Dolphin Swimming, Hiking and Marine Ecology Class

Life has really warmed up here at the nun house! So that is nice I suppose, lately I have been 

hiding out in the pool just soaking up the rays and listening to Taylor Swift. You might say I have the life.  I forgot to mention the pool doesn’t have water in it. It’s just a cement hole in the ground with some leaves blowing around in it, but I think the sun reflects off the walls and gives me a better more even tan. And Taylor just echoes off the walls at just the right pitch. This has been another wicked hard opinionated week of class but I guess you can’t learn anything if you agree with everything and aren’t challenged. When you tell me that I am made out of stardust just like everything else and that I mean no more to God than a cricket I am a bit skeptical. We also read an article suggesting that the crucifixion of Jesus was more about the dead wood that made up the cross than about Jesus dying for us. To each his own, but just to clarify that’s not my own. 

MT. Fyfe:

A long week of class made me stir crazy for the weekend so Rob, Steve and I decided to climb mount Fyfe (the mountain that is right behind the convent about 7000’ elevation). We thought it would be a good climb-about 3 hrs to the hut at the top. We then brought Kelsey (Messiah 

girl) and got to the mountain around 5 and started the adventure. Well, let me tell you. We got dropped off in our sketchy white vans; got out and took the bikes off the trailer to hit the trail. The trail was big enough for a skidder to get up and was about as good as a dirt road as the Jo Mary road. It went up hill the entire face of the mountain. It was wicked disappointing knowing that I was just walking up a dirt road that ended on top of the mountain. We get to the top and had our tickets to stay in the hut (cabin type thing) but it was wicked full and only slept 8 people There were about a dozen already there!

So, yup, we got to sleep outside. Let me just say,  I came to New Zealand with a children’s 

lightning bolt sleeping bag that is not meant for any kind of camping outside of a living room. So I was wicked cold and slept with all my clothes and a winter hat on. But we were pumped because we were on top of a mountain and got up there just in time for a sick sun set over the mountain range. We were sleeping outside and terrified a possum or a weasel would come in the night to rip our face off. Steve and I took out a pinetree and dragged it down to our “camping spot” to sleep under but, I'll let you know... it did nothing because-the other three fit under it and I didn’t. As we were getting comfy in a bowl type hole on top of the mountain with our pine tree over us, Kelsey pulls out a pillowpet. Not going to lie, though, I brought my real pillow with me! The next morning we realized the bowl we slept in kept us about ten degrees colder than what the temperature was just at the rim of the bowl. So, our sleeping arrangement wasn’t very good: I would say it was comparable to a Motel 6. The next morning we woke up at about 5:30. I hopped over in my sleeping bag to the edge of the mountain and watched the sun rise. Then we hiked to the top and that was that, another mountain hiked in New Zealand. There was snow on the top so I can say that I climbed a snow capped mountain. Then we hiked down and road our bikes for half an hour back to the convent were everyone was nice and chipper after a good night’s sleep. 

A Fish Tale: 

Later that night we had time set aside for something called community night. Well, let me 

tell, you I’m not the only one who thinks it is sometimes somewhat boring. The planned event 

was 'reflections at the beach'. I just climbed a mountain; I think I had enough time to reflect, so maybe next time I’ll reflect. We got to the beach and there was a van stuck in the mud on the road. We got out and helped the guy push his van out. Then another guy drives by in his truck and the back of it is filled with fish. He just waved and left on his way and I didn’t think another thing about it. Not. I was pretty jealous that he caught a million fish and I was stuck on that beach to get trapped in my mind. So Courtney (ccsp leader) gives us directions on what to think about and what not, and we all go our separate ways with our little pieces of paper with a poem written on it. Rob, Steve, and I grumbled on our way together. We were going to try and make a fire on the beach but we couldn’t get far enough away from anyone. Then out of nowhere this white truck whips onto the beach and drifts around all the people sitting on the beach. He was coming fast and I was pretty scared he was going to run me down. He stopped just 

