The Journey Home and Beyond

Our kiwisforthesummer2018 Iwi

 Kia Ora.  Having been immersed in Kiwi and Maori culture for the past five weeks will now make the journey back to American culture another adventure.  Our students will take with them lasting memories of the challenges and opportunities of what not only New Zealand faces, but what the rest of the world faces as well. Preserving biological diversity, conserving resources, and maintaining a balance between natural and human built environments are key to a sustainable future.  And, it will take all of us with our diverse backgrounds to come together in many different ways to help make lasting change for a bright future.

Dear students, we hope that what you have experienced with us in New Zealand will help shape the decisions you make for our future in exciting and positive ways.  We thank you for giving of yourselves openly with your hearts and minds so that our time together could be such a special learning opportunity for us all.  We have really enjoyed being with all of you, touring the wop-wops, and sharing a daily cuppa. Sweet As!

From the land of the long white cloud, safe and happy travels!  See you in the land of the flowers (La Florida).  

With a Hongi and hug to each of you, Mark, Meryl, Jámm, and Tupelo

They are on their way

Saying goodby to a Lincoln Uni friend outside of the Annex where everyone was housed for the summer.

kiwisforthesummer2018 with the Gatorwaka

At the airport before going through security

Slight snafu with first flight from Christchurch to Auckland being cancelled, but we had a very sweet Air New Zealand booking agent help Dr. Hostetler set things right, and had a yummy last tea time at the airport.  Have reports that our students arrived safely in Auckland and are on their way back to the States.  A few are staying on in NZ to do a bit more exploring and one is off to Australia!

We miss you all already and wish you safe travels home. m&m

Winding Down

 

Student Journals from the past 5 weeks recounting both scientific information and personal responses to our experiences were due today, and we celebrated the course end tonight with time together with the folks who have helped us along the way and a slideshow (cramming as many photos as we could of over 4,000 photos into under 300 slides).  We have done so much – worked hard and had a lot of fun! Thank you for the good memories All.

Sweet Dreams, Meryl

Freetime Fun, Day Out in Christchurch

Devin Checks out the Time in Christchurch

Tupelo learning to skate backwards

Sadly, we have only a few days left.  Our five week journey seems to have gone by so quickly. We started our day with student’s choice - a morning out in Christchurch where the students had time to sightsee/shop, or ice skate, and then tucked into some Hillyers pies for lunch.

All manner of birds were brought with early settlers of New Zealand including these Sebastopol geese with crazy feathers.

Not sure why you would pack up and bring a wallaby to NZ, but NZ has trouble with those too.

Bailey feeds a Kea with a broken beak.

Personality of a rock, but Tuatara are soooooo awesome!

The Girls give Poi a go

The Guys give the Haka a go

A Hangi feast

With Devin, our Chief, heading up our table, we enjoyed a four course meal by a warm fireplace.

We spent the afternoon and evening at Willowbank.  Willowbank is a wildlife reserve where we had a chance to see up close both exotic animals that settlers brought and cause problems here in New Zealand (everything from deer to rabbits to wallaby, etc), as well as native animals which the reserve is trying to rehab, educate the public about, or help with repopulation efforts (kiwi, kaka, etc). In addition, we had a Ko Tane or Maori experience where Devin led us as our Chief into a Maori village, and during a music and dance performance, the “gals” got to try Poi Balls and the “guys” got to try a haka Kapai! Afterwards, we gathered in the restaurant to have a hangi  which is food smoked in the ground. Very tasty!

Cheers, Dr. H and Meryl

Little Lambs and Peeved Penguins

Our day started with a stop at Graeme Rodger’s sustainable home in Lincoln. He taught us about the solar panels on his property and how they interact with the national grid. Power cuts are fairly common in rural areas, so his solar panels allow for his home to fully function when the grid isn’t providing any energy. He also explained how wind turbines work, which was very interesting!

Graeme showing us his solar power setup,
wearing an awesome sweater his partner knitted for him!

Graeme explaining how wind turbines work by overcoming magnetic forces

After our ‘enlightening’ talk about electricity, he grabbed some feijoa fruits to feed to his sheep. The sheep love the fruit so much, mothers will walk away from their lambs to eat one! We saw multiple cute little lambs who were quite “sheepish”, as Dr. Hostetler put it. We witnessed the aggressive way that lambs get milk from their mothers. They headbutt their mother’s abdomen to encourage the flow of milk. Some of us agreed that we’re thankful human babies don’t do the same thing! Graeme told us about the nets surrounding the stone fruit trees he has on his property. When the trees start fruiting, birds will eat every single apricot and cherry they can get to, so the nets are placed around the orchard for protection. 

Feeding feijoas to the mama sheep

sheep family picture

cute lamb

After a stop at Coffee Culture for a tea break, we all got in the Gator Waka for the drive to Sumner Beach. When we had almost reached our destination, we saw a royal spoonbill in some shallow water next to the road! Some of us have been waiting and hoping to see a royal spoonbill before we leave New Zealand, so it was a welcome surprise! We finally reached a harbor called Taylor’s Mistake. Dr. Meurk explained to us that a sea captain in the mid 1800’s was sailing to Lyttelton Bay, but made a wrong turn along the way. His ship was damaged and he was in the wrong body of water. His name? Taylor, of course. 

