Day 18

 Today might have been my favorite day. We left Nelson, but not before having a lovely hot breakfast. On our drive to Kaikoura our professor in residents had us stop at a very special waterfall. We walked up a little mountain path that ran parallel to a stream. And then "Oh my god, there's a seal in the water" As we progressed up the trail we would sporadically see seal pups in the stream, playing or handing out. The seals are getting more frequent as we get highter, and then we start seeing seals in the woods. There are seals in the trees! How did they even get up there? I didn't know seals could climb! And then we rounded a corner. And it was just amazing. At the base of this waterfall was a small natural pool. And in that pool were fifty seal pups, frollicing and splashing about. I wanted to stay there and watch the pups for hours.

Look at the blurry seal!

And that smile stayed for days.

 But all too soon, we had to leave for our next destination. That's whats really striking me about New Zealand. They are so driven towards conservation here, that amazing spots like that can go on undisturbed, even with tons of tourists walking through. There were Department of Conservation (DOC) volunteers at the waterfall, educating people about the seals, and ensuring that no one got to close to the seals, or left litter that could hurt them. The DOC is really active here. I see volunteers at lots of the tourist spots and DOC cars on the roads all the time. They were the ones who shut down Fox Glacier the day we were supposed to climb it because conditions were too dangerous. They swooped in an assessed the situation and got done quickly quietly and efficiently. They're like a eco-friendly S-H-E-I-L-D. They are also the largest land owner in New Zealand, and most of the land they own is reserves or sanctuaries or nation parks. And what amazes me, is how much work DOC is putting in to protect the native vegetation and wildlife. We've been hiking a lot on this trip and all the trails have been controlled by DOC, pretty much. And all the trails have been beautifully maintained. I'm completely serious, the trails are gorgeous and they have no litter on them and they're lined with traps. Yep. In New Zealand the main danger to native species are invasive creatures like possums, rats, and stoats. The only way to protect the native birds are to murder large amounts of cute furry animals. Our professor keeps joking that "New Zealand is the only country thats conservation efforts involve killing large amounts of animals". So giant mousetraps line the trail, and most are maintained by DOC, who sends volunteers out to check and empty the traps. And apparently it's really helping. In the areas where wasp poison is spread out (wasps are another huge problem) the wasp colonies are reduced by 80%. 80% is a lot of dead wasps! The main problem that I've seen with the traps and poisons however, is that cats are a huge problem for native birds too. And apparently, if you let your cat out, and it gets caught in a trap, welp, that sucks for you. But once the pests are controlled, the native birds really pick themselves up in full force. We saw fenced off areas, where all the pests had been removed, so they set up a giant barrier so more couldn't come in. That was really cool. I wonder how long it will take New Zealand to be one giant fenced in area.


We stopped at a little farmers market where I got a 2 dollar ball of NZ yarn, and a crepe with local organic strawberries. we drove a bit more dropped our bags off very quickly at our accomidations in Kaikoura. We got back on the bus and took another hike around a peninsula. On the peninsula were lots of seals, and lots of cow poop. The hike was nice, but pretty cold, and pretty steep. I'm so exhausted I kept falling asleep while standing up. We had class and then a very nice dinner at a local resturant. I had a lamb shank. And I think I've probably had enough lamb on this trip. Now its time to work on eating lots of seafood. I watched a movie with some people,  but I kept falling asleep, so I went to bed and slept for ten hours.


 p.s. Make sure to follow all my fellow bloggers here.