“How are you going?” “Sweet as mate! I am quite kean for you to rattle your dags…. but it’s mission critical that this situation not go pear shaped” “No worries, can do bro”   Does this conversation bring about memories of meat pies, rare birds, and breathtaking landscapes? Well… it should. For the past two […]

By Kamylli and Trisha The first two weeks of our trip to New Zealand were spent exploring different areas of the North Island, a diverse environment full of dinosaurs (well, Tuataras at least), fantails, sparrows, kiwis, arachnids, rolling hills, beautiful coastlines, volcanoes, fault lines, greywacke, geothermal springs (bacteria and archaea galore), and a great many […]

New Zealand – What can we say, it was love at first sight, from the city life to the conservation and activism happening around the general community. A childhood fantasy had become a reality that before seemed unattainable, but now feels like a dream become reality. We could not have asked for a better opportunity […]

Sophia Horigan & Eli Baginski One of the classes we are taking is Life in the Extremes, and our first situated study of this topic was learning about geothermal hot springs and their micro-biomes. New Zealand is a very thermally active landscape due to it being situated on a plate boundary. Trapped heat below escapes […]

The UV index for Wellington is currently reading “extreme danger!” I’ve been told that’s normal. Today the linearized uv metric will peak around 12-13. Portlanders this time of year may be lucky enough to see just 1 at solar noon. Anyhow, I’ve always loved the smell of sunscreen. Its late January (the kiwi summer), I’m deep in […]