(Most of the) North Island, New Zealand

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a short-term study abroad program through UMD, and the program that I am in is about sustainability in New Zealand! The first part of the study abroad itinerary was on the North Island, starting in Auckland and making our way down to Wellington. This was such a fun trip because I was able to travel with the same group of people for close to 3 weeks, and the whole thing was planned by someone other than me! I just sat back and was shuttled around each day. I never knew what was on the schedule and never knew what day it even was! 

Landing in Auckland was such a change from the dreary winter I left behind in Maryland since it's summer in the southern hemisphere. It was super hot and humid, and I was grateful that we were being shuttled around on an air conditioned bus. The company that UMD used was Stray Travel, and they planned a great trip! I thought Auckland was beautiful, but by the end, it would be my least favorite place on the itinerary.

The view of Auckland from the top of Mt. Victoria

The crater of an old volcano now looks like a hill we would love to go sledding on!

We learned that Auckland is by far the largest city in New Zealand, and that what we would consider the suburbs are actually considered to be in Auckland. We drove to a little beach town and got our first taste of summer by getting our toes in the sand and the sun on our skin! The ozone hole is roughly over New Zealand, so the sun was HOT and we all had to pile on sunscreen to prevent being burnt. Additionally, the movie Moana was based off of the NZ indigenous Maori culture, and we saw more evidence of that throughout our trip, but the first hint was that the road to the ocean was named Moana Ave! In multiple cities!

Orewa, a beach town suburb of Auckland

Beach!!

We went whitewater rafting as a group and went over the largest commercially raftable waterfall... our guide, Seagull, did not tell our instructor that piece of information before they booked the whole experience for us haha. For the longest time, I thought that he was joking, and it wasn't until we actually got into the rafts that I learned he was not. I don't actually thing I've been whitewater rafting before, and this was an incredible place to do it first! We managed to not flip while going over the waterfall and we all had an amazing time. Super super fun, an activity that I myself would not have booked because I'm sure it would be expensive, which is just another perk of all the activities being paid for as part of our tuition.

Another experience we did was staying at a remote lodge to learn more about the Maori culture and traditions. We went on a few hikes to learn about the native bush trees and plants, and got to ask questions about their lives, how tourism affects them, how the government treats them etc.

H tree, which is two trees where one of the branches fused with the second tree!

Ancient rock carvings...look familiar at all? Hint: Disney movie

The beautiful property the lodge was on, overlooking a river

Kaori tree, a slow-growing native tree, this tree here is about 800 years old

As this is a course in sustainability, we visited a lot of places that are predator free to learn about the history of the island and their native species. New Zealand was isolated from the rest of the world before most mammals evolved, so the only animals native to the country are birds (and a bat). This means that many of their species ended up evolving to become flightless, because they faced no predators on the ground. Instead, their only predators were avian, and they evolved to have quite dull coats as opposed to the bright colors of Australian birds. However, when people came to the island, first the Maori about 800 years ago and then the Europeans about 400, they brought many mammals that have wreaked havoc on the native ecosystem. These include stoats, opossums, mice, goats, hedgehogs, and more. Recently, the government has set out a goal to become predator-free by 2050, which involves killing many of these mammals. Some islands have managed to already become predator-free, including Tiritiri Matangi, a bird sanctuary near Auckland. They do a lot of breeding on these islands and then the birds are often shipped off to other places around New Zealand to try and reintroduce these species!

The bright blue water never gets old

Native bush on Tiritiri Matangi

A sleeping owl! The birds here have nothing to be afraid of and will let humans get so close to them

Some funny Christmas tree-looking trees, but the pine needles seem to only grow up?

Feeding some eel that migrate through this river

Another activity that we did was go to glowworm caves! They look like super beautiful blue dots when the lights are off, but the actual glowworms are grossss. The blue light is to attract bugs to fly into their network of saliva strands and then the glowworms bring their catch up and eat it. Yum!

Getting prepped to go into the glowworm caves!

Strands of glowworm mucus

How it looks with no light on! Just like a starry sky.

Redwood forest! Why go to California when you can go all the way to New Zealand!

Sulfurous hot springs, these things stank all right. I went running in this town and my goodness did I regret that decision.

Fun mushrooms

A fern before it unfurls

Once again the most blue water I've ever seen

We will be walking across the left mountain in this picture on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing

The last place that we went was Blue Duck Station, a remote farm where we learned more about the economies of New Zealand and life as a farmer. The station is not only a working sheep and beef farm, but they do some carbon farming, and tourism as well. They are also a stop along Te Arora, the hike along the length of the country. The place was so adorable, they have a small cafe that has beautiful flowers outside!

Went swimming in a river, it was super cold, but refreshing!

Went on an ATV tour of the farm and went to one of the highest peaks to see all the land around. They actually have a fancy restaurant on this station that does a 10? course meal.

Even when it's rainy, it's beautiful

If you look closely at the middle of this picture, there are two blue ducks, which is what the station is named for. They are an endangered species, and there are only around 2000 in all of New Zealand. They are hard to care for because they require fast flowing water, and each pair of ducks requires about 1km of shoreline.

The cafe made us meals every day, and always had fresh picked plums, yum!

Rode in the back of a pickup truck with a dog!

Is this the most detailed account of what happened on this trip? No, but I'm sure you all just want to see the pictures anyhow. I had to keep a journal for the class, and then I kept a personal journal, and at this point, writing it all out for a third time is just a lot, sorry!