in front of us and rolls his window down. “Want to catch a fish?” This was the same guy that drove off with the truck load of fish before when we pushed the van out. No questions asked, we jumped into his truck and he drove us down the beach where we could see hundreds of fins sticking up out of the water. At the mouth of a river (small stream compared to the USA) we hopped out, not saying much, except that he saved us from a night of misery. He showed us how the pole went and three cast later all three of us pulled in these huge fish! The situation was a little fishy, that a guy just pulled up and asked us to catch a fish with him; but it turns out he is friends with Drew, the little guy who stops by the convent once in a while.

More class:

Marine ecology! Has been by far the best class so far, but maybe that is because Emma 

(student) gave me a bunch of Christmas music to study to! Anyway so the first day we went tide pooling after class and found all kinds of great stuff; brittle sea stars, cushion sea stars, and other stars, many crabs, a dead squid, a live octopus about 4 inches big! It was pretty fun! We had to keep a journal and write everything in it. The only downfall was, my partner was Leah; just kidding! She was a star lab partner. 

Another day we went to a seal colony that was about a mile inland, off the ocean, which is cool in itself. It was also under a huge train bridge and a wicked big waterfall about a few hundred feet high poured into the pool. "To seal the deal", there were about 12 seal pups without their moms and they were jumping, fighting, and barking. The class was fun but again a lot of work. We had to make a poster at the end showing where we had to pick a marine animal. I picked the albatross, the largest bird in flight. I went to work with Lisa. She told me all about them and gave me some great pictures of albatross; then I had my poster! My grand scheme was to take attention away from the mis-spelled words and messy hand writing on my poster by making life size albatross wings you could try on. I called it the “Albatross Jetpack”. Let’s just say it "really took off" and was a hit. (these terrible animal puns are for the Weatherbee Clan back home!) 

We went dolphin swimming for class too! It was great but I’m going to say I really wasn’t into learning about dolphins as much as I was about trying to catch one. It was pretty stressful,

not going to lie. They blow a horn and you have to get off the boat in 30 seconds so everyone is rushing and pushing their way to the end of the boat. We had full wet suits on, which are terrible on your leg hair! I got so much hair ripped out that day. And when the wet suit was on, I could roll my stomach in it! That’s talent!! 

They were dusky dolphins and I was wicked close to them. It felt like I could reach out 

and touch them but every time I got close my little T-Rex arms weren’t long enough. I drank enough salt on that day to supplement a weeks worth of sodium in my diet. To top it off we saw a ton of different albatross birds. Hill, you would have thought it was hell. And we ate cookies and milk on the bow of the boat. Food is always the best part of things. 

Tidepooling, Ferry, and More PICTURES!

Some more photos from my adventures!

Fishing!

 

We helped build a gravel path at Hutton's Shearwater Enclosure
 

We helped deconstruct and move a yurt at Ngatiawa

And visited at Adi Leeson's House

 

Our whole group visited Billy Graham's "Naenae Boxing Academy"

While there Leah and I helped Rob work on his muscles :)

 

This is our group on a ferry ride through Marlborough Sounds

 

I'm taking a Marine Ecology class right now and as part of it we went tidepooling out on the peninsula.  It was REALLY cool!

This was our whole group at the tidepools

 Leah and I found a brittle star in the tide pools, it's a cousin of the sea star

Rob found this squid!

 

 This past weekend we went hiking and camping up on Mt. Fyffe.  We had expected to stay in the cabin there overnight, but it was REALLY full.....so we had to sleep outside.

It was really cold!

Good thing the sunrise was pretty!  Even if only for a few minutes because of the clouds!

 

 

 

 

Classes, Tsunamis and Surfing

First time SURFINGGGGG!!

One eyed Lambie and Ant at my homestay.... 

