Nina in New Zealand 2009 & 2010

first week in Hawaii

2010-04-02T23:24:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

So, the last week I went kitesurfing just Monday and today because the wind is really strong and pretty much at the limit what I can do with my 12sqm Boxer. But today it was really cool, even though it was still a bit strong.
Also, I gave some horse back riding lessons at Hilltop Ranch and visited Betina from 808 horse rescue at Keanu's Ranch.
And I went surfing in Waikiki the on or other day, but that's really crowded over there. I've attached a few pics for you.
I am on my way back in one week.

CU soon,
Nina

arrived in hawaii

2010-03-29T01:04:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I arrived on friday night in Hawaii (even though I left NZ on saturday - cool, hm? I gained a day.). From the plane I could see clearly an atoll. I never so it so clear. I've included a picture.

On saturday I went to Kailua for swimming and meeting Ki and the others. The wind was too low. So, I ended up just swimming. Later Nancy, Austis, Brian, me and some others went out for dinner at a Nepali restaurant. It was really good.

Today I went surfing in Waikiki. It was sooo crowded in the water. I got a few waves, but I had to stop, because there were always people in the way. Okay, it was sunday, and I was not so early. I'll try tomorrow earlier. And also, it's monday tomorrow.

Later Nancy and I went to the North Shore and went swimming in a lake under a waterfall across the street of Waimea Bay. It was great. See the pics of me in the lake and the cool plants!

Yours,
Nina

last week in NZ

2010-03-22T22:25:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,

We did two surveys at the dumping site close to Great Barrier Island last week. What means, I am done with field work. Nimrod ran well without any disturbances. :)

On sunday, Bryna and I took a day off and went to Raglan for surfing and hanging out at the beach. It was really great. Some last pics some NZ.

Yours,
Nina

waitomo caves

2010-03-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

Aloha,

Yesterday (sunday) I went to Waitomo caves and did Blackwater Rafting, the "Black Labyringth" tour. During that tour you walk and float with your butt in a tube with a small river through the Ruakuri cave. It's really cool. There are loads of glowworms in the cave, you here the rushing water and you jump backwards down a small waterfall. It was absolutely worth going.

Today I hung out at the university and will go early to bed. Finally, we will do the first survey at Bryna's spot tomorrow.

Nina

hamilton, Raglan and tauranga

2010-03-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog-Readers,

This week I was in Hamilton and processed most of the time data. I had some meetings, which were important for the development of my dissertation.

On thursday I went kitesurfing in Raglan. That was great. Alex helped me a bit, because I felt a bit unsure after not doing it for such a long time. But finally, it worked out okay. It's a new spot for me and I needed some time to adopt. But for the first time after months it was quite okay.

On friday I went to Tauranga to do measurements in the Stella Passage. That went well, too. Here some pics from Tauranga Bridge Marina and the way from Hamilton to Tauranga. Today I'll go to Waitomo to see the caves.

Aloha,
Nina

Rotorua

2010-03-05T18:48:00.001-08:00

Since the four days I have been in Rotorua, I surveyed lake Rotorua and lake Rotoiti together with Lisa (PHD student Biology/Chemistry UnivWaikato) and Rob (Environment Bay of plenty). Nimrod worked fine and we did all requested areas in two instead of three days.
After the surveys I enjoyed the area a bit. I hang out at the lake beaches, Park Kuirua (which didn't stink too bad this time, there are several sulphur vents, so it can become pretty smelly) and at the blue lake. Actually, I swam in the Blue Lake. It was really cold. I didn't know that the lake is a cold spring. But nevertheless it was pretty cool (not just literally). The water is so clear that you can see down to the bottom without any problems, and it was not crowded at all.
I also went to the cinema and saw Alice in Wonderland. It is absolutely great. You have to see Johnny Depp as the Hatter.
Tomorrow, I'll ride the bus back to Hamilton.
Aloha,
Nina

pics

2010-03-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

here the pictures from o-week at University of Waikato Campus.
Finally, I have a faster internet here in Rotorua,
Nina

hamilton

2010-03-02T01:17:00.000-08:00

on sunday afternoon I finally arrived in hamilton. Fortunately, I can stay again at Bryna's place, what is really nice. She has a small cat, now: Tooie (I don't really know how to write it.). On monday and tuesday we went to the unversity, the instruments arrived from christchurch and I did a few tests. I met with David Hamilton, Lisa Pearson and Chris Hendy to discuss the upcoming survey on lake Rotorua and lake Rotoiti. We came up with a good plan and I hope between wednesday and friday everything will work out.
On monday I went swimming in a pool in hamilton. It was kind of boring, but good that I did it, because I am pretty bad trained.
At the university, there is at the moment O-week (orientation week). At the uni centre and the small lake there are plenty of advertising booths, a stage and they are playing all these stupid games. I even saw a guy in a penis costum. I guess that's the worst job you can get. I attached pictures from the place (not the penis guy).
Write to you these days,
Nina
P.S. pictures come somewhen later. The internet is so slow here, it woudl take hours.

