Island Exploration

Summer is just around the corner here in the Southern Hemisphere.  Not that you would ever notice winter in Auckland with all the greenery around and nearly permanent absence of snow.  Summer nonetheless is welcome relief as it means two things: warmer temperatures and visiting relatives and friends.  This means I get to act as a tour guide for a bit and travel the country.  My sister will be the first to arrive, landing on Thursday, and I already have an ambitious schedule for her two-week visit involving lots of tramping, a few water sports, and helping me move.  What’s that?  Yep, I’m moving out of my solo flat in the city in favor of a gorgeous view over Okahu Bay and barbecuing opportunities, not to mention a dramatically reduced rent, wireless internet, and having flatmates.  I’ll move in on the 24^th, which will be a busy day, one sure to appear in my next blog post.  To keep you updated, my new address is:

22 Karori Crescent
Orakei, Auckland 1071
New Zealand

Home Phone: +64 95 23 26 47

Goodbye living in Auckland City!

Now down to business!  Kayaking… I have been meaning to get into this sport for years and I don’t mean the sissy stuff.  Sure, sea kayaking is nice; you get some beautiful views, smell the salt water; maybe go fishing if you have skills.  Real kayakers take on whitewater though; they get rolled (sending water up their nose), hit their head on rocks, and dodge eels, all of which I experienced my first time out on the Kaituna River.  Thankfully I was wearing a helmet, which I have learned is a must.  I also got to put my Canoe Club pool training Eskimo roll to use—good use.  I probably rolled a hundred times on Sunday (1 Nov) both in preparation for the real thing and in the real thing-- that being “the chute” and the other class II rapids on the river.  Okay, so class II is not very big, but you have to start somewhere and to a beginner it can be quite fun.  I worked on moving into and out of eddies, edging the kayak, and most of all rolling.  It was all good fun and I could not get enough, even though CJ and I kayaked the same 200m section of the river for six solid hours.  No shuttles required, gnarly.   The next day I was quite sore in muscles I did not even know I had, but that is all part of picking up a new sport.

Work hard, play hard.  That has always been my philosophy and though much of what I write about here on my blog is on the play side, I do a quite considerable amount of work too (it’s just not as fun to write about).  The GIS work for my thesis has been coming along pretty well and on Friday the 6^th of November I gave a presentation to the DEVORA research forum (to view the program and forthcoming slides click here).  My presentation was well received, particularly by the civil defense and emergency management officials in attendance.  On the 7^th, a number of DEVORA researchers including myself went on a field trip to Brown’s Island--more commonly referred to by its Maori name Motukorea—a volcano in the Hauraki Gulf.  Motukorea is one of a handful of undated centers in the Auckland Volcanic Field, which is what my mass-evacuation planning thesis focuses on.  The rest of the group, almost exclusively vulcanologists and geologists, were über-excited about the stratigraphy of the island, which took a fair amount of effort for them to translate into terms even a aspiring geographer could understand.  Seeing all the scoria and tuff was pretty exciting though.  My favorites were hiking up on the crater rim and checking out an old pyrochlastic bomb (see image below), where you could actually see how it was warped as it traveled through the air. To view more photos click here.

On Sunday, I invited Eugene out to discover some more of our local Auckland surroundings.  The first stop was One Tree Hill, another former volcano and renowned Maori pa site (fortified hilltop).  Today it bears a monument to the Maori at the summit and is surrounded by a wonderful park.  Next stop was Thai food—I had been longing for some as I had not had it since leaving the US—and then off to the West Coast beach at Whatipu.  The West Coast beaches are renowned surfing beaches with very curious black sand, which gets quite warm on a sunny day.  Eugene and I hiked all around the beach, over the sand dunes, and then took a small trail up to the base of the hills where there are numerous caves to explore.  Apparently the largest of the caves used to be used for parties as long as 70 years ago!  To view more photos click here.

Last week was a bit more lively than usual.  No, not because I was taking finals like the undergrads, but because of some exciting Rotary initiated events.  On Tuesday (10 Nov) after the Newmarket Rotary Club meeting, my counselor Paul and I went across the harbor to Devonport to speak with the DOC rangers about our upcoming service project on Motutapu Island.  We then checked out the Passchendaele WWI exhibit at the old Fort Takapuna, which was a very fine display that one of the Newmarket Rotarians was central in bringing to Auckland.  Tuesday evening I was invited to attend a small screening of the movie Bottle Schock and a nice roast dinner with some of the Rotarians from the Westhaven Rotary Club.  It was a very fine social evening and I even met a Rotarian who manufactures his own muzzle loaders and mentioned taking me out hunting.  How cool is that?!  On Friday evening I went out for dinner with Newmarket Rotarian Martin McGahan, whose son, Andrew, had been a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in Eagle River and lived with the Arlington family, who I know well.  The world seems so small sometimes.  The McGahans were very generous hosts and the dinner was superb.  I assured them that they had to come back to Alaska and visit my family at Mile 6.2 sometime.

