Heading North

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am setting out for Coromandel tomorrow. I will be spending a couple of days in Rotoroa on the way back, so I will return to Wellington May 29. Where we are staying does not have email access, so I am not sure if I will be able to check my email while I am gone or not so don't think I am ignoring you. Coromandel sounds fun, but I wish we didn't have to go for so long. The area is pretty remote, so there will not be much to do. I think we are doing predator control the entire time too which means we have to catch possums and things like that in traps. I have a hard time with that even though I know that they are non-native to NZ and they kill the native wildlife and destroy the forest. I hope I don't have to see too many dead things. In Rotoroa though I plan on going black water rafting through glowwarm caves and zorbing. Zorbing is where you are in a large bubble and you roll around in it (see www.agro.co.nz). For the glowworm caves we do an abseil (rappelling) into a cave and then float down a river on intertubes and all along the cave walls are glowworms (like the doll you had as a kid and you squeeze it's belly and it lights up only these glowworms light up when they are hungry). Anyway I should have fun there. So everyone take care and I will be in contact as soon as possible.

Last week we did a seal survey near Wellington. I finally let slip what a big LOTR fan I am and to my surprise Dan (one of our leaders) decided after our survey to drive me to my own personal graceland. Seatoun is a town west of Wellington and the home of the LOTR cast when they were filming and the director Peter Jackson. We drove by his house (it was on the way I swear) to the Chocolate Fish Cafe. It is rumored that the cast spent a lot of time sipping coffee here. The place has great character. All the tables and chairs are painted uniquely and the patio is across the street next to Scorching Bay and has a great view of the water. On Tuesday we did dune restoration, a fancy way of saying weeding, in Eastbourne (where Ian McKellen lived during filming--ok I will stop now). It was relaxing and we hung out on the beach all day. Also the volunteers of the dunes trust (the people in charge of restoring them) take turns making us lunch each time we go, so that was a nice treat. I am getting quite sick of sandwiches. Wednesday and Thursday were spent back at Nga Manu Forest Preserve doing some trailbuilding. Friday we went sailing which surprisingly I didn't enjoy this time. I think it is quite possibly the slowest sailboat on earth and it was freezing cold. I tried to nap to pass some time during the 8 hour trip to nowhere, but I kept having to switch between the two benches I was laying on as the boat heeled from side to side. It was especially interesting when the crew tried to tack, but instead we did an accidental jibe only to end up dead in the water for a good half hour. I am not sure what took them so long to recover and I really don't want to dwell on the subject any longer. We got home after dark and I don't think I finally warmed up until 9pm.

Yesterday was sad because I had to say goodbye to all the people I have been living with during my stay (except for 2). Their stay was over and we welcomed two newcomers. I will miss the others though and all the laughs and annoyences we had together.

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