Auckland

2010-03-01T01:07:00.001-08:00

I spent the last weekend in Auckland. After missing the City of Sails on my last trip I thought I have to see it this time.
I stayed at the "Rendezvous" Hotel (really nice, but no rendezvous :) ), which is pretty close to the city centre and Sky City with the famous Sky Tower. Sorry, I was too lazy to get on it. So, I was wandering through the city and hang out at the harbour restaurants and places, what was really nice. It is packed with tourists (like me ;) ) at the moment. I think it is a nice city, but for me one day was enough. Probably, it is a bit cooler if you take a ferry to one of the islands or go to the beaches of the Northlands.
I sat at the port when the Tsunami hit and couldn't see anything. Achim told me that he could observe the incoming waves in Wellington, but I couldn't. They evacuated the big ships, but everything else stayed.
On saturday evening I went to the cinema (Sky of course, Sky seems top own quite a lot of the city centre) and saw Percy Jackson. It was not too cool, but okay, and nice if you are looking for nice not to complicated, teenager adventures. Perfect, for me that night. On sunday, I took a Intercity (bus!) to Hamilton and arrived here in the evening. I stay at Bryna's place again, but tomorrow we will go to Rotorua for the next survey.

Aloha,
Nina

back in nz

2010-02-27T00:56:00.000-08:00

Hey @ll,

Since last Monday I am back in NZ. I had a quite exhausting trip with 2 hours delay in Düsseldorf, 1 hour in Dubai, 1.5 hours in Melbourne and a stressfull running challenge versus departure time in Auckland. But finally I made it without missing a flight. :)

From Monday until today (saturday) I stayed in Sumner Bay, Christchurch, (South island) and worked with my supervisor Achim on a project about Port Lyttelton. We did three days of surveying in the beautiful channel of Lyttelton and one day of data processing. The guys we worked together with from OCEL and Port Lyttelton were super nice and had organized a real comfortable stay for us. The instruments arrived succesfull with Schenker and are on the transport to Hamilton, now.

So until now, everything worked out well.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of free time in Sumner Bay. Just on tuesday I went Boogie Boarding after surveying. All the other days we surveyed up to ten hours and then I still had to check the data and after that I just fell in my bed. It is really a shame because it is a lovely place and beach and surfing and kitesurfing is going on every day. Next time.

Now, I am in Auckland. But more about that tomorrow.

Nina

arrived on O'ahu

2009-07-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

Aloha @ll, I arrived on wednesday night (I left NZ on thursday morning local time). I got a nice red PT cruiser as a rental car instead of the small one I booked. That is pretty cool. On thursday, I bought a pair new shorts and a new Gophone. Unfortunately, my old one is expired.
I am staying at Nancy's place in Honolulu (close to Waikiki and Manoa). When I arrived and yesterday she was very sick. She had a flu with fever and everything, but yesterday she was much better and today we planned to go to the cinema to see Harry Potter (I couldn't see it in NZ, because all shows were totally sold out).
Then, of course, Ki and the guys in the Naish shop on thursday. It is always so cool coming back to Kailua. Yesterday I went there again and was hanging out at the beach talking to Hana and some of the others and got a little bit burned by the sun.
Today I'll give some horse riding lessons at the leeward side. So, I'll be more or less busy with that.
Read u tomorrow,
Nina

last day in NZ

2009-07-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

So, it's more or less my last day in NZ. Tomorrow at 11am is my flight and I'll arrive today at 10pm in Honolulu. Cool, hm?
I just sent a package with my wet suit and some winter stuff back to Germany. I hope, that I won't have any overweight on my luggage.
Today there are still a few business things to do: meetings with Giovanni and Rod from NIWA, bringing back my rental car, etc. and then I hope I can see the new Harry Potter in the cinema and I will go out for dinner with Bryna and Christian. Yesterday, I already talked and said goodbye to Terry and thanked him for his support, because he is gone on a field trip today. He was really nice. The whole group gave me really the feeling that I am part of them. (Thank you guys!!!)
I am absolutely looking forward to come back in summer (northern hemisphere winter).
And then I went out for dinner with Alex. It was a lot of fun (we talked about surfing most of the time).
So, next blog will be from Hawaii.

