Next stop: South Island, New Zealand! I was a bit jetlagged because of the time change, so I decided to take a nap at my hotel this morning. I am staying in the town of Arthur’s Pass, located at 42 degrees south, 171 degrees east. Now I’m all rested up and ready to explore. I am currently in the Southern Alps at the Alpine Fault, which runs almost the entire length of South Island. The Alpine Fault forms a transform boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate, which means the two plates are sliding past each other. This type of boundary causes many earthquakes and changes in the earth. This is how the Southern Alps were formed. The most recent earthquake at the Alpine Fault was in 2009 in the region of Fiordland. No injuries or fatalities were reported, but landslides in the Fiordland National Park cleared large tracts of forest and the earthquake moved South Island thirty centimeters closer to Australia. I’ve been taking lots of pictures today. A kea, which is a large parrot, even flew by and almost took my camera! It’s a good thing I grabbed the camera before it was too late, otherwise my assignment would’ve been over before it really even started! I’m heading back into town now, maybe I’ll walk around a bit or go out for dinner. More photos and discoveries coming soon!
P.S. Maybe I should go camping while I’m here!
Picture 1: http://goaustralia.about.com/od/animalsandbirds/ig/Animals-and-Birds/Kea.htm
Picture 2: http://www.gweaver.net/techhigh/projects/period1_2/Yellowstone/Plate%
20Tectonics.html
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