The Waikato

Sunday- Mount Eden is an extinct volcano in the middle of Auckland, one of sixty that the city is built on. The hike up is gorgeous, with lots of lush gardens and trees that I've never seen before, including a silver fern which has an irridescant underbelly that can be seen in the dark. When you reach the top you are looking into a massive crater which formed when the volcano errupted many years ago. Someone had run down into it and begun to spell something with leftover volcanic rocks. The view from the top is amazing, the sun was just setting and we where able to watch the street lights and the city come alive at night.

From Auckland we travelled to the Waikato district to see our B&B and where we would be working for our conservation project. At the Forty Winks Bed and Breakfast we where met by the cutest 93 year old lady named Edith. After settling in, or letting my pack eplode in my case, we headed out to the peat lakes which are set in the middle of rolling farmland. For the next two weeks we are going to be '"freeing" the native plants from weed overgrowth, and chopping down massive prickley gore plants. We're also doing some work in Yarndley Bush, which is a nature reserve, and the Otorohanga Kiwi house, which houses two of the endangered birds and has a breeding program for many other at risk species.

So much interesting work to do and then the adventure tour starts, I may have to try bungee jumping while I'm down here!