Postcards from Middle Earth IV

To clarify: I haven't seen my sister for about three weeks now. I was blessed with only having to walk with her for about three days, and then I was allowed to go at my own pace :) :) I will be joining up with her later, but more about those adventures (I'm sure my feet are already pre-regretting it :) )
I have now been with my volunteering job with an environmental organization. I must say, this time around, I've been learning a bit about ecology, volcanoes and their effect on land formation, animal adaptation and NZ nature in general. It's quite fascinating, actually. New Zealand is actually quite strict with what kind of biological material you can take in and out of the country. They actually have a place in their airports where you have to declare your shoes and sleeping bags, etc, in case they have any foreign soil or seeds that could contaminate New Zealand. The fruit I was carrying in my bag was confiscated at the airport when I arrived, due to the presence of seeds. One of the people on my team is from France, and her parents are cheesemakers, and they confiscated her parents' cheese that she had brought to eat!
At any rate, I am living in the volunteer hourse of the Nga Kaitiaki (Friends of the Earth) just outside of Wellington (which is why many of you have seen me online quite a bit). I have just returned from a three day camping trip out in the New Zealand countryside. Not very many mozzies (mosquitoes), but on the other hand, I got stung by a bumblebee!!! My tricep now has a lump the size of a kiwi! At any rate, I've been busy removing and killing introduced plant species, such as many very pretty flowers, mainly because they are non-native and they 'squeeze out' the native flora. I've also been busy planting native trees and plants in various wetlands and parks. It's also been neat because I've been watching for various birds, introduced and native species. Next week, we're supposed to go looking for seals and dolphins. It's really quite neat, and I'm glad that I'm able to help out, even though a lot of the plants I've been killing have actually been quite attractive... interesting that some things can be so beautiful and yet be so damaging....
julia