New Zealand
Exploring the North and South Islands of New Zealand, this semester is not a regularly scheduled destination. New Zealand is our back-up semester if we need to change a destination prior to departure.
- Visit the famous surfing destination areas along the Bay of Plenty.
- Travel into the East Cape area, which embraces the Maori influence and cultural heart of New Zealand. The stretches of coastline are very rugged, rocky, full of vertical cliffs - incredibly scenic.
- Stay in a community center in Te Kaha, home to the tribe Te Whanau-a-Apanui ("The Family of Apanui"), an very outspoken tribe that has held onto their traditions and ways of life.
- Camp outside of a Maori school, where Gym class has students swimming on the school's beach, where we also set up tents. They will give us a welcoming and farewell ceremony that will blow our socks off!
- Visit a lighthouse on a bluff, which is sacred to the Maoris as it sees the first light of everyday.
- Backpack around "Mount Doom" from The Lord of the Rings.
- Sea kayak the Marlbouro Sounds.
- Explore Milford Sound, with breathtaking vistas of towering mountains and waterfalls.
New Zealand is a picture-perfect postcard of geographical wonders - white-capped mountains, remote rivers, clear lakes, geysers and boiling mud. Aside from its fame from the picturesque scenery in Lord of the Rings, New Zealand also boasts long, deserted beaches, plentiful forest reserves, and a variety of fauna.
“Lying face up on an inner tube, I closed my eyes to more blackness. Tannin-dyed water trickled over the rounded rocks, as I pushed my hands against the cave walls to propel myself downstream. I reopened my eyes to the galaxy of glow-worms on the cave ceilings like a living Milky Way. We had just spent a science class in a cave, studying the rocks, waters, formations, and living things that exist in Punakaiki.”
- Annie, Idaho, junior