Last weekend I recruited four friends to come out to Motutapu Island with Paul and I to do some community service work, cleaning out old WWII magazines (similar to bunkers) constructed by guess who?-- the US Army.  During WWII many American soldiers and sailors came to New Zealand as a jumping off point for the Pacific Theater.  The concrete magazines were in great shape, but had collected a considerable amount of dirt as cattle moved freely in and out over the past 67 years.  With the help of the Motutapu Trust, which Paul and the Newmarket club are greatly involved with, the historical military sites around the island are being cleaned up and fenced off (so the sheep and cows don’t wander back in).  Cleaning the magazines meant a few hours of shoveling, but it turned out to be a good change of pace from normal work at the uni and the rolling green scenery of the island and its peacefulness were more than worth the effort.  Erik’s Motutapu pics.

Tamping the beaches and the bush

Erik’s nature logic part 1: Cities=smog, mountains=fresh air, therefore weekends=population movement out of cities and into the mountains.  This is just as true in Anchorage and the Chugach Mountains as in Auckland and its local range, the Waitakeres (called the Wai-taks for short).  The Waitakeres lie on the western edge of Auckland City, and whatever they lack in vertical rise they make up for dense vegetation and variety of plant species.  Tramping in many places in New Zealand is truly like stepping into the rainforest (minus the tigers) I have found.  All the necessary elements are there—dense green vegetation, plentiful undergrowth, boisterous birds, and wet soil.  In fact, I don’t think there is ever a time you can go tramping in the Waitaks without getting muddy boots.  Must be a law… the law of the jungle?  Well at least jungle tramping.

On Saturday the 17^th of October, I took my car out for its first outing to Karekare Beach, where three friends and I set off on a tramp into the Waitaks.  The tramp began on the beach, passed over a few wetlands, then ascended into the mountains.  The weather forecast had been miserable calling for thunderstorms, but three months in country had taught me, don’t trust the Auckland weather forecast, and I’m glad I didn’t as it turned out to be a beautiful day.  We hiked up some muddy slopes and through the clear blue creeks (I haven’t been on a tramp yet where your boots stay dry—a stark difference from Alaska).  If you’re interested in the route simply click the map link on the right or scroll to the bottom of the blog where I have embedded by adventure map.  On Sunday I returned to the Waitakeres with a larger group from the uni tramping club to hike the Te Henge track, which follows along the coast going north from Piha.  It was absolutely gorgeous, as the photos below attest.  This is certainly a tramp I would recommend to anyone looking for a good day trip in the Waitaks.  At the end of the day we went down to the beach and I found both a natural bathtub carved into the rock and a quicksand pit.  (To see more photos click here.)

Over the week I have been staying busy working on my thesis and cooking tasty meals (or going over to my friends when they are cooking tasty meals).  I’ve now got a pretty mean chicken curry recipe down and the salmon stir fry is also quasi-gourmet.  Unfortunately, a number of my international friends are leaving soon, including Marcel, who flies back to Germany on Saturday.  I promised that I would go visit him in Landsberg however and he is very keen on coming to Alaska sometime.  This is part of what the ambassadorial scholarship program is all about—making friends for life. 

My Rotary presentations have also been taking off and in the past two weeks I have spoken to four different Rotary clubs and at the District Rotary Foundation Seminar.  The presentations seem to be quite well received and I always get a number of intriguing questions at the end, which I thoroughly enjoy.  One of the presentations I held last week was to my sponsoring Rotary Club from Eagle River.  Arranging a presentation via Skype and Powerpoint was quite an undertaking, but with the help of club president Pete Mulcahy (a former Signal Corps Officer) things worked out quite well.  Technology truly is rapidly changing the way we communicate.

Last weekend I signed up for the uni tramping club’s advanced bush skool, which was held in the Kaimai Range south-east of Auckland.  The dozen or so participants (generally the more experienced members of the tramping club) were broken up into three teams and left to supply themselves with everything they needed.  In my case that meant bringing fruit salad, rice pudding, and cake along with all my other tramping gear.  Boy did we have a delicious dessert!  We arrived latish Friday night and tramped through the dark to our first campsite, then woke up a few short hours later to work on navigation and “bush bashing” techniques—the NZ equivalent of what dad calls “the alder thrash.”  Well I must say, the kiwi bush is a little more tricky than Alaskan alder, namely due to a vine called “supple-jack”, which has surprisingly tasty buds, and will catch onto anything and everything you wear.  Off-track bashing a short 2 km downhill took our group a good four hours, to give you an idea of what it was like.  We got back a little late Saturday night again (10 hour tramp) and set up a bivouac under a lattice of sticks and ferns, which did the job (granted it did not rain).  On Sunday we hiked out and practiced stream-crossings and pack floating in Karangahake Gorge before heading back to Auckland exhausted from another great weekend.

Finding a wagon and learning to raft guide

Buying a car can be stressful!  I learned this two weeks ago when searching all over Auckland and cyberspace for the perfect set of wheels.  Using three major selection criteria—reliability, affordability, and capacity to carry lots of gear—I decided I was best off getting a station wagon.  After attending the local car auction—read: high stress purchasing experience—and placing an unsuccessful bid on an Opel Astra, I decided more research was required.  Since I had purchased some ski gear previously on trademe (the kiwi version of eBay) I decided to start there.  The only problem was how to go check out the car and make sure it was operationally sound.  The best option presented itself by attending the Ellerslie Carfair, which draws hundreds of buyers and sellers, and allows you to have the car checked out by mechanics on scene.  The only problem was that the carfair is on Sunday and, as you know, I generally like to get out of Auckland on the weekend.  Well, that weekend I stuck around and it paid off.  My Rotary counselor Paul Monk kindly met me at the fair and we together checked out a ’98 Mazda Cappella, which I was interested in.  We took it for a test drive and it ran smooth, so I offered to pay cash on the spot and got the price lowered a few hundred dollars.  As a result, I have a nice car to go exploring New Zealand this summer (and on the weekends too)—see pictures below.

