STEM: New Zealand

Your 24-hour Tour Director will meet you at the airport and remain with your group until your final airport departure.

Take a walking tour of Auckland with our Tour Director. Hear about Aotearoa’s people and their place in the Pacific, the remarkable flora and fauna found from north to south, and the conflicts that have shaped the nation.

“We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.” – John Dewey. Each evening of the program, time will be set aside to update your Reflection Journal and share the thoughts and impressions that emerged during the day.

Arataki Visitor Centre visit, Rainforest STEM study introduction

Travel out to Muriwai beach to experience the energy of water, its role in supporting life and cleansing the planet. Visit Muriwai beach and the massive dunes that line the beach front and learn of how the wild winds and large waves of the southern ocean can create such huge coastal landscapes. Explore this magnificent towering cliff coastline. See and feel the power of water as the waves crash on rocks. Visit a a sea cave that has been gouged out of volcanic rock by the constant energy of water.

Stop at Bombay Hills fruit stall where volcanic ash soils grow wonderful food. Choose several fruits to take with you on the journey!

Tauranga is a harborside city in the Bay of Plenty region on New Zealand's North Island. It hosts historic buildings like the Elms Mission Station, an 1847 Georgian-style home. A bridge over the harbor connects Tauranga to Mount Maunganui, a beach town with hot saltwater pools and an extinct namesake volcano with winding walking paths. Offshore is the active volcano White Island.

When we arrive at the mountains, we will visit Karangahake gorge. Take a guided walk along river that has cut this gorge through volcanic rock through the ages. Enjoy the amazing

Visit Martha Hill open cast gold mine. It has a crater one mile across within the town of Waihi. Here, we will study mine processes, chemistry of extraction of gold and silver and the sequence of chemical reactions that release gold and silver from the quartz rock. Martha Hill can only operate if it satisfies 3 key criteria - that maintains water quality, dust levels and noise levels. In that way it sustains the town environment surrounding the operation and the quality of the water in the stream that flows to the ocean.

McLarens Falls Park and Wairoa river water catchment visit, Complete a stream discharge measurement, Use biological indicators to determine water quality, Identify the habitat role of a rainforest, Study water as renewable energy

Wairoa River kayaking, Waimarino Adventure Park visit, Inter-tidal marine ecology session, Plankton study, Wairoa River sediment deposit study

Kuaka conservation and native plant nursery site visit

Habitat restoration, Native tree planting

Visit a working kiwifruit orchard to learn why the Coastal Bay of Plenty is the perfect place to grow kiwifruit.

Visit Comvita, the renowned producer of Manuka honey made from the rare Manuka flower found only in New Zealand. Blooming just a few weeks each year, this precious nectar is sustainably harvested to preserve it for future generations.

Before you see Rotorua, you'll definitely smell it: Sulfur. Consider it an introduction to a place that is completely unique. Rotorua offers a fascinating view into the earth's volcanic center. Clouds of steam seem to magically appear throughout the city from the city's four major thermal centers. One geyser erupts about 20 times a day and can spout up to 100 feet.

Depart for Rotoiti Lake - a large volcanic crater with geothermal waters making wonderful hot spas on the edge of the lake. Take a launch cruise to these isolated hot pools. Spend the afternoon at the hot water bathing in the geothermal pools miles from anyone.

Te Puia visit and Kaitiakitanga introduction, Maori craft workshop

We will visit a vantage point to view the Rotorua Skyline for an overview of the geography of Rotorua. While here, we will take an amazing luge adventure ride with Skyline Skyrides.

Visit Arapuni Hydro Electric Scheme and take an aerial walkway above the power station to appreciate the capture and use of potential energy to produce electrical energy.

Enter a limestone cavern that has been used for tourism for 120 years. See glow worms within the underground world created by underground streams. See how the habitat is managed with high numbers of tourists entering the caves. Stop and see the monitoring devices that measure CO2 and humidity levels inside the cave. Later in the afternoon, take a guided walk into a lesser known cave system that is reminiscent of the Forests of Lothlorien in the Lord of the Rings! Explore the erosion processes that occur on limestone rock. Discuss the science involved in maintenance of such habitats.

This afternoon we will visit a Kiwi bird hatchery. Kiwi Encounter is the home of Project Nest Egg, the endangered species program to save the Kiwi bird. Understand specific intervention practices that assist in the survival of critically endangered bird species. See also many other absolutely unique birds and an ancient lizard - genetically they are 250 million years old!

This evening, students make their final entries in their Reflection Journals, sharing key observations and perspectives gained throughout their travel experience and considering how these insights will remain relevant as they return home.

Throughout the program, we will set time aside time for discussion, guided reflection, and time to write reflections on self-discovery and what we have learned. "We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience" - John Dewey