Didn't pack the night before - to tired from the climbing trip. Got up at 5:45 and packed, showered and had a bite to eat, then hiked over to the bus stop. Plans for the trip include: Seaweed lab on Monday at the Leigh Marine Lab, stay overnight and then do an Ecological Survey of the shore at the Leigh Marine Reserve on Tuesday. We arrived at the lab around 8:45 and a guy (not our professor) showed us where the bunk room was and
announced (in
response to a query) that guys and girls can room together*, everyone piled into bunks - about 4 to a room, I was with 2 guys and a gorgeous girl from
Canada -
Chelsea, and headed down to the lab. The lab was well
equipped - computers,
spectrophotometers, and a full set of pipettes for every group. We waited for a while and at 9 a scientist from the lab, who none of us have ever seen before came in a started teaching us about seaweed and
their nitrogen uptake and
complementarity among resource use. We paired up (I was with Chelsea) and started the lab. It took most of the day, we ended up skipping a couple repeats on trials that we had to go back and do, but it was pretty
successful. It was the first time that I have actually
enjoyed doing
lab work for a class - I found the lab well designed and, while maybe not useful for my everyday life, at least it was similar something I see myself working on in the future. The
professor who taught that day
disappeared and we never saw him again - although I think that he will give us a couple lectures later on. We were given no instructions*, there was no
chaperone*, we didn't even know what time we were starting the next day*. I ended up going for a run later that night - it was pretty cool, up the hill and from the top I could see most of the bay and even the lights of
Auckland off over the hill. It took an hour or so and when I got back all the kiwis in the class (who by the way still seem to be stuck in the late 80's/early 90's - mullets, and short shorts &c.) were just heading out to play 'spotlight' (one person has a flashlight and everyone else tries to get to the top of the hill without being spotted) then sardines, and finally capture the flag*. We ended around midnight. I felt like I was back home in high school playing games - it was amazing. I had such a great time.
The next morning a kiwi - Lee - and I went for a half hour jog at 7am and got back to shower and eat
some breakfast - still with no instructions as to where to be and when. The day ended up
beginning around 9:00 with a lecture by this old guy - Bill
Balantine - who is my new hero. He has been surveying the same 5m x 5m patch of rocky beach once a month for the last 21 years. He seemed completely insane. It was very impressive everything he was talking about. I wish I had it on a tape recorded - the speech really made an impression on me.
When he was done, we found our professor waiting to talk to us about the survey: how to identify different habitats - by substrate, wave exposure, tidal height, and species presence - and lay out a transect and
quadrat system (basic ecology procedure, and one that I really don't like - I don't think it gives very accurate information about an area - I want at some point in the next few years to come up with a better system). But after lunch we headed down to the shore to lay out out
quadrats and start counting species.
It took most of the afternoon and as the low tide was at 4:46 and the bus was coming at 5pm a few of us ended up without low tide samples. A great trip though - really fun, a great way to meet kiwis and get to know the lab - a place I would love to work at eventually.
*denotes things I think would be different if the trip were in
america
The next morning a kiwi - Lee - and I went for a half hour jog at 7am and got back to shower and eat some breakfast - still with no instructions as to where to be and when. The day ended up beginning around 9:00 with a lecture by this old guy - Bill Balantine - who is my new hero. He has been surveying the same 5m x 5m patch of rocky beach once a month for the last 21 years. He seemed completely insane. It was very impressive everything he was talking about. I wish I had it on a tape recorded - the speech really made an impression on me. 
When he was done, we found our professor waiting to talk to us about the survey: how to identify different habitats - by substrate, wave exposure, tidal height, and species presence - and lay out a transect and quadrat system (basic ecology procedure, and one that I really don't like - I don't think it gives very accurate information about an area - I want at some point in the next few years to come up with a better system). But after lunch we headed down to the shore to lay out out quadrats and start counting species.
It took most of the afternoon and as the low tide was at 4:46 and the bus was coming at 5pm a few of us ended up without low tide samples. A great trip though - really fun, a great way to meet kiwis and get to know the lab - a place I would love to work at eventually.
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