Between research for my thesis, a geovisulation project I am working on, and involvement in various outdoor clubs and Rotary, I have been staying busy.  The research is going well, though obtaining GIS data from government agencies (particularly the Auckland Regional Council) is proving to be a sticky issue.  I’ve been reading lots of interesting articles and thinking through ways to generate and analyze traffic models, which should prove useful.  In addition to my thesis, I am auditing a geovisualization class, which requires students to create their own project relating to visualizing spatial information.  I chose to gauge perceptions of Auckland’s ethnic diversity by mapping census data and deriving diversity levels throughout the Auckland Region.  I then altered cartographic variables in ArcGIS (classification scheme, color, and aggregation level) to generate multiple maps a basis for comparison, from which I created an online survey.  To get the data I wanted on perceptions I made a big push to get the survey out and ended up maxing out the web host’s limit of 100 responses, which I am satisfied with.  Now I’ve been going through analyzing the results, which I will present in class.

The past few weeks have been lively for my Rotary involvement.  I’ve now finalized my presentation schedule, which has me traveling all over the Auckland Region over the next few months to speak with Rotarians.  In my presentations I speak about the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar program, my background, Rotary District 5010, and my master’s thesis topic.   My first few presentations to the Rotary Club of Newmarket (my host Rotary Club) and the Mt. Roskill Rotary Club have gone very well and I am looking forward to the upcoming engagements as well.

Over the past two weeks, the canoe club (a misnomer as everyone in the club seems to kayak or raft) put on a raft guiding course to teach members how to be competent raft guides with the club’s two new boats.  The course was run by Dave, a club member from Tasmania who has worked as a certified raft guide in both Australia and Canada.  We did two evenings of theoretical training before hitting the water this past weekend and putting our skills to use.  We rafted two sections of the Rangitaiki River, first an easy grade II section on Saturday, followed by a far more exciting grade III/IV section on Sunday.  Amazingly we did not lose anyone out of our rafts on any of the rapids, so we had to set up staged rescue scenarios.  All ten of us taking the course had a great time though and learned some valuable skills to include throw bagging swimmers, lining rafts down dangerous rapids, unwrapping stuck rafts, and safe whitewater swimming techniques—in addition to guiding rafts that is.  I’m looking forward to putting these skills to use in the coming months, helping others enjoy a safe and pleasurable canoe club whitewater experience.

Summit Luncheon & Tongariro River Rafting

Have you ever seen Santa Claus lash on a pair of crampons and take hold of an ice-axe before?  Neither had I, till Saturday morning as we were preparing to climb Mt. Ruapehu, the North Island’s highest peak, for the annual Summit Luncheon.  Students representing tramping and alpine clubs from around the North Island dressed as funky disco boys, fair Chinese maidens, and reindeer pulling a shopping cart sleigh gathered at Massey University Alpine Club hut at Turora hoping for good weather.  With an early wakeup on Saturday morning (not unlike Christmas mind you) we discovered what we were after—no not the shiny new train set—but fine blue skies, crisp mountain air, and a view of the mountain.  Because the sun beat down so warmly, the snow melted quick and before long we felt our boots sinking into the snow.  We pushed on higher, where wind and slightly crustier conditions prevailed.  After 4 ½ hours of tramping, we reached the summit plateau and I pulled out of my pack a few surprises, including four dressed chickens for carving, smoked Alaskan salmon, meringue, a business suit, and a cigar.  After all, this was a formal event.  Following a photo shoot, waltz, and game of bocce balls the feast was prepared—and a feast it was, consisting of numerous dishes and a scrumptious dessert.  All atop an active volcano with a crater lake and a splendid 360 degree view.  (To view more photos of the summit luncheon click here).

On Sunday many trampers, including myself, opted to take part in an avalanche course organized and taught by one of our own highly skilled mountaineers.  We went over avalanche theory, snow profiles, compression block testing, and transceiver searches.  Even though I have seen numerous avalanches go off in my life and even been very close to them in person, I had never taken a course on the devastating natural phenomena before and found the session highly beneficial.  I was particularly impressed by the accuracy and easy functionality of the transceivers, which are used to locate people buried in the snow (granted they must also be wearing a transceiver).  I’m glad to know the Auckland University Tramping club owns five and I can borrow one if I’m ever going on a big expedition.  They have some pretty sweet gear available for hire, which I am very pleased about and have already taken full advantage of.

