Spring 2004: Ethan Pierce, University of New Hampshire
(excerpts from a letter home)I'm having a great time here in New Zealand! I just got back from our South Island trip which was amazing. They say you haven't seen New Zealand until you go to South Island, and they're definitely right. The scenery included towering mountains, beautiful lakes, plenty of ocean, and awesome beech forests.
In Kaikoura, we stayed at Takahanga Marae for four nights and got to swim with wild dolphins out in the ocean. We also saw tons of dolphins from shore along with hundreds of fur seals sunning on the rocks.
We then traveled on to a place called Craigieburn near Arthur's Pass National Park. Here we got a good taste of the Southern Alps. We studied beech forest and alpine ecology while staying in an environmental education lodge up in the mountains. Arthur's Pass was incredibly scenic with snow caps on some of the giant mountains. After that, we traveled to the small coal mining town of Reefton and stayed a few days to learn about extractive industry. The air constantly smelled of burning coal which was something new to me but I enjoyed this part of the trip because we saw a gold and coal mine up close.
We then moved on to Nelson Lakes National Park to learn about wildlife management. It was a truly spectacular place with a beautiful lake and incredible mountains and forests.