Read u in Hawaii,
Nina

sand bar raglan

2009-07-13T01:25:00.000-07:00

Hi @ll,
Today I finished the last survey: the sand bar in Raglan. Jose, Shaun and I deployed Nimrod from a Jetski and it worked out perfectly, even in the rougher spots on the sand bar. Unfortunatly, the Nimrod's PVC tail broke during the very last deployment. That's really weird: It broke during the last deployment at the very last survey. That means, I got everything done. Wow, 9 surveys in 4 weeks!
No, I've a little bit freetime!
But tonight, I am super exhausted. It was a lot of fun on the jetski, but now I am really tired.

Read u tomorrow,
Nina

New Plymouth and the Taranaki region

2009-07-11T00:38:00.000-07:00

Hello @ll,
So, today I drove back from New Plymouth to Hamilton. With some GPS and SD card problems we finally finished the survey in Port Taranaki succesfully. With my cold it was a little bit exhausting, but we made it.
After that it was almost dark, so I went to the cinema to see "Brüno". It's funny, but I think that the best scenes are already shown in the trailer. Pretty funny is his german (at least in the english version). His german is really quite bad.
Then after another night in my superfancy hotel and a very good breakfast with bagels and fresh fruits I drove home. I stopped for a coffee in Piopio. Pretty cool cafe there. You can't miss it. It's probably the only bigger one in the small town.
Unfortunately, my cold got worse. So I got some food and DVDs and stayed the rest of the day at home. Anyway, it was raining. I saw "The Dark Night" and "Hellboy II: the Golden Army". And probably, I will watch "Brothers of the Head" later.
Tomorrow I will continue hanging out and relaxing and will go in the afternoon to Raglan. Hopefully, we get the survey done there on monday.
I'll keep you posted,
Nina

From the east coast (Tairua) to the west coast (New Plymouth)

2009-07-08T23:58:00.000-07:00

Hi @ll. Time is running and there are still some things to do. Yesterday, we did the survey with NIWA in Tairua. For the first time, divers deployed Nimrod to hit exact positions in 2m steps. It worked out amazingly. As soon as I have the pictures from Rod, I'll show you those. So, we came back from Tairua (east coast, coromandel), I slept in Hamilton and drove today 3hours to New Plymouth (Taranaki, west coast). Tomorrow, we'll do the measurements in Port Taranaki. The guys from the port booked this superfancy hotel with ocean view for me. That's supercool.
The pictures show the Taranaki region. The white small thing on the first picture is a mountain with snow and on the right you see the sea, how it is on the other side of the street from my hotel. Is that cool?
There are just 7 days left. Next thursday I have to go already. The time is really running.
Read U,
Nina

Napier

2009-07-07T03:06:00.001-07:00

Aloha,
Yesterday and today I was in Napier and Nora's guest. Nora is a schoolmate of mine from the Gymnasium in Vreden. I arrived in the evening, so that we spent the monday evening talking about the things we have done in the last 10 years. Napier and Haumoana (the place where Nora and Guido live) have a beautiful gravel beach. Today Nora took me with her to work at Marineland, where she cares about and trains pengiuns and sea lions. It was amazing! The pengiuns as well as the sea lions were so friendly and have such a good relationship to the people who work there. I was allowed to feed the penguins and sea lions and had soooo much fun.
Nora, thank you again for that supercool day.
CU hopefully soon again.
Tomorrow we will do the field work in Tairua with NIWA. The first time that divers will deploy Nimrod from under the water surface.
Read u soon,
Nina

last day in rotorua

2009-07-05T14:22:00.001-07:00

Hi @ll, Here the promised pictures. You see, the lakes are really great.
Yesterday we went again to the hot springs. Unfortunately, it rained a lot and it was okay, but not too warm. So, we left pretty soon and went to some kind of hot pools close to the hot springs. For $12 dollars you can choose between 6 pools with temperatures between 37-40°C. That is really nice. Alex and Charlotte joined me in the morning and Bryna and Christian came to Rotorua in the afternoon.
Again it was a supercool day. So, if you come to the North Island of New Zealand, you have to go to Rotorua for a few days.
It seems as if I have 2 days off, because the swell is too big in Raglan. Then I would like to go to Napier (Hawke's Bay) today to meet Nora, a classmate of mine at the Gymnasium in Vreden, who lives in Napier, now.
Read u,
Nina