Well, that was this past weekend, but I’ve been staying busy as always.  Last week for instance, I scheduled half a dozen presentations to give to Rotary clubs around Auckland and put the finishing touches on my PowerPoint slides.  I also had my thesis approved by the Geography Department and have been continuing with my research, reading many interesting articles on evacuation planning and the use of GIS in emergency management.  I even made it over to the Auckland Regional Council to talk with the hazard managers and GIS technicians about trying to get transport data released for my thesis study (no luck yet).  On Tuesday night, my sponsoring Rotary Club, RC of Newmarket, put on a pub quiz night which I and my friends Soren and Marcel joined in.  We helped propel team “Aliens Abroad” to a close victory over President Roger Harvey’s squad.  Afterwards we had to do a bit of searching for Soren’s car though as we had accidentally parked outside a few closed shops, which displayed “night towing area” signs.  Who would have thought you can’t park in front of closed shops at night?  Obviously not this naïve Alaskan boy living for the first time in the big city… Sometimes you have to learn the lesson the hard way or in Soren’s case, learn the lesson twice!

(Some random folks rafting the Tongariro River--photo off the internet as I did not want to get my camera wet).

The weekend before last (19-20 September) I went with the Canoe Club (a dubious name as they are really a bunch of kayakers) to the Tongariro River for the dam release flow—a biannual pilgrimage for North Island paddlers.  As my kayaking skills are not yet up to whitewater par, I settled on using my packraft, which weighs less than three kilos, fits in my backpack, and handles whitewater fairly well (though I learned high volume class IV is really pushing it).  Though I went for a few swims, my dry-suit proved its weight in gold and I stayed warm and dry.  I’ve also learned to quickly pop back into my boat and to hang onto my paddle for dear life—a lost paddle could spell ruin in turbulent whitewater.  On the class III sections with large whitewater but fewer holes and suck eddies my packraft handled beautifully and I’m beginning to feel very comfortable in it.  The next step is to take it on some grand backcountry expeditions combining rafting with tramping, which I’m really looking forward to.  The South Island must be just spectacular for this.  I can’t wait!

South Island Extravaganza

No blog updates for the past three weeks…  There are two reasonable hypotheses:

1) I was being lame and didn’t feel like writing about it or

2) I was off doing something exciting and didn’t have time to write about it. 

As many of you know, hypothesis one can be quickly rejected thereby leaving two as the only plausible solution.  No how to write about it…

The South Island is epic.  This word gets used a lot by kiwis, especially by friend Hamish from the ski club, but in this case it is very fitting.  From the moment Soren and I crossed Cook Straight in his tiny Toyota Tracel, I was in love.  Driving a tiny coup jam packed with gear, food, and plans at 6 A.M. along the Kaikoura Coast I had the pull over, the sun was rising—magnificently.  The picture below does not come near doing the harmonious explosion of light justice, it was just one of those movements you felt great to be alive.  After a filling breakfast at a café along the road, Soren and I switched out and I fell fast asleep.  Four hours later I awoke in Central Otago, a region of brown, grassy steppe, majestic blue-green lakes, and steeply rising mountains with snow capped pinnacles.  We made a couple of rest/photo stops, but continued to drive on and arrived in Wanaka around 3 P.M.  26 hours after leaving Auckland. 

In Wanaka we meet up with the rest of the team from the University of Auckland.  For the next four days we planned to ski the Southern Alps, competing in the Uni Snow Games.  Unfortunately, things don’t always go according to plan.  Day one was a washout; the wind was so strong the entire ski resort was closed down.  This did however allow me to get my Salomon skis which I purchased off trademe (the kiwi version of eBay) for an unbelievable $70 NZD remounted to fit my boots and waxed for the conditions.  Even these adjustments could not save me in the skier-cross competition held on Monday however.  Never having competitively downhill skied before, let alone head to head with three other guys over jumps and banked turns, the competition proved interesting to say the least.  Placing 3^rd in both heats, I still had a blast and thankfully skied off injury free and all the wiser about how crucial inside turns are. 

Tuesday Soren, I, and a few other guys from the team headed out to Treble Cone, a mountain just west of Wanaka in the Aspiring Range (check my google map).  It is the largest ski resort I have ever been to operating on just two lifts.  With these two magic chairs (super high speed and quite large capacity) an incredible amount of country is open to the keen skier capable of tackling black diamond runs.  The snow was nice and fluffy the day we went and skiing was a real joy minus the low visibility and high winds.  Snacking on lunch at the base café I saw my first kea as well.  Kea are mountain parrots, with beautiful coloration (particularly under their wings) and extremely inquisitive.  They have been known to tear the rubber gaskets off cars and decimate leather hiking boots.  Fortunately that day I was able to enjoy their simple magnificence without worrying about their destructive habits.

Tuesday night I met up with my friend Sam who had been a Rotary exchange student in Switzerland with me.  Sam lives in Wanaka and is working on her private pilot’s license, which would be awesome if she gets as she has agreed to take me on a flight around Central Otago sometime.  We played some billiards and discussed ideas of where to travel on the South Island after the games finished.  I still had one event left though before everything was said and done—cross country skiing. 
 