It's wicked windy here today! Another big storm has blown in a wicked hot warm front and it’s the warmest it has been all year! I can’t go outside and tan in it though, because they won’t let us out of the convent because a tree might fall on us or a shingle might fly off the roof and slice me open. If I had my red cape I'd be all set though, right Dottie? Huge gusts have knocked the power out which means I have time to let you guys know what I've been up to this week: not too much!

Sheep slaughter: 

Monday we went back up to the Topps sheep farm (my homestays house) as part of class and watched Kevin kill/slaughter a sheep for us. It was a pretty bloody mess, as I'm sure you can guess because it was a live sheep at one time. During my homestay, Kevin was wondering how the Americans would like watching it. He had some good opinions that I agreed with. Monday came. We went up and he talked to us about what scripture said about killing and eating, that was cool. Then he talked about large scale meat farmers and how they inject different chemicals and what they feed the lambs to make them grow faster and what not. He did the deed really respectfully and it was as normal as you could make a sheep slaughter. But some people were pretty upset and felt free to voice their opinions the next day in class. As I was taking notes in class, I wrote down the four M words that I kept hearing; Murder, Massacre, Manipulation, and Mutilation. I was screaming on the inside that this person decided to talk for 20 minutes about the four M’s. Needless to say, the women ate two chicken legs for lunch that day, so, I guess it didn’t turn her into a vegetarian. Later that week we ate the lamb for supper and the rest of it is in the freezer for a later feast.

On the town:

Because we are right on the coast, there is an alarm that is sounded from the center of town every day, a single long blast is a tsunami and a up and down siren is just letting the fire fighters know its time to meet or something. It blasts from a huge speaker on top of one of the hills-a siren and you can hear it all the way out at the convent. This Sunday, our professor, came early and was woken by this loud alarm. He thought it was a tsunami and ran out in the drive way to find Lisa (funny kiwi women) getting into her car driving driving to church. The professor ran down the drive way banging on her windows and trunk so Lisa stopped the car and asked what he wanted. He told her he thought it was a tsunami and Lisa said “if it was a tsunami, don’t you think I'd be in a little more of a hurry?” The professor thought it was every man for themselves and Lisa was leaving him at the nun house and he had to get out!

We also had to pick a tree that could become our “treebuddy.” As you can guess, I'm really enthused about this… not! We pick a tree and go sit with it for 30 minutes a week and write a journal of what our tree is saying to us. Let's just say, my journal entrees are wicked short because for some reason my tree doesn’t have much to say.

This week at the aquarium I was volunteering again with Bekah and we got to do a bunch of odd jobs. They have a new octopus that is as small as a gumball-with 8 legs. It's so small and it is in a little tank that has fish eggs in it so it reaches out and eats them while you watch. It was wicked cool. They also have a blue crayfish on display. This week Bekah and I made good friends with the women who runs it. She gave each of us a Kiakoura marine aquarium T-shirt for free and free ice-cream on a stick. The aquarium is great!

Have you ever thought about what happens to your toothbrush when you throw it away? How many toothbrushes to you think you will have in your lifetime? Well all that plastic doesn’t just go away in fact your toothbrush will never go away. So what can you do about it? Buy a bamboo toothbrush then when you are done with it you can recycle it! Hahahha! This is a topic that was brought up a week or so ago. I ordered a couple for the fun of it, but for the sake of actually keeping your teeth clean, I’m skeptical if they will really work.

Surfing:

Sunday I woke up early and went to Lisa’s church because she was leading worship. She gets pretty into it, I'd say, as with anything she likes to do. The sermon was something about how each of us are a car. Monica sat beside me and told me that she was a motorcycle because she only cared about herself, and I told her, I must be a side-car then because I can’t get anywhere without someone pulling me along! I think mom would agree with that! Then we came back to the old convent and filled the van up with our surfboards and wetsuits and I ran up the stairs to grab my “bootie surfing shoes” that I got at Mardens for $5 before I came. People were pretty jealous because they didn’t have any and their feet were cold. So we got there and there were waves so big! I'm not kidding! they looked so big! Then Brian (a CCSP employee) said, “Wow, these really aren’t very good waves to be starting surfing on.” So the waves were wicked big! Rob, Steve, Leah, Kelsey, and I went surfing and Bekah read the required reading we were supposed to do this week end so, she could tell us what it was about for class.

