More of my pictures from field camp!
New Zealand!
These crazy awesome trees we got to see! They make a very dense dark forest.
A local Marae-or sacred meeting house for the Maori.
Volcanoes! New Zealand, like many of the Pacific Island, was largely formed through volcanic activity. Many of these volcanoes are still active today.
The COLDEST water I have ever swum in. This is a "cold pool" close to lake Tarawera.
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We had an opportunity to visit Maori lands throughout the North Island of New Zealand, guided by a local Maori man. The Maori, though not technically owners of the land, still exert guardianship over much of the islands and must be consulted before major industrial developments. These are some of the beautiful sites that we were able to visit.
Lots of corn in New Zealand! (A little reminder of home!) Farms like this on the North Island of New Zealand are typically owned by the Maori.
Beautiful beaches. If you like beach going, New Zealand is an excellent place to visit!
New Zealand is pretty famous for it's population of sheep, but nowadays you are far more likely to see lots and lots of cows! It reminds me of the midwestern United States in that sense!
Beautiful views in New Zealand. I apologize for the poor quality, these were taken through the window of our trusty van Jasper! So beautiful, I would definitely be content with a car just driving around.
Mt. Maunganui! Kind of a joke here in New Zealand, the Maori translation of this is "Mount Big Mountain." This is the site of many surf and kayak competitions, lots of waves! You can see one going on distantly in the background. We enjoyed the waves too!
Beautiful beach.
Beach reconstruction going on. In developing coastal areas a lot of sand dunes/dune grasses had to be removed. This is part of a dune reclamation project.
The beach adjacent to Mt. Maunganui where we did some body surfing!
Beautiful day at the beach! This is our fearless leader; also a professor here at the University of Auckland that I have had the absolute privilege of learning from! Though technically a geology professor I've never known someone who knows so much about seemingly everything, from Maori culture and indigenous knowledge to geological and oceanography. It really has been a great trip!
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Got a few exciting things coming up which is helping with the homesickness I've been feeling a bit lately. I've been away from home for so long now! But it's definitely worth it and staying busy is only helping! This weekend I'm headed to the Shire to see the Lord of the Rings movie set, checking out the active sheep farm that the site is located on (and hopefully feeding baby sheep!) and visiting Hamilton Gardens. Additionally a friend of mine and I finally found a Mexican restaurant, the first I've seen in New Zealand, so I'm looking forward to trying that. The day after I will be going to a local park with a bunch of University students to watch the interfaculty cricket and rugby games! It's a costumed event (get out your tweed jackets everyone) and should be a great time! In the next few weeks I'm also looking forward to having dinner with an alum from the University of Auckland who is now a local practicing doctor!
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