lakes

2009-07-03T23:31:00.000-07:00

Hi @ll,
Tonight is the last night in Rotorua. The surveys on lake Rotorua, lake Rotoiti and lake Tarawera went well. We did more than 100 positions (that's a lot of data to process at home).
Rotorua and the area around it is really beautiful. At lake Rotoiti as well as at lake Tarawera are a lot of beaches, where you can just go to with a boat. It is really nice. Rob showed us a lot of these spots.
After work we went to the Redwoods, a nice wood with huge trees, nice walks and trails and mountain bike treks, and yesterday to the hot springs. It's amazing. It is a small shallow stream and pool, where hot water (nice warm) comes up and you can hang out in the water. Then there is a small, cold stream passing by, in which you can float a little bit and cool down, if it is getting to hot. In the evening we went to "Pigs and Whistle" a nice pub, where they played quite nice music and dirt bike videos.
Today we went Rafting on Kaituna river. That was so cool (literally). The water had about 10°C. We had really thick wet suits, but after going down a 7 m waterfall and getting totally wet, it was freaking cold. But it was a lot of fun. The river is just beautiful, we had very nice (and cute) guides. It was supercool. My first rafting experience and I like it! Definitely, I will repeat that in the summer, when the river has 22°C.
So, if you get the chance sooner or later: Check out Rotorua, go with a boat on the lakes, go to the redwoods, hang out in hot springs (for free!) and go rafting. It's great here.
Sorry, pics tomorrow or so. The server hedre is too weak.
Yours,
Nina

Lake Rotorua

2009-07-01T01:52:00.000-07:00

Hi @ll,
Greetz from Ann's Volcanic Motel in Rotorua (I am watching Karate Kid!). Today we did a long South-North Suvey across lake Rotorua. It was really rough, 9°C and strong winds. But we managed to deploy Nimrod 84 times and got nice data.
Rob, the boat driver (originally from London) and Jackie, a Masterstudent who helps me (from San Diego), and I had a very nice time. Even if my hands were bleeding from the rope.
After the survey, Jackie and I checked in to our rooms in the Motel (ver nice for €35 per night) and went to Rotorua City Center where you find a park with hot springs and sulfur banks. Then we went to the Kiwi center. Yes, finally I saw real Kiwis (not the people, not the fruits, the birds!). They are so sweet. Then Jackie and I went to the Polynesian Spa to hang out the one or other hour in hot lake pools (which were like the sulfur banks smelling like hell) with a nice outlook on lake Rotorua.
Keep your finger crossed , that the surveys continue like that.

Read U,
Nina

the last days - rain

2009-06-29T13:36:00.001-07:00

Aloha @ll,

Sorry, for not writing the last two days, but there was not too much to say. Oh, there was. But no fancy and cool pictures.
So, saturday evening we were invited for a winter "x-mas" dinner at Terry's house. It was super nice and the food was very good. We had a lot of fun.
On sunday it was raining the whole day. I spent most of the day in the office, quite frustrated because Nimrod didn't work at all and I had no idea, what was going on. Somewhen I gave up and went to the Cafe "Metropolis", a really nice place to eat and hang out. There I remembered that in Hawaii Nimrod had sometimes the problem that the power supply broke for ten minutes or so after switching on and came back after that. So, I planned to try to leave him running longer time the next day. In the evening I went to the cinema to see Transformers (yes, again, I want to have a Camaro! I would call it Bumblebee. He's so sweet.).
On monday it was raining again. But my plan worked out. Nimrod's power supply worked again and the day was saved. Unfortunately, it was a little late to go to Raglan and the weather forecast really looks as if I don't want to work from a jetski tomorrow. So, I wrote Jose, what he thinks about shifting the survey to next week.
Today (it's tuesday morning) I will go to campus first. I'll meet again with Wendy for planning the lake surveys. Then Bryna and I will pick up my rental car and then I'll go to Raglan to meet Jose and Shawn from ASR to plan the sandbar survey there.
Tomorrow I have to leave Hamilton at 5am (!) to be in Rotorua in time (7am).
So, more exciting news probably on wednesday.
CU,
Nina