I was pretty cocky. I mean, I've wake boarded and snowboarded, but surfing just didn’t come to me ya know. First, I didn’t know you had to time the waves so you could get out from shore. So I ran right in and tried to paddle out but I kept getting thrashed around like the toothpick that I am. The water wasn’t cold at all with the wetsuit, so that was nice. I kept trying but I was too weak and couldn't really get out far enough (you have to get about 500 feet off shore). The waves were just too big for my little arms. So after I drank a good amount of sea water and ate an unhealthy amount of rocks, I took a break and watched from shore with the girls. I'm just going to say, it's just as much fun to watch people try to do it because they weren’t good either. I think Rob got on his knee once that day. I'll probably go again.

When you’re paddling out on your belly and you see huge waves coming at you it makes you feel like the wave in front of you is 12 feet above you and you hope it doesn’t break while you’re trying to go over it because it will push you way back in. It’s pretty freaky. When you get thrown around from the wave its like rafting; you don’t know what side is up, or if you will even come up, or if the board will slice your head open and let bloods spill out and you then have a million sharks chasing you trying to kill you. I don’t know, that's just what I think of when I'm being thrown around like a jellyfish in a washing machine.

Character development:

Rob: when I first met rob he would try to tell me has been to Maine a million of times. Well, let me tell you, Kennebunkport (for you flat landers, Kennebunkport is literally 5 inches over the border in southern Maine) is not the same Maine I am from-no matter what anyone tells you. Finally, this week he was telling someone about Maine and I heard him confess that it’s not the real Maine!!

Monica: don’t know if I’ve talked about her yet but she is normal and a senior form Messiah studying occupational therapy. Anyway she is here and a random person came to stay at the convent because they were supposed to be going to Antarctica but the trip got canceled because of the American government shut down. So this 'random person' is somehow related to Monica… small world we live in people. so keep it green. Just kidding

!

New Zealand fun facts:

1.Farms here just have 1 big fence around the entire property (1,000 acres) and their animals just stay in that. They don’t cut down big fields and fence off small parts of it; the animals are pretty much wild in this huge fence. They can do this because there are not any predators.

2. It’s a little bit warmer and the leaves are coming out. So maybe someday soon I can thaw out.

The All Blacks rugby team is what everyone loves. And if you don’t know what to talk about you just talk about the All Blacks.

3. Americas Cup, have you heard of it? None of us have until we got here. It is a sailing race that happens in San Francisco Bay and it came down to America vs New Zealand. To win you must win 9 races. Well, NZ was up 8 wins to Americas 1 and all of the kiwi people were talking smack about the American boat. In the end, America got 8 consecutive wins in a row and the USA came in for the win!

City life, Homestays and Yoga!

Well it has been a wicked long time! Sorry to leave you guys hanging. It has been pretty stressful here with lots to do and lots of assignments. You know how I get when I get stressed out and pimples start growing.

Field trip to the city. Lame. We went to Wellington the capital of New Zealand in the previous week. It was a good trip that started out with us driving a few hours north to get on a ferry. The ride was wicked long. That morning I had to get a lot of work done so I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get my papers in before we could leave. Here they really discourage the use of paper (printing paper, toilet paper, napkins, tissues but I’m from Maine so I’m like, hey use the paper!).  I had to try to figure out how to get the paper from my computer to the Mac desktop. One would think it would be as easy as a flash drive but oh no, nothing is that easy.  It took a good twenty minutes so I missed breakfast before we went so that means no coffee. And you guys know how I travel without coffee. 

