Thank you

We've all returned to our families and friends and now have some time to reflect upon all that we saw on our amazing journey to New Zealand.  I cannot help but think that we have all been very fortunate to have had available to us the opportunity to travel half-way around the world to see, first-hand, exotic animals, participate in activities many of us will never do again (e.g., glacier climbing), talk to folks about life in the southern hemisphere, and see plants and hear bird songs that were simply out-of-this-world!  We have many people to thank for our opportunities: the parents of our students, the Mount's administration and faculty for supporting our trip, Emily Marmo for her help in coordinating the trip, Kris Campbell-Defoe and Carol Franklyn at the Balmville School for coordinating our Skype sessions with the Balmville School 3rd graders, and mine and Dr. Moran's wives and children for letting us be away for three weeks during the winter!  We also thank you, the reader, for following us during our journey.  We hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have! Cheers!

Our final group picture.  We're back to where we started: JFK airport.

19 January 2012: On the leaving...

We made our way to Christchurch International Airport at 8am this morning, our last day in New Zealand.  During the final packing of our rental van, many students were asking whether they could just 'miss the flight' so they could stay in New Zealand the entire length of their 3-month visas.  With a sigh, I had to respond, 'No, you need to go back home today', but knew in my mind that I had the same sentiment!  We all miss our family and friends at home, but the last 22 days were so amazing that none of us really wanted to go home.

Packed into the van, we began what would be one of the longest days of our lives!  Sure, we had completely skipped 28 December 2011 during our flight to New Zealand, but that was ok.  Today, our total travel time, all on 19 January 2012, would be 33 hours!  Wait, you say, how can that be?  Well, our movement began at 8am, 19 January, going to the Christchurch Airport.  After leaving at 4:30pm (19 January 2012) from Auckland following our connecting domestic flight from Christchurch, we crossed the International Date Line and re-entered 19 January 2012.  We landed in San Francisco at 10:30am (7:30am EDT on 19 January 2012) and then arrived in New York at 9pm, 19 January 2012.  While our total flying time was only 16 hours, our total time in motion (including my car drive home in Newburgh from JFK) was 33 hours!  Whew!

As we disembarked from Air New Zealand's US affiliate, United Airlines (who's service paled in comparison to their Kiwi counterparts!), we met as a group for the last time.  Dr. Moran and I let our students know how proud we were of their efforts in the course and their flexibility in dealing with the issues we faced.  As pioneers of  a new course, they have set the bar (for accomplishments) very high for future participants.  Dr. Moran and I were happy to have such a great bunch of students accompany us to New Zealand.

Breakfast on our final day in New Zealand.  Notice those instant soups in Peter Kelleher's and Bryan Pujol's hands?  Yum!

Our group says goodbye to the trusty stallion that carried us throughout New Zealand.  Good riddance?!

The view from my seat aboard our flight leaving Auckland.  Goodbye New Zealand sky...

19 January 2012: Our final Skype with the Balmville School

On our last morning in New Zealand, three students, Sharon Benzenberg (Biology), Jenn Szknolnicki (Psychology Physical Therapy), and Joe Santangelo (Business) fielded the final questions from the 3rd graders at the Balmville School.  Our students answered questions about the water bodies around New Zealand, the types of animals we've seen during our visit, and our experience on the Franz Josef Glacier.  We were joined by Mrs. Johnson, Assistant Principal at the Balmville School, who had her own questions about New Zealand!  Our experience Skyping with the Balmville School students has been terrific and I'm glad we were able to share our trip with a great bunch of students!

We're in the final packing stages right now and we're about to head to the airport so we can fly out of Christchurch.  We'll see everyone soon!

Sharon Benzenberg (Biology) wrapping up our Skype session with the Balmville School 3rd graders!

