Whanganui, The Heaphy Track, and Wellington!

The last two and a half weeks have been incredible. We finished off our travel section of the program in Whanganui and in downtown Wellington. In Whanganui, we were able to have a lot of free time to relax and write our first response paper of the semester. Interestingly enough, we stayed on a Quaker settlement that consisted of about fifteen homes. It was definitely a close-knit community and I loved learning about their garden, which had fruit trees, herbs, vegetables, etc. One night we had a potluck with all of the residents there and it was fun to learn about their lives and where they came from. I also went to a market on the river on Saturday morning that had a lot of fresh produce and fun, local vendors as well.

At a renewable wind farm near Whanganui

            Following Whanganui, we packed up our vans one final time and headed to Wellington—our new hometown. We stayed in a hostel right downtown and over the course of a few days I began to develop a sense of the layout of the city. I instantly loved the vibes of the city as I went on a run along the harbor within my first hour there. I saw a variety of young people, active people, came across an awesome rock-climbing gym that I intend to join, and saw some pickup rugby games at a park on the water. During our initial time in Wellington we heard from numerous influential speakers who taught us about the Treaty of Waitangi (a controversial agreement between the Maori and European settlers) and learned about the Parliamentary Commission for the Environment. My favorite part of the few days was when we got to visit parliament. We heard from members of the Green Party and got more educated on the governmental system that’s in place in New Zealand. I’m happy to call Wellington my home for the next two months and can hardly wait to further explore it.

The whole crew before our first day!

            Last Friday (October 4^th), we started our much-needed spring break. Three girls, three guys, and I set off to the northwest corner of the South Island to take on the Heaphy Track—the longest of New Zealand’s nine ‘Great Walks’ (~50 miles). We spent 5 days on the track passing through temperate forests, encountering beautiful views of surrounding mountains, hiking through moss forests, alpine grasslands, rainforests, and ending on a beautiful coastline. Unfortunately, it rained about three out of the five days we were out on the track but we were able to sleep in the huts each night and dry out our gear. We spent two days following the track in Karamea—a small coastal town in an awesome hostel that had it’s own permaculture farm. The owner of the hostel generously gave us a tour of the farm and showed us his sheep and we enjoyed a grand ‘Heaphy Feast’ that his wife and other people in the community cooked us made from ingredients grown in their garden. Part of the feast included venison (which I had never had) caught from the national park we were hiking through and it was arguably the best meat I’ve ever eaten.

Our last sunset while on the track

Rocking very necessary rain pants

Hiking through grasslands on our second day

The stellar Rongo hostel in Karamea

            Happy and refreshed we returned to Wellington on Sunday and began our homestay. It was unbelievably nice to finally unpack my bag and settle into a location for two months. My house is located just outside of downtown up on Mt. Victoria and we have the most amazing view from our living room. We were welcomed by a huge storm on Monday with gusts of wind up to 150 km per hour. It was so windy that a roof on a house actually blew off! Luckily, the remainder of the week was beautiful, sunny weather. Wellington’s a very walking-friendly city (besides the hills) and it’s been nice to walk to wherever my group meets everyday. We spent this past week in Wellington, visiting each internship site where each person in our group will be located. We also visited a couple of Wellington’s museums on the harbor and got some free time to explore downtown. Tomorrow I’m off to Dunedin (on the southeast end of the south island) to watch the All Blacks play Australia!! I’m also staying with one of my best friends from elementary school who moved to New Zealand after 5^th grade and whom I haven’t seen in almost ten years! I’m anticipating a very fun-filled long weekend and cannot to explore yet another area of New Zealand!