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Notes
from the Field
(Edited
by Julienne Gard)
Matt Ebiner
June 30, 2005
Hi
Everyone,
I have
spent the last 17 days leading a Study Abroad Program in New Zealand, and
it has been going remarkably well. We have spent most of our time on
the South Island, but are now on the North Island, making our way up to
Auckland. There are 27 students, so it is a much larger group than I
had when I did the Study Abroad in Ireland in 2000 (16 students) and 2002
(10 students). We have experienced unbelievably good weather for
being in such a rainy country during the start of their winter, with
sunshine emerging almost everyplace we go. The bus driver has done
hundreds of tours around the South Island, and he said he had never seen a
group so lucky with such good weather. He also said that the
itinerary I put together was the best he had ever seen. Here are
some highlights:
-
Began
in Christchurch, with its English influences; took a relaxing boat
ride down the Avon River and climbed the steeple steps of the
Cathedral. The students loved the night life and one of the
students was happy to find a rugby game which he joined.
-
Westland
National Park with its magnificent glaciers; we went walking on Fox
Glacier with a professional guide on a day with crystal clear skies,
and then had beautiful views when we walked around Lake Matheson in
the afternoon, with perfect reflections of New Zealand’s highest
mountain, Mt. Cook
-
Crossed
the Southern Alps again in Mt. Aspiring National Park, stopping for
waterfalls and walks through magnificently lush forest with tree ferns
and mossy beech trees. At Blue Pools we crossed a hair-raising
foot bridge high above incredibly blue water, and each step had the
suspension bridge bouncing.
-
In
Queenstown we had magnificent views and food from the top of the
gondola, looking out over glacially carved Lake Wakatipu to the
snow-capped Remarkables Mountains, one of the filming locations for
Lord of the Rings.
-
We
spent a day in New Zealand’s most magnificent national park,
Fiordland NP, where we traveled 2 hours along the Milford Road (one of
the most scenic drives in the world) to Milford Sound, the best-known
fjord in the country. We took a 2-hour cruise through the 8-mile
long fjord, past some of the most spectacular scenery in the world.
The cliffs, glaciers, and waterfalls were astounding, even without
sunshine.
-
Enjoyed
Dunedin, the most Scottish city in New Zealand, with its beautiful old
buildings constructed of cream-colored limestone and dark black
basalt. The group greatly enjoyed touring the Cadbury Chocolate
factory and the Speight’s Brewery, both with generous sampling
opportunities.
-
Outside of Dunedin we had a great afternoon on the Otago Peninsula
where we visited Larnach Castle, the only castle in New Zealand, the
Royal Albatross colony, where we could see the incredible wingspan (up
to 10ft) of the birds as they soared around us on the strong winds,
and saw twenty Yellow-Eyed Penguins, the world’s rarest penguin species, from distances as short as two feet.
-
Kaikoura, where we saw three glorious Sperm Whales, an unforgettable
sight to watch them dive slowly, thrusting their fluted tail into the
air as they went down. Even more fun was to see a pod of 300
Dusky Dolphins playfully swimming and leaping all around our boat.
-
I
have been running everyday (averaging 6 miles for the last 16 days)
and even jumped into a marathon in Wellington. I only ran the
first 10 km, but I was in 2nd place when I turned around, making it a
20 km day for me. It was sooooo windy, cold, and rainy, that at
one point I looked down to see if I was still wearing shorts; my legs
were so numb that I could not feel anything. When the group got
going a couple hours later, the weather had turned sunny.
-
In
Tongariro National Park we stayed at one of New Zealand’s most
famous hotels, The Grand Chateau (like the Ahwahnee in Yosemite).
We had incredibly clear weather to enjoy the snow-capped volcanoes,
and several of us took a magnificent sightseeing flight around the
peaks and over the volcanic landscape. Then a group of 7 of us
did an 11 mile hike in cold, windy, sunny weather across snow, over
ice, and through mud to reach a couple of lakes in old explosion
craters. We had constant, crystal-clear views of the volcanoes,
and the visibility was literally unlimited.
-
New
Zealand is responsible for inventing the jet boat, which goes up to 50
mph in water as shallow as 4 inches, so we took a ride with a fearless
driver who took us through some major white water rapids, had us
airborne at times, and turned 360s at other times. It was the
most fun I’ve ever had on water.
-
Had
a great evening at a recreated Maori village in Rotorua, with an
excellent Maori cultural performance of music and dance, followed by a
traditional feast (similar to a Hawaiian luau). The Maori are
the native people of New Zealand, arriving just 1000 years ago, and
are racially related to the Polynesians of Samoa and Hawaii.
They make up about 15% of the population in New Zealand, and for the
most part are very European in their lifestyle.
-
In
Rotorua we also visited the Agrodome, an entertaining and informative
show (though quite touristy) devoted to sheep, such an important and
omnipresent part of the national economy. Tourism in New Zealand
now makes more money than sheep ranching, so in a sense, a tourist
show about sheep is a fine display of the changing economy here.
-
Watched
geysers erupt at the geothermal area in Rotorua, and could smell
sulfur in the air throughout the city. New Zealand is one of the
great areas in the world for geothermal activity, along with
Yellowstone, Iceland, and Kamchatka.
-
Watched
kiwis running around in a nocturnal kiwi house, where it’s kept dark
during opening hours so that visitors can see New Zealand’s national
bird while it’s active. As a flightless bird it is endangered,
and numbers only about 50,000. We also saw the more endangered
takahe bird, also flightless and endangered, and only numbering about
200-250 in total.
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