24 February 2011: Christchurch and the Journey South

Hello again, we wanted to give another check in before we leave for the South Island and to reassure friends and family post-earthquake that we are in fact safe and sound. It has been just about 48 hours since the latest aftershock earthquake in Christchurch. Not sure how they are reporting the earthquake internationally but this was in fact an aftershock from the September 7.1 earthquake. However, this time the earthquake was extremely shallow and struck mid-day; therefore the damage has been incredible and the loss of life is yet to be fully understood. In the first 36 hours after this 6.1 earthquake there were over 117 aftershocks over 3.0 and all were quite shallow and nerve-wracking for those survivors and rescuers.  There continues to be threats of building collapses in the central business district of Christchurch thus the rescue efforts are precarious at best. All in all it really is a tragedy for this tiny country. There have been larger earthquakes in this world within the last couple of years with loss of life beyond imagination but we have never been so close to this type of disaster, so the images and reports from the media and friends are quite scary. We would ask that you keep this country and its people in your thoughts as so many are experiencing loss in many ways and so many are still missing.

We will be leaving for the South Island on Sunday morning, stopping over in Wellington for the night before taking the ferry across the Cook Straits. We will be making a loop around the island in a clockwise manner and will be passing by Christchurch due to few options in terms of roads in NZ; however we have no plans at this point to stop in. They are asking people not involved in the rescue operation to avoid the city due to lack to resources and the desire to avoid any other unnecessary rescues. We will be meeting up with Kevin’s NZ professor, David Hamilton and his lab manager, Chris McBride, to do a little sampling of some the glacial lakes on the back side of the Southern Alps from Wednesday through Sunday. We should be journeying back across the Cook Straits around 15-16 March. Our internet access will be extremely limited during our South Island travels due to lots of camping and the high cost of internet at hostels but we will try to check in here or on Facebook at least once.

It is extremely bittersweet to think that we have just under one month left in this country. We have met some great people, made some amazing friendships, and seen places that have taken our breath away. This trip has been a real blessing and the memories will bring smiles to our faces forever.  We land back in lovely Newark, NJ on 23 March. There is a lot of change in the coming months with graduation, moves, and new jobs. We can’t wait to catch up with all of you!

Love and hugs,

Mid January 2011-24 February 2011: Life, family, and life moving too quickly

Sorry for the HUGE space in between postings. The only excuse we have is that life has been good and really busy for about five weeks. Kevin has been extremely busy wrapping up research down here on Lake Rotorua and wrapping up his dissertation (Defense currently scheduled for April 14^th- woot woot!). He has been working really long days and nights trying to get papers written, Chlorophylls analyzed, instruments off lakes, and just dealing with the crazy bureaucracy that is a large state university. All that to say…Megan feels lucky to see him at dinner and breakfast. Megan has been busy as well ramping up for Orientation Week at the Waikato Student Union. O’Week begins on Sunday and it appears that all of the hard work from the events team is going to bring an amazing experience for those students. She did wrap up her internship about a week ago (more on that in a bit) and is very thankful for the experience and to have met such amazing people. Huge shout outs to Bron, Wai, Betty, and Big Jay!!

The Awesome WSU Events Team!!

The other huge event that has taken us away from the computer has been visits from both sets of parents.  Kevin’s parents arrived on January 28^th. We spent the first day of their arrival getting them settled into our house and trying to keep them awake to knock the jet lag right out of them. Unfortunately their luggage decided that it would be best to stay an extra night in LAX but this was the only bad aspect of their journey.  They spent several days with us in and around Hamilton experiencing some of things we really love about this area. Then we journeyed northward with them to the Coromandel Peninsula for about two days. After this we came back to Hamilton to work for about 5 days while they journeyed around the North Island, experiencing some awesome places and soaking in the Southern Hemisphere summer. We then met up with them in the small town of Whakatane where Kevin and his dad did a day long trip out to the active volcano of White Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whakaari_/_White_Island). This privately owned volcano (yes you read right) requires an 80 minute boat ride into the Bay of Plenty, but the trip was well worth it with huge steam plumes coming from the volcano that morning as they approached. If you would like to see most recent info regarding White Island including currently video from the crater and the rim visit: http://www.geonet.org.nz/volcano/activity/white-island/ . 

Kevin’s mom and Megan decided to forgo the White Island trip in favor of a little shopping and exploration of the Whakatane area and Ohope Beach (where they found the beach covered in sand dollars). The remaining days of Kevin’s Parents visit were spent in and around Hamilton again with a day trip with our landlord to Waitomo Caves, specifically Ruakuri Cave (http://www.waitomo.com/ruakuri-cave-history.aspx). Because our landlord did his PhD dissertation on this cave and continues doing research with the governing board of the Caves he was able to give us an in-depth (free) tour. Awesome! Here are some pictures from Kevin’s Parents trip to New Zealand:

Kevin and his Parents in Maungatautari



This is a Takahe, there are only about 300 left in the world. The is one half of two mating pairs at Maungatautari. This individual and his/her partner have yet to get their groove on however....



At Bridal Veil Falls

From the base of the falls

Happy Birthday Kevin!!

This little guy was in a cave at Cathedral Cove

Looking out from said sea cave

Gorgeous day at Hot Water Beach with an Awesome Hot Pool

Close up of the dolphins see from the boat on the White Island Tour

Arriving at White Island

The ride in to the landing on the volcano

Abandoned sulphur mining equipment from the early 1900s

Sulphurlicious, with maybe a hint of arsenic?

Please note they are wearing hard hats due to the risk of projectiles and gas masks due to the fumes being constantly emitted

Lake in the main caldera, yum

Pure sulphur crystals

A few friendly reminders from the owners of White Island

Leaving White Island

Entering Ruakuri Cave, note meteorological equipment on left...on staff scientist is dealing with some interesting issues...