Mt. Maunganui

2009-06-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

Hi @ll,
I spent the last two days here in Mt. Maunganui. It was very easy to go to Tauranga with the Intercity bus and further to Mt.Maunganui with the bay hopper bus. I stayed at a very nice midrange (lonely planet recommendation) motel "the mission belle". Thursday was great sunny weather and I hung out at the beach the rest of the afternoon. In the evening I saw Transformers-Revenge of the Fallen in the cinema. Wow, a really nice movie. I absolutely enjoyed it. Yesterday, I had not too much luck with the weather. It was raining a lot. But I walked aroung the Mount Maunganui, what is a very nice walk and then hung out in the one or other cafe reading or writing. In the evening I went again to the cinema and saw Hangover. Very funny. It was a very relaxed day. Today I will check out soon and catch the bus back to Hamilton. Tomorrow I will run some test runs with Nimrod and check the pressure sensor cables, because the pressure sensor shows some strange values sometimes.
Read you tomorrow,
Nina

Pine Harbour Marina Survey

2009-06-24T02:31:00.000-07:00

Aloha,
Today we measured at Bryna's site (the main project). We dropped Nimrod 23 times at the disposal site, 4 times at Alex' site, a natural reserve in the Coromandel area, and 7 times in the channel to Pine Harbour Marina. Furthermore, we lowered the underwater camera 7 times. Both instruments delivered their data. So, Bryna and I are super happy.
We arrived on tuesday evening at the marina and brought all our stuff on the boat. Then we went for dinner to our hotel the "Formosa Golf Club" at Pine Harbour Marina. Bryna and I shared a very luxerious villa. Unfortunately, we just arrived there at 10pm and left at 5am. We left the harbour at 5 am with the very fancy catamaran "Ten Sixty", a really supercool boat. Beside the successfull work, we saw the Great Barrier Island and the beautiful area from Coromandel up to Auckland. Some dolphins joined us for hundred meters. It was really cool.
We arrived back in Hamilton at 8pm, unloaded the car and picked up a pizza.

Read you tomorrow,
Nina

monday (II.week)

2009-06-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

Hi @ll,

Yesterday as more or less an office day. I spent the morning at the Department for Biology and Ecology and the Department for Chemistry talking and organizing the surveys in the lakes next week. And in the afternoon I recharged Nimrod and started preparing the other surveys.
Today we will go to Pine Harbor to go out to Bryna's site tomorrow.
More about that as soon as we are back.

Yours,
Nina

Hamilton Gardens

2009-06-21T00:51:00.000-07:00

Hey @ll,

Today (sunday) I spent a very relaxed day in Hamilton. After washing and making the dishes I walked to Hamilton Gardens. This is a very nice public park, where you can find amazing gardens designed after examples of different countries and epoches. I visited all parts and hung out on the one or other traditional seat. After that I walked along Hamilton River until I came to the City Center. There I ate at Burgerfuel, a recommendation of the Masterstudents from Bremen. It had a very good veggie burger and fries. Then I finally found a nice bikini in a surf shop (I forgot my one. And because we think about doing the survey in Raglan using a huge jetski. I think about wearing a bikini and my wet suit. Then I stopped at a cafe, where I started writing the summary for Korallensand. Some people might know what I am talking about. The others: Don't worry. Perhaps I'll tell you somewhen.
After hanging out in the cafe for more than one hour I went to the cinema and saw The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. It is a nice, funny and a little bit flat love story, but nice for a relaxed sunday afternoon.
Finally, I made it to catch the last bus to Hamilton East (5:57pm).
Tonight Bryna comes back from Australia and tomorrow we will be back at work.
Yours,
Nina

Raglan (II.)