18 January 2012: International Antarctic Centre and a summer farewell to New Zealand

Today would be our final full-day in New Zealand, as tomorrow we begin our long migration back to the United States.  We began the day with Brittany Farron (Biology) Skyping with Mrs. Campbell-Defoe’s 3^rd grade class at the Balmville School (Newburgh, NY).  The Balmville School students have been excellent pen-pals during our trip and the Mount students have risen to the occasion and acted as knowledgeable docents who relish in the opportunity to talk about their experiences.  Brittany chatted with the students about some of the animals we’ve seen on our trip, including the Rowi kiwi in Franz Josef, the glow-worms in Hokitika, and the Yellow-eyed Penguins in Dunedin.  The students also asked about the other neat experiences we’ve had, and were keen to know about the non-avifauna that we had seen.  Brittany spoke with the students about the Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) that we saw at the Karori Sanctuary (Wellington) and the fact that we haven’t seen very many insects (besides the sandflies in Abel Tasman National Park!) during our trip.  Although our short interactions with the Balmville students has been great, we’re all looking forward to sharing more of our experiences and pictures with the students following our arrival back home!

Our main attraction today was our visit to the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch.  Jane Porter, director of education at the Centre, coordinated our visit today (despite having only returned from vacation just today!) and led us through the exhibits like she had been working straight through the holidays!  Our visit today would include an introduction to the continent of Antarctica, a viewing of one group of birds that inhabits the continent, an opportunity to try-on and view some of the gear used during the exploration of the continent, and the chance to experience a Class 1 storm at New Zealand’s Antarctic research station. 

We were first introduced to the continent of Antarctica and the major research bases that are found on the land mass.  Antaractica is nearly 1.5x the size of the United States, but is not owned by any one country; instead, it is governed by over a dozen countries from around the world.  Next, Ms. Porter guided us to see the stars of today’s visit, the Little Blue Penguins (Eudyptula minor).  Although these birds are not found in Antarctica, the 20+ live penguins on display gave us a glimpse into the characteristics of other penguins living on the coldest, driest, and highest (in altitude) continent on the planet.  We watched as Mel, one of the caretakers of the penguins, fed the penguins and described the basic life history features of the Little Blues: they can live an average of six years in the wild (some are 23 years old in captivity), they use burrows as nest sites rather than create a nest of pebbles like many other penguin species, and can dive for 1.5 minutes.  Our visual and audio introduction to the penguins was only the beginning: Mel brought out to our group one of the ‘oldie but goodie’ Little Blue Penguins, a half-blind male called ‘Pedro’!  Sitting in a circle on the floor with our crossed-legs touching knee-to-knee, Pedro was released and allowed to explore our ‘circle’, touching several of us and coming within six inches of other folks!  Pedro was very curious to investigate us and even escaped from the circle for a moment and explored around Brittany Farron for a moment or two!  This was an experience none of us will soon forget and we extend heaps and heaps of gratitude to Ms. Porter for making this opportunity available to us!

Our visit to the Antarctic Centre also included a visit to the ‘storm room,’ where we experienced conditions similar to those found around the Scott Base, New Zealand’s research station on Antarctica.  We stepped into a large room that, complete with snow cover, was set at 17 degrees F, a temperature that was rather mild for the station, but much chillier than the 70 degrees F outside the Centre.  After a minute inside the room, the ‘wind’ picked up, and the deafening wind that was blowing at 30mph dropped the perceived temperature to -1 degree F!  Only one student decided to wear a heavy jacket through the ‘storm’; most of us braved the elements in our shorts and short-sleeved shirts, although many of us had regretted doing so four minutes into the five-minute session!  Chilled from the experience, we soon called it a day at the Centre, ate some lunch, and then moved onto some real summer fun!