Wednesday morning I awoke to fresh snow and hitched a ride up to Snow Farm, the only cross-country ski resort in New Zealand in the first in the world I have ever skied at located on top of a mountain.  As my skis had not arrived yet from New York, I rented a pair and hit the trails for some good training.  One thing you tend to take for granted skiing in the forest like we do in Alaska is the wind and on top of mountains it causes snow drifts.  While the skiing was great fun, it was also a challenge at times requiring ample plowing through the soft drifts of powder.  I skied about 20 km of warm up before the rest of the competition arrived and took a water break while watching the kiwis ski.  Well, the juxtaposition between the Canadian national team, who I had seen train in the morning, and the group of uni students, many of whom had never XC skied before was quite startling.  I tried to help a few out with the skate-skiing technique before the race started.  As it stood, my biggest competition was “Caesar” from Venezuela who was in New Zealand to train in the offseason.  With the help of a few race tricks (like using Caesar as a wind-block on the long uphill) and a great burst of speed in the last ½ k, I won the race by a decent margin as seen in the picture below.  This was the only gold medal the University of Auckland claimed in the games and an accomplishment I felt quite proud of.

Even though the games had concluded on Wednesday, Soren and I decided to stick around Wanaka another day to ski at Cardrona and met up three other friends that evening.  Two of them, Kari and Ben, followed us up over Haast Pass.  The moment we broke the crest of the Alps, we knew we had reached the almost mythical West Coast.  The entire ecosystem changed in what seemed like a flash.  No longer in the dry grasslands of Central Otago, we emerged in a dense rainforest where even in the middle of winter, everything was bursting in vibrant shades of green.  At the Copland Track trailhead, we made a quick lunch stop (how I love apples and peanut butter) before heading 17 km into the rainforest roughly to the base of Mount Cook.  The tramp took us over numerous one-man bridges, by some amazing whitewater I would love to take my packraft down, and through head high water cut ravines.  We tramped into the night, but our efforts were well rewarded—with a bath in the hot pools by full moonlight.  It was magnificent as we basked in the hot water staring up at the snow capped mountains.  I swear I even saw a shooting star…

Saturday we left out, blazed the 17 k’s in no time, and found a nice spot on the beach to camp out.  After a satisfying dinner of pasta (the true staple of camping, coupled with oatmeal for breakfast), we took a stroll on the beach.  As the stars glowed in the night sky, we saw flames erupt far off down the beach, so we went to investigate.  As it turned out, two young farm hands were having a bonfire—with the help of gasoline—to celebrate the end of the rain.  Apparently it had rained near continuously for the past few weeks (the West Coast gets 2-3 m of rain annually, hence the rainforest biome).  We dragged a few logs over and warmed up by their fire before retiring for the night.

Clear blue skies greeted us on Sunday as we set off up to the base of Fox Glacier, intending to find our way onto the snow and ice.  Our initial reconnaissance proved poor leading to unnecessary river crossings (anyone that has ever stepped foot in a glacial river, knows what that implicates).  Finally, we discovered a route up the north side and around past the terminus of the glacier, which is also the most unstable part.  After climbing onto the glacier, we attached our crampons, grabbed our ice axes (all of which I had been able to borrow from the tramping club) and headed out.  Though I have been on glaciers in three or four countries in my life, I have never been hiked where guides chopped stairs into the ice to make the walking easier.  We quickly expended the extent of this tourist track and headed on to more rugged parts of the glacier, which proved more challenging and rewarding.  The most difficult bit (as always) was the decent, trying to find a suitable route back to the trail leading to the terminus and carpark beyond.  We made it back carrying a small bit of glacier ice to enjoy with our refreshments.  It was simply a grand day.

  
At Fox Glacier we split company.  Kari headed back to work on the Banks Peninsula, while Ben headed south to Queenstown, and Soren and I drove north to Greymouth.  The primary attraction of Greymouth, the largest city on the West Coast with just under 10,000 inhabitants, is Monteith’s Brewery.  Begun in 1868, it is one of the oldest in New Zealand and still brews according to the original recipe (sounds a little like Bavaria doesn’t it).  Monteith’s is a craft beer produced in small quantities, but one of the finest brews in kiwiland.  Just recently they started producing Crushed Apple Cider, which we were able to sample and I can report is most excellent.  After a filling lamb lunch, Soren and I drove up over Arthur’s Pass and into Methven, the staging ground for our final ski adventure on Mount Hutt.

After learning we could get 2 for 1 lift passes at Mount Hutt with our Interislander ferry ticket, Sore and I decided we absolutely must go there.  One of the main differences about ski resorts in New Zealand is that you have to drive to the slopes.  There are no resort towns in the traditional sense of the world, because the slopes have to be located at such high altitude.  In the case of Mount Hutt, the approach was a 15 km bumpy gravel road, somewhat resembling the Denali Highway.  The skiing was well worth the drive however and we enjoyed yet another fine day in the Southern Alps.

On Wednesday, after a night of camping and dinner of pasta-mussels a la lift, we began heading north along the east coast of the South Island.  We stopped in the town of Kaikoura and viewed the fur seal colony located just outside town.  The limited number of mammals in New Zealand means that when you get to see them it is all the more exciting.  The seals were so lazy basking in the sun and generally having a ball, quite easy to photograph I must admit.  Next we stopped in Picton, to catch the ferry back to the North Island.  Picton is truly a beautiful town with palm trees and a fantastic promenade along the harbor.  Soren and I were able to soak it all in while enjoying some classic fish and chips wrapped—as per tradition—in newspaper.

 

Now back at uni, I deeply miss the South Island and eagerly await the next opportunity I will have to travel back.  There is always summer…    :-)

 

 P.S. to view more pictures from my trip to the South Island click here. 

