Yay!

ELECTIVE WEEK overview.

So this past week, Kate, Kat, Audra and I were the only students not taking Environmental Literature. We opted to go on an amazing roadtrip in the middle of NZ's south island. We departed Kaikoura, rented a car in Christchurch, drove to Castle Hill for climbing, bouldering, rappeling and caving, then to Arthur's Pass for an INTENSE day hike/climb up Avalanche Peak. We then took the rental station wagon off-road to Mt. Sunday, AKA the film location of Edoras, capital of Rohan in Lord of the Rings. Stunning location and scenery. We then made our way out to Mt. Cook Village, nestled right under the monsterous Mt. Cook and the Southern Alps. OUTSTANDING location to finish our week. I'll going more in depth with stories and pictures in each of my following blog posts!

cheers!