2009-06-19T23:53:00.000-07:00

< Raglan
< Ruapuke Beach

Hi @ll,

Today I walked from Bryna's house to the Hamilton Transport Center to catch the bus the Raglan. And I made it to arrive 2 minutes before the bus left.
Alex picked me up at Tongue and Grooves at 11 am and then we found Shawn. I planned to meet with Shawn to discess the sand bar project in Raglan, but I forgot his cell phone number. So, I was pretty happy that we found him. He showed me bathymetries and maps about the area at his ASR office and then we made a tour around the area. We went to the Kitesurf Spot, Whale Beach and Manu Bay to have a nice view over the sand bar and the whole area. After that we went further south to Ruapuke Beach (Yeah, I made it to remember the name.). This is a spot we would like to include in our surveys, because Shawn expect that a lot of sediment remobilisation goes on there. The beaches and bay around Raglan is amazing. The sandbar makes a nice break in a bended shape in front of the harbour mouth and the calmer estuary. At Ruapuke Beach the water was rough with a high frequency of waves and a lot of white water. Nevertheless, some brave and very good kitesurfers went out there and ripped the waves. It was amazing. The beaches are dark and the sand sparkles like diamonds in the sun (I don't just like boys that sparkle, but beaches, too. ;) Insider for all Twilighters). It's really awesome. Shawn told me that if you are lucky you can see orcas, stingrays and dolphins in the bay. Isn't that great. I am totally stoked. Raglan itself is one of the world's cool small surfer towns with a lot of nice cafes (Check out Raglan Roast, the local coffe brand in Volcom Lane. Yes, you've read right. The small street is named after the skate and surf brand Volcom.), cool restaurants (visit Vinnie's, the pizza is great! and they show surfing videos via projector) and a lot of organic an dhippie like shops. It's small, local and supercool.
For lunch we met with Alex again and hung out in Raglan until my bus back to Hamilton came. There is just one bus for each direction in the morning and one for each direction in the afternoon.
Shawn and Alex, thank you guys sooo much for the great day!
Yours,
Nina

Tauranga Habour (Nimrod I)

2009-06-19T00:15:00.000-07:00

Aloha @ll,

Tonight Bryna departed to Australia and I will do my best as a housesitter for the weekend.
This morning Terry picked me up at 8am to go to Tauranga Habour (East coast). We planned to deploy Nimrod in the harbour channel which is dredged from a water depth of 5 m down to 13m and shows a layer of fluid mud. Next year the channel should be deepened to 18 m.
The weather was perfect and we had nice small boat for the deployments. We deployed Nimrod at almost 20 positions and twice at each. After 80 minutes we had all the data. Everything went perfect.
During the rides from Hamilton to Tauranga and back Terry showed and told me a lot about Waikato district and Tauranga. The landscape is really beautiful. And Tauranga is a great coastal city with a nice estuary, mountain at the harbour, beach and barrier island. For sure, I will try to come here again at the one or other weekend. On the way back we drove through Matamata where you can find the town of the Hobbits of Lord of the Rings. Another thing I would like to do before I go home.
Back in Hamilton I checked the data. Everything was allright and took the bus to the city center. There I bought three DVDs in the sale (Batman-the dark knight, Into the wild, Camp Rock (Don't laugh! I like these Disney movies.). In the shop they had a New Moon poster (Wow, the first I've ever seen.), but I haven't bought it (until now).
Then I bought milk, cereals, grapes and bananas and took the bus home. Hey, I am almost a perfect NZ-bus-rider. Riding the bus is very cheap (less than 1€), but the stops have no names and there is just a fixed time for the start of the route, what makes it sometimes a little bit tricky to catch it without standing half an hour at the bus stop.
Today I have no picture. Terry took them, but he was too busy to copy them for me today. I will post them on monday.

Cheers,
Nina

more "Bremener"

2009-06-18T02:42:00.000-07:00

< the river going through Hamilton

Hey guys,

Today I planned a very relaxed day, which became quite exciting.
At the office Prof. Terry Healy came up with a new interesting project. In Taurange Harbour they have a passage with increasing fluid mud appearance. He asked about a special device for fluid mud detection I have never heard something about, but I told him that I probably don't know it, because fluid mud is interesting for me, but not one of my main interests. On the other hand, the project he described is very comparable to the situation I am interested in in Emden harbour. They dredge, too, to keep the waterways deep enough.
So, he asked me what I think about going to Taurange tomorrow to measure in the port. Of course, I agreed. It sounded as a very interesting project.
For tomorrow I planned to meet Shawn in Raglan to talk to him about the Raglan sand bar project. Fortunately, he was in Hamilton today, so that I could reschedule for the weekend with him.
I spent the rest of the morning preparing Nimrod for its first survey in NZ (connected the ropes, etc.) and in the afternoon Bryna and I packed the car for tomorrow.
In between I met the master student course Shawn and Terry taught and surprise, surprise three of them are from Bremen. One of them is Yannis, who sat in the same office I was during the first months of my Phd. It was really funny to meet those guys.
In the afternoon another thing I did was walking to the city center to buy water proof pants for the field work and outdoor shoes. And I found a nice Burton snowboard pants for a very good deal.