We get to the ferry and its pretty exciting the whole thing felt like a bunch of cows getting herded into a cow trailer. Then we drove on and for some reason we had to park our cold, war styled van with all the tractor trailer trucks and dog kennel--there were so many dogs barking echoing off metal of the ferry. This boat was probably three times as big as the Atlantic Cat that goes to Nova Scotia. So, you can get out of your car and go into 2 or 3 restaurants and a few gift shops or sitting rooms or walk around the deck or go up to the top. It was pretty nifty and it was really swanky. So no one got sea sick or anything but the whole thing had a Titanic feel it and I felt like we were going to be going down any minute. 

On the ferry we saw lots of sea birds and even BLUE PENQUINS. They had about four tractor-trailer loads of cows on the boat which was pretty cool-so many cows packed into the trucks and they were stacked two high in the box. Wellington was a pretty nice clean city; not too many skyscrapers because of the earth quakes they don’t build tall buildings. A city is a city. (Except New York, Portland and Boston). We visited all kinds of different places; some cool and some really lame. I don’t have much to say about it but the trip lasted a week and it made me really home sick because I got pretty sick of being with the same people; staying with them for so long.

 It was also a field trip. We had to listen to a lot of guest speakers talk about pretty radical views of stuff most of which was hard to digest and overly opinionated. Lisa the funny kiwi women didn’t go with us so it was wicked quiet most of the time on the trip. We stayed in a place called a “marai.” It’s a religious type of building that the natives use and for worship and ritual. We stayed there and attached to it is a bingo hall type part with a kitchen. We ate and slept there and during the day they herded us around to different parts of the city. It was located in a neighborhood that reminded me of Fleming Street in Lincoln.

It was a really tiring trip that went on longer than I would have liked it to. We saw a stuffed Moe at the nation museum. (Extinct flightless bird, similar to an ostrich), climbed a really tall tower type thing on the waterfront (just for a photo opp.), saw the world’s largest giant squid at the national museum, toured a bunch of places: city gardens (vegetables), city forest, boardwalks and religious places. It rained most of the time. We also went to this off the grid, religious commune (I would describe it as a place where retired circus workers all go live somewhere in weird trailers, yurts, campers, and a few little metal buildings). I went down their steep drive way on a mountain board (like a skateboard on bigger wheels) and wiped out on the speed bump leaving lots of my skin and blood on the drive way. We came back to the nun house and Lisa greeted us and it was great! Felt so good to be at the convent and vent a little bit. After we came back we had to dive into an intense week of class on “sustainable community development” after not having a week of class. Having come back the day before I was wicked tired and not ready for class at all. 

One afternoon I had to mail some postcards for Hillary and dad’s birthday and rode in with my friend Emma. We decide we should exercise more so when we came back we got right into things and started Monday yoga on the deck. We did some downward dog and warrior position. And we breathed deep to let the oxygen flow from our mouths all the way to our muscles then relaxed as we exhaled until we have emptied ourselves of all the oxygen in our lungs... anyway I think yoga is great and we are going to try to keep things going and maybe get more people involved. Who doesn’t like yoga? 

Home stays. Well the only thing exciting I have to talk about is our home stay. So each American goes to stay with a kiwi family for a weekend to learn about the culture a little bit: it’s pretty fun. Leah (curly haired cow farmer) and I were assigned together to go to the same house for the weekend which is nice so it wouldn’t be as awkward and she could help carry the conversation. It was the same sheep farm I went to visit at the start of being here in New Zealand. There are some pictures in my previous blog. So, I had been there before and had seen them a bunch of times around town. Thankfully, I got to stay with someone that wasn’t a complete stranger.  