We headed on out a hike on the Godley Head Trail. We had gorgeous views the whole way and saw many different hikers and dogs. After reaching our destination, we went inside a predator proof fence and down a steep bluff to the rocks below. We made our way along the rocks, peeking inside nesting boxes for white flippers penguins along the way. We saw two penguins nestled inside a box and were all able to look inside! We all made our way back down the bay and to the Gator Waka. We went to The Village Inn for a late lunch.

Maddie and her super cute flower bouquet

The view from our hike on the Godley Head trail

"Wow" -Maddie

Dr. Meurk rocking shorts and standing on a picnic table
to tell us about the exotic flowers we were seeing

standing outside the predator-proof fence

"Hi MTV. Welcome to my crib." -Bailey

White flippered penguin mad at the invasion of privacy
picture by Corinne Allen Titus

Group shot with a view!
picture by Amy and J'amm, because it definitely takes
two people to take a single picture

After a great lunch of fish and chips, we went to the cave rocks at Sumner beach to explore. When the sun was making its descent, we drove to Wunderbar in Sumner. Wunderbar was the only bar open in Lyttelton after the devastating earthquake in 2016. Dr. Meurk arranged for us to meet some other students from Lincoln Uni studying environmental issues there.

exploring the rocks at Sumner Beach

group pic in the cave rocks

Today ended with dinner at an Indian restaurant in Lincoln. We're all exhausted and ready to sleep in a little bit tomorrow!

Sweet dreams, 

Eliza

Grassy Knees and Licking Trees

This morning began with a relaxing stroll through the Riccarton Farmer's Market. Pies, sweets, breads, and cheese were the main fare along with fresh fruits and veggies. A violinist raising money to record with a band, a high-school trumpet player fundraising a band trip to America, and a man playing the harmonica near the entrance serenaded us as while walked among the tents. 

Maddie and her donut-thing

Maddie and Eliza enjoying the morning

Soon, we were all gathered around this bench watching the ducks swim past with our various purchases. Jámm finally got his baguette, Cole got some good cheese, and I got a beeswax candle. There we were, minding our own business, when suddenly... 

He was not enjoying the market

this guy shows up uninvited. Shaking his tail, bobbing his neck aggressively, and hissing at our baguettes and cheese, we fled the scene just in time for tea. On the way to Darfield Bakery, we had a lively debate about Devin's so-claimed "lack" of a belly button (he has one). At the bakery, we could get a drink AND a snack, a luxury much appreciated since Lincoln's breakfast start-time and our depart-time were relatively close together this morning.

(There were open seats)

After that, we completed our drive to Trevor and Heather Taege's farm. Trevor is one of the first farmers to begin planting natives on his land. The blocks are spread across the farm between sheep and cow paddocks. We walked through them and assisted Trevor with pulling dead natives that didn't survive the season and trimming some of the trees and bushes in the way of the path. In a deal with the local city council, Trevor provided the land needed to plant this native bush and bought even more plants to put in after fencing in the blocks himself and saving some of the money he got for the project.

Broadleaf, Matai, Pokaka, Totora, Black Beech, Coprosma, Kohuhu, Kanuka, Golden Akeake, Fuschia, Kowhai, Whauwhaupaku, Kahikatea and some BIG New Zealand Flax were some of the plants growing here.

A Jámm for size reference

We were also delighted by the presence of Trevor's lovely sheepdog. 

This is Pete

Eliza may be a little less enthused than the others.

"Did this all come from Pete?!"

Maddie and Emily also shared an intimate Hongi before we broke for lunch. 

"I am in your bubble"

After that, Trevor told us more about the animals he keeps on the farm. Currently, there are about 170 sheep and 75 cattle, but with the birth of lambs and the change in seasons, those numbers bump up to 500 and 100, respectively. He also selectively breeds the ewes to give birth at a certain time to ensure that the lambs have enough grass to eat around the farm. Then we got a demonstration of herding by Pete, who is a heading sheepdog.

Pete, being the best boy

They seem a little nervous... 

After that, we went inside to watch Trevor shear a sheep. If you have never seen the process, I have a video of that for you as well! Little did we know that we were spending the day with a champion sheep shearer, his record is 350 sheep in 8 hours!!

Just look at that wall!

After shearing, the wool gets sorted into the good fleece, the belly wool, the head and neck wool, and the miscellaneous bits and pieces. From then on it is shipped off to be processed and sold.

From left to right: belly, bits, and neck

The good fleece

We then toured one last part of the native bush before playing some cricket. 

"Can I ring the bell??"

Little did we know that the Tuatara's crushing defeat against the Hungry Keas was attracting an audience.

The curious cows watch on...

They were obviously Tuatara fans

Our last stop for today was the Lords Bush Scenic Trail, where we licked honeydew from Black Beech trees. A scale insect eats the sap of the black beech but can't process it, so excretes it. This excretion is what bees take to make honey and what we ended up licking. 

All of these pretty little beads are sweet little bug poops

And, to close, a collection of us licking trees:

1 lick

2 licks

3 licks

4,

normal

honey's

such

a

bore!

Thank you Scale Insects of the world!

-paige