auckland and pine harbour

2009-06-17T01:51:00.001-07:00

1) pine harbour marina
2) Bryna at Pine Harbour
3 and 4) on the way from Auckland to Pine harbour

Aloha @ll,
I hope I'll posted my post yesterday. When I opended up the homepage it seems as I didn't. If so, sorry for that, I had been really tired.
Today we went to the office until ten and then went up to Auckland to pick up the underwater camera at a company for ocean technology. When we arrived, the batteries of the camera was totally flat, so that we couldn't check it. So, we decided to pick up Alex from teh airport and then come back. One and a half hours later we were able to run the camera and everything seems to be okay. After that we went to Pine Harbour Marina (where we will start the dredging and dumping survey of Brynas project). The marina and the environment there is really beautiful (see the pics). The guys from the marina, who will provide the boat, suggested to go out in tuesday instead of monday, because the forecast for monday shows a swell of 2 meters and 20 knots of wind. Both at the same time would be just too much.
We will see.
We were back from Auckland at about 6pm. Alex sleeps on Brynas couch tonight, because he couldn't find a ride home to Raglan.
The weather during the day was great today, but as soon as the sun goes down it is f(rea)king cold. Condensed water was at the windows and the window of the car was frozen. I am pretty happy that I bought a pair of warm gloves yesterday. For tomorrow I don't have big plans. I would like to prepare Nimrod for the survey, just in case we gonna go out on monday, and I will go to the city center to buy a water proof snowboard pants for the work on the boat.
More about that tomorrow.

Cheers,
Nina

NIWA and shopping center

2009-06-16T03:25:00.000-07:00

< Brynas house and below: Galloway Str

< Hamilton City

Hi @ll,

Today I met Giovanni and Rod from NIWA. We talked about the surveys in Tairua and figured out that we will try to go out 29-30/6. We figured out a very nice plan what to do and at which spots. Currently, the weather forecast makes hope that we can go out to Brynas sites on monday. That would be perfect, because it is the main project of the four and I would be happy if we get it done before the weather gets worse.
Tomorrow we will go to Auckland and pick up Alex from the airport and have a look on Pine Harbor, where we hopefully will measure on monday, too.
In the afternoon I Dirk gave me a ride to the city center, where I went shopping. I still needed gloves and shower gel. Unfortunately, there are not many cool shops in Hamilton, but I made it to get my stuff and found the right bus home. That was very helpful to orientate better in town. By the way, the bus is very cheap: less than NZ$2!
In the evening Bryna and I were invented for dinner by Denise. She made a very good vegetarian pie and salad. After that Bryna and I went to the theatre for the weekly Movie Society Movie. They showed a german movie from the late sixties in black and white. Bryna and I agreed that it was a little bit boring, but not that bad to go out.

Now, I am very tired.

Read u tomorrow,
Nina

first day at the university

2009-06-15T02:44:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,

Today was my first day at the University. Bryna arranged that I got a desk and introduced me to several people, who are working in their group. Prof. Terry Healy welcomed me and I ran several tests with Nimrod. All tests showed very nice results, so that I recharged Nimrod and put it back in its suitcase. Dirk Immenga offered to leave it in his instrument storage the days we won't go out for measurements.

For now our working schedule looks like this:

hopefully tomorrow the guys from NIWA will have time to figure out when I can go out with them to deploy Nimrod in the ripple field in Tairua and perhaps go there at the end of the week
depending on that I think about meeting the guys from ASR perhaps on wednesday for planning the surveys in Raglan
then we want to get Brynas spot (out of Great Barrier Island) done as soon as there is a weather window to do it. it is the most weather dependent spot of all and it seems like there could come up a possibility on monday (that would be super, super! so keep your fingers crossed)
we would like to combine the measurements at Great Barrier Island with deployments in pine harbor the corresponding harbor sites to the dumping site at GBI and some deployments in areas where Alex Schimel worked with Multi-Beam
next week we also plan to meet with David Hamilton to talk about the surveys on the lakes, which are currently planned for beginning of July

No pictures today, because we spent most of the day in the office and managing things like a New Zealand SIM card for me and a bus card, etc. But tomorrow!

So, for everyone, who would like to call me. My german cell phone number does not work currently, because I took out my SIM card and put in one with a (+64 country code NZ) number. If you would like to call me, send me an e-mail or ask my parents for the number and then you can call me on that number.