First night we got picked up, the radio was playing Maroon5. The women, Sandy, said “sometimes I like this kind of music but sometimes I just want to ask them what in world they are saying!” She is an older women around 65 and full of life. She drove us up to her sheep farm that is about 20 minutes out of town and sits between two big mountains. On our way up we saw some wild pheasants, wild goats and lots of their sheep on the hillsides. Kevin met us in the driveway and was holding a little lamb. The lamb was wicked cute and blind in one eye, which is why he was keeping an eye on it. Their house used to be a bed and breakfast so I had a really nice bathroom and hot shower with the shower head that was high enough for me to stand under! What a change from the nun house; I got my own room with a huge double bed, soft sheets, and four pillows. It was the best sleep I had gotten since I have been here. Also THEY HEAT THEIR HOUSE so when I put my contacts in it wasn’t like stabbing my eyes with ice cubes! Isn’t that amazing? Someone finally heats their house. That night we had Crayfish for supper (like lobster but cost 65 bucks each...) and other sea fish like pauwa, and grilled fish. Wicked good super and dessert. Then we fed the lamb, locked up all 8 of their dogs, fed the chickens and went in to clean the kitchen. Well, I didn’t have to lift a finger! Me and Kevin went in to watch rugby as Leah and Sandy cleaned up everything. It was great. They also brought us dessert with tea so I didn’t have to get up.

We talked about solar powered hot water and stuff while watching rugby. After ruby we watched paid programing a little bit: flash backs to Grammy and Papa! Luckily, I don’t think Grammy Pelkey watches it. When I rolled out of bed at 9:00 the next morning, they had toast with different spreads; it was good! We could see some cows that got out so we had to go round those up and get them in the pastures. He drove us around the property and told us stories; it was great! We were supposed to get on the 4weeler and go check on some sheep way up in the mountain but when Leah and I sat on it, Leah’s side had a flat tire, so that was disappointing and we couldn’t go. 

Kevin and Sandy have a swinging bridge on their property that goes over the river near their house. It’s pretty dilapidated now, but if I lived there I would fix it up. They also have a Tennis court on their property. They made it out of packed limestone and it is so funny. It looks really funny. It’s the first of the season so Leah and I had to “scrape it” and “pack it” and put the net up to get it ready. Then after we set it up Leah and I played some tennis. She was really pompous saying, “I played tennis in advanced PE I’m really good”. And I was like, “I go to Lincoln Tennis League once a month and I stink.” Well let me tell you, Leah’s strong point is not tennis. She was so bad. But she was playing in her gum rubbers. Then, Sandy came out and was wicked good. I was so surprised. And she had been to the Wimbledon. 

The Topps took Leah and I to church on Sunday; we hit a bird on the way. Then went to church and there were lots of people camping in the parking lot for some reason? It was a weird sight. After church, we left Kevin at church because he was talking too much and Sandy took us down to go on a cave tour. Well, this was my first cave and it was pretty cool. It wasn’t too big but it had the stalagmites and stalactites in them and they found fossilized penguins in them! Our guide, Barry, was a really “colorful” old man who couldn’t believe we didn’t eat cow stomach. He also couldn’t understand a word me and Leah said!!  I think it was also because he was half deaf, but I’m used to that from living with mom.

Character development:

Sandy: She is a great tennis player on her little limestone court: full of life and always has a good laugh. She’s is a great cook, has 4 dogs, 3 cats, and 20 chickens. She made us listen to children’s Sunday school songs on the way to church Sunday morning. It was pretty funny.

Kevin: He is a great story teller, loves to talk about his sheep, he has 4 dogs of his own (not Sandy’s dogs), 3000 sheep, 150 cattle and 1 horse. He is also a pastor; he told me and Leah the story of Jacob and Leah in the Bible. Well, in the Bible, Jacob and Leah get married and have 7 kids... He thought that was a good laugh because Leah and I came to stay at his house.

Leah: still the cow farmer with curly hair. She has started to call herself my sister (sorry Hillary, Elizabeth and Mary) because our bedroom doors were across from one another and she told me, “night” every night during the homestay.