Soil squishing and pebble counting...geography field trip

It's currently Spring break over here so I'm rather lonely in the house at the moment; my house mates have gone to Australia, Fiji and the South Island and pretty much everyone else is either travelling or has gone home. I'm not currently off travelling because I just got back from a 3 day field trip but I'll be off to the South Island on Saturday!
Most of the past week and a half has been spend finishing off assignments and preparing for next week's trip. However on Tuesday I took time out to go to the international Potluck dinner where I got to try a range of dishes including New Zealand's pavlova, Lamingtons (coconut covered sponge cake) and their famous L and P drink (don't really see what's so special about it myself).

More Kiwi stuff: on Friday evening there was a big Rugby match (All Blacks vs. Wallabies) in Wellington; a group of us watched in in a local bar where there was a great atmosphere, especially when we won!
As I mentioned I've just got back from a field trip which took place around Otaki (1 hour North of here).
We spent the first day studying evidence of past climate change before retiring to our accommodation which was basic but comfortable enough where the chef had cooked enough food to feed an army!
Second day was spent looking at soil and wading through the Otaki river which was rather chilly. That evening after huge portions of Lasagne the lecturers took us to the pub for a few hours. The third day was extremely windy (I'm used to this by no living in Wellington) we profiled and sketched numerous beaches before returning to uni...exhausted.
All in all I had a great time on the trip and I got to know lots of Kiwis much better; especially Ella, James, Kayt (pictured above) and Tara who I was sharing a room with.
I'm sure my next post will be full of numerous stories after my trip to the South Island... watch this space.