Motuihe Tree Planting

It’s a great feeling to meet deadlines you set for yourself.  I wanted to have my thesis proposal ready to turn in before driving down to the South Island this coming Friday on mid-term leave.  Well, it is now Monday night and I have a draft of the proposal entitled Non-Specific GIS-Based Mass Evacuation Planning for the Auckland Volcanic Field ready to run into my adviser Mark Gahegan.  It took me a lot of work last week meeting with hazard managers at the regional council, going to a course on the Essentials of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, reading background documents, and finally writing my proposal, but I now have my proposal at a stage I am comfortable with and looking forward to some constructive feedback from Mark.

Mexican Monday week II was a success with chili con carne at Marcel’s apartment.  We also took a look at (and poked a bit of fun at) Soren’s new car, which he and I will drive down to the South Island on Friday—arriving on Saturday for Uni Snow Games.  I’m so stoked because they have a cross-country competition as well.  After over a month of waiting, I finally received my household goods shipment from Alaska as well, which contained my ski boots, so at least I know have the bare essentials required to compete in the snow games.  I’m very excited about going down to the South Island as you might have sensed.

This past weekend was absolutely beautiful weather.  I spent Saturday checking out the Auckland Art Gallery, which had been moved to a different venue due to remodeling.  Though the exhibits were nice, it has nothing on the Auckland War Memorial Museum (see picture above), which is multiple times larger and contrary to the name, has a wide variety of exhibits ranging from natural history to ethnography.  Saturday afternoon I convinced my friend Marcel to give me a haircut and enjoyed the rest of the evening reading and dreaming about great tramps to do in the future.

Sunday morning I rose bright and early and headed out to Motuihe Island on a ferry full of Rotarians and Boy Scouts to work on a tree planting community service project.  Montuihe Island is located in Waitemate Harbour just a short 30 minute boat ride from Auckland.  Here, the Department of Conservation (DOC) has been working on a massive project to return the island to native forest by removing the introduced trees and replacing them with native growth.  I thought this sounded like a fantastic project and was very keen to help out.  Doing my part, I spent the day digging shallow holes, placing a fertilizer tablet in below each sapling, and tightly re-compacting the soil so that the kakariki birds would not dig the saplings back up.  As a result of the project I have a newfound respect for gardeners which it turns out requires much more work than I had previously realized.  Our efforts well rewarded with sausages however, so I was quite happy.  I also learned that kiwi birds had just been reintroduced to the island, which I hope to one day be able to see.  Perhaps next time I come back to the island it will be a flourishing native growth forest with a thriving kiwi population.  That would make me very happy indeed.

Coromandel Tramping

One of the great things about being involved in University clubs is the chance to meet new people. It seems that almost every weekend a trip is run through one of the three clubs that I am involved with and I get to meet new people. So far I have gone out to Ruapehu with the snowsports club, gone wondering with the tramping club, and learned to eskimo roll a kayak (albeit it in a pool) with the canoe club. This past weekend I headed east with seven fellow tramps? / trampers? / tramping club members squeezed into an old van dubbed the “looser cruiser” (some high school students apparently don’t appreciate their vehicles that much). Our destination was the Coromandel Peninsula, a mere two hours outside Auckland, but speckled with golden beaches and beautiful bush walks. Unfortunately, the weather was less than desirable, but we made the most of it playing rummycube, cards, and “Bonanza” a new game from Holland centering around bean trading, which is sure it make it big any time now.

In spite of the drizzly weather, we headed out for a few short tramps on Sunday making our way into the Coromandel Forest Park and walking out to Cathedral Cove, a wonderful sandstone arch cut by the wave and erosion. Nearby there was also a nice beach and a small natural waterfall, which made a perfect shower. I’ll have to come back again in the summer—with a towel in hand—to more fully appreciate the cove’s grandeur. I have heard of some spectacular sea kayaking in this area as well, which I would enjoy checking out.

What students will do for good fun… A 08:30 am low tide at Hot Water Beach near Hahei, along with some load noises, and the lights turning on at 06:30 motivated us all to get us early and head north from our batch (kiwi slang for a vacation house) in Tairua. Hot Water Beach is quite unique. Here 60 degree C water comes through fissures in the earth, emerging right on the beach. A hole, properly dug and protected by a small wall to protect it from incoming seawater, will act as a exceptional natural hot tub. Even though we arrived at Hot Water Beach at the perfect time, just before low tide, Poseidon was frowning. All the bad weather had kicked up quite some large surf as well and rogue waves would randomly come dissolve the walls I worked frantically to construct around our hot water spring. The work was futile and after an hour of struggling, I simply gave up and plopped down in my little puddle accepting that fact that every now and again a cold wave would come lapping up on me and spin me around. It was still great fun however—a geologically power experience I will not soon forget.

Tonight I invited two of my good friends, Marcel and Soren, over to my apartment for a nice Mexican dinner. Though I have been cooking quite a bit to eat healthy and save some money, I have not had Mexican food since arriving in Kiwiland. To amend this, I made tacos with all the staples: seasoned beef, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, grated cheese—absolutely delicious. So good in fact, that we have concluded to make it a weekly event. It is very nice to be able to hang out with friends, share good food, and engage in fine conversation. Till next time—remember don’t forget the spice.