With lunch completed, we drove to the coastal town of Sumner, located on the Banks Peninsula due east of Christchurch.  Bright sun and 75+ degrees F temperatures greeted us upon arrival and we quickly took to changing into our ‘togs’ (swimsuits) and made our way onto the beach!  Most of us took a dip in the cool Pacific Ocean water, but many lounged in what would be our last taste of New Zealand sun on our trip.  A few hours at the beach was enough to soothe our travel-weary souls, so we packed-up, hit the local ice cream stand for a summer treat, and then hopped into our van to head back to our railway cars awaiting us in Waipara.  We finished the evening by cooking the remains of our groceries and then packed for our long haul back to the United States tomorrow (19 January).  We’ve had a great trip and today seemed to be an excellent way to conclude our awesome journey!

Our students testing the integrity of a dogsled used for transporting goods in Antarctica.

Dr. Moran and Joe Santangelo (Business) checking out 'Pedro' the Little Blue Penguin.

 Jenn Szknolnicki (Psychology Physical Therapy) looks on as 'Pedro' visits with our group.

Peter Kelleher (Psychology) and the Balmville Bee cruising on a snowmobile at the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch.

17 January 2012: Royal albatross, the world’s steepest street, and…railway car bunks!

Our day started with some glorious weather in Dunedin and ended with equally splendid weather, but in an unexpected place.  First: Dunedin and the Royal Albatross colony.

Besides having a strong Scottish background and some quirky design features (do a Google search for ‘Dunedin Octagon’ for an example), Dunedin is also known as the site of the only mainland (as oppose to offshore-island) location hosting a Royal Albatross (Diomedea sanfordi) colony.  This morning, we visited the Royal Albatross Centre at Taiaroa Head, and spoke with Department of Conservation site manager Lyndon Perriman.  Mr. Perriman told us about the life history of the Royal Albatross, including their incredible 8 month incubation period and 5-month fledgling-feeding stint.  Breeding every-other year, Royal Albatross populations can suffer great swings if breeding success is relatively high or low in a particular year.  This year, long dry spells (8mm this December whereas the long-term average is 120mm for the month!) have created slightly unfriendly conditions for the nesting albatross: 10 of the 21 pairs on the head have failed to this date.  The individual we could see from an observation building was incubating a soon-to-hatch egg (or, at least that what she thinks! Mr. Perriman told us that his organization incubates all albatross eggs on the site and substitutes replica eggs for the real ones in order to keep the nesting parent’s attention!).  This female, an immigrant from a sub-antarctic island south of New Zealand, is 18 years old and is paired with a male who had hatched from the very same nest location 14 years ago!  Our students again rose to the challenge of another visit with a conservation-related individual and asked great, insightful questions.  I’ve really been impressed with the level of attention to detail all of our students have devoted to our academic activities on this trip.  Way to go!  Mr. Perriman did a fantastic job chatting with our students today and we greatly appreciate his time away from tending to the Royal Albatross colony!

Following our trip to the Albatross colony, we visited the Guinness Book of World Record’s ‘Steepest road’ on record.  Baldwin Street, located to the north of Dunedin’s city center, boasts quite the gradient up its ¼-mile length!  The steps on the sidewalk aided the climb up the street, but it was one tough walk nevertheless!

Baldwin Street would be our final hurrah in Dunedin.  We traveled 5 hours north along Highway 1 to Christchurch, the unfortunate site of a number of destructive earthquake on 22 February 2010 (190!) and then a significant tremor (and aftershocks) in December 2011, just prior to our arriving in New Zealand this interim.  As we drove into the city, we noticed homes and businesses that had been destroyed or damaged by the earthquakes.  City Centre had been largely destroyed by the earthquakes and was closed to any visitors.  We arrived at our destination, the Old Country House hostel, a hostel voted the best in the country 8 times in the last 11 years, only to find out that due to a communication error, our reservation was never made!  Thanks to Gerti, the manager at the OCH, we found accommodations for the evening at a town 45 minutes north of Christchurch.  Our crew somewhat reluctantly (having just spent five exciting hours in the van already) climbed back into the van and we headed a bit further north on Highway 1 to find the Waipara Sleepers hostel.  Nestled among the sprawling vineyards of the Waipara region in the Canterbury Plains, the Sleepers consist of campgrounds, cabins, and you guessed it, sleepers, that is, sleeper railway cars from a by-gone day.  The former New Zealand railway cars had been permanently affixed and transformed into bunkhouses for folks traveling on a slim budget (folks just like us!).  Our students made their way into the sleepers and made the best of what was easily the hostel with the greatest amount of character!

