- Travel to New Zealand Meet at the airport and board your flight to Auckland, New Zealand
- Auckland sightseeing Take a walking tour of Auckland with your 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.
STEM: New Zealand
New Zealand’s landscapes have been formed along the Pacific and Australian tectonic plate interface on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and this water conservation tour takes you to some of the country’s most beautiful natural sites. Most of the native ecology is only found in New Zealand and the culture is a surprising integration of European and Polynesian. Enjoy a…
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https://worldstrides.com.au/itineraries/stem-new-zealand
STEM: New Zealand
New Zealand’s landscapes have been formed along the Pacific and Australian tectonic plate interface on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and this water conservation tour takes you to some of the country’s most beautiful natural sites. Most of the native ecology is only found in New Zealand and the culture is a surprising integration of European and Polynesian. Enjoy a…
Request Info Request Quote11 Days
Highlights
Waitakere excursionWetlands conservation service projectRotoiti Lake cruise and thermal bath visitMt. Ngongotaha Skyline gondola and luge rideKiwi bird hatchery visit
Learning Areas
Humanities and Social SciencesScienceSTEMSustainability
Your Adventure
- Waitakere excursion Arataki Visitor Centre visit and rainforest STEM study introduction
- Mount Eden visit
- Muriwai Beach excursion Travel out to Muriwai Beach to experience the energy of water, its role in supporting life and cleansing the planet. Visit 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 and explore the 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.
- Bombay Hills fruit stall visit Stop at Bombay Hills fruit stall where volcanic ash soils grow wonderful food. Choose several fruits to take with you on the journey!
- Travel to Tauranga via Karangahake and Waihi 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.
- Karangahake Gorge 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 landscape and very clean fresh water all flanked with rain forests. Our hike into the gorge follows the river - old gold mine workings have been transformed by nature and the rainforest to become idyllic riverside pathways for a nature experience that is pure New Zealand.
- Martha Hill Gold Mine visit 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.
- Macro Environment, Following the Water Cycle, Forests and Rivers STEM study 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 and study water as renewable energy.
- Recreation and Rivers and Estuaries STEM study Wairoa River kayaking, Waimarino Adventure Park visit, inter-tidal marine ecology session, plankton study, Wairoa River sediment deposit study.
- Tauranga Historic Village visit Kuaka conservation and native plant nursery site visit.
- Wetlands conservation service project Habitat restoration & native tree planting.
- Free time to explore Tauranga City
- Kiwifruit demonstration orchard visit Major physical processes have created a landscape ideal for horticulture, Kiwifruit is one of the major New Zealand success stories and is a dominant industry of this clean, green region. The soil is rich volcanic ash, spread here from eruptions and the rivers depositing it here. Ground water is clean and pure and the Kiwifruit vine has deep roots to reach this water and get all its needs from the source.
- Comvita visit Visit Comvita, the famous producer of Manuka Honey. Manuka Honey comes from the Manuka Flower, a scarce and natural resource found only in New Zealand. The flower blooms only 2-6 weeks per year. Learn about sustainability practices that are used to ensure this extremely rare nectar is available for generations to come.
- Travel to Rotorua 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.
- Rotoiti Lake cruise and thermal bath visit 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.
- Maori Culture and Waiora! The Source of Life STEM study Te Puia visit and Kaitiakitanga introduction and Maori craft workshop.
- Mt. Ngongotaha Skyline gondola and luge ride 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.
- Free time to explore Rotorua
- Travel to Waitomo via Arapuni
- Arapuni Hydro Electric Scheme visit 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.
- Waitomo Caves guided visit 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.
- Kiwi bird hatchery visit 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!
- Travel to Auckland
- Begin your journey home
