The students met with mentors and kitchen staff at 8:45am to go over Monday chores; every Monday, students will be assigned a half hour chore. These chores ranged from weeding the garden, to cleaning the vans and to turning the compost bin. This actually seemed like it would be fun, expect for the fact that today, it was raining.
From 10-11:30, Ric talked of New Zealand ecology. It was amazing to hear how excited he was over this topic. It always makes learning more fun when your professor is passionate about the topic.
After lecture, Maree came into the wharekai and announced that we would not be camping the night in the Hunua Range due to bad weather. Instead, we were going to go to Waharau Regional Park to acquire mapping skills that would assist in tomorrow's hike in the Hunua Range.
The ride to Waharau Regional Park was cold, wet, and everyone was tired. The van finally pulled off the curvy road and onto a dirt path. The hills began to roll around the van and I knew we were somewhere special. A few minutes later, we arrived upon an old white building…the welcome center. Next to the welcome center was a fenced in grassy area where we spent the next 3 hours learning and practicing various mapping techniques.
After eating lunch at the white welcome center, it was time for a "mapping-related treasure hunt." Rebekah split the 26 of us into 6 groups, each receiving a mentor to answer any questions (my group got John). John handed us the white piece of paper that told us what to do and we were off. Our first task led us into a tree-covered path. It seemed a little creepy but once through the bushes, it was a tropical rainforest. The trees were green and tall but hung to the ground. It was nothing I'd ever seen before. We followed various rivers, streams, sacred areas and paths until we finished every task on our sheet. At the end of the treasure hunt, Rebekah was waiting with our "treasure," also known as yummy New Zealand candy. There were various types of options in her candy jar but I went right for the chocolate covered marshmallow man.
Our drive back from Waharau was just as cold and wet as ever. Will this rain ever go away?
Getting back to campus, we immediately were placed in the wharekai to finish a talk that we would have done around our campfire had we gone camping. The talk ended at 5pm and kitchen crew started on dinner. After dinner, the wharekai became a travel agency with groups of people researching plans for this upcoming weekend. Each group came up with a hypothetical plan and wrote it on the main whiteboard. Once all the groups had their plan on the board, it was time to choose what you wanted to do. There were many choices: travel into Auckland and tour around the various outskirt islands (including New Zealand's youngest volcanic island), camping and hiking in the Coromandel, or my hypothetical plan, a white water rafting and glow worm cave adventure. Everyone decided to sleep on it and choose in the morning. But for me, I really want to go on an adventure this weekend. I hope others do too!
The major factor about choosing what to do this weekend is weather. It is suppose to be cold and raining all weekend long, just as it has been for the past 3 days. Here I am, in my EcoQuest bed. Sad that we were not able to camp tonight, but happy that I have a nice cozy place to sleep in New Zealand. What more could a girl ask for?
The ride to Waharau Regional Park was cold, wet, and everyone was tired. The van finally pulled off the curvy road and onto a dirt path. The hills began to roll around the van and I knew we were somewhere special. A few minutes later, we arrived upon an old white building…the welcome center. Next to the welcome center was a fenced in grassy area where we spent the next 3 hours learning and practicing various mapping techniques.
After eating lunch at the white welcome center, it was time for a "mapping-related treasure hunt." Rebekah split the 26 of us into 6 groups, each receiving a mentor to answer any questions (my group got John). John handed us the white piece of paper that told us what to do and we were off. Our first task led us into a tree-covered path. It seemed a little creepy but once through the bushes, it was a tropical rainforest. The trees were green and tall but hung to the ground. It was nothing I'd ever seen before. We followed various rivers, streams, sacred areas and paths until we finished every task on our sheet. At the end of the treasure hunt, Rebekah was waiting with our "treasure," also known as yummy New Zealand candy. There were various types of options in her candy jar but I went right for the chocolate covered marshmallow man.
Our drive back from Waharau was just as cold and wet as ever. Will this rain ever go away?
Getting back to campus, we immediately were placed in the wharekai to finish a talk that we would have done around our campfire had we gone camping. The talk ended at 5pm and kitchen crew started on dinner. After dinner, the wharekai became a travel agency with groups of people researching plans for this upcoming weekend. Each group came up with a hypothetical plan and wrote it on the main whiteboard. Once all the groups had their plan on the board, it was time to choose what you wanted to do. There were many choices: travel into Auckland and tour around the various outskirt islands (including New Zealand's youngest volcanic island), camping and hiking in the Coromandel, or my hypothetical plan, a white water rafting and glow worm cave adventure. Everyone decided to sleep on it and choose in the morning. But for me, I really want to go on an adventure this weekend. I hope others do too!
The major factor about choosing what to do this weekend is weather. It is suppose to be cold and raining all weekend long, just as it has been for the past 3 days. Here I am, in my EcoQuest bed. Sad that we were not able to camp tonight, but happy that I have a nice cozy place to sleep in New Zealand. What more could a girl ask for?
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