A lone Royal Albatross female seen incubating her 'egg' on the slope of Taiaroa Head outside of Dunedin.  Other individuals would be seen on the hillside, but the majority of other nests were located further downslope, outside of our view from the observatory.

Royal Albatross have a 9 foot wingspan (red silhouette).  The sparrow (white silhouette) is just larger than the Balmville Bee, the mascot of the Balmville School (Newburgh, NY), who is positioned atop the hand on the left of the image.

Our group looking down the slope of the world's steepest road, Baldwin Street, in Dunedin.

Bryan Pujol (Business) and Brittany Farron (Biology/ Chemistry) outside one of the sleeper cars at the Waipara Sleeper  hostel.  We've had quite the diversity of sleeper quarters on this trip!

16 January 2012: Yellow-eyed Penguins!

Today we were fortunate to have many things work for us: 1. we had sunshine!; 2. we had relatively warm temperatures; and, 3. we saw one of the rarest species of penguins: the Yellow-eyed Penguin (Megadyptes antipodes).  

We drove out from Dunedin to the nearby Otago Peninsula to see one of the few mainland colonies of this solitary-nesting species.  Our visit was timed such that we would get to the colony site in mid-afternoon, when adults foraging at sea return to their burrows to feed their recently-hatched nestlings.  The colony site is located among the dunes of a wind-swept stretch of beach along Sandfly Bay.  "Sandfly Bay", as we would learn, refers to the fact that sand 'flies' (more like whips!) across the shore and inland due to strong southwesterly or southerly winds blowing into the bay.  Over millennia, the blowing sand created huge mounds that were then populated by grasses, sedges, and reeds capable of surviving the harsh shoreline environment (NB: A similar landscape developed on the southeastern shoreline of Lake Michigan, so if you're in the area, check it out!).  It is in these hills that the Yellow-eyed Penguins have established a nesting colony.  

After driving through a few acres of pasture slowly being grazed by sheep, we parked our van and walked a 1/2 mile along the beach to the site of the track ('trail') leading to the observation 'hide' (or 'blind').  As we walked along the shore, we found two pairs of Variable Oystercatchers (Haematopus unicolor), one of which was tending to two of the cutest little birds you ever did see.  We also found a number of fur seals (Arctocephalus fosteri) and sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri) loafing on the beach, as well as the rocky outcropping that bounds the eastern edge of the bay.  Our students were very inquisitive, searching the rocky shoreline for any bulls, cows, or pups they could find!  After some good looks of the pinnipeds, we made our way into the penguin blind situated atop one of the tallest dunes in the bay and hoped for the best.  Well, we wouldn’t be disappointed!  After 15 minutes in the blind, our first Yellow-eyed Penguin made its way onto the shore.  It waddled, hopped, and scooted along the rocky shoreline, and then began its journey up the grassy hillside en route to its…burrow, we supposed.  Our fine feathered friend didn’t travel very far over the next 45 minutes; it just waddled/hopped a few meters, then took a break to preen or sun itself, then moved a little further up the hill before taking another break.  Our students patiently watched the penguin, sharing the lone pair of binoculars we had with us.  Students with digital SLR cameras snapped pictures of our friend 100m away from us.  The entire group seemed to relish in the fact that they were viewing a penguin in the wild; a Yellow-eyed Penguin, for that matter!  After another 15 minutes, the action had slowed with our penguin friend; yours truly was wondering whether it might be time to call it a day.  But, then, what’s this, ANOTHER penguin?  Yes!  Our second penguin moved rapidly onto shore, jumped onto the rocks, and began making its way toward our first penguin (mind you, this took about 10 minutes; not quite the explosive action of penguins springing out of the ocean as portrayed on television nature specials!).  After our second friend disappeared, attention waned (and bellies growled for dinner!) and it was clear that it was time to make our way back to the van.