Some of the most beautiful cave structures we have ever seen

Glowworms...so close you could have taken one home...if you wanted something to light up your home at night

More of Ruakuri

Sign from the last Maori owner of the cave, before a tourist company and the government reached a "compromise" with the local iwi (tribe/family)

After a two day respite, Megan’s parents arrived into Auckland Airport at 5:40am. We quickly jetted them back to Hamilton and then out to Raglan for a tour of some of our favorite haunts in that area. Again, the goal for this day was to keep them awake as long as possible. Unfortunately that night our next door neighbors had a huge party until about 3:45am…not much sleep was had by all. The next day we drove with them up to the Coromandel as well. After a lovely night and day up in that area Kevin headed back to Hamilton to work for the week. Megan, having finished her internship, joined her parents on their journey around the North Island. They visited the Rotorua, the thermal areas between Rotorua and Taupo, Lake Taupo, and the Hawkes Bay wine region.  Megan’s parents’ trip was about half the time of Kevin’s parents, but don’t feel too bad for them…they are currently on a cruise in the French Polynesia. Tonight actually finds them enjoying the beauty and serenity of a deluxe hut over an ocean bay in Bora Bora. Here are some pictures from Megan’s Parents trip to New Zealand (more to come hopefully, Megan is really terrible at taking pictures so she will have to get some from her parents to post):

The baby pukekos are getting so big!!

Looking out from the largest sea cave in Cathedral Cove, exploration of this bay is finally complete :)

  

Megan and her parents waiting for Lady Knox Geyser at Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland

Huge Hot Spring in Waiotapu



Boiling Sulphurous Goodness





We found the source of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ooze....



Megan and her Dad posing for a picture in front of the ooze for her brother...be jealous Dan



Megan’s parents left last Friday and we are in the home stretch of our trip. Kevin is still furiously working to have drafts of parts of his dissertation to his committee before we leave for the South Island. Megan is working to get us lined up to leave for the South Island and ready to leave NZ less than a week after we return. 

That’s it for now. We will be posting another blog very soon about the current situation on the South Island…still digesting it.

Love and huge hugs

23 February 2011: This one's for Luke

This blog post is a placeholder while I work on a few other posts. I was going to put up a shirtless picture of Kevin flexing his big, strong, gorgeous muscles but instead enjoy this recent picture of dolphins seen by Kevin and his dad on their trip to White Island:

More to follow soon...

6 January 2011: Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

So it has been a while and we thought we would update everyone on life down below since just after Christmas. We spent a couple of days out in Raglan enjoying the beach just after Christmas and Boxing Day. Kevin even got a little surfing in:

Kevin post-surf

Most days we spent at least half of the day in separate tasks around the house. Kevin working on various projects on his computer and Megan trying to tackle the produce from the gardens (we no longer have freezer space and way too much zucchini bread).

Took hours to blanch, freeze, etc.

This was a week later, and this is less than 5% of the rhubarb,  two of maybe hundreds of lemons and the leeks are just starting...

New Years Eve was a fun day and night spent again out in Raglan with our friends Bronwyn and Regan. Their rented house sits right on a finger of Raglan Harbor and it is wonderful to just soak in the peace and serenity that the ocean tides can bring. We met lots of cool people and enjoyed a little too much bbq for dinner and breakfast and maybe a few other consumables J

The neighbor's pier, great to do "bombs"off of at high tide

Bron and Regs front lawn *sigh*

Other said consumables

On January 2^nd we left for Lake Taupo where two of our friends, Jen and Dave rented a house. Lake Taupo is the product of several huge supervolcano eruptions. It is the caldera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Taupo). The eruption in 180AD is believed to be the largest in recorded history. Either way, this lake is beautiful and huge! We enjoyed a night with good friends, good food, and beautiful scenery. The next day we headed down to Tongariro National Park to summit Mount Ruapehu, the largest mountain on the north island (also an active volcano). Mount Ruapehu is also home to three ski resorts. The volcano last erupted in 2007 spilling the crater lake over the sides of the mountain in a series of lahars. People’s reaction: “It has ruined our ski season!” Not normal in our assessment but hysterical nonetheless.  After 2 chair-lift rides and 20 minutes we started our hike from about 2020m (we still had about another 2000ft to climb). The hike was certainly not the most difficult we have done, but it was very steep, scree-covered and snow-covered. The beauty in the views from the summit and in the summit (glacial remnants, multi-colored jagged stone ridges, and spectacular crater lake) were well worth it. It took us about two hours to get to the dome shelter, but due to the lovely snow cover it took about an hour to get down. After this hike we have also decided that all future steep hikes should begin with chairlift rides….

Jen and  Dave heading up the mountain

Ngaurahoe in the distance (that's Mount Doom to you Lord of the Rings fans)

Ngaurahoe again in the background from just below the initial summit of Ruapehu

Inside one of the craters

Other people hiking along the rim

There are several glacial remnants in and around the summit

The crater lake, this does not do it justice...

Our hiking crew!

Ruapehu as we were driving up to Lake Taupo

What hike is complete without a hot soak at the end?

The hot water pours in from two streams to the right and mixes with the Waikato River, ahhhh

That’s all the exciting news we have for now. We are having friends over for “make-your-own” pizza on Friday and possibly will hit up Raglan to summit their local “mountain” on Saturday. Hopefully we will be able to share pics of our Sunday plans next time, partaking in the New Zealand Black Caps vs. Pakistan in one of their test matches (cricket for all of our non-commonwealth friends).  Hope you are all well and enjoying the New Year so far!


Here are two movies of our climb of Ruapehu:

Panorama of Ruapehu's Caldera

Megan "skiing" down the snow fields on Ruapehu. 

Cheers!

Love and hugs!