Waiheke Island Biking

Hurry, let’s catch the bus! Eugene and I dashed out of the Human Sciences Building to the nearby bus stop, just as the big, red rig pulled in. “Do you go to Mount Eden?” Eugene asked the driver in his thick Ukrainian accent. Four or five bus attempts later, a $1.60 fair, and a mad scramble to the top of the hill bought us a commanding view of the city just as the sun was setting. Eugene quickly whipped out his tripod and Nikon SLR camera and started taking pictures, I followed suite with my trusty, old Kodak that has been pulling through for 5+ years now. Click, click, click, I began to worry we would end up with far too many shots of the spectacular sunset, but just then my last battery gave out and my camera went dead. From now until my shipment arrives in 2-3 weeks, I will have to rely on external photography support for my blog. Eugene (pronounced zhen-ya), ever the aspiring photographer, was more than happy to oblige even letting me borrow his fine camera at a few times to snap some shots. We watched as the sun set and a black veil rose up to envelope the city. From the top of the old volcano, the view was spectacular. Sitting there on a chilly Friday night, watching the city come alive, proved a relaxing way to cap of a workweek full of meticulous research.

In comparison Saturday proved far more mundane, reaching its peak level of excitement when I opened my mailbox to find a new installment of New Zealand postage stamps. As many of you know, I am an avid philatelist and became engrossed with the intricate details of a colorful series of Sir Edmond Hillary commemoratives and two round kiwi stamps with a very fine combination of monotone simplicity, symbolism, and beauty.

Sunday morning I arose early, packed my rucksack, and headed to the ferry wharf where Eugene was waiting with tickets to Waiheke Island. Waiheke Island, located to the east of Auckland in Hauaki Gulf, is the home to a sublime countryside cloaked in numerous vineyards and sheep fields. I asked Peter from “the bike shed,” where we rented our mountain bikes for the day, what he liked about Waiheke Island. After revealing I was from Alaska, Peter explained “Waiheke is a mix of Madison and Anchorage. It has the feel of small town USA and the grandeur of Alaska—all circa 1960.” After spending a day on the island, biking nearly forty miles of its long, winding, and steeply graded roads, after gazing over its brilliantly green, grass covered hillsides and glittering gold beaches; I can confidently say there is very little on Waiheke Island that reminds me of Alaska. It is beautiful none-the-less. On our travels, Eugene and I passed dozens of vineyards, countless sheep, and even climbed into a very large rock garden topping a knobby hill. During the circumnavigation of the island, I saw tropical birds, pheasants, and a giant, painted rock appearing to be a ravenous ogre. I made sure to avoid him while stopping at a wine store just before departing the island to pick up a bottle of the local specialty, which I plan on saving for a very special occasion.

Until then I wish you a great week.

Please check out the google.map “Erik’s NZ Adventures” where I have geo-tagged the locations of all my past kiwi trips and digitized my biking and trekking routes at the following site provided by clicking on the map to the top right or the text at the bottom of this website.

To view more photos in my picassa web album click here.

Skiing in August?

Skiing in August? Well naturally in the southern hemisphere it is possible! So far this year New Zealand has had quite a good start to their ski season, which began roughly one month ago, though I quickly learned that it is more than just the opening dates which are different about kiwi ski resorts. The lodging situation and the snow conditions are also unique. Lodging at the Whakapapa side of Mount Ruapehu is focused on a few club huts, one of the nicest of course belonging to the University of Auckland Snowsports Club (UASC). The UASC cabin comfortably lodges around thirty people in bunk style accommodation with a massive living/recreation room and a centerpiece wood burning stove. The club also provided our transport to the mountain, which consisted of two vans full of pumped (read boisterous) students, and a trailer filled to the brim with gear (thanks to Rotarian Paul Monk for letting me borrow his jacket & ski pants which kept me toasty warm all weekend). Due to heavy traffic leaving Auckland and the physical constraints of an Asian van loaded with 12 bodies, our speed peaked at around 90 km/h and getting to the mountain took a solid 6 hours.

When we arrived at around midnight on Friday the weather was not promising, blowing a highly inconsistent mixture of snow and rain, which proved bitterly chilling. Saturday morning only proved worse—horizontal rain. Most of the skiers (myself included) decided to wait it out. We spent the day in the lodge making friends and swapping stories. The sun cast brightly through the windows when we woke up Sunday morning. In record speed I managed to get dressed, eat, buy a lift ticket (84 NZD = approx 55 USD), hire rental gear and make it up the mountain just as they were opening up the quad. The first few runs were glorious and the snow felt like spring corn. The experience of skiing on active volcano, with igneous rocks jutting out all around you is quite impressive. For all the Lord of the Rings fans out there, Mount Ruapehu is what director Stephen Jackson chose for Mount Doom in the film). I managed a few black-diamond off-piste runs before the clouds moved in again, around noon, and reduced visibility to a stone’s throw at times. Most skiers gave up and called it a day, but a few of my intrepid friends and I stuck it out and skied till 4 PM, when the cumulative effective of the wind beating pellets of snow and hail on our faces for hours, minimal visibility, and deteriorating snow conditions forced us in. After cleaning up the lodge and fixing a flat tire, we were ready for the return trip to Auckland in which my travel speakers blasting out a continuous stream of Bon Jovi, Chili Peppers, and Dave Matthews Band saved the day.

