Stream Ecology - Day 1....."Biggest First Day Ever"

Donning the iconic "gumboots" of New Zealand students took to the stream on the first afternoon of classes in this youthful semester. Thankfully, the property we reside with has a vital stream that runs along the Southern border. After a masterful introduction and lecture by featured professor Dave Mahan...we are gradually understanding the importance of "knowing your place" and being able to understand the critters and habitats and ecosystems around us.

After a wander through the forest, ancient ruins (?), and hopping a few fences we reached our first site. Jen was keen to pose as she easily made her way over the fence. Christy was pumped also to stand with her boots in the water, check out her stance. Ali also beamed with curiosity and ferociously participated in a discharge test, and a rustling up of critters like crawfish, freshwater shrimp, a large short-finned eel, and heaps of caddisfly, mayfly, and stonefly larvea. Not to mention a rare breed of freshwater crab (a first for dave mahan) that is endemic to our stream system.

Community Wreath 2008 SoPac Spring - unique!

As we continue to grow together and learn what it means to live in community, we will inevitably become vulnerable with one another. On this night, we concocted a community wreath, an ornament unlike any other CCSP community wreath. This weaving contained the finished products of us creatively expounding on our hopes, fears, expectations, and reactions to the upcoming semester. The wreath was made of Supplejack, a local vine that is known to grow in spirts. It is brilliantly green, but also changes its color and it's maleability - there are all kinds of community growth symbols to draw from this wreath - but mostly, it was just good to let ourselves be artistic for a little while as we learn more about each other.
Using natural elements, an assortment of art and craft supplies, and our own honest imaginations, students and staff shared briefly on their creation and then attatched it to the wreath. The finished wreath now hangs in front of our porch picture window, where we will be reminded throughout the semester of the hopes and concerns it symbolizes. (this is also my first ever blog post! Yes - love,matt)

Student Trip Intro

Friends.

The student trips just ended this past weekend, and we hounded the students to give us pictures and stories from their time on the road. There were plenty of adventures had, many a stunning sight seen, and all together the students enjoyed their time away from campus.

The following three posts are blurbs on the trips. Enjoy!

"Waiheke, I don't know."

We took the ferry to Waiheke Island. We caught the bus to the only supermarket on the island and got food for the night. We took the bus to Rocky Bay and hiked (backpacked) to our campiste. We were very proud because we were going for at least two hours on a very complicated hike. When we finally got to our campsite we were all tired and hungry, so we set up camp and made dinner which consisted of chicken, hot dogs, kumara, and potatoes. Later that night we met some local kids who were camping next to us. It was a lot of fun talking to them and getting some info on Kiwi life.

We woke up the next morning and went to the beach. We ate lunch at a place called Charley Farley's. We went back to the supermarket and got Tim-Tams (which are very good with Nutella!). We went back to camp and got ready to go in the morning. The night was ended with an awesome round of telephone pictionary.

Yeehaw For Piha (The Chronicles of the Small Tent)

We three students (Emma, Christy, and Brett) entered our student trip weekend wide-eyed babies with little to no experience in the harsh reality of northern New Zealand... full of youthful optimism and high expectations, little did we know we would leave our three day adventure at Piha (pronounced "PEE- HAH!) as weathered travelers, experienced outdoorswomen and men, and humbled ocean-goers.

We feared for our survival in the harsh wilderness of Piha, where we had to make the treacherous 50 meter trek down the campsite parking lot to our little plot. Secluded from civilization save the surrounding major road which hummed with traffic all night, the many established eateries and surf shops, and not to mention our many Kiwi comrades who spoke to us in a bizarre New Zealand tongue - and openly scoffed at our "venerable" standard issued CCSP tent.

The Epic Coromandel “We’re all grown up and renting cars” Trip

This weekend Ben, Cutter, Allie, and Rachel road tripped to the little town of Hahei on the Coromandel Peninsula in search of hot springs and adventure.

The trip got off to a rocky start with Ben losing his wallet on the train and having to backtrack to look for it (it was found thank goodness!). So with Ben’s wallet and a ’98 Hyundai with squeaky breaks and a backdoor that didn’t lock we were off for the weekend.

Although the hot springs weren’t so hot the views were spectacular. Hiking to Cathedral Cove was definitely a highlight of the trip. We ate a lot of peanut butter, jelly, and Nutella for our meals but we did have a high class dinner of wormy apples and hot dogs with Wattie’s on bread slices eaten off plates we picked up off the side of the road in a box that read “FREE.”

Student Trips! Orientation Ending.

This is a picture from our Iconic New Zealand Food Night, hosted by our interim director Mark Pierson and his lovely family. Iconic New Zealand foods from candies, unique drinks, a number of different main dishes (steak and kidney pies!), and a variety of desserts were served up. A bit of entertainment was provided by Mark's friend Pete afterwards while we leaned back and let our bellies expand.

The Orientation period has come to a close, time flying by quickly as usual with CCSP. We have spent the week settling into our new residence, getting to know neighbors, visiting local beaches and waterfalls, and getting to know each other a bit better. One of the goals of Orientation has been to allow students time and space to explore this new country, acquire a sense of place at our curren home, and spend some recreational time in some of the beautiful places nearby. Oratia is small area in West Auckland, at the eastern feet of the Waitakere Range. We are fortunate to live in such a beautiful land!

A few notables:
We live next door to a winery called Artisan. Julie coordinated with the vintner Rex to have our students help with putting nets over a few sections of the vineyard in exchange for a nice lunch. One of the sections of the vineyard borders up against our driveway!

We have visited the Auckland Museum, Piha Beach and Kitekite falls, visited a well known Marine reserve called Goat Island for some snorkeling, participated in a few heart pounding night games of murder-in-the-dark, and even enjoyed a traditional Maori feast called a hangi. We invited a few Kiwis to the hangi to talk to us a bit about Maori culture as well as New Zealand culture. It has been a meaningful albeit quickly passing Orientation period, and after this weekend's student trips, classes will begin on Monday.

More Iconic New Zealand Food Night pictures. It's too nice outside at dusk to stay indoors!