week two, projects due?

Week two of school came with its own set of challenges, lots of new things to get use to and getting back into study mode. Here in Lincoln the weather is starting to get cooler and the leaves are changing color. Although its know that in the Christchurch area of New Zealand it can be four seasons in one day the past few days have been rainy and a bit cooler. Campus is still beautiful though, I’ve tried to capture a bit of what campus looks like and where I live.

my residence hall

my dorm room - looking in from the doorway 

Landscape Architecture Building

Library 

Library - the only major damage on Campus from the September 2010 earthquake

the dinning hall where I have dinner every night

week one, classes and more classes

By the end of week one after visiting a bunch of different lectures, and sorting though credits with the study abroad and course advisors here on campus and back at the University of Guelph I finally decided on which courses I will be taking here at Lincoln.  I will be taking Recreation and Tourism Management of Protected Areas and an Introduction to Earth Science class along with two third year Landscape Architecture classes; Innovative Design Studio and Design Theory. So although the course load will be a bit heavier than I wanted while I was here I will have an extra credit which means I won’t need to take two electives next year when I am back in Guelph! 

For the Innovative Design Studio course I am taking we are doing one design project throughout the semester. On Thursday of this past week we went to visit the site in Sydenham, a suburb of Christchurch. We will be redesigning apart of this suburb after the earthquakes of 2010 and now February 22, 2011. Below I have put some of the pictures I took during the site visit. 

Friday was a holiday, as a memorial day for the Earthquakes, providing me with a much need three day weekend. I spent the weekend catching up on everything I needed to do, resting up and hanging out with people on campus.  On Sunday I attended church again and after the service an older couple invited me, along with their son and daughter in-law, for lunch at their home in Prebbleton. 

back to school for the first time in 3 and a half months

The past few days have been insane with registration was the same day as the first day of classes and lots of things to be sorted out. I am still in the process of picking classes and am currently ‘window shopping’ out which courses or ‘papers’ I want to take for the semester. 

day twelve - Rotorua and the flight back to Christchurch

Since we didn’t have a chance to see much of Rotorua our our first time though we decided to spend the day there before driving into Auckland Sunday night to catch our flight back to Christchurch. While in Rotorua we went to the Red Wood Forest, saw Mount Tarawera - where the Buried Village is, saw the Blue and Green Lake and watched people ride the Zorb. 

Red Wood Forest, Rotorua

Rachel Springs - Whancapipiro - Temperature 212

Zorbs

Green Lake

watching the sun set from the window of the plane

day eleven - creek walks and a day at the Beach

After getting in pretty late the night before we decided to sleep in Saturday morning and explore Melissa’s family farm before heading to Mount Maunganui Beach where we spent the afternoon learning to surf  (I was able to catch a couple waves), body boarding, swimming and just relaxing at the beach. 

the creek at the back of Melissa’s family farm

Mount Maunganui Beach

Nate, Melissa, Michaela, Me, Harald

me getting ready for my second time driving .. this time through town! 

 scary.. but we all made it back safe and sound!!

day ten - Kaitaia up to Cape Reinga and all the way back to Tauranga

Instead of driving along the 90 mile beach, which can be dangerous in a car especially if you don’t plan it perfectly in accordance to when the tide comes in, we took Harrison’s Cape Runner tour up to see Cape Reinga.

the speed limit to drive on 90 mile beach

sand boarding! 

looking down at Taputaputa Bay where we stopped for lunch

Cape Reinga

the five of us at Cape Reinga - the farthest north point of New Zealand

watching the sun set as we drove back to Tauranga

day nine - Beautiful Bay of Islands and a drive to Kaitaia

On Thursday morning Michaela and I decided to do a 5 km hike before dawn to the Haruru Falls. On our walk to the falls it was completely dark outside so we were able to hear the Kiwi birds (they are nocturnal) and made to the falls in time to watch the sun rise.  Once we got back to the camp site we quickly packed up our stuff and the five of us headed into Paihia to go on our cruise through the Bay of Islands and to the Hole in the Rock. It was a beautiful boat ride and we were able to see many dolphins swimming alongside the boat. After seeing the Hole in the Rock we stopped for lunch in Russell which is New Zealand’s first Capital. We explored the town, checked out some art galleries and then headed back on a ferry to Paihia. From there we drove to Kaitaia where we stayed in a hostel for the night.

Haruru Falls

aboard walk through a community of Mangroves 

watching the sunrise on the hike back

looking out into the Bay of Islands

dolphins !

Hole in the Rock, we couldn’t go though because it was to rough

in Russell, Nate and Melissa waiting for the rest of us 

day eight - Onemana to Paihia in the Bay of Islands

Early Wednesday morning Michaela and I got up and walked over to the beach to watch the sunrise. After almost 3 hours of laying on the beach in our sleeping bags we headed back to the bach to get ready for the day.  

We all took turns driving on our road trip of the North Island and on Wednesday it was my turn to try! We drove from Onemana, through Thame, through Auckland, through Whangarei, up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. For the section I drove I didn’t have to make any turns, so although it was a bit strange it was pretty easy.  Once we arrived in Paihia we explored the very touristy town, checked out a craft sale and then set up camp at a campground just outside of town. That night we meet some Canadians who fed us a second dinner and gave us all there left over food!!

watching the sunrise

 Auckland

Palm tree in Paihia

day seven - Onemana up the Coromandel and back again

On Tuesday we explored the Coromandel driving from Onemana to Thames to Coromandel Town to Port Jackson to Hot Water Beach to Cathedral Cove to Hahei and then back to Onemana. It was a beautiful drive with some near death experiences along the way, as we drove on what considered a two lane road but was only one lane wide. The gravel road went along the coast and had few guard rails even though there was a cliff down the one side. It was quite an experience but was absolutely beautiful and definitely worth it.

on the drive up the Coromandel 

on the drive close to Port Jackson 

check out this two way road...

one of many incredible views on the drive 

Harald and I in Port Jackson

Hot Water Beach

day six - Tauranga to Onemana in the Coromandel Peninsula

On Monday morning we started our drive north to Onemana where we stayed the night at Melissa’s Auntie and Uncle’s bach (holiday home) right near the water. We stopped along the drive at Karangahake Gorge for a few hours and made a few other stops along the way before getting into Onemana. That evening we went for a swim in the ocean and star gazed on the beach. 

Karangahake Gorge in Waihi  

walking through the 'windows walk' of the old Karangahake Gorge gold mine

 including a 1 km tunnel 

Whangamata Beach

day five - Waitomo to Tauranga

After a morning of exploring the Waitomo caves and seeing the Kiwi birds in Otorohanga, we drove to Rotorua where we dropped off our rental car and got picked up by Melissa's parents. From there we went to Tauranga, Melissa’s hometown,  and spent the night at her families place before heading off in her parents’s car to explore the rest of the North Island. 

learning how to abseil

looking up through the hourglass entrance from the bottom of the Waitomo Cave

me abseiling down 35 meters into the cave where we black water rafted, saw 

glow worms, rode a flying fox though the pitch black and climbed through the caves 

Otorohanga Kiwi House and Aviary 

day four - Foxton to Waitomo

Friday morning we set out for the Waitomo caves, making lots of stops along the way. We arrived in the early evening, set up camp for the night and then we went for a jog and swim (the campsite had a pool)  in the pouring rain.

in Ohakune where we stopped for lunch - our rental car, Harald, Michaela & Nate

Tongariro National Park - Whakapapa Village at the base of Mount Ruapehu

looking out from the Whakapapa Ski Area

on our drive through Tongariro National Park