Even though the aggregate weather was sub-prime, the camaraderie of the trip was excellent and I consider myself lucky to have been afforded this spectacular opportunity. After all—how many people do get to ski in August?

(Pictures courtesy of fellow UASC member Tucker Bowe)

Sailing and Tramping

New Zealanders tend to be an open and generous people. A fine example of this surfaced this week when Rotarian Ian Thomsen, before I even had met him, invited me out sailing. Mr. Thomsen, who also happens to be of Danish heritage, heard from my Rotarian counselor that I was new to town and was keen on going sailing. Now you must understand that even though I spend a good amount of free time on the water, I have never stepped foot on a sailing boat before. Nearly all of my experience involves riparian recreation or saltwater fishing. For me, sailing was quite a novelty, perhaps because yacht ownership in Alaska is quite difficult. Auckland on the other hand is known as the “city of sails” and with eight marinas strategically located around the city and some of the best sailing in New Zealand (some would argue the best sailing in the world), the name makes perfect sense. Ian, a few of his sailing friends, and I met up at the marina in Half Moon Bay on the east end of Auckland for a local “rum race,” which is put on every Friday just for kicks. The race took us out to Islington Bay near Rangitoto Island formed after a massive volcanic eruption 600 years ago. In the near future I hope to go ashore and climb Rangitoto’s caldera, but on Friday I had to suffice myself with a beautiful view from the bay.

Setting out under clear skies with a strong breeze, the sailing proved quite enjoyable, though notably less rigorous than I had anticipated. Yet, the saying “in New Zealand you can experience four seasons in one day” also proved true as the warm summer-esque weather broke with an incoming front becoming markedly colder and down pouring rain, a change, which occurred in a matter of mere minutes. I was ready though with warm cloths, a ski hat, and gloves on hand. The sea gods did not particularly approve of the combination of my ski hat and army baseball cap however and the latter was snatched off my head with a heavy gust of wind. It now resides at the bottom of Motukorea Channel amongst many other seafarers’ former treasures. Though our yacht, carrying a spare outboard motor and barbecue, was not as fast some of the lighter racers, we quite contently finished in the middle of the pack and capped off our day in true sailors fashion with a shot of rum. Though I found sailing quite enjoyable, particularly in favorable weather, I still think a drift boat may have it beat on my personal desirability chart…

On Saturday morning I headed south out of town with a few members of the tramping club (think hiking) to May Camp. We reached camp by noon and went for a short walk though the Korehangehape Gorge (I may have butchered this name as I don’t have map sheet in front of me). This area is an old mining region established just over a century ago and includes a sizeable tunnel blasted through the canyon wall, which trampers are now able to hike though. The route, though short, was quite scenic first following the stream, then crossing through the tunnel (nearly one kilometer long) and emerging in the dense New Zealand sub-tropical forest. Once back at camp, I was able to meet many other trampers and share a festive evening including among other events, playing on the local playground (which included a quite impressive “flying fox” or “slide for life” we in America often call it), sharing a large pasta dinner, and dancing in the local War Memorial Hall.

Sunday morning we cleaned up from the previous nights festivities and headed out on another tramp. This time we penetrated much deeper into the dense kiwi forests. I was quite impressed when we finally ran into a kauri tree, which I had been hearing a great deal about. In one word, Kauri trees are MASSIVE! Up to 3 meters in diameter and living up to 1500 years, kauris are straight as a rod, with little to no taper as they ascend the canopy. The hardwood is quite good for carving and for this very reason, kauris were heavily harvested up until the 1950s, when they finally obtained expansive protection. The two hour walk in, which as I have found typical for NZ included many stream crossings and little hope of keeping your boots dry, was completely worth seeing these few mighty and beautiful trees. Unfortunately, I did not manage to get any good pictures, but I promise you them in an future post. Cheers…

Goldi Bushwalk

Yesterday seven friends and I made our first escape from the city by heading out on the Goldi Bushwalk just north of the Waitakere Range (40 minutes west of Auckland by car). The trail proved muddy, but our spirit was resolute. After two hours of splashy stream crossings, slip-n-slide mudtracks, and fearsome jungle-esque bushwacking me made it to a beautiful waterfall worth every bit of the effort. After retracing our steps through the bush, we made a quick retreat with the car to the Muriwai Beach for a beautiful sunset.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog!

My name is Erik Tomsen and I am a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand.

I arrived in NZ on Friday July 10th, 2009 and quickly began my search for an apartment, cellphone, and new friends--all of which I was able to accomplish in less than a week.

In case you would like to write or call me, my new contact details are:

Erik Tomsen
32 Eden Crescent, Apt. 6B
Auckland Central, 1010
New Zealand

+64 21 5050 36 (cell)
+64 99 4833 25 (home)

While here in Auckland I will be working on my Masters of Science in Geography, primarily writing a masters thesis on the utilization of GIS hardware and software for disaster planning. I will likely include a more in-depth post on this at a later time.

Kiwiland is now in the middle of winter and to many of my new friends it is quite cold, but as an Alaskan I find these temperatures rather comfortable. No worries mate. More to follow.

Cheers,
Erik