Back at the ranch (or YHA, whichever you like; sounds more rustic/romantic when you say ‘ranch’ rather than ‘YHA’!), Dr. Moran and I prepared a spaghetti dinner for the students (although they did a lot of the heavy lifting!).  We didn’t quite get the proportion of spaghetti: sauce correct, but we had sausage to make up for the lack of sauce.  Another great group effort helped get the meal together in no time flat and we all enjoyed a warm meal after the windswept journey we had this afternoon.  What a fantastic afternoon and evening!

Tomorrow’s big adventure: the Royal Albatross colony at Taiaroa Head on the Otago Peninsula!

Our group prior to exploring the beach in Sandfly Bay.

Sandfly Bay.  The Yellow-eyed Penguin colony is located in the dunes just below the rocky outcropping in the middle-left of the picture.

Our students patiently watching as each Yellow-eyed Penguin made its way onto shore.

Our first Yellow-eyed Penguin (look at the center of the picture)!  Thanks to Becky Seepersad (Chemistry) for snapping this pic!

Gratuitous picture of sheep grazing in the pastures surrounding Sandfly Bay.  We've seen sheep throughout our trip, but interestingly, no one has taken pictures of these abundant animals until this point in the trip!

Our group preparing tonight's spaghetti dinner at the Stafford Gables YHA.  Great meal, crew!

15 January 2012: Dunedin

Our planned trip to the Dunedin Botanical Gardens was 'called' last night due to the forecast for southwesterly winds blowing at 30mph and heavy rain showers projected to hit Dunedin today.  Well, we awoke to blue skies and bright sun...perfect weather for a guided tour through the Gardens.  Alas, having canceled the tour the previous evening, we were stuck with an 'open' morning.  The students, always eager to do something new, decided to take a tour of the local Cadbury chocolate factory.  Most reviews of the factory came back favorably, particularly from the students who LOVE chocolate!

Dr. Moran and I decided to meet with Dr. Dudle for a guided tour of Dunedin, rather than the gardens, and very much enjoyed our time talking with a professor from a similarly-sized institution. Dr. Dudle is an evolutionary biologist specializing in plants and she is conducting research through Otago University while on sabbatical from her home institution of DePauw University.  Her studies take her into regional mountains, where she investigates the function of pigments in various alpine plant species.  We missed a great opportunity to hear Dr. Dudle speak about the native New Zealand plants in the Botantical Gardens, but gained a lot of insight into a US citizen living in New Zealand for a prolonged period of time.  Very cool!

The good weather wasn't completely lost on our crew.  We packed up in the late afternoon and headed to the beach to poke around for a bit.  We drove to the southern portion of Dunedin to find St. Kilda beach, one of many beaches lining this area of Dunedin.  The sun was shining, but the wind was howling!  Our awesome pictures (see below) do not quite capture how chilly the blowing winds made us feel!  Even the red-billed gulls and black-backed gulls seemed chilled by the roaring winds from the southwest!  We decided to call it an early afternoon and retreated to the comforts of our hostel back in town.

Tomorrow: the rare yellow-eyed penguins of the Otago peninsula! (if the weather holds out!)

  Dr. Dana Dudle (DePauw University) and I standing on greatly-sloping hill in Dunedin. Dana told Dr. Moran and I that the city of Dunedin had been planned in Scotland without the aid of a topographical map, and then the builders went ahead with the original plans without regard to the area's terrain!

Our group standing on St. Kilda beach south of Dunedin.  This photo, taken just as we walked onto the beach, only hints at how chilly the beach was during our visit!

Self portrait of Dr. Moran and I on St. Kilda beach, Dunedin.