Our trip to New Zealand ends with the long awaited (and dreaded) 13 hour plane ride and then another plane ride from San Fransisco to Chicago. While trying to simultaneously fight jet lag and coping with the fact that we actually have to leave the beautiful country of New Zealand; we are all eager to see our families and recharge our bank accounts. It is almost impossible to sum up our trip in one word or even 500, but we think we can all say it was truly incredible and unforgettable.

We started the day off early and met in the lobby of the Juicy Snooze at 7:00am. We had a full day ahead of us, so we quickly departed the hostel and walked down the hill into the city to grab a bite to eat in downtown Auckland.

“Aotearoa” is the Mauri name for New Zealand, meaning “land of the long white cloud.” When we woke up in Hamilton this morning, that was exactly what we found as a dense fog covered the region.

Today started off with a continental breakfast. It included pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit, pastries, a yogurt bar, and (unfortunately) instant coffee (several people miss brewed coffee). Then we boarded the bus with Jeff, our bus driver for the North Island, to head off to our busy day full of Fonterra related activities.

We woke up at the Trinity Wharf Hotel and had a delicious continental breakfast, with amazing views of the sunrise over the bay. We headed out for our first stop at 8:30am. Before we started our day, the new bus driver, Jeff, introduced himself to us and gave us some background on Tauranga.

On the ninth day of our adventure, we woke up to another wonderful breakfast in Tauranga before we headed off to our first morning visit at ADM. We gathered in the boardroom and learned from Ross Bowmar about ADM’s importation of palm kernel extract into New Zealand. Since Ross studied in the U.S. and worked at several ADM locations in the states, he also explained to us how the New Zealand location differs from ADM’s Decatur location (we previously visited ADM in Decatur prior to leaving for New Zealand).

We started the morning in Kaikoura. A few of us got up early to enjoy the coast. The mountains and the South Pacific with the sun rising over them were beautiful!

We started off this morning by heading to downtown Christchurch. There, we met with Jo Stevenson to tour the city and learn about the earthquake that had taken place in February 2011. Jo studied Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences in college (she’s an alumna of UIUC), where she met her Kiwi husband, Mark. For graduate school, however, she studied natural disaster management.

Last night we had the privilege to stay at the “Jucy Snooze” Hostel.  We were all a bit apprehensive about the rooming conditions after we heard from Professor Vogen that we would be staying in “pods”.  There are eight pods to a room and each person has their own locker along with a private bed that is quite spacious.  This morning we started our day off with some breakfast at a café down the sidewalk from the hostel.  Shortly after breakfast we were on our way to meet with New Zealand Merino, Price Waterhouse Coopers, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, and the Lincoln Hub.

We began our day with a hot breakfast at the Lodge in Methven before getting on the bus and traveling to Inverary Station.  Upon arrival, we met John Chapman, the farm owner, and learned some history about the farm’s strong wool and angus beef production.  Mr. Chapman had some questions of his own for us regarding trends, difficulties, and solutions we see in the future of agriculture.  It was interesting to see how Mr. Chapman’s farming experience and opinions compared with agricultural production in the United States.  Mr.