Aloha,
Nina

arrived

2009-06-14T03:54:00.000-07:00

Kia ora (that means hello! in Maori),

After about 30 hours of travelling I finally arrived in Hamilton, NZ. But the journey was not that hard as I had expected. Both flights were quite good with some good movies, not too much turbulences and nice people (on both flights students from the USA) sitting next to me. I slept on both flights a few hours. But when you are flying 11h and then 13h after each other, somewhen you just slept enough. However, it was okay, so that I was exhausted but not totally down when I arrived.
Security and customs control was no problem with Nimrod because of the Carnet (a customs document for traveling with business equipement). The driver of the Roadcat (a shuttle service, Bryna set it up for me) found me easily and we arrived after a about 1 and a half hour ride in Hamilton.
Bryna was waiting for me, showed me her house and my room (Bryna, thank you again. It is really super nice that I can stay at your place.). I took a shower and we had breakfast. After that we went to the Farmer's Market and Bryna gave me a tour about Hamilton und the campus. Hamilton has a nice more small town charactere with cool old houses. Everything is very green. The campus is very nice, too, with a lot of green spots and small ponds. More about that the next days when I will have some pictures. My camera batteries were not recharged today. After showing me her office and at home introducing me to her landlords (a very nice couple of old people) we went tio Raglan (New Zealand's no.1 surf town at the west coast). Raglan is a very nice small town at an amazing bay with sweet surf and kitesurf spots. The wind was good, so there were quite a loot kitesurfers out there.
The landscape is very beautiful. It is very green with this small hills and lava rocks at the beaches. It's great. Today just a few pictures (made with my cell phone). But I promise, I will take more.
When we went home, Bryna cooked pasta and I tried to fall asleep just for an hour, but I didn't made it get up before 9.30pm. I am very sorry for that. But Bryna was still awake.

Enough for that long day. :)

Cheers,
Nina

Entertainment List

2009-06-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

Here my iPod Playlist for the journey (interpret, album):

Placebo - Meds
Placebo - Battle for the Sun
Placebo - Black Market Music
Placebo - Placebo
Placebo - Sleeping with ghosts
Original Soundtrack - Twilight
Empty Trash - Confessions
The Hives - The Black and White Album
Kings of Leon - Only by the night
Muse - Absolution
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Muse - Hullabaloo
Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth
Paramore - Riot!
Polarkreis 18 - The colour of snow
The Prodigy - Invaders must die
Razorlight - Slipway Fires
Blind - Elect the Dead
Starsailor - Love is here
Sweatheads - the great disruptors
Original Soundtrack - Twilight, the score

My book for the journey will be Sergei Lukjanenko's "Schlangenschwert" (snakesword?).

And of course, I hope for exciting movies during the flight.

Yours,
Nina

Intro

2009-06-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

Aloha @ll,

This is my new internet blog describing my research travel to New Zealand. For those of you, who don't know me, yet, some brief information about me and what I will do in NZ:
I am 29-year old PhD student in the working group Marine Geotechnics at MARUM (Center of marine and environmental sciences) at the University of Bremen, Germany. My research interests are processes of sediment remobilization offshore. Therefore, I am working with so called dynamic penetrometers and will bring with me to NZ our self-developed device Nimrod (check out: Stark et al., Sea Technology, April 2009). Together with my collaboration partners we will apply Nimrod in the following projects:

Dredging mud in Auckland's harbours and introducing of a dumping site offshore (Bryna K. Flaim, Terry Healy (both University of Waikato))
Small-Scale ripple field in the Bay of Plenty (Karin Bryan, Alexandre Schimel, Dirk Immenga (all University of Waikato), Giovanni Coco (NIWA))
Moving sand bar in front of Raglan (Shawn Harrison and Colleagues (ASR))
Lakes: Rotorua, Rotoiti and Tarawera (David Hamilton, Wendy Paul (both University of Waikato))

Thanks to all my collaboration partners and my supervisor (Achim Kopf, MARUM) for the support and DAAD for the funding. Special thanks to Bryna who offered to me, that I can stay at her place during the following four weeks.

This blog should give you (my friends and everyone who is interested) the possibility to follow how the research surveys work out and what other exciting things I will experience in NZ.

The journey will begin on Friday 12th in the morning and my first flight is from Frankfurt to San Francisco and the second from San Francisco to Auckland.

I'll keep you posted.

Yours,
Nina