New Zealand: Day 20, 21, & 22

DAY 20
   It was an early morning getting up at 6:00 a.m. so we could "potentially" board our cruise boat at 7:15 for wale watching. Overnight the winds picked up and there was a good chance that "potentially" would turn into a cancelation. At 6:45 we were broke the news that the ships would NOT go out as the swells were too large that our safety and pleasure would be at risk.
   We were pretty bummed as many of us have never really seen a whale, but we quickly got over it. We were allowed some free time to visit the beach and shop. A group of us headed to the beach as most of the shops would not open till 8:30-9:00.
   The sun was at a perfect level offering a perfect backdrop for silhouette photos. Advantage taken! We were able to kill a good hour exploring the beach and capturing memories.

   Once the stores opened I was able to basically finish up my shopping for family and friends and found some good deals and perfect gifts.
   Arrived back to LU early afternoon and again were let loose to do as we pleased. Busker Festival still going on, but by this time no one wanted to pay for something we were unsure about and ride the long bus into town. So instead, most of us soaked up the sun in the rose garden, reconnected in the computer lab, and later headed to the Famous Grouse. We only had tow more evenings to enjoy it!

DAY 21
   Our finally adventure...Akaroa! Since our whale watching trip was cancelled the day before, Heather got on the phone and reserved us spots for cruising in Akaroa to hopefully see the world's smallest, rarest, and friendliest dolphins; the Hector dolphin. The wind was still strong that the water was still a little rough, but the sun was shining and we enjoyed the sights. We got to see several different types of birds including the blue penguin, saw sheep being herding along the mountain side (really looked like "range maggots" as is a common nickname given to them back home), and just as we were about to head back to port we saw two Hector dolphins!!!

   We made the short drive back to LU and prepared for our farewell dinner and Maori experience at the Willowbank wild life reserve. The Maori are the native inhabitants of New Zealand that still practice their culture. This evening we got to experience some of that as we said our farewells to New Zealand and all of its life changing experiences.

   As we headed back to LU for our last night in New Zealand, Ted our bus driver dropped us off at the Famous Grouse to say our farewells that way! It was truly an enjoyable night as we all sat around laughing and telling stories off the past 21 days. We drank to yesterday's memories, today's stories, and tomorrow's desires.

DAY 22
   We slept in and got ourselves all packed and ready to make the long trek home. Remember how on the way over we never experienced December 28th? Well this time as we headed back east, we get to relive January 19th, which will forever be the LONGEST day of our lives.
   Loaded the bus around 10 a.m. to head to the airport. We said our goodbyes to Heather and Mike and boarded the plane to Fiji. During our 4 hour layover in Fiji, I realized I was going to miss my flight from LAX to SLC. So I got on my email and asked my aunt to come to the rescue. She was able to get me on a direct flight from LAX to MSP.
   After a very long day of traveling, I was greeted by my parents at MSP around 8:30 p.m. We made the two and half hour drive back home to Comfrey, where I got to sleep in my own bed and be with my family and animals for half a day before heading back to Lincoln.

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A Trip of a Lifetime is what I was expecting from this adventure and that is exactly what it was. I still think about it daily and can't wait for the opportunity to go back in the future! Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible and to those who shared the adventure with me, whether in person or via this blog, THANK YOU!

New Zealand: Day 19

DAY 19
   Today was our last day of lectures at LU. We heard from Dr. James Ross about some historic environmental issues. It was interesting that a lot of the environmental issues were derived from introduction of animals. Remember how New Zealand is an island, therefore, making its ecosystem very volatile. As explorers and immigrants began to arrive, they brought with some of their native animals and plants. A lot of these have now naturalized themselves here and some are now self-sustaining.
   Next up, we got to enjoy some more New Zealand wine. Dr. Roland Harrison provided us with some history of the wine industry and then offered a structured wine tasting. Wine is NZ second largest agriculture export that is consistently growing. The wine industry has been around since 1895 with Romeo Bragato introducing a variety of grape that was an American and European combination variety. The different types of wine are grown in different areas because of soil types and regional climate.

For example,
Sauvignon Blanc = Marlborough region
Riesling = Canterbury
Pinot Noir = Central Otago
Merlot = Aukland
North = Reds
South = Whites

   We got to go through a crash course of structured wine tasting. There are five categories to help us understand the wine we are tasting. Its a personal experience when we see, smell, and taste the wine. As we taste though it is important to respect what others are saying and be brave enough to describe our sensations.

