Soapbox 3.0

This is just a small part of a Lake Wakatipu which is located in Queenstown. On our day off a bunch of us went kayaking across its clear blue waters! It is a popular fishing spot and provides homes for trout and bass.

This is a wetland. It is a good habitat for native birds, some fish, and insects in New Zealand. You may have learned a little bit already on how wetlands act as a natural filter for harmful chemicals that may be present in the water that passes through it.

This is a picture of a few students walking through the sub-tropical rainforest that was near Fox Glacier. In New Zealand, rainforests are full of trees, ferns, and a few animals. In an area the size of your living room there could be 10-20 different species of tall plants.

Steaming water of a hot spring. This shows just how much geothermal energy is present under the ground near Rotorua. There is so much heat underground that water is constantly kept at an elevated temperature, even some times above 212 degrees Fahrenheit (the boiling temperature of water).

Here's another view of Mt. Edgecumbe, the volcano whose geothermal activity is harnessed and turned into other forms of usable energy (like electricity).

Anna caught something but she wasn't too sure about it...

Nick found something pretty cool!

Ryley and Austin examine a rock to see what bugs they can find.

The kids then caught real bugs and used a key to identify them.

The students sorted "bugs" into class 1, 2 and 3 categories and then evaluated the quality of the water based on the type of bugs found. They examined a forest area, a city, and a residential area.