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.