   The five categories include:
(1) Color and clarity
(2) Aroma - aroma wheel: fruity, veggie, nutty, woody, pungent, earthy, spicy, chemical, etc. (broad) leads to specific of say fruity- citrus, berry, tree fruit, tropical
(3) Taste and Flavor - sweet, sour, bitter; balance of flavors go back to aroma descriptions
(4) Mouth feel - hot, cold, wet, warm, smooth
(5) Liking - scale 1-10, would you drink it again?

   I really enjoyed this opportunity. I enjoy wine and this will help me understand the different kinds of wine and what flavors I am really tasting. After we were done with this lecture, we had to have our overnight bag packed for Kaikoura and eat lunch.
   After lunch we headed to the International Antarctic Center in town. This was a pretty cool experience. I think it would be awesome to visit Antarctica for like a week. The conditions there are quite extreme that your body adapts quickly, but I believe that it is a part of this world that not many people get to experience that through photography I'd love to share it with them. So I've added it to the bucket list! While at the center we learned about its history as a collaboration between U.S.A., New Zealand, and Russia as well as got to see some rescued blue penguins! It was a quick trip but quite intriguing.

   Next, it was back on the bus to Kaikoura. Once we got to town and were all checked in, everyone was on their own for supper. A group of us headed to Whalers and enjoyed a delicious steak meal before calling it a night.
  

New Zealand: Day 17 & 18

DAY 17
   Started the day off with another farm tour. Remember from Day 10 where I talked about Landcorp, New Zealand's largest agribusiness? Well, we visited another one of their farms, Stuart Farms, located in the Southland.
   Stuart Farms has sheep, cattle, and deer, but our main focus today was learning about their deer farming operation. The agenda for our visit was to learn about their pasture to plate value chain, covering data capture on farm and the technologies employed to do this. Demonstrating the forage and genetics component that complement the date capture; look at Meat EQ and how through extra measurement they are creating measures to determine meat quality. This is all capable through Farm IQ, a management program in which Stuart Farms was the latest addition to the program.
   While at the farm we got to experience an up close encounter with the deer. We watched them move through their working pen where they discussed their use of EID tags to collect data as explained above.

   None of us have really seen deer domesticated and farmed. It was interesting hearing its history and their marketing strategies to keep it growing in a competitive red meat industry. For lunch, Silver Fern farms came with their mobile cooking lab and prepared us some delicious beef, venison, and lamb. The meat has been questionable throughout the trip until this meal. It was prepared correctly allowing the flavors to truly come out.
   As we finished lunch they gave us Silver Fern caps and we boarded the bus. Are we done with bus rides yet?!? another 3 hours to Lake Tekapo for another exceptional experience.
   We stopped in town for dinner before heading to our backpackers. I still had some of my cheese, meat, and crackers from Gibbston Valley that I needed to finish which also allowed me to cheapen up the trip by a meal. It was a gorgeous evening, so I sat on a bench overlooking Lake Tekapo and enjoyed the peacefulness.
   Later, we checked into our backpackers around 9:30 and began to prepare to head to Mt. John Observatory at 12:10 a.m. I showered, wrote in my journal, and took a little nap. Now, it was going to be pretty awesome seeing the sky in the southern hemisphere, let alone a nearly full moon lit up the sky which this did cause some light pollution, but we still saw some amazing things. The Southern Cross: can't be seen in northern hemisphere. It is on the NZ and AUS flag and was used by early explorers for direction purposes. Another unique characteristic about looking at the sky in the southern hemisphere is that constellations we can see in the northern hemisphere are upside down! Like Orion and the man on the moon, pretty cool!
   There was an astro photographer on site that offered to take pictures for anyone with a DSLR. Obviously I allowed her to and asked her some questions as well. In order to shoot at night I need to use long exposure taking about 15 seconds to capture the shot, therefore, the camera needs to be mounted to avoid any shake. Who knew I was going to pick-up some photography tips on this adventure. Together, we captured the Southern Cross, moon, and overlooking the town of Lake Tekapo. This adventure was another highlight! Even though we didn't get to bed till about 3:00 a.m., it was worth it.

DAY 18
   Guess what? Back on the bus , but this time it was finally back to LU. We were all ready to be back "home" for awhile. I was burnout but still smiling and reminiscing about everything we had seen and experienced over the last nine days.
   We arrived back around 1:30 and had lunch. The afternoon was ours to do as we pleased. The Busker Festival, which is kind of like a live version of America's Got Talent with multiple performers from dancing to singing to comedians and so on, had started in Christchurch and we had the option to attend. I was just ready to stay put and catch up on life. I already had reading and quizzes to take for Genetics clas and was several days behind on my blog (still am, sorry but there is so much happening with little free time and limited WiFi). So I spent the evening catching up with the world and enjoyed a good nights rest.