Going to where the snails are because they are not going to come to me

Post date: Oct 02, 2016 8:29:52 PM

Although I was busy settling in Washington, for my PhD I did field work in New Zealand. So in December I took off and headed to New Zealand with my field assistant (and at the time sort of boyfriend) Shaughn.

I started by immediately putting my feet in the other side of the Pacific.

This trip represents the beginning of one of the best travel made friendships ever. On the first night, Shaughn and I were preparing dinner in the kitchen of the hostel we were staying at. Shaughn, on a whim, started talking to a couple of kiwis who were also preparing dinner. Turns out Trish and Dave owned a sheep farm that was on our way down the coast. They offered to let us stay, and we did. The rest is history (Trish and I are still friends).

But really we were in NZ to collect snails so most of our time was spent doing things like this: sitting on the sides of lakes getting snails to hang out with us forever. Not a bad place to work.

We were based out of Christchurch, which had just been hit with an earthquake. But the city was still lively and thriving and we went out a fair amount.

We saw the glorious Christchurch cathedral, oldest in NZ.

The best thing about New Zealand? The mountains. They are more majestic than you could ever imagine. Images and movies don’t do them justice.

I could talk for hours about my favorite places in New Zealand, and the best mountains and hostels and towns. But for this post I’ll just put up pretty photos. Te Anau, one of the best places on the south island.