Arrival!

I made it to New Zealand this morning after a twelve hour flight from LA. After a quick trip through customs, I got to meet Rich, the falcon guy. He is starting his second year of his PhD at Massey University and has extensive experience with raptors all over the world. With introductions out of the way, we headed out into a wet and chilly New Zealand morning to head down to Murapara, on the edge of Kaingaroa Forest, where I will be living for the next few months.

We started in Aukland, where almost a third of New Zealanders live, and headed south. Although I have never been to Scotland, the countryside here reminds me of Scotland. It is very green and wet, with very steep, almost abrupt hills dotted with cows and sheep. I later learned that many of the hills were actually created by volcanic processes. We stopped off for a quick steak pie, which is the standard fast food here, and then we headed to Rotorua. Rotorua is a center of thermal activity which generates bubbling, steaming, erupting, colorful pools of water and mud, as well as a powerfull sulfuric smell. We watched some of the smaller pools, which are free. You have to pay for the bigger ones, so I plan to see those later. I have pictures, but this computer does not have a USB port, so I will have to post them later.

From there we stopped at Wingspan (cool website), which is a falcon rehabilitation center. I got to see falcons at very close range for the first time. I have pictures of that too, but they will also have to wait. They seem rather regal, even when in captivity. They staff there was making the birds out to be very fierce and trying to scare me, while Rich was urgently trying to reassure me, for fear I would run off. Since my return ticket is not for six months, I decided to stay.

Finally, we got to the house in Murapara. It is relatively civilized with hot water, a shower, toilet, fridge, stove, and microwave. There are nine beds, which would severely overstrain both the bathroom and kitchen, but so far there have not been more than four people. The site is nice, with a farm next door and lots of birds. It looks like a great start, but first I need some sleep.