Snow Day!!! :)

Today our mom got us up at 10am to go to Castle Hill. As we were driving through Sheffield, it started to snow! Huge, beautiful flakes fell from the sky and stuck to the ground. We pulled over and I got out of the car and caught snowflakes on my tongue. We then drove up through the Southern Alps through Porter's Pass. The views were spectacular! A light dusting of snow covered everything, making the world look black and white. When we arrived at Castle Hill, there was a decent amount of snow covering the ground and all the rocks. We made snow angels, took pictures of the gorgeous views, and had many snowball fights. It was SO fun! When we drove back, a lot of the snow had melted in some places, but in others it was snowing so hard it felt like a blizzard. We also stopped at Sheffield again and got their famous meat pies. I wish the students could've been with us! Love and hugs, Tupelo 

It's snowing!

Snowball fight!

Snow angels

Mmm. This snow tastes good!

The Journey Home and Beyond

Our 2016 Iwi at Takahanga Marae

Kia Ora.  Having been immersed in Kiwi and Maori culture for the past five weeks will now make the journey back to American culture another adventure.  Our students will take with them lasting memories of the challenges and opportunities of what not only New Zealand faces, but what the rest of the world faces as well.  Preserving biological diversity, conserving resources, and maintaining a balance between natural and human built environments are key to a sustainable future.  And, it will take all of us with our diverse backgrounds to come together in many different ways to help make lasting change for a bright future.

Dear students, we hope that what you have experienced with us in New Zealand will help shape the decisions you make for our future in exciting and positive ways.  We thank you for giving of yourselves openly with your hearts and minds so that our time together could be such a special learning opportunity for us all.  We have really enjoyed being with all of you, touring the wop-wops, and sharing a daily cuppa. Sweet As!

From the land of the long white cloud, safe and happy travels!  See you in the land of the flowers (La Florida).  With a Hongi and hug to each of you, Mark, Meryl, Jámm, and Tupelo

August 4th Already?!

Glad to not be heading out for a hike in cold rain, but bummed to be leaving, we decided to have breakfast together at Hillyers Cottage Café.  It was fun to have one more cuppa together before loading up the Gatrwaka one last time and heading out to the airport.  We hung out together for a little while playing cards and finding some last minute gifts, and, of course, we needed ANOTHER group photo before hugs and saying our goodbyes (for now).

We are all tired, sad to be leaving, and excited about our next travels and being home with loved ones.  Most everyone is back to their families in the States and Lauren and Emma will be traveling on to Australia for a few days before heading home, It has been a really fun time and we can't believe it is already time to go?!  Tonight, our driveway outside the flat looks empty without the Gatorwaka (Piwakawaka looks lonely without her buddy), and Lincoln Campus seems a little too quiet with the thought of our students not being just across the cricket and rugby fields. Love and hugs and safe travels, Meryl

Winding Down, Packing Up, Documenting Good Memorires

This day is a rite-of-passage of sorts. Student Journals from the past 5 weeks recounting both scientific information and personal responses to our experiences were due today, and we celebrated the course end with time together with folks who have helped us along the way and a slideshow (cramming as many photos as we could of over 4,000 photos into just 193 slides) of our good memories together.  We have done so much and have become whānau (family). 

Thank you for all the fun All! 
Sweet dreams under the skies of Aotearoa, Meryl

Sunshine, Cricket, and Willowbank

Today was a sunny day! We started the morning with an encore of cricket and of course tea time. rumor has it that Hugh Wilson's Warriors routed the Huhu Grubs. Mud caked shoes and all, we headed to Coffee Culture for tea.

A bit muddy but sunny

All is right with the world with coffee in hand

The afternoon was spent exploring Willowbank Wildlife Reserve - a unique wildlife experience. The first section covered animals that were introduced to New Zealand.

Wallabies from Australia

Kunekune pig - introduced but unique to New Zealand

Exploring the New Zealand fauna, we came upon some very curious Keas.

on top of Santiago

Hey there Kathryn

And Mimi!

Even gives Colin a tweak

Hello there Jamm!

We gathered around the eel pool. These large critters were valued by Maori as a food source.

Pukeko!

 

 

 After the wildlife experience, the class had a Maori experience. First was the powphiri, which is is a Māori welcoming ceremony involving speeches, dancing, singing and finally the hongi (touching of nose). After this, we got to hear some wonderful songs.

Maori in traditional dress

We had a lovely hangi dinner. Hangi is a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven. We ended the evening with pavlova and a class 2016 t-shirt.

Class tshirts

Good night! Dr, H

Restoration, Birthdays & Honeydew

We started the morning off with a quick pit-stop at Darfield Bakery for hot drinks all around. Which was mush appreciated with the chilly weather this morning.  

Then we made our way towards the Alp foothills to meet with Trevor and Heather Taege to learn about conservation efforts on farmed land near the foothills.

 Southern Alps

Trevor gives a talk about the property

The couple have a 152-acre property that is part of the Kowai Bush in Canterbury and sits on the Waimakariri River. When they purchased the land in 1981, the property was scattered with beech trees which are very susceptible to high winds and snow damage. About 5 years ago they decided use their property to create another green dot to be added as a stepping stone for native birds to travel from mountain to sea and vice versa.  They had an ecological survey conducted and it turns out that there are 52 species of native trees on the property! Because they decided to fence the restored areas themselves, they had more grant money available to be used towards purchasing native plants. When they planted the natives, they chose to spread out the plants—about 1 per square meter—to allow regeneration to occur. In total, 6,000 trees have been planted on the property since adopting the project and around 7 acres have been fenced and restored. However, planting them is one thing but maintaining them is another. They use weed mats to keep in moisture and protect from weeds and hares. And twice a year MCPA is sprayed, which controls against stinging nettle, deadly nightshade, and thistles.

Our task for today was to prune the dead branches off of the plants as well as chop a fallen tree.

 Hard at work

 The fallen tree

We had our lunch in full sun on the patio and afterwards headed down to the bank to skip some stones.

 Lunch break

 Skipping stones

Juggling rocks

The couple also operate a farm on which they have 500 sheep and around 100 cattle. We were lucky enough to have Trevor give us a farm tour in which we witnessed Jack round up a group of sheep and Trevor sheer a sheep—both jobs requiring a lot of skill and precision. One sheep’s worth of wool goes for NZD$2.20, and a skilled professional can sheer around 200 a day. The wool is separated into 4 different piles depending on what part of the body it was sheered from and only the highest quality gets placed into a press. The wool sorter must be done sorting the wool by the time the sheerer is done in order to work efficiently. The wool of a Merino Sheep is used for garments as it is very soft, and the oils in the wool can be used for many cosmetics.

 Jack

 Belly rubs for a job well done

 Trevor sheering a sheep

 Wool press

After the tour we were invited inside to a surprise celebration of Maris’s 19^th birthday! Heather had made a delicious array of baked goods and fresh orange juice.

Birthday feast

After we bid our farewells, we made one last stop at Lords Bush Scenic Reserve to try out honeydew—a sugary liquid that is secreted by scale insects as they digest plant sap. We learned that bees collect the honeydew off of Beech trees to make Honeydew honey.

 Tasting honeydew

 Beech tree with sooty mold and honeydew

Honeydew drops

Afterwards we headed back to Lincoln to get a good night’s rest.

-Kelly