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Published: September 7th 2009
I said bye to Jenny as she was off to catch her flight to Christchurch. I found the Airbus into the city and hopped on. Saw an amazing rainbow over the water on my way in. Got dropped off right at the hostel and check in. I was put into a room by myself so I got refreshed and then met up with a Canadian girl I had talked to on facebook before leaving and we went to the orientation for SWAP. The orientation was quite long but very informative.
We went to open up a NZ bank account first which was super easy and then headed to Subway for some lunch. Next stop was to go apply for our tax numbers. Also super easy. Way better designed then the way things went in Ireland haha.
Ann and I went out for a walk after some dinner and I ended up getting a cell phone right away. Same kind of deal as in Ireland with a pre-pay plan. Glad to have a phone again!
By this time I was so exhausted I just went up to have a shower and get all my things organized and tried to
figure out my phone. I fell asleep not long after.
But a couple came into my room around midnight and turned the lights on and made a bunch of noise and woke me up. Not cool!!!
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Gail
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Red Hats-Easter Island
News Home > World News> Giant statues reveal red.... Giant statues reveal red hat secrets: study Module body 1 hour, 24 minutes ago 0 What's this LONDON (AFP) - British archaeologists said Monday they believe they have solved the ancient mystery of how the giant stone statues on Easter Island acquired distinctive red hats. The researchers said the key to the mystery lies in their discovery of a road on the tiny Pacific island. The hats were built in a quarry hidden inside the crater of an ancient volcano, and then rolled by hand or on tree logs to the site of the statues, said the team from the University of Manchester and University College, London. The archaeologists examined the way the hats, each weighing several tons and made of red scoria, a pumice-like volcanic rock, were moved by Polynesians between 500 and 750 years ago. They were placed on the heads of carved stone human figures known as moai standing on ceremonial platforms which encircle the island's coastline. But the riddle of how they were raised and attached remains unsolved. Dr. Colin Richards from the University of Manchester said: "We now know that the hats were rolled along the road made from a cement of compressed red scoria dust with a raised pavement along one side. "It is likely that they were moved by hand, but tree logs could also have been used." Dr. Sue Hamilton, of University College, London, said: "The hat quarry is inside the crater of an ancient volcano and on its outer lip. A third of the crater has been quarried away by hat production. "So far we have located more than 70 hats at the ceremonial platforms and in transit. Many more may have been broken up and incorporated into the platforms." Richards said there was evidence the quarry, known locally as Puna Pau, had previously produced statues before changing to hats. "Initially the Polynesians built the moai out of various types of local stone, including the Puna Pau scoria, but between 12,000 to 13,000 AD, Puna Pau switched from producing statues to hats. "The change correlated with an increase in the overall size of the statues across the island."