Virginia Reid, the Hokies Abroad service-learning in New Zealand and North Queensland 2015 student blogger, writes:

Kia Ora!

After thirty long hours of travel, we are all settled in and adjusted to our temporary New Zealand home in Tauranga! It is safe to say, it was worth it for the beautiful views and delicious fresh New Zealand pizza.

Our mornings begin with a group breakfast made from groceries and usually a discussion offering some background to our day’s adventures, led by Dr. Blanc or Dr. Haynes. We have also been lucky enough to have expert speakers like Dr. Carolyn King, Professor at Waikato University. Our informative guide, Doug Farr, has extremely close ties with all of the locals and with real “iwi” or Maori tribes. Doug led us through a hike within McLaren Falls Park, a temperate rainforest, and a local sanctuary that had an abundant amount of diverse plants most of us have never seen before. We then ventured into a beautiful kiwi orchard, where most of us excitedly found our own kiwi fruits to take home!

Our next day was incredible as we planted 288 trees between the 27 of us! Getting real hands-on experience in the Papamoa Hills Cultural Heritage Regional Park, allowed us to take a wonderful hike, but also feel connected to the land itself. In our exploration of Tauranga, we focused on finding a real definition of the term “conservation”, and expanding our ways of thinking to come up with innovative ideas.

Traveling challenges the way we interpret the world and the way we think. While taking our first steps into our adventure, we were able to learn about the massive amounts of biodiversity within the amazing world down here.

Stay tuned for the next post about our final days in NZ and our experience with the Maori hosts at Waitaia Lodge!