Kiwi Adventure

We are on our third and final week in New Zealand. Leslie and I just finished a three day hike on the famous Kepler track in Fiordland National Park. The hike started just outside of the town of Te Anau before circling Te Anau Lake and climbing high into the mountains. The weather was colder and wetter than we expected. It is, after all, the hottest month of the year in New Zealand, but we were still shivering at various points along the trail. We had planned on spending three nights in the wilderness but ended up booking it yesterday in order to make it back to the trailhead a day early. We are currently waiting out a rainstorm in Te Anau.

Before coming down to the South Island Leslie and I spent about a week and a half traveling around the North Island. We rented a car along with Lydia and Natalie, two other Peace Corps volunteers. Our first stop was Taupo, located on a massive lake right in the middle of the North Island. We ended up staying with a couple of really cool guys, Chris and Mike, who frequently host travelers through the Couchsurfing site. In Taupo we did a bit of hiking, hit some golf balls into the lake- a tourist activity, you win $10,000 if you make a hole in one, and browsed through the many outdoor stores. About one in every three shops in New Zealand is an outdoor supply store, and they are all extremely expensive.

After Taupo we headed to Napier where we did some wine tasting and a bit of hiking. It was significantly drier on that side of the island, which makes sense for a wine-growing region. After Napier we drove all day to make it back to the north part of the island where a music festival was about to start. We stopped again just outside of Taupo to hike Craters of the Moon national monument, a park full of boiling mud holes, geysers, and all sorts of geothermal activity. We spent the night in Thames on the Coromandel penninsula. The next day we arrived SPLORE, the three day music festival that was being held just outside the town of Orere. Everyone attending the event had to camp, so a massive grassy field turned into tent city in a matter of hours. It was a bit chaotic, all these tents literally inches from each other. The atmosphere was extremely relaxed and friendly, though, and we all had a good time. The music was mostly electronic- some rap and some techno. It wasn't exactly the sort of music I would choose to listen too on my own, but it was exciting to feel the energy of the crowd at the mainstage. At the end of the festival we were all pretty tired and dusty. Natalie and Lydia flew back to Fiji after the festival was over, but Leslie and I still had two weeks of travel time. We took the ferry to Waiheke island where Graeme, a friend of ours whom we randomly met in our village in Fiji, was living. We spent a couple of very chill days hanging out on the island, doing some fishing, eating some great Argentinian food courtesy of his roomates, and even skinny dipping at a nude beach! The weather was warm and dry, just what we needed before heading down to cold rainy Fiordland National Park.

We've got about another week here before returning to Fiji. I'll post some pictures when I get the chance. Leslie is currently posting some photos on Facebook.

Talking Business (and Coral)

John and I just returned from a very busy and productive week in Suva.

John participated in a free workshop on Coral Identification at the University of the South Pacific. The workshop was four days long and included two snorkeling sessions. The training was designed to test a new scientific manual focused on coral identification. John's fellow trainees were Marine Biology professionals, students, and independent researchers....so he got to meet a lot of people just like him!

I was in Suva to co-facilitate an Alternative Livelihood training for Peace Corps volunteers and their community partners. There were twenty four participants from all over Fiji. John Caldeira and I designed the training based on our experiences in Ra. We incorporated a lot of the same materials and lessons that we have used to train beekeepers in business management. The first day of the training covered brainstorming and developing business ideas into financially viable business opportunities. The second day focused on business plan development, while the third covered basic bookkeeping. Each of the participant groups left the training with a financial plan and business plan for their communities. The businesses developed in the training ranged from bread kitchens and piggeries to coffin boxes and virgin coconut oil. John C. and I had a great time facilitating the training and learned a lot about the different Peace Corps projects going on in Fiji. To unwind after the training I joined the rest of the volunteers in Suva for a night of dancing. I had a little trouble getting into to one of our favorite dance clubs because the bouncer decided to be mean to me - he wouldn't let me bring my empty water bottle in! As an apology the manager gave me a pitcher of pink-colored booze! Score! All-in-all a pretty good week :)

Tomorrow John and I leave for New Zealand for a three-week vacation. Updates and pictures to come.

Making History

So according to the Fijians in Ra, the Peace Corps Volunteers (+ one visitor) in this region made history last month by swimming across Viti Levu bay! The swim was exactly two miles. We paddled John's outrigger to a small beach on the other side of the bay where five of the volunteers met us. Once we were all assembled we swam to the other side. We swam in two groups of three. Each group had a boat spotter, the boats carried life jackets, water and sunscreen....better safe than sorry. Lydia and I made the swim in one hour and thirty minutes, with John coming in just behind us. The other three volunteers finished in two hours and forty minutes as they decided to chat for most of the swim :)

Here are a few pictures from the swim.

The Ra Group (from Left: Joe/spotter, Lisa/spotter, Victoria/spotter, Natalie/swimmer, Lydia/swimmer, Me/swimmer, Kara/swimmer, Choney/swimmer, John/spotter. The low, grassy hill across the bay was the point we swam to.

Still got the form :)

John spotting me from his kayak (note the extra life jackets strapped to his kayak).

I have started writing the Fiji Beekeeper's Handbook. I have finished the first draft of part one. I am hoping to have the book finished in a few months. John (Caldeira, not husband) and I are preparing for the Alternative Livelihood training we are leading for Peace Corps next week. We are using the same format for this training that we used in April for the beekeepers. Hopefully the Peace Corps Volunteers and their community partners will find the information useful and at least remotely interesting. It is hard to make bookkeeping fun....but John and I are sure going to try. While we are facilitating the business training John (husband) will be attending a workshop at USP (University of the South Pacific) on Coral Identification. He is attending the advanced session. He is really excited because the training includes a free dive. I am a bit jealous.

Two days after our respective trainings John and I head to New Zealand for a 20 day adventure. I can't wait to get out of this heat!