Week 14- Rotor(ua)

The day had finally come. Test day for the wind rotors. We had to walk our blades down from one campus to a different campus. With the wind blowing it made it difficult to keep control of the blades but it did make us quietly confident that the blades were at least going to turn! We attached the blades to the rotor hub on site and put it on the rig in the wind tunnel. Apparently, the tunnel was originally built to test sails for boats as they could vary the wind direction and then was bought by the university and moved to its new location. We were also told we couldn’t take pictures in one area of the building because there were secret projects. Once the rotor was in place, the fan got going and amazingly the rotor turned. At 8 knots, it turned at 91RPM, 10 knots at 120RPM and 12 knots at 150RPM. We were aiming for 140RPM at 10 knots with good performance at 8 and 12 knots so it went very well. We were one of the closest to the design specifications and had one of the best ranges either side so we were absolutely delighted, especially when one group’s rotor didn’t turn at all! After the testing, I had to fly off to sit to my own dynamics test. Thankfully I was very pleased with how it went too.

On Tuesday, I received a package in the post. About three weeks earlier I had ordered a parachute hammock and I had completely forgotten. To celebrate I spent about three hours lying in the sun on my balcony. I had frisbee training on Wednesday before going to a Barbeque that Charlotte organised. At one stage, we managed to hang three hammocks, one on top of the other. After some food, we put up the volleyball net and played some kind of volleyball with a net ball. I quickly discovered why volleyball is not played with a netball as my wrists became rather bruised! We also put together some rough plans for the weekend as it was a three-day weekend. The plan was to hire a car and drive to Cape Reinga at the most northern tip of the country (approximately six hours drive).

We had a guest lecturer on Thursday who was talking about intellectual property. He went through different ways it is possible to protect your ideas and how it’s often best to use various methods and not just get a patent. He also told us a story about a case of copyright over photos taken by a macaque monkey called Naruto. In 2011 a photographer, David Slater, left his camera down and it was picked up by Naruto. Naruto took around 1000 photos including the one below. Slater then tried to copyright the images and produced a book. However, the organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said that he didn’t take the photos so therefore couldn’t have the copyright. This then went to court and it has only recently been resolved. The outcome is the lesson of the week. Animals can’t own copyright but, Slater has agreed to pay 25% of his profits from the pictures to PETA to help protect the macaques like Naruto.

Late on Thursday, we made the call that we weren’t going to go to Cape Reinga because it was so far away and some members of the 8-person group wanted to come back on Sunday. We then made the decision to go to Rotorua instead. This caused two people to drop out so then there were six people with only one car. We went to bed on Friday with the plan to hire a car and split the costs. On Friday morning, I messaged Mathias to ask how the car hire was going and he said they weren’t hiring a car and he and Charlotte were hitch hiking down and already half way there! Being the long weekend, the traffic was a nightmare with google maps saying it would potentially add 2 hours to our journey just getting out of Auckland. To avoid the traffic, Ulysse, Marlene, Eemeli and I left at 7 in Eemeli’s car. We arrived at our campsite, on the banks of Lake Okareka, and pitched our tents in the dark. Mathias told us that there were hot pools just 20min away by car and we were coaxed into setting off with six of us in the car. After 10 minutes, we were still half an hour away so we turned around and went to bed, waking up to a rather overcast morning on the lake.

The weather wasn’t going to deter us and we had to go for a morning swim. Charlotte said that there was a ledge that could be jumped off just a short walk away but we’d have to swim back to the beach as you cannot climb out. We all changed into our togs and headed off. After about 200m I started to get a little concerned about the length of the swim in the cold water. At 300m I was less keen and at about 400m we reached the jump. It was a 6m drop into the lake. We all jumped into the water together and set off for the campsite. I’m not the warmest person once in the water so I set off pretty sharpish to get out of the water. The rest of the group were definitely tougher than me and took their time. I was completely dressed by the time the next person was out of the water! All six of us piled into the car and drove into Rotorua in search of coffee and plans for the day. We found a little French café which gave Ulysse great pleasure as he laughed at all the clichés. The iSite is the place to go when it comes to giving information about an area so we went there to come up with some plans for the day. Mathias and Eemeli decided to go mountain biking, Ulysse, Marlene and I went to the Thermal Wonderland and Charlotte sat in some hot pools with the plan to meet again at 3.

Rotorua is a massive volcanic zone with large numbers of natural hot springs, geysers and other volcanic activity. Consequently, it stinks of rotten eggs (Sulphur) in most places but there was real beauty to be found in the Thermal Wonderland. Upon arrival, I was told that there was no student ticket and despite my best efforts the cashier wouldn’t budge on the price of $32.50. I was a little hurt by the price but quickly forgot when I saw the scenery. Hot gases, boiling mud pools and a vast array of colours. The colours are caused by different elements rising-up from below, for example green/yellow is sulphur/arsenic, orange is antimony/arsenic and purple is manganese oxide. The three of us spent about an hour and a half exploring and making sure we got our money’s worth!

On our way out we picked up Charlotte and went to quickly see an incredible boiling mud bath (definitely not the kind you sit in as Marlene originally thought). Once back in Rotorua we met up with the two bikers to make our new plan. We wanted to hike out about 10km to a hot water beach but unfortunately Mathias had to be back in Rotorua at 10am the next day to speak with the manager of the bike shop as one of his wheels had been slightly bent. So we had ice creams by Rotorua lake instead and then headed to a different campsite. The plan was for everyone to do something together in the morning and then Eemeli, Marlene and Ulysse would drive back to Auckland while the remaining three did the hike to the hot water beach.

Once we had set up camp we went for a short walk before enjoying dinner under the sunset and a brilliant sky. We actually made it to the hot pools too. As it turned it out, they were the ones that Charlotte had spent most of the day at and were very busy so we did a small bit of exploration in the dark to find less popular ones. We eventually found a spot and got in. Mathias brought some tea lights with him to create some ambiance although I was still a little concerned about the signs that said not to put your head under the water because of the bacteria in the water which will enter your brain through your nose.

The following morning the weather was not so pleasant and the forecast for the next day wasn’t great either so we gave up on our plans to do the hike and decided we’d all go back to Auckland. While Mathias sorted out the bike issue, Marlene and Ulysse volunteered to hitch hike back while the remainder drove. After some more coffee we hit the road. The car travellers decided to do a short walk on the way back to make something of the day. We got a little side tracked along the way and took a few wrong turns before we made our way to the Blue Spring. It is supposed to be some of the clearest water in the world and it looked it, even with it being a grey day. In the end, the hitch hikers made it back first. In the evening, we watched some terrible films (intentionally) and I had a video call with Sam for a couple of hours which was a great way to cap off the weekend.

You can see all of my photos and videos from the weekend here. As it happens, Ulysse Bellier is a rather fantastic photographer and he brought his camera with him. He has very kindly